2nd International conference on Global Land Grabbing

The convergence of global crises in food, energy, finance and the environment has driven a dramatic revaluation of land ownership in the developing world. These processes have given way to global land grabs, or large-scale land acquisitions – either through lease or purchase – by powerful transnational and national economic actors from corporations to national governments and private equity funds.

 The II edition of the International conference on Global Land Grabbing held at Cornell University, Ithaca NY, October 17 – 19, 2012 will discuss  key issues pertaining to global land deals, including:

 o The role of land rights, governance and local and national politics;
 o Implications for labor, the environment and historically vulnerable groups;
 o Resistance and the growing struggle for alternatives to land deals; and
 o The potential for land deals to contribute positively to development through increased production and smallholder incorporation.

The contours of agrarian change are critical to an understanding of contemporary land grabs. As such, conference participants will address the following questions:

 o What changes in broad agrarian structures are facilitating land deals?
 o Are land deals “new” or are they indicative of a return to old strategies of accumulation and development?
 o What is the nature and extent of rural social differentiation – in terms of class, gender, ethnicity – following changes in land use and land property relations as well as organizations of production and exchange?

Information excerpt from the conference program

Read more at:
http://www.cornell-landproject.org/
http://www.future-agricultures.org/