Publications

Palestine: For Land and Life Hebron

Under Trump’s proposed budget, low-income and disabled community members will suffer more in order to “Make America Great Again” for the already rich.

Palestine: For Land and Life Canaan Palestine

Unjust Enrichment: How the IFC Profits from Land Grabbing in Africa, released by Inclusive Development International, Bank Information Center, Accountability Counsel, Urgewald and the Oakland Institute shows how the World Bank Group has indirectly financed some of Africa’s most notorious land grabs.

Justice Denied exposes the many issues that continue to plague land release and resettlement in the country, and the failure of the Sri Lankan government to fulfill its international commitments to transitional justice.

A landmark report from the Oakland Institute, Taking On the Logging Pirates: Land Defenders in Papua New Guinea Speak Out! elevates the voices of communities across the country who are opposing the theft of their land, made possible by the corrupt practices of local officials and foreign companies.

The Return of Erik Prince: Trump’s Knight in America’s New Crusade? a new brief from the Oakland Institute, exposes the comeback of the founder of Blackwater, the notorious private security company. An ardent detractor of Obama/Clinton foreign policy during the presidential campaign, Prince is now set with access to unique assets, to be a key player in Trump’s foreign policy.

Only six multinationals currently control over two-thirds of the industrial seed sales, and pending agro-industry mergers stand to further consolidate this oligopoly.

Mashamba ya kilombelo (KPL) yana ukubwa wa hekta 5,818 (ha) za mpunga zilizo katika kiini cha rutuba cha Bonde la Kilombero, Tanzania. Mbali na kuendeleza mashamba makubwa ya mpunga, KPL inafanya kazi na wakulima wadogo wadogo kupitia mashamba darasa yanayozingatia mfumo wa teknolojia ya ongezeko la mpunga (SRI) .

Read the FAQ on Carbon Violence: The Darker Side of Green

As months of protest and civil unrest hurl Ethiopia into a severe political crisis, a new report from the Oakland Institute debunks the myth that the country is the new “African Lion.” Miracle or Mirage?

Backroom Bullying: The Role of the United States Government in the Herakles Farms’ Land Grab in Cameroon, shows how bullying by US government officials may have played a critical role in the granting of nearly 20,000 ha by the Cameroonian government to the US-based firm Herakles Farms in 2013, instead of the cancellation of clearly flawed project.

Threatened and despaired, a group of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka petitioned the Oakland Institute to help them return home. This inspired the Institute’s latest report, Waiting to Return Home: Continued Plight of the IDPs in Post-War Sri Lanka.

The Unholy Alliance, Five Western Donors Shape a Pro-Corporate Agenda for African Agriculture, exposes how a coalition of four donor countries and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is shaping a pro-business environment in the agricultural sector of developing countries, especially in Africa.

Danida's Pro-Corporate Aid Harms Smallholder Farmers Denmark’s international development agency, Danida, claims there is a win-win intersection between development and business goals and supports private sector-led initiatives for agricultural development.

USAID: Taxpayers' Dollars Finance Big Ag's Expansion in Africa For years, US international food aid has prioritized domestic commercial interests by shipping food grown, processed, and packaged exclusively in the US to countries in need.

The Netherlands: Serving Self-interest Over African FarmersIn 2010, the Netherlands development aid policy officially shifted its focus from social development to economics and trade, with growing support given to private sector-led initiatives.

UK Aid Poised to Wipe Out Smallholder Agriculture In 2015, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) adopted a new Conceptual Framework on Agriculture.

Bill Gates' Big Money Attempts to Rule African Agriculture The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) has become a major player in international aid for agriculture. In 2015 alone, the Foundation distributed over $450 million in grants for agricultural development globally.

Moral Bankruptcy: World Bank Reinvents Tainted Aid Program for Ethiopia exposes the shameful reinvention of one of the Bank’s most problematic programs in Ethiopia. The report also reveals that the US Treasury violated congressional law when voting in favor of this program.

The Great Timber Heist: The Logging Industry in Papua New Guinea, exposes massive tax evasion and financial misreporting by foreign logging companies, allegedly resulting in nonpayment of hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.

Ethiopia's Anti-Terrorism Law: A Tool to Stifle Dissent, authored by lawyers from leading international law firms, provides an in-depth and damning analysis of Ethiopia’s Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. The report examines how the law, enacted in 2009, is a tool of repression, designed and used by the Ethiopian Government to silence its critics.

Location: Kailahun and Kenema Districts Small-scale, resource-poor farmers organize fair trade grower cooperatives to market certified organic cocoa exports from post-war Sierra Leone.

Location: Benin, Burkina Faso, and Mali Cotton production presents a double bind for West African smallholder farmers, providing much-needed cash income through a chemically intensive production system that has a negative effect on human and environmental health. Global market volatility is also problematic, leaving many farmers saddled with debt when prices fall.