Land Rights and the World Bank Group: Setting the Record Straight

Friends of the Earth International challenges World Bank claims that land lease deals in developing countries reduce poverty and hunger, arguing instead that land grabbing displaces communities, fuels conflict, and prioritizes exports over domestic food security.

• Friends of the Earth International asserts that land grabbing displaces thousands of communities, causes violent conflicts, and fails to create promised jobs. They cite a World Bank report which found that many investments "failed to live up to expectations" and instead "contributed to asset loss and left local people worse off than they would have been without the investment".
• Analysis of 1,006 land deals since 2000 indicates that investors target poor countries with weak land tenure security, particularly in Africa. While 66% of acquired land is in countries with above-average hunger and high agricultural GDP, nearly two-thirds of crops produced are for non-food use, and in 393 cases with available data, export is the primary goal.
• The document argues that land grabs promote unsustainable agriculture, noting that 24% of all deals (and 31% of total area) involve forested land being converted to plantations. It highlights a specific instance where the World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) provided $2.9 million in political risk insurance to the UK company Unifruit Ltd for a 1,000 ha export-oriented farm in a drought-prone district of Ethiopia.
• Despite World Bank denials, the document claims the Bank was heavily involved in a palm oil project in Uganda, facilitating negotiations between the government and the private investor BIDCO. According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Bank played a "key role" and used its influence to push negotiations on the selection of the private investor.

APA

admin (2013). Land Rights and the World Bank Group: Setting the Record Straight. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/land-rights-and-the-world-bank-group-setting-the-record-straight/

Chicago

admin. Land Rights and the World Bank Group: Setting the Record Straight. Friends of the Earth International, 2013. https://www.foei.org/land-rights-and-the-world-bank-group-setting-the-record-straight/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=admin |title=Land Rights and the World Bank Group: Setting the Record Straight |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=3 May 2013 |url=https://www.foei.org/land-rights-and-the-world-bank-group-setting-the-record-straight/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{admin2013land, author = {admin}, title = {{Land Rights and the World Bank Group: Setting the Record Straight}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2013}, month = may, url = {https://www.foei.org/land-rights-and-the-world-bank-group-setting-the-record-straight/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }