Suchergebnisse

Land grabbing usually refers to the controversial acquisition of a piece of land. As such it is a social concept. It deals with social and cultural use of and access to land, and with land tenure, including customary and legal rights. If we accept this definition, land grabbing cannot apply to a piece of land free of legitimate claim. However, projects associated with large-scale deforestation are often qualified as land grabs, without any reference to the social characteristics of the land and the project. The concept has been used since 2000 to target foreign investments in developing countries in agriculture, forestry, mining or infrastructure sectors. Can large-scale land acquisitions be analyzed within the land grab framework? Several indicators were selected and applied to a large sample of agro-industrial concessions in Cameroon, Gabon, DRC and RC. These indicators include historical occupation of land, customary rights, legal land tenure status, Free Prior and Informed Consent. There have been several periods of important investments in Central Africa which have affected land tenure, access and use in various manners. But agribusiness companies are not the only stakeholders competing for land and national elites should not be overlooked.

In the Western Congo Basin, the Tri-National Dja Odzala Minkebe (TRIDOM) Landscape covers 178000 km² in south-east Cameroon, north-east Gabon, and north-west Republic of Congo. Almost 97% is covered by tropical rainforest and is globally important for the conservation of large mammals (elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees). TRIDOM is also an emerging iron ore province with 9 iron ore deposits currently being explored. Mining and associated infrastructure will, under a business as usual scenario, lead to the widespread fragmentation of this forest landscape. Developing these projects with no-net loss or net gain biodiversity objectives as a condition for access to finance offers opportunities but a landscape-level approach is needed to take into account, and mitigate, indirect and cumulative impacts. There are numerous technical challenges and policy implications to this as the development and implementation of a landscape-scale vision for conservation and development in the TRIDOM requires coordinated efforts by various sectors of government and mining companies, and legal and financial tools to secure long-term land-use rights across the various interacting sectors. In this context, there are lessons to be learned from the TRIDOM for other biodiversity-rich landscapes faced with large-scale land-based investments in mining, oil & gas or agro-industrial sectors.