Attachments
Reports of land grabbing from various parts of the world continue to come in: land grabbing for agriculture to produce food, feed, biofuels and other industrial products; “green grabbing” or land grabbing for environmental ends; and water grabbing for the irrigation of large-scale monocultures, hydroelectricity and other corporate uses. Understanding contemporary land grabs requires grasping the changing context in which they occur: the emergence of “flex crops”, the rise of BRICS and middle-income countries, and the revalued role of nation-states. This brief provides crucial context for understanding land grabbing and discusses three political tendencies in global land governance. In order for transnational movements to carry out more effective advocacy campaigns against land grabbing and influence global governance, they should understand these competing tendencies, and reassess and adjust their political framework.