As the world's population soars past 7 billion, farmland and freshwater are becoming increasingly valuable resources.
Critics worry that the trade has spurred a rise in 'land
grabbing'
And, in response, a growing number of companies and investors — Wall Street traders, Chinese state corporations, Gulf sheiks — have been buying up farmland abroad. The trade has been booming since 2007, when a spike in grain prices got everyone fretting about shortages. The purchases help countries like China and Saudi Arabia secure food supplies and conserve water domestically. But critics worry that the trade has also spurred a rise in "land grabs" — when sellers in countries like Ethiopia or Cambodia forcibly acquire the farmland from locals in the first place.
So how big is the trade? A new study in Environmental Research Letters finds that at least 126 countries are now involved in purchasing or selling global farmland. The most active buyers are investors in the United States, China, Britain, Germany, India, and the Netherlands. They're typically seeking out land in South America, Africa, and Asia — particularly Brazil, Ethiopia, Philippines, Sudan, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Tanzania. The trading map looks like this:
It all adds up: In 2013, a separate study
in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences
estimated that between 0.7 percent and 1.75 percent of the world's
agricultural land was now being transferred to foreign investors
from local landholders. That's an area bigger than Germany and
France combined.
read more here
And, in response, a growing number of companies and investors — Wall Street traders, Chinese state corporations, Gulf sheiks — have been buying up farmland abroad. The trade has been booming since 2007, when a spike in grain prices got everyone fretting about shortages. The purchases help countries like China and Saudi Arabia secure food supplies and conserve water domestically. But critics worry that the trade has also spurred a rise in "land grabs" — when sellers in countries like Ethiopia or Cambodia forcibly acquire the farmland from locals in the first place.
So how big is the trade? A new study in Environmental Research Letters finds that at least 126 countries are now involved in purchasing or selling global farmland. The most active buyers are investors in the United States, China, Britain, Germany, India, and the Netherlands. They're typically seeking out land in South America, Africa, and Asia — particularly Brazil, Ethiopia, Philippines, Sudan, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Tanzania. The trading map looks like this:
The
color of the node shows to what extent a country is an importer
(gray) or an exporter of land (red), and the size of the node
represents the number of trading partners. The links represent the
flow of land acquired by an importer from an exporter. Link colors
are that of the importing node. (Seaquist
et al, 2014)
The
top 20 countries in the global land trade network, ordered by the
largest number of trading partners. (Seaquist
et al, 2014)
Why are people buying farmland abroad?
The PNAS study found that foreign investors frequently buy tracts of land that have ample supplies of freshwater, through either local rainfall or underground aquifers. Water has become especially valuable given that supplies are increasingly under strain in countries like China, India, and the United States.read more here
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