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Spotlight: Strengthening accountability
in agribusiness investments
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The recent wave of agribusiness investments has prompted renewed calls for accountability in the governance of land and investment. Legal frameworks influence opportunities for accountability, and recourse to law has featured prominently in grassroots responses to the land deals.
At the end of May, IIED released a new set of reports on Land investments, accountability and the law, based on research in Cameroon, Ghana and Senegal.
The reports develop a conceptual framework for understanding accountability, and explore how the law enables, or constrains, accountability in investment processes. They were prepared as part of a project funded by IDRC and implemented by Dakar-based IED Afrique, Kumasi-based LRMC, Yaoundé-based CED and IIED.
The project develops tools to improve accountability in investment processes, including through supporting paralegals and ‘junior lawyers’ and establishing locally negotiated agreements to make authorities more accountable.
Partners recently met in in Accra, Ghana, to discuss advances made and to plan next steps in this legal empowerment work.
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Although the slump in commodity prices has helped cool down the global land rush, land rights are still under pressure. To face changing challenges in low- and middle-income countries, action is required at local to global levels.
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Large-scale agricultural investments impact upon men and women in different ways, yet women's voices and interests are not always heard in decisions about land. An IIED webinar examined how this could be changed.
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The authors of a new progress report review lessons learned about implementing the 2012 voluntary guidelines on the governance of land and tenure.
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Nine key lessons for working with communities whose indigenous land rights and resource rights are under threat.
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IIED's legal tools team asked what women in sub-Saharan Africa would like to happen when their communities are affected by land deals.
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At the start of July, IIED hosted a webinar on using web platforms to promote transparency and strengthen land rights. Sam Szoke-Burke, legal researcher at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, introduced the Open Land Contracts web database, which contains publicly available investment contracts for large-scale land projects. Wai Wai Lwin, founder of Open Data Myanmar, presented her organisation’s work on developing an online source of unbiased and verified data on land conflict in Myanmar.
Both of these initiatives aim to improve land governance through using their respective platforms to make important data accessible to key target audiences as well as the broader public. Discussion included the use of web platforms to protect citizens’ rights and the role of such platforms in conflict resolution. A blog sharing key messages from the event, as well as a recording of the presentations is available on the IIED website.
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FAO has released a technical guide (PDF) on the legal dimensions of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure, which Lorenzo Cotula co-authored and IIED led the development of: Responsible Governance of Tenure and the Law: A Guide for Lawyers and Other Legal Service Providers, Rome, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
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As a member of the DFID-supported LEGEND Core Land Support Team (CLST), IIED coordinates the preparation of LEGEND Analytical Papers – see Addressing 'legacy' land issues (PDF) and Tackling corruption in land governance (PDF) –, as well as the LEGEND quarterly bulletin – the latest 2 issues are available: May bulletin (PDF), February bulletin (PDF).
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Publications and briefings
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Addressing ‘legacy’ land issues in agribusiness investments. A LEGEND Analytical paper
This Analytical Paper explores legacy land issues as they affect agribusiness investments in low- and middle-income countries. It also develops a framework for understanding and addressing legacy land issues in agribusiness investments – exploring what these issues are, how they can be identified and what measures can be taken to address them.
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When investors come knocking: ensuring African women have a say
In much of sub-Saharan Africa, women have little say in decisions over land, and large-scale agribusiness projects threaten to leave them even more marginalised. An emerging body of thinking and practice provides clear pointers as to how governments, NGOs and investors might take proactive steps to enable women to have a stronger voice.
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See also:
- Cotula, L., 2016, ‘Democratising International Investment Law: The Case and Channels for Citizen Engagement’ in Singh, K. and Ilge, B. (eds), Rethinking Bilateral Investment Treaties: Critical Issues and Policy Choices (PDF), Amsterdam/New Delhi, Madhyam, Both Ends and SOMO, pp. 263-276.
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