Press Releases

The G8 announced the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative in July 2009 to support food security, nutrition, and sustainable agriculture, with a promise of $20 billion worth of investment over three years. However, one year on from the L’Aquila commitments, it is evident that the international response to the food price crisis has been insufficient and often inappropriate, despite rising levels of hungry people.

As a major two-day conference on Land Policy & Administration, hosted by the World Bank, gets under way to supposedly “improve land governance” and “contribute to the well-being of the poorest,” Oakland Institute’s new report, (Mis)Investment in Agriculture: The Role of the International Finance Corporation in the Global Land Grab, exposes the role of the Bank’s private sector branch, International Finance Corporation (IFC), in fueling land grabs, especially in Africa.

Land grabs--the purchase of vast tracts of land from poor, developing countries by wealthier, food-insecure nations and private investors--have become a widespread phenomenon, with foreign interests seeking or securing between 37 million and 49 million acres of farmland between 2006 and the middle of 2009. While such land grabs have not gone unnoticed, much attention has focused on individual countries, such as China and Saudi Arabia, buying land in poor nations. The Great Land Grab lays bare the insidious role played by international financial institutions like the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank and Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS), as well as rich nations, in promoting and facilitating this widespread land reappropriation--all in the name of promoting food security through foreign investment in agriculture.

This report issues a direct challenge to Western-led plans for a genetically engineered revolution in African agriculture, particularly the recent misguided philanthropic efforts of the Gates Foundation's Alliance for a New Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and presents African resistance and solutions rooted in first-hand knowledge of what Africans need.

Press Release For Immediate Release: December 8, 2008 Contact: Anuradha Mittal, (510) 469-5228; [email protected] A New Report From the Oakland Institute on Poverty Among Seniors and its Root Causes Going Gray in the Golden State The Reality of Poverty Among Seniors in Oakland, California Oakland, CA: A new report from the Oakland Institute documents the root causes of poverty among seniors in Oakland, California — the city with the largest population of impoverished seniors in the state that leads the nation in concentration of seniors living in poverty.“It is astonishing that the

Press Release For Immediate Release: February 25, 2008 Contact: Anuradha Mittal, (510) 469-5228; [email protected] A New Report From the Oakland Institute on Agrofuels Food & Energy Sovereignty Now: Brazilian Grassroots Position on Agroenergy Oakland, CA February 2008: Later this year, the Bush administration is set to have discussions with lawmakers on whether the US import tariff (US $0.54 per gallon) on ethanol should be allowed to expire or not.

Press Release For Immediate Release: March 29, 2007 Contact: Anuradha Mittal, (510) 469-5228; [email protected] Communities Versus Pharmaceutical Conglomerates How Food Became a Casualty of Biotechnology’s Promise (Oakland, CA) – A new policy brief from the Oakland Institute, How Food Became a Casualty of Biotechnology’s Promise, exposes how pharmaceutical conglomerates are using the agricultural sector to underwrite their research and development efforts as they work to transform plants and animals into drug and organ factories to further their profits.While there are over 30 prot

Press Release For Immediate Release: February 14, 2007 Contact: Anuradha Mittal, (510) 469-5228; [email protected] Katy Mamen (707) 874-1317; [email protected] Retail Consolidation Threatens U.S.

Press Release For Immediate Release: October 16, 2006, World Food Day Contact: Anuradha Mittal, (510) 469-5228; [email protected] Sahel: A Prisoner of Starvation? A Case Study of the 2005 Food Crisis in Niger Responsible For Increasing Hunger & Poverty in the Sahel Region Oakland, CA October 16, 2006: Sahel that stretches over 3,500 km from Mauritania in the west to Chad in the east, is one of the most dangerous places for children. According to the United Nations some 300,000 children under the age of five face the risk of death from malnutrition each year in the region.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 1, 2006CONTACT: Christine Ahn, 310-482-9333| [email protected]—June 1—As trade negotiators from the United States and South Korea begin free trade talks on June 5, American and Korean workers, farmers and legislators will voice their opposition to the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) at a press conference on June 7, 2006, 10 AM at the Cannon Terrace, Washington, DC.Rep.