Land is central to the livelihoods, culture and identity of millions of people across the developing world. But there is growing concern that people’s connection to their land is being undermined. Over the past few years, large-scale acquisitions of farmland in Africa, Asia and Latin America have made headlines in media reports across the world. Lands that only a short time ago seemed of little outside interest are now being sought by international investors to the tune of hundreds of thousands of hectares. Private sector expectations of higher world food and commodity prices, mainly linked to projected demographic growth, and government concerns about longer-term national food and energy security have both made land a more attractive asset.
Local groups in Africa can have greater control over the natural resources on which they depend if they have access to appropriate legal arrangements and adequate capacity to use them.
