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Contents contributed and discussions participated by Arabica Robusta

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Pambazuka - The commodification of water and land in Mali - 0 views

www.pambazuka.org/...73861 agribusiness security land international grab foodsecurity food development crisis biofuels water public private partnership
shared by Arabica Robusta on 12 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • At human level, the interconnected crises (food, energy, financial, migratory, democratic etc) and the successive failure of the Conferences on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December 2009 and Cancun in 2010, are the expression of the increased commodification of both material and intellectual aspects of life (land, air/CO2, forests, minerals, genes, education, health, water...).
  • This ecological representation of water as a common good explains why the creation of the ‘water business’ and the commercial logic of ‘public-private partnerships’ is so unacceptable.
  • The phenomenon of the commodification of life is also affecting land.
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  • educated according to the management gospel of the water multinationals, according to which one is supposed to ‘make water pay for itself’. This implies that water is sold, commoditised, considered in the same way as oil.
  • In Mali, a public-private partnership system and a framework of long-term leases have been used to lease several tens of thousands of hectares of land at very low cost to foreign governments or private investors (both foreign and nationals).
  • This new plague of land grabbing, over and above being characterised by huge areas, is just the tip of the iceberg of commercial farming, one that uses vast quantities of water. Agronomically speaking, it has been proven that the quantity of water required to grow 1 kg of rice could grow 3 kg of sorghum. When this land is being used to grow agro-fuel, it will work even more against food security. For those communities that are affected, land grabbing also involves water grabbing. This is a factor in many conflicts.
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Innovations in access to land: Land grab or agricultural investment? - 0 views

farmlandgrab.org/14711 land grab tenure agriculture food crisis international development agribusiness foodsecurity security biofuels pambazuka
shared by Arabica Robusta on 08 Aug 10 - Cached
  • The issue of capturing water in these deals is also often not discussed, but it was mentioned in the April statement, as an example of the many factors that need to be included when assessing the value of the land being leased or sold.
    • Arabica Robusta
      Arabica Robusta on 08 Aug 10
       
      Important to look at role of water capture in land grabs.
  • The signatories of the April statement (of which Patel was one), demand true agrarian reform, which includes investment in research and training programs for small-holder farmers, overhauling trade policies, supporting regional markets, enforcing strict regulations to foreign direct investment, and promoting “community-oriented food and farming systems hinged on local people’s control over land, water and biodiversity.”
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