LAND RIGHTS
The last twenty years have seen the rapid acquisition of large plots of land in the global south by national and international elites, often referred to as land grabbing. Land grabbing can be defined as the control of land – whether through ownership, lease, concession, contracts, quotas, or general power – for purposes of speculation, extraction, resource control or commodification. (Ecoruralis 2016)
Land grabbing is a violation of human rights by threatening access to food and livelihoods. The new land proprietors often favor profitable export of their crops or minerals over feeding the hungry. Peasant farmers lose access to their land and thus their income and nutrition. The environmental health of the land is compromised as industrial forms of agriculture are implemented.
CIDSE is supporting the resistance of land grabbing in Africa, by connecting church actors with social movements and organising spaces for exchange. In 2015, CIDSE contributed to the organisation of a Pan-African Conference on Land Grabbing and Just Governance in Kenya, which brought together church and non-church actors to exchange knowledge and strategies on land grabbing, resulting in the establishment of a permanent platform called “Our land is our life” for these purposes. A similar conference was organised again in 2017 in Abidjan. The reflection and discussion on land grabbing from the perspective of Laudato Si’ and Catholic Church social teachings that began at the conference in Abidjan was then concretized in a paper on the theology of land grabbing to facilitate the opening of a concrete dialogue on land issues with church actors.

Manny Yap
yap(at)cidse.org

Officer
Vincent Dauby
dauby(at)cidse.org
Stories
Publications
-
CIDSE vacancy: Food and Land Officer
May 26, 2023Focus: agroecology and food sovereignty, land justice, climate and agriculture CIDSE is an international family of Catholic social justice organisations. […]
-
Building our future together: CIDSE meets African partners ahead of
March 29, 2023Last February, CIDSE staff, Nicky Broeckhoven and Vincent Dauby, travelled to Uganda to meet with several partner/ally organisations. During their […]
-
Organisational news
- Campaign
- Influencing
- English
- Climate
- Climate justice
- Food and agriculture
- Land
- Broederlijk Delen
- CAFOD
- CCFD – Terre Solidaire
- Cordaid
- Development & Peace
- Entraide et Fraternité
- eRko
- Fastenaktion
- FEC
- FOCSIV
- KOO
- Manos Unidas
- Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
- Misereor
- Partage.lu
- SCIAF
- Trócaire
- Vastenactie
- Europe
- North America
- Brazil
- Colombia
- Guatemala
Lent 2023: Create hope
February 22, 2023Wednesday 22nd February marks the beginning of Lent, a special time for prayer and reflection. Most CIDSE members organise campaigns […]
-
L’agroindustrie met le feu au brésil
February 16, 2023Quand l’agroécologie devient une arme de résistance ENGLISH This study by Entraide et Fraternité (available in French only) is the […]
-
Thriving in our common home
February 15, 2023CIDSE STRATEGIC Framework 2023 – 2028 CIDSE is pleased to publish its new Strategic Framework ‘Thriving in our common home’, […]