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INVESTIGATION
Foreign Policy, July 11, 2014
WHEN WALL STREET WENT TO AFRICA
A New York tycoon won a sweetheart deal to build a massive "sustainable" palm oil plantation in Cameroon. What followed were accusations of intimidation, corruption, bribery, and deceit.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/07/11/bruce_wrobel_cameroon_palm_oil_herakles_greenpeace_logging
Pambazuka,March 16, 2014
▶ HEDGE FUNDS AND CORPORATE RAIDERS IN AFRICA: SPACE INVADERS OF THE THIRD KIND. The new wave of ‘looting’ of land and other natural resources will likely continue on a scale hitherto unknown. Whatever the supposed benefits of this trend, urgent attention ought to be turned to the thousands of people in Africa and other emerging nations who will become landless in the countries of their birth.
http://www.pambazuka.net/en/category/features/94233
UNDP, March 18,2015
▶ ECONOMIC GROWTH ALONE NOT ENOUGH TO FACE AFRICA'S EMERGING CHALLENGES: http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2015/03/18/economic-growth-alone-not-enough-to-face-africa-s-emerging-challenges-un-development-chief-.html
▶ Pambazuka, August 13, 2014
US-AFRICAN LEADERS' SUMMIT - NOTHING MORE THAN THE CONTINUED EXPLOITATION OF AFRICA FOR EXTERNAL BENEFICIARIES http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/92814
Washington Post, August 05, 2014
▶ VULTURE CAPITALISTS CIRCLING? HOW OTHER COUNTRIES ARE SCRAMBLING FOR AFRICA ALONGSIDE THE U.S. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/08/05/how-other-countries-are-scrambling-for-africa-alongside-the-u-s/?wpisrc=nl-wv&wpmm=1
June 8, 2011 BBC News Africa
- ▶ HEDGE FUNDS 'GRABBING LAND' IN AFRICA http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13688683
World Development Movement
▶ THE NEW SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA. - INFOGRAPH
In the nineteenth century scramble for Africa, European colonial powers took control of the continent’s land, resources and people. Today’s multinational corporations, aided by governments, are taking control over Africa’s food system. http://www.wdm.org.uk/new-scramble-africa-food-monsanto-syngenta-yara/
-▶ WALL STREET TAKES AIM AT FARMLAND: THREATENING FUTURE OF U.S. AND WORLD AGRICULTURE http://sco.lt/9HBsPZ
LAND GRABS
HOW FOREIGN "INVESTMENTS" ARE REDISTRIBUTING WEALTH, LAND AND WATER ACROSS THE GLOBE http://sco.lt/5YJpKb
May 25, 2012 - PR Watch
▶ HOW THE U.S. SOLD AFRICA TO MULTINATIONALS LIKE MONSANTO, CARGILL, DUPONT, PEPSICO AND OTHERS http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11530/how-us-sold-africa-multinationals-monsanto-cargill-dupont-pepsico-and-others
MintPress News, April 01, 2015
-▶ GEORGE SOROS LOOKS TO CO-OWN UKRAINE AND AFRICA.The Hungarian-born economic hitman may be more interested in helping his, and other investor’s, pockets, rather than the people of Ukraine. http://www.mintpressnews.com/george-soros-looks-to-co-own-ukraine/203866/
The Ecologist, March 21, 2014
-▶ UKRAINE: THE CORPORATE ANNEXATION: MEGA PROFITS FOR MULTI-NATIONAL AGRI-BUSINESS AND ENERGY EXPLOITATION http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2328765/ukraine_the_corporate_annexation.html
Farmlandgrab, January 03, 2015
▶ BARBARIANS AT THE FARM GATE http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24381
AFRICA - SOLD
OBAMA PUTS G8, BIG 6 BIOTECH CHEMICAL GMO GIANTS IN CHARGE OF "ENDING HUNGER" IN AFRICA http://sco.lt/7ENN8D
THE 21st CENTURY CORPORATE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA
World Development Movement
-▶ STOP THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF AFRICA'S FOOD. Under the guise of tackling hunger, initiatives like the G8 New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, will help corporations take control over Africa’s land, seeds and markets - at the expense of small farmers. Join our campaign to oppose this twenty-first century corporate scramble for Africa. - See more at: http://www.wdm.org.uk/food#sthash.dgDwkdF0.dpuf http://www.wdm.org.uk/food
Mint Press News, December 23, 2014
▶ ATTACK OF THE LAND-GRABBERS: THE RACE FOR LAND IN AFRICA http://www.mintpressnews.com/MyMPN/attack-land-grabbers-race-land-africa/
▶ AFRICA AN EL DORADO FOR SOUTH AFRICA'S AGRIBUSINESS GIANTS http://www.acbio.org.za/index.php/publications/seedfood-sovereignty/465-africa-an-el-dorado-for-south-africas-agribusiness-giants
-▶ THE CORPORATE 'PHILANTHROCAPITALISTS' TAKEOVER OF AFRICAN AND GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY http://sco.lt/6CHP3R
Mongabay, August 20, 2014
-▶ LOOMING MINING 'TSUNAMI' SET TO TAKE AFRICA BY STORM. A new report published by a team of scientists from James Cook University in Cairns, Australia, documents a surging tide of foreign interest in mining in Africa and cautions that the sector’s unchecked development and expansion could devastate the environment. http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0820-gfrn-john-cannon-africa-mining-tsunami.html?n3ws1ttr
The Guardian, February 18, 2014
▶ G8 NEW ALLIANCE CONDEMNED AS NEW WAVE OF COLONIALISM IN AFRICA. Critics say landmark initiative to boost agriculture and relieve poverty favours big business to the detriment of small farmers http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/feb/18/g8-new-alliance-condemned-new-colonialism
WATCH
"BIG MEN" (1:23:00)
Big Men provides an unprecedented inside look at the global deal making and dark underside of energy development in Ghana, Nigeria, Africa — a contest for money and power that is reshaping the world.
http://www.pbs.org/pov/bigmen/full.php
Guardian Global Development, February 18, 2014
▶ THE G8 AND THE CORPORATE TAKE OVER OF AFRICAN FARMING. As part of the New Alliance, 10 African governments have signed up to change dozens of laws, policies and regulations to make their countries more attractive to the private sector. Collectively, they have made more than 200 commitments, including the overhaul of seed and tax laws and the setting aside of hundreds of thousands of hectares of land for commercial investors. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/interactive/2014/feb/18/g8-fight-future-african-farming-interactive
farmlandgrab.org, August 04, 2014
▶ CORPORATE INFLUENCE THROUGH THE G8NA AND OBAMA'S NEW ALLIANCE FOR FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION IN AFRICA. In recent times, new partnerships models between governments, business and civil society are increasingly gaining attention. One prominent example is the "New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition" (G8NA), inaugurated at the G8 summit 2012 in the United States.
This working paper concludes that the approach and objectives of the G8NA are highly problematic. The initiative serves as an enforcing mechanism for corporate driven blueprints for agriculture and sidelines national plans and international standards. It is dominated and tailored towards the interests of big corporate actors and is based on a reductionist approach of agricultural “development”. And lastly, the G8NA is poorly institutionalized and disregards fundamental principles of transparency participation and accountability. http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23793
Action Aid Report, May 23, 2014
▶ GLOBAL POLICIES ENCOURAGE LAND GRABBING AND WORSEN HUNGER AND POVERTY. “Allowing land to become vehicles for wealthy corporations and individuals to become richer while pushing vulnerable rural people into poverty and hunger is unjust, unwise and unethical,” it said in the report. http://www.trust.org/item/20140523061928-bn12w/
Inter Press Service, August 04, 2014
▶ THE 'GLOBAL' LAND RUSH. The first years of the twenty-first century will be remembered for a global land rush of nearly unprecedented scale.Today, enthusiasm for agriculture borders on speculative mania. When the price of food spiked in 2008, pushing the number of hungry people in the world to over one billion, it spiked the interest of investors as well, and within a year foreign land deals in the developing world rose by a staggering 200 percent. http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/08/the-global-land-rush/
farmlandgrab.org, August 04, 2014
▶ LAND GRABS AND RESPONSIBLE AGRICULTURAL INVESTMENT IN AFRICA http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23794
GRAIN, October 23, 2014
▶ HARVEST OF HARDSHIP: YALA SWAMP LAND GRAB DESTROYS KENYAN FARMERS' LIVELIHOOD. Dominion Farms arrived in Kenya's Yala Swamp basin in 2004 with big promises. The company claimed it would turn a defunct state demonstration farm into a modern rice plantation, provide locals with good jobs, and build hospitals and schools. The American owner of the company, Calvin Burgess, presented himself as a 'man of God', on a mission to bring US-style progress to Africa. The locals, sold on this grand vision, decided – with some hesitation and dissent – to allow Dominion to farm on 3,700 ha of their lands... http://www.grain.org/article/entries/5061-harvest-of-hardship-yala-swamp-land-grab-destroys-kenyan-farmers-livelihoods
HuffPost Politics, November 28, 2014
▶ OBAMA'S PLAN TO 'POWER AFRICA' GETS OFF TO A DIM START. As with many African aid projects, rights groups have criticized Power Africa as mostly being a vehicle to subsidize U.S. companies. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/28/obama-africa-aid_n_6234774.html
Farmlandgrab.org, August 04, 2014
▶ CAN 'LAND GRABS' BY FOREIGN INVESTORS IN AFRICA FEED THE HUNGRY? http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23794
Pambazuka -Voices for Freedom and Justice in Africa
▶ HOW COMPANIES FRAME ISSUES OF FOOD AND GLOBAL HUNGER FOR THEIR OWN SELF-INTEREST AND BOTTOMLINE PROFITS
There is a new, but deceptive, foreign drive to end hunger in Africa through large-scale agribusiness. Yet helping poor households in rural Africa feed themselves in an affordable manner means introducing low-cost, sustainable enhancements to farming.
History is riddled with examples of the poor dying of hunger when food was plentiful. Classic amongst these is the famine which wracked the West African Sahel during the early 1970s. While people were dying of hunger in Senegal, Mali and Niger, peanuts — a key sauce ingredient and source of protein across the region — were being exported to Europe....
...The rise of philanthrocapitalism in the US, where former and current business leaders, through the strength of their foundations, have increasingly come to influence the shape and direction of US international development programmes. Central to the philanthrocapitalist worldview is a belief that private enterprise is the fundamental agent of progressive change and that business acumen trumps other forms of expertise... http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85291
SPECIAL ISSUE: PAMBAZUKA NEWS
GMOs, FOOD SOVEREIGNTY AND AFRICA
http://pambazuka.org/en/issue/688
FOOD AID FOR THE 21st CENTURY:
MEETING THE OBJECTIVE OR FEEDING THE CORPORATE COFFERS?
▶ CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE IS CORPORATE GREEN-WASHING - AGRA - AFRICA http://sco.lt/8Ry4Wn
GMWatch, August 15, 2014
▶ BRITISH THINK TANK TELLS AFRICANS TO GROW AND EAT GMOS
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php/news/archive/2014/15591-british-think-tank-tells-africans-to-grow-and-eat-gmos
Pambazuka, July 24. 2014
-▶ GMOs AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY: WHICH WAY AFRICA?
African governments are under intense pressure from within but also from big agribusiness and Western governments to embrace GMOs. Governments must resist all forms of arm-twisting and food colonialism and make their biotechnology choices based on the facts http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/92594
WATCH (56:27)
STEALING AFRICA: WHY POVERTY?
HOW MUCH PROFIT IS FAIR?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNYemuiAOfU
Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, July 19, 2014
▶ TOWARDS FOOD SOVEREIGNTY TO FEED AFRICA: NURTURE THE ENVIRONMENT AND PUT FARMER AT THE CENTER http://afsafrica.org/towards-food-sovereignty-to-feed-africa-nurture-the-environment-and-put-farmers-at-the-center/
INDEPTH REPORT
GRAIN, September 16, 2014
AFRICA'S AG GIANTS "GREEN" REVOLUTION
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AFRICA' BURGEONING CHEMICAL FERTILISER RUSH
▶ GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS NOT THE SOLUTION FOR "FEEDING THE WORLD" http://sco.lt/9Gdbxh
=========================
-▶ OUR INDUSTRIAL, WESTERN AGRICULTURAL FOOD SYSTEM IS DESTROYING THE EARTH AND OUR HEALTH http://sco.lt/63qRl3
=========================
WATCH
"LAND RUSH - WHY POVERTY?:
THE UGLY RISE OF MONOCULTURE FARMING AND GLOBALIZED FOOD
THE NEW CORPORATE COLONIALISM.
DESTRUCTION OF PLANETARY LIFE IN THE NAME OF "GROWTH"
-▶ FROM GROWING PROFIT TO GROWING FOOD: CHALLENGING CORPORATE RULE http://sco.lt/7Dg37p
LAND GRABS
HOW FOREIGN "INVESTMENTS" ARE REDISTRIBUTING WEALTH, LAND AND WATER ACROSS THE GLOBE http://sco.lt/5YJpKb
THE HUNGER GAMES
HOW UK AND USA GOVERNMENTS SUPPORT FOR BIG AGRIBUSINESS IS FUELING POVERTY http://sco.lt/6UGd17
▶ WALL STREET, CORPORATIONS BUYING UP AMERICAN & FOREIGN FARMLAND, THREATENING FUTURE OF U.S. AND WORLD AGRICULTURE http://sco.lt/8mcmbR
-- WATCH --
Documentary: Farmland Grab
"PLANET FOR SALE"
BIG AG BUYING UP WORLD'S FERTILE LAND
http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/18542
Mother Jones, March 14, 2014
-▶ WALL STREET INVESTORS TAKE AIM AT FARMLAND http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2014/03/land-grabs-not-just-africa-anymore
▶ BANKS AND LAND GRABS. IS YOUR BANK INVOLVED IN LAND GRABBING? https://www.oxfam.org.au/banks-and-land-grabs/
Guardian, May 28, 2014
▶ CORPORATE STRANGLEHOLD OF FARMLAND A RISK TO WORLD FOOD SECURITY, STUDY SAYS. Small farmers are being squeezed out as mega-farms and plantations gobble up their land http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/28/farmland-food-security-small-farmers
▶ WORLD BANK AND UN CARBON OFFSET SCHEME 'COMPLICIT' IN GENOCIDAL LAND GRABS http://sco.lt/5IxW2j
▶ LAND GRABBING FOR BIOFUELS MUST STOP http://sco.lt/5kSOFl
▶ BIOFUELS LAND RUSH. WHY POVERTY? THE UGLY RISE OF MONOCULTURE FARMING AND GLOBALIZED FOOD http://sco.lt/5z3gzB
BIG FOOD:
WALL STREET HAS WAY TOO MUCH INFLUENCE OVER WHAT WE EAT http://sco.lt/4zR9LV
▶ A VIP READ: THE ECONOMICS OF CURBING SPECULATION IN FOOD, WATER AND VITAL RESOURCES http://sco.lt/8YbdY1
ENOUGHNESS:
WESTERN THOUGHT vs INDIGENOUS PHILOSOPHY
EuroActive, July 10, 2014
▶ A PRIVATE AFFAIR: REPORT SHOWS HOW DEVELOPMENT FINANCE INSTITUTIONS BENEFIT THE RICH IN WESTERN COUNTRIES The European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) launched today the study A Private Affair in which it shows how the world’s biggest multilateral lenders are using billions of euros of loans in developing countries to finance Western-based companies while excluding governments and citizens of countries they are meant to assist from decision-making.
The analysis, which looks among others at loans by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s lending arm, analyses the consequences of the gradual shift from aid to private finance at the core of global and national development initiatives.http://bankwatch.blogactiv.eu/2014/07/10/a-private-affair-report-shows-how-development-finance-institutions-benefit-the-rich-in-western-countries/
▶ OBAMA SUGGESTS U.S. IS BETTER PARTNER THAN CHINA TO AFRICAN LEADERS AT SUMMIT http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/05/obama-africa-leaders-us-china-investment-summit
AFRICA: PALM OIL DEVELOPERS THREATEN AFRICA'S RAINFORESTS http://sco.lt/6WKXFB
The Washington Post, August 05, 2014
▶ AFRICA AGRICULTURAL INITIATIVE GETS $7 BILLION "BOOST" FROM MEGA MULTI- NATIONAL CORPORATIONS - BUT IS THIS THE BEST FOR AFRICA? http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/africa-agricultural-initiative-gets-7-billion-boost-from-private-companies/2014/08/04/276214d2-1be3-11e4-ae54-0cfe1f974f8a_story.html
INDEPTH REPORT
GRAIN, September 16, 2014
AFRICA'S AG GIANTS "GREEN" REVOLUTION
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AFRICA' BURGEONING CHEMICAL FERTILISER RUSH
THE CURSE OF INDUSTRIAL FARM FERTILIZERS AND RUNOFF
The Washington Post, August 06, 2014
▶ JUMPING SHIP: U.S. POLICYMAKERS BRACE FOR RASH OF CORPORATE EXPATRIATIONS: DESERTING AMERICA FOR GREENER TAX PASTURES, LESS REGULATION http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/us-policymakers-gird-for-rash-of-corporate-expatriations/2014/08/05/4898ca5e-18d9-11e4-9349-84d4a85be981_story.html?wpisrc=nl_most
▶ OBESITY QUADRUPLE TO NEARLY ONE BILLION IN DEVELOPING WORLD AS WESTERN DIETS/LIFESTYLE ENCROACHES http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25576400
▶ OUR INDUSTRIAL, WESTERN AGRICULTURAL FOOD SYSTEM IS DESTROYING THE EARTH AND OUR HEALTH http://sco.lt/63qRl3
========================
FINANCIALIZING NATURE COULD BANKRUPT US ALL.
OLD ECONOMICS OR SUSTAINING POLICY?
-▶ SHOULD COMPANIES COMPENSATE SOCIETY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION FROM WHICH THEY PROFIT? http://sco.lt/72Hsf3
BAN GMOs NOW
A Special Report, Institute of Science In Society
AN URGENT MEMO TO THE WORLD
The Natural Eye Project
http://thenaturaleye.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/an-urgent-memo-to-the-world/
THE SIXTH MASS EXTINCTION IS UPON US.
CAN HUMANS SURVIVE?
WATCH
"HOME"
Yann Arthus-Bertrand
An Exquisite Dedication To the Stewards of Our Planet
Solutions For A Sustainable Planet
http://thenaturaleye.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/home-an-exquisite-story-of-our-world/
YOU ARE INVITED TO FOLLOW MY NEWS AGGREGATES @pdjmoo
▶ CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY http://www.scoop.it/t/environmental-and-human-health
▶ CLIMATE CHANGE WILL IMPACT US ALL http://www.scoop.it/t/changingplanet
▶ BIODIVERSITY IS LIFE http://www.scoop.it/t/biodiversity-is-life
▶ OUR OCEANS NEED US http://www.scoop.it/t/our-oceans-need-us
▶ OUR FOOD, OUR HEALTH http://www.scoop.it/t/agriculture-gmos-pesticides