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.
Stories
Publications
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News from CIDSE – September/October 2023
October 30, 2023Read the latest issue of our newsletter for a review of our activities from September to October and find out […]
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Local communities across Africa demand justice and land rights
September 21, 2023Local Communities Across Africa Demand Justice and Land Rights Amid Violations by Belgium’s SIAT Group Press Release, 21 September 2023 […]
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News from CIDSE – May/June 2023
July 7, 2023Read the latest issue of our newsletter for a review of our activities from May to June and find out […]
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SIAT’s silence in the face of demands from affected communities
June 26, 2023Press Release, 26 June 2023 One year ago, a delegation of communities from several African countries, accompanied by local and […]
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SIAT, Belgian rubber and palm oil company under scrutiny
June 14, 2023“Is there an end in sight to labor abuses for this certified “sustainable” palm oil producer?” One year ago, in […]