IT'S TIME TO OUTLAW LAND GRABBING, NOT TO MAKE IT "RESPONSIBLE"!

The report denounces the Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) as a mechanism to legitimise 'land grabbing' by corporations and governments. It argues that voluntary guidelines cannot remedy the systemic human rights violations, environmental destruction, and food insecurity caused by large-scale land acquisitions, which it claims are driven by financial speculation rather than food security. The authors call for an immediate ban on large-scale land transactions, the return of misappropriated lands to communities, and a transition toward food sovereignty based on peasant agriculture and agroecology.

• Large-scale land acquisitions have seen at least 50 million hectares of agricultural land transferred from farmers to corporations in recent years, with some estimates suggesting 47 million hectares were leased or sold worldwide in 2009 alone.
• The Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI), formulated by the World Bank, IFAD, UNCTAD, and FAO, consist of seven voluntary principles intended to make large-scale land acquisitions acceptable.
• The World Bank's own research into large-scale land acquisitions failed to find convincing examples of benefits for poor communities or countries, finding only a 'long list of losses'.
• Land grabbing is characterized as a tool for financial speculation targeting 20% profit rates, which is deemed incompatible with food security because food production typically only yields profits of 3-5%.
• The document claims that land grabbing leads to the de facto privatisation of water and violates international human rights law through forced evictions and the silencing of critics.
• Various governments have responded to land grabbing differently: Argentina, Brazil, and New Zealand have promised legislation to limit foreign land acquisition, while Cambodia, Ethiopia, and Ghana have used force to suppress opposition.
• The authors advocate for a shift toward food sovereignty, emphasizing peasant agriculture, family farming, and agroecological methods as the sustainable alternative to corporate-led neoliberal regimes.

APA

Friends of the Earth International (2011). IT'S TIME TO OUTLAW LAND GRABBING, NOT TO MAKE IT "RESPONSIBLE"! https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/RAI-EN.pdf

Chicago

Friends of the Earth International. IT'S TIME TO OUTLAW LAND GRABBING, NOT TO MAKE IT "RESPONSIBLE"! 2011. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/RAI-EN.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Friends of the Earth International |title=IT'S TIME TO OUTLAW LAND GRABBING, NOT TO MAKE IT "RESPONSIBLE"! |date=17 April 2011 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/RAI-EN.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{friendsoftheearthinternational2011its, author = {{Friends of the Earth International}}, title = {{IT'S TIME TO OUTLAW LAND GRABBING, NOT TO MAKE IT "RESPONSIBLE"!}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2011}, month = apr, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/RAI-EN.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }