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32. Land Acquisition in India: Will the Proposed Bill Protect Displaced People?
- Author:
- Lucy Dubochet
- Publication Date:
- 11-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The proposed Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill sets out to reconcile two agendas that have so far clashed: it aims to secure the land requirements of the government's development agenda, while addressing the mounting resistance of people whose land is acquired. The bill is a major step forward because it links land acquisition with rehabilitation and resettlement (R). By doing so, it brings to the forefront questions that have long since been at the heart of conflicts around land acquisition.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Human Rights, Territorial Disputes, and Law
- Political Geography:
- South Asia and India
33. Planting Now (2nd Edition): Revitalizing agriculture for reconstruction and development in Haiti
- Author:
- Tonny Joseph
- Publication Date:
- 10-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010 exacerbated the country's grinding poverty and serious development problems, while at the same time worsening Haitian living conditions. The tremor killed over 250,000 people and injured 300, 000. It crippled the economy, causing losses estimated at almost 120 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Nevertheless, economic growth is expected to rise between 7 and 9 percent in 2012, largely owing to reconstruction efforts. The population in internally displaced persons camps has decreased from 1.5 million to around 390,000 (according to the June 2012 report of the International Organization for Migration), and the country's hurricane preparedness capacity has increased.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Development, Gender Issues, Government, Food, and Fragile/Failed State
- Political Geography:
- Caribbean and Haiti
34. 'Our Land, Our Lives': Time out on the global land rush
- Author:
- Kate Geary
- Publication Date:
- 10-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Today, stories of communities driven from their lands, often at the barrel of a gun, left destitute and unable to feed their families, have become all too familiar . As the scale and pace of large - scale land acquisitions increases globally, evidence is mounting that the land rush is out of control and that the price being paid by affected communities is unacceptably high. A huge amount of land has been sold off or leased out globally in the past decade: an area eight times the size of the UK. In poor countries , foreign investors bought up an area of land the size of London every six days between 2000 and 2010. Commercial interest in land could accelerate once again as recent food price spikes motivate rich countries to secure their own food supplies and make land a more secure and attractive option for investors and speculators. The 2008 boom in food prices is widely recognized as having triggered a surge in investor interest in land : from mid - 2008 – 2009 reported agricultural land deals by foreign investors in developing countries rocketed by around 200 per cent .
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Development, Poverty, Natural Resources, Territorial Disputes, and Food
- Political Geography:
- Africa and United Kingdom
35. What Works for Women: Proven approaches for empowering women smallholders and achieving food security
- Publication Date:
- 03-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- What changes do we need to empower women smallholders and achieve food security? This question has been asked repeatedly over the past several decades, but transformative changes in both public policy and practice have been few and far between. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), closing the „gender gap‟ in agriculture –or increasing women‟s contribution to food production and enterprise by providing equal access to resources and opportunities –could reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12-17 per cent, or by 100 to 150 million people.
- Topic:
- Security, Agriculture, Gender Issues, Food, and Famine
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
36. Sahel Markets Under Pressure
- Author:
- Jean Denis Crola
- Publication Date:
- 05-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Harvests in Africa's Sahel region from the 2011/12 season are down sharply compared with last year and have been later than usual, extending the previous 'hunger gap' period. A further aggravating factor for the people of the region is that local grain prices failed to drop as they generally do in the period after the harvest. In December 2011, prices reached levels that were 80% above their five-year averages and remained at high levels, compromising access to adequate food for vulnerable populations. Together with the main agencies involved in the crisis, Oxfam, ROPPA, RBM, APESS, POSCAO and WILDAF estimate that more than 18 million people are currently in a situation of food insecurity in the Sahel.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Demographics, Poverty, Food, and Famine
- Political Geography:
- Africa
37. Taxation in Paraguay: Marginalization of small-scale farming
- Author:
- Déborah Itriago
- Publication Date:
- 05-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Paraguay's tax system is insufficient to provide the resource base to eradicate poverty in the country, and has done little or nothing to achieve a more equal distribution of income and wealth. Two major taxation reforms over the last decade have done little to alleviate the fiscal injustice that is generated partly by the low tax reciprocity of the soy agribusiness – Paraguay's main export crop. Meanwhile, programmes to support small- scale farming receive a level of public financing accounting for just 5 per cent of public expenditure. With one of the highest levels of unequal land ownership in the world, labour informality at very high levels and poor environmental regulation of soy producers, the livelihoods and ecosystems of Paraguay's small-scale producers are at risk. There are serious loopholes in Paraguay's tax system that must be addressed in order to deliver a fairer, progressive taxation system that will allow the country to meet its social objectives.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Environment, International Trade and Finance, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
38. Who will feed the World? The production challenge
- Author:
- Lucia Wegner and Gine Zwart
- Publication Date:
- 04-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Against a background of increasing food insecurity, agriculture in developing countries must undergo a significant transformation in order to increase production and respond to climate change. It is estimated that feeding 8.2 billion people – an additional 1.4 billion – in 2030 would require raising overall food production by some 50 per cent between 2005/07 and 2030. Feeding a larger urban population in a context of increasing scarcity of land and water, while also adopting more sustainable production methods, is a daunting challenge. In Africa, where it is predicted that population levels will double during the same period, the challenge will be even more acute.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Development, Poverty, Science and Technology, Food, and Famine
- Political Geography:
- Africa
39. Climate change: Beyond coping. Women smallholder farmers in Tajikistan
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Evidence from scientific research and from previous qualitative research into the experiences of farmers in Tajikistan makes it clear that climate change is already impacting the country and the lives of people from rural Tajikistan.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Climate Change, Environment, and Food
- Political Geography:
- Central Asia and Tajikistan
40. My Land, My Right: Putting land rights at the heart of the Pakistan floods reconstruction
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- In the aftermath of the 2010–11 floods, the path to recovery and reconstruction in Pakistan will be long and full of challenges. However, there is also an opportunity to tackle crucial structural issues such as crippling inequalities in people's rights and access to land. A failure to do so would not only condemn millions of Pakistanis to continued and deepening poverty, it would also undermine the scope and sustainability of the country's recovery from this disaster and its ability to cope with the next.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Political Economy, Poverty, and Natural Disasters
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan and South Asia