Public Statements

Dear Ambassador Berhanu Kebede, The response from the Ethiopian embassy to our report, We Say the Land is Not Yours, and the Guardian article Ethiopians talk of violence and land grabs as their land is earmarked for foreign investors, makes unfounded allegations about the work and methodology of the Oakland Institute. We are therefore compelled to respond to set the record straight.

Every year for the last fifteen years, the World Bank has organized “The Conference on Land and Poverty,” ostensibly to discuss how to “improve land governance.” And every year, the World Bank Group has been accused of financing projects that support often brutal grabbing of land and other resources from local communities. This year, the 16th such gathering will take place in Washington DC from March 23 to 27.

Joint StatementStop Enabling Land Grabs: Agriculture Doesn’t Need World Bank’s Business Indicators.As a promoter and financer of large-scale land investments in agriculture, the World Bank Group has been a key driver of land grabbing in the developing world.

Download as PDF WALL STREET: AMERICA’S NEW FARMER “Farmland is the foundational resource in our economy, who owns the farmland determines how it is used or mis-used. When land is a commodity owned by absentee interests, it produces commodities for export. In contrast, land held locally, operated by family members and neighbors with connection to place, you get better land stewardship, more job creation, services and diversification on the landscape. These are the basis of food sovereignty, and democracy itself.

In the southwest region of Cameroon, a New York-based agri-corporation, Herakles Farms, its local subsidiary SG Sustainable Oils Cameroon (SGSOC), and a US non-profit organization All for Africa are involved in a land deal that is about to destroy over 70,000 hectares (300 square miles) of rainforest and the livelihoods of thousands of rural Cameroonians.

A lot has happened in just a few months. The dynamic relationship between research, advocacy, and press has resulted in an amazing string of successes and organizing in the US and abroad. We are happy to share the results (so far) of our work with you.

The combined force of the U.S. based Oakland Institute's research and advocacy on African land deals and local, democratic activism in South Sudan has effectively stalled plans for the largest land deal in the area.

Read more about the Oakland Institute's ground-breaking research, which reveals previously unpublished details about land grabs across Africa.

As trade negotiators from the United States and South Korea began free trade talks on June 5, American and Korean workers, farmers and legislators voiced 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.

The raging worldwide controversy over genetically engineered (GE) crops and products continues to grow. Proponents claim these novel crops are helping feed the hungry, improve the economic situation of farmers and make agriculture more environmentally sound.