land rights

The International Finance Corporation has little accountability for billions of dollars’ worth of investments into banks, hedge funds and other financial intermediaries, resulting in projects that are causing human rights abuses around the world.

Increasingly, development money is being channelled through third parties such as banks or private equity funds. This report tells the human story behind the high finance and statistics.

Secure and equitable land rights, particularly for those living in poverty and using and managing ecosystems, are an essential element of a Post-2015 Agenda

After decades of underinvestment, governments in Africa are turning to partnerships with donor aid agencies and large companies or investors to develop the agriculture sector. But this so-called ‘mega’ public-private partnerships are unproven, risky and represent a dubious use of public funds to fight poverty and food insecurity. 

African governments are increasingly turning to partnerships with donors and multinational companies to stimulate investment in agriculture, after decades of neglect.

Modernization of Myanmar’s agricultural sector is, rightly, a priority. However, mechanization and large-scale agricultural investment is not the only option.

An internal investigation released last night finds that World Bank Group staff kept quiet about a plantation company’s role in a violent land conflict in Honduras, when proposing loans to one of Central America’s top ten banks which funded it.

Case studies of large-scale agricultural investment in Paraguay, Guatemala and Colombia show how monoculture expansion is displacing communities, undermining smallholder livelihoods and worsening l

Big agricultural companies need a “gold standard” set of global rules to guide their investments after a new Oxfam report showing that even supposedly “responsible” deals can hurt poor farmers.

This paper sets out how one crop – sugar – has been driving large-scale land acquisitions and land conflicts at the expense of small-scale food producers and their families.