The Capitalist of Chaos, Bond villains and why land grabs need to be stopped

Vicki Hird

25 June 2012

I watched the last James Bond movie Quantum of Solace this week. Watching Bond deal with the grasping oil barons and water thieves was, as usual, guilty entertainment.

But was I also watching the fictionalised account of the realities described in a new book on land grabbing by Fred Pearce?

In The Land Grabbers: the new fight over who owns the Earth (Transworld), Fred Pearce details his year of travelling the world talking to people who are-buying up or leasing large swathes of land often in other countries and for profit. He also meets locals whose land is being grabbed. It's a shocking tale.

The grabbers and the grabbed

Some of Pearce's book does read like a Bond script: "this is Africa. The whole place is like one big mafia - and I'm like a mafia head" says a top land grabber called Phillipe, son of a coffee trader, friend of local warlords and US Clinton advisors.

Fred writes vividly of the grabbers who are active in every continent. Sadly, whilst there are some nuggets of good practice, worthy intentions, and positive outcomes, the overriding sense is one of short term, profit driven motive and market gambling causing huge social and environmental harm. Pearce also exposes the threats of 'green grabs' - land taken in the name of conservation or carbon capture through plantations.

Fred also talks to many whose lives, communities and environments have been threatened or destroyed by this growing phenomenon.

What's being grabbed?

Land grabbing occurs when land that was previously used by local communities is leased or sold to outside investors, including foreign and domestic corporations and governments. Reports suggest that about 66 per cent of all deals are in Africa.

But it's happening everywhere on every continent. Land deals under consideration or negotiation worldwide between 2000 and 2010 amount to a total of 203 million hectares- an area equivalent to over eight times the size of the UK. A major Investors Summit this week in London may spark even more interest.

What's driving rush for land?

What are they all after, these mafia heads, big investors, governments and the World Bank? It seems to be many things but new oil, water, food and biofuel sources are key: many governments are searching for security as food and financial crises continue. Investment fund managers are taking advantage of new markets in emerging economies or are betting on higher returns compared to other investments - they now prefer 'real assets not derivatives'.

Governing the grabbers

Reading Pearce's book reads like a new scramble for Africa.  Only this time it's not only Africa and it's ignoring the lessons of over 130 years'worth of new knowledge and understanding of what provides the best quality of life. We should know better.

Belated new voluntary guidelines on land have been drafted by the UN Committee of Food Security. These are imperfect but something to build on. Yet against the pace of acquisition by folk such as the frighteningly impressive Susan Payne of Emergent asset Management in London or the Chinese team - landing in the Brazilian Cerrado on the 'agribusiness express' with $2.4billion in their pockets to build a soya processing plan. How can governments, let alone affected communities, withstand the money involved?

It's also very clear that richer nations need to stop our over-consumption of land -  wasting it on inefficient biofuels, feeds for factory farms, paper and timber and cooking oil and so on. Our land take in Europe is huge.

To feed the world and tackle hunger we need to support small-scale farmers - who produce about 80 per cent of the world's food- to feed themselves. Taking their land for oil, water, minerals or just to make money for overfed western markets will cause more hunger and inequity. It's in 'Bond villain' territory.

Learn more and take action on Biofuels and Friends of the Earth International's Land Grabbing campaign