Making Investment Work for Africa: A parliamentarian response to “land grabs”

The report examines the surge of foreign direct investment in African farmland and water, often termed "land grabs," and its negative impacts on local communities, human rights, and food security. It identifies three main types of investors: food-insecure states, western agribusinesses, and financial sector actors. The document highlights systemic failures, including lack of transparency, weak land tenure laws, and the marginalization of women. It proposes a role for parliamentarians as watchdogs and legislators to ensure free, prior and informed consent and transparency. Key recommendations include land tenure reform, the potential for a moratorium on large-scale land acquisitions, and the adoption of inclusive business models to align investment with national development strategies and the Maputo Declaration.

• Large-scale land acquisitions in Africa are often driven by the needs of foreign states for food and energy, with the International Land Coalition estimating that 50 million hectares in Africa alone have been allocated to investors in recent years.
• Foreign investment is increasingly driven by water scarcity in investor countries, leading to the 'outsourcing' of water use through crop production in African river basins such as the Senegal, Niger, and Congo basins.
• The financialization of agriculture has introduced speculative business models; for instance, Oxfam studies in Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, and Tanzania found that less than 12% of acquired land was actually put under production.
• Foreign investments frequently undermine local land rights and water access, often occurring on land used by local populations despite government claims that the land is 'empty' or 'wasteland,' as seen in Ethiopia.
• Women in sub-Saharan Africa are disproportionately affected by land grabs due to weaker tenure rights and exclusion from decision-making, which undermines their role as primary subsistence food producers.
• Investment contracts and international treaties often prioritize investor protections over domestic laws, sometimes using 'stabilization provisions' to exempt investors from new environmental or labor regulations.
• Many African countries have failed to meet the Maputo Declaration's target of allocating 10% of national budgets to agriculture, though some, including Guinea, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Mali, Niger, and Ethiopia, have met or exceeded it.
• Parliamentarians are urged to act as watchdogs and legislators to mandate free, prior and informed consent from communities and to push for the public disclosure of investment contracts, citing Liberia's 2009 legislation as a model.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2011). Making Investment Work for Africa: A parliamentarian response to “land grabs”. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/land_grabs_africa_en.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. Making Investment Work for Africa: A parliamentarian response to “land grabs”. 2011. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/land_grabs_africa_en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=Making Investment Work for Africa: A parliamentarian response to “land grabs” |date=October 2011 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/land_grabs_africa_en.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2011making, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{Making Investment Work for Africa: A parliamentarian response to “land grabs”}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2011}, month = oct, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/land_grabs_africa_en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }