West Africa
In the Headlines
2 February 2012Land Deals Put Africa's People and Landscape at Risk
Nature Magazine takes an in-depth look at how land grabs threaten Africa’s sustainable development. The article cites briefings and a report by the Rights and Research Initiative, a grantee of our Expanding Community Rights Over Natural Resources initiative, showing how sales of forest land are dispossessing inhabitants and harming ecosystems.
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- Visit the Rights and Resources Initiative online
- Learn more about the upcoming Rio+20 conference on sustainable development
- Explore our Expanding Community Rights Over Natural Resources initiative
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African Land Grabs Hinder Sustainable Development
February 1, 2012 By Anjali NayarA scramble to buy African land is threatening the continent’s sustainable development, according to reports launched today at the Royal Society in London.
Of the 203 million hectares of land deals reported worldwide between 2000 and 2010, two-thirds were in Africa. The acquisitions are dispossessing millions of Africans of their land, to make way for expansive forestry and mineral projects and plantations, say a series of briefs and a report published by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), an international coalition of groups working to increase community ownership of forests, based in Washington DC.
“The global report shows the scale of the issue as never before: three-quarters of Africa’s population and two-thirds of the landscape are at risk,“ says Andy White, who coordinates the RRI.