Land Grabs

Land Grabs & Food Security

http://anticap.w

ordpress.com/2009/11/23/agro-im

perialism/

“land is not just a resource to be exploited, but a crucial

vehicle for the achievement of improved socio-economic,

biological, and physical environments”

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (1999)

Your presenters...

Alan ParkinsonSecondary Curriculum Development Leader

Geographical Association

John McLavertyYouth and Schools Coordinator, London & SE

Oxfam GB

Geographies of Food“Living Geography”

Imag

e: C

arl W

arne

r

http://slideshare.net/geoblogs

Context...2009: ManchesterControversial Issues: Resourcing the Food Crisishttp://geography.org.uk/cpdevents/onlinecpd/foodsecurity/

2010: DerbySecond Helpings: the food crisis one year onhttp://geography.org.uk/cpdevents/onlinecpd/geographyoffood/

‘Geography’ article...

Food as geopolitics...

http://farm

landgrab.org/8066

Land Grabs

CURRICULUM

PEDAGOGY

Curriculum MakingFood in the Curriculum

KS3

GCSE

‘A’ level

The Independent – 11th April

Guardian Podcasthttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audio/2011/jan/28/guardian-focus-podcast-land-grabs

Jan 2011Libya in

Mali

John Vidal in Ethiopia’s Gambella regionGuardian video

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/video/2011/mar/21/ethiopia-land-rush

Enquiry Questions

What are land grabs ? Are you eating food grown on land

that was grabbed ?Will land grabs become more

common in the future ?

Global Connections

£17

John McLavertyOXFAM GB

John’s slides here...

Land Grabs?

Large Scale Agricultural Investment?

?

English Enclosures

Loxley Chase, west of Sheffield

The law doth punish man or woman

That steals the goose from off the common

But lets the greater felon loose

That steals the common from the goose.

Scottish Clearances

‘Land Grabs’ seem to be everywhere…

Imperial Expansion

‘Banana Republics’

21st Century Food

A New Age of Scarcity?

Land Grabs - What’s new?• Scale

A single farm in Ethiopia is 300,000 hectares – 75 miles across

Total land under contract globally – 2 x size of the UK

• Foods and biofuels

rather than cash crops

• State and parastatal investment

rather than private companies

Who’s grabbing?

The Economist, May 21 2009

Where’s getting grabbed?

The Economist, May 21st 2009

Grabbing – good or bad?

Who are the stakeholders? (on the ground/behind the scenes)

• winners? How?

• losers? How?

• make a judgement

Making ‘Land Grabs’ Fair

Re-read the case studies

Design a charter of rights or ethical guidelines• Protecting people • Protecting the environment• Getting a fair deal

Final thoughtAre land grabs really water grabs?

Learn More

www.oxfamblogs.org/fp2p

www.globaldashboard.org

www.guardian.co.uk/global-development

Do more

Oxfam Water Week11 – 17 Julywww.oxfam.org.uk/waterweek

Resources on land grabsAutumn 2011www.oxfam.org.uk/education

John McLavertyYouth and Schools Campaigner

Thankyou!

0207 802 9981jmclaverty@oxfam.org.uk

“5 a day”

images

stories

Where are land grabs happening ?http://bighugelabs.com/map.php

Cook it…

Design a geographical recipe.With thank to Tony Cassidy for inspiration here

Ingredients.

• Fossil fuels•Deforestation•Cattle•Rice

Global Warming Recipe.

Cooking Instructions

1.Liberally burn fossil fuels from the industrial revolution to the present. Making sure none of the carbon is offset.2. At the same time, cut down significant numbers of trees and replace with pastoral land.3. Put significant numbers of cattle on the pastoral land, ensuring they are fed with high protein feed, allow them to pass huge volumes of methane.4. Make sure you are growing significant amounts of rice as a side to the main dish.5. Continue to cook for at least a hundred years and serve piping hot.

References http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/pdfs/LandGrab_final_web.pdf

- useful report on land grabsMy FOOD Flickr set