Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Sahil Bhatia, Riptide Communications, [email protected], + 1 212.260.5000 Anuradha Mittal, Oakland Institute, [email protected], +1 510.469.5228 Filip Verbelen, Greenpeace International, [email protected], + 32 496 16 15 86 Internal Documents Reveal New York Corporation Deceiving Investors and Communities in Troubled Africa Palm-Oil Project New Report finds widespread fraud in Herakles Farms’ purported Sustainable Venture in Cameroon May 22, 2013, Oakland, California – Misleading of investors and corruption are just two of the

COMMUNIQUE DE PRESSE INTERNATIONAL CONTACT: Frederic Mousseau, Oakland Institute Policy Director, [email protected], + 33 6 78 58 51 03 Filip Verbelen, Greenpeace International, [email protected], + 32 496 16 15 86 Sahil Bhatia, Riptide Communications, [email protected], + 1 212.260.5000 Des documents internes révèlent qu’une entreprise New Yorkaise leurre investisseurs et populations dans un projet très mal engagé d’huile de palme en Afrique Un nouveau rapport dénonce une large supercherie dans l’entreprise hasardeuse d’Herakles Farms au Cameroun, préten

Freetown, 24 April 2013 Press Release--For Immediate ReleaseContact: Joseph Rahall, Executive Director+232 76601979, [email protected] Is our country part of the “wild west”? A moratorium on large-scale land leases for agriculture is urgently needed in Sierra Leone. In November 2012 the head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned that large-scale land deals are undermining food security. He compared "land grabs" in Africa to the "wild west", saying a "sheriff" is needed to restore the rule of law. And just recently, World Bank President Dr.

Mr. Obang Metho, from the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE), gives warning of the impacts on the people at the U.S. Congressional Briefing on Land Grabs in AfricaI would like to thanks Congressman Christopher Smith, Chairman of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations and members of the subcommittees for making this briefing on land grabs in Africa possible.I am honored to be among those invited to talk about the impact of these land and resource grabs on the people of Africa.

Date: 8:00 am PST, March 18, 2013 Contact: Anuradha [email protected]; +1 510 469-5228 A New Report, Eco-Skies, Sounds Alarm on Aviation Emissions GoalsFuel from French fries and land grabs for biofuel are not the solution Oakland, CA: A new report from the Oakland Institute, Eco-Skies: The Global Rush for Aviation Biofuel, cautions against the ambitious goals of the aviation industry to reduce emissions by 2050.

Dhinkia Village, Jagatsinghpur, OdishaFebruary 15, 2013We, the undersigned, write on behalf of an international community of human rights activists, organizations, academics and independent experts to express our deep concern about the ongoing violent acquisition of land by the government of Odisha in Gobindpur village, Dhinkia Gram Panchayat. We strongly condemn the illegal use of force by the government of Odisha against village residents and protesting community members.

February 13, 2013PRESS RELEASEFor Immediate Release Contact: Zach Blume, Student Organizer, Vanderbilt Responsible Endowment [email protected] / (401) 714-3118Rose Espinola, National Organizer, Responsible Endowments [email protected] / (347) 864-7633 Vanderbilt University has taken steps to withdraw its $26 million investment in EMVest, formerly Emergent Asset Management, an agricultural corporation with farms in five sub-Saharan African countries, including Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe and whose investors included Harvard Universit

The Human Rights Impact of Land Investments on Indigenous Communities in Gambella

Read the Report from the Indian-Ethiopian Civil Society Summit on Land Investments New Delhi, February 5-7, 2013 On February 6, 2013 the Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), Kalpavriksh, PEACE, and The Oakland Institute convened a day-long civil society summit at the India International Centre, New Delhi, bringing together activists resisting land grabs across India and Ethiopia.The meeting was a groundbreaking opportunity for dialogue among Ethiopian small farmers and land rights activists and their Indian counterparts, providing space for those directly affected by land grabs to share their e

Download as a PDFWhy has the recent surge of foreign land acquisitions and leases been dubbed a “global land grab”? Since the food price crisis of 2007, there has been a rapid increase of foreign acquisition of land in developing countries by foreign governments, private agro- enterprises and private equity funds for commercial farming ventures. In 2009 alone, foreign investors acquired 60 million hectares (ha) of land – the size of France – through purchases or leases of land for commercial farming. Before 2008, the expansion of global agricultural land was less than 4 million ha annually.