The bigger the better? The consequences of land investments for land rights, soils and food sovereignty
Forum on Environment and Development
INKOTA-netzwerk
MISEREOR
Bread for the World
FIAN Germany
Time: Wednesday, 26. January 2022, 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. (CET), subsequent deep dive 6:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Languages: English, German, Portuguese
Summary:
First, Michael Fakhri outlined in a video message: large-scale land grabs by investors often lead to the displacement of small-scale farming structures, hunger and the supremacy of an industrial agriculture that endangers the environment and health. He pleaded for multilateral solution processes, such as the VGGT, which are based on consensus-oriented development approaches with local communities and the right to food. Sabine Dorlöchter-Sulser then illustrated that large-scale agriculture in Africa neither closes the yield gap nor delivers on employment promises. Maureen Santos used the example of Brazil to show how the cycle of devastation by pesticides is reinforced as a result of state and international investments in large-scale land grabbing. Johannes Kotschi then drew attention to the increased use of mineral fertilizers as investments in land increase, and the associated negative impacts on soils, the environment and the climate. Drawing on his experiences in Mozambique, Luìs Muchanga emphasized that the model of land expropriation for commodities is not suitable for food security and reported on the positive effects of agroecology. Finally, all panelists agreed on the need to stop these land grabs and to implement concrete transformation strategies to support smallholder producers and to strengthen agroecological approaches at national and international level.
Recording
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