Our Land Our Business

Renaud Vivien

Under a new scheme, the World Bank seems intent on dismantling customary land laws in a push to privatize land and ultimately turn it into a commodity for sale to the highest bidder. In Africa, where much of the land is still governed by customary laws, this constitutes an odious and immediate threat to people’s livelihoods, autonomy and culture. Gwen talks to Frederic Mousseau, Policy Director of the Oakland Institute and the author of The Highest Bidder Takes it All: The World Bank’s Scheme to Privatize the Commons.

Alnoor Ladha, Truthout

At the World Bank’s annual meeting this month, the Bank’s new president and former Trump adviser, David Malpass, ignored research that concludes the Bank’s policies are driving large-scale corporate land grabs across the Global South, with devastating consequences for the poor.

KUALA LUMPUR and SYDNEY, Apr 18 2019 (IPS) - The World Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) project, launched in 2013, has sought agricultural reforms favouring the corporate sector. EBA was initially established to support the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, initiated by the G8 to promote private agricultural development in Africa.

Frédéric Mousseau

SUMMARY

The World Bank is launching an unprecedented attack on the commons by pushing for the privatisation of customary and public land and its sale by auction to the highest bidder. The land indicator of the Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture rankings prescribes policy reforms to ease access to land for agribusiness, at the expense of family farmers, pastoralists, and Indigenous Peoples.