Large-Scale Land Investments Threaten Water Resources: Oakland Institute
UNITED STATES, OAKLAND, CA — Millions of hectares of fertile land, approximately seven times the size of France, have being snatched up in the developing world since 2007 for large-scale industry and plantations, according to Frederic Mousseau, policy director at the Oakland Institute, a California-based policy think tank.
These large-scale operations are using “huge amounts of water and are taking water away from local farmers, pastoralists, and local communities who rely on this water for livelihoods and their survival,” he told OOSKAnews this week.
“Land grabs are water grabs; there’s no doubt about it,” he added.
In 2011, the Oakland Institute published a report, “Understanding Land Investment Deals in Africa: Land Grabs Leave Africa Thirsty,” which investigated the amount of water required for irrigation on all the land taken in Africa in 2009.
“The volume of water required to cultivate crops on the 40 million hectares of land acquired in Africa in 2009 is an unsustainable stress on the continent’s freshwater supply,” it found.
The organization estimated that 300 to 500 cubic kilometers of water per year would be required, an amount more than twice the volume of water used for all agriculture within the entire continent in 2005.
“When we were doing the research we heard a lot about developing marginal lands, lands not being used, from investors. But our on-the-ground research showed the obvious. The investors are going towards the most fertile land and to the land that has water available,” said Mousseau.
This means they are taking that land from local communities who live off of it, disrupting their way of life and livelihoods. Also, the long-term benefits, like employment, promised by the industries and the governments that sell them the land never materialize, he said.
“People, communities, farmers are told they are going to have development. They are going to have infrastructure, schools, jobs, a better life, and of course, people from the developing world say yes in order to improve their lives.
“But what we have found is that these promises are empty most of the time. They are not on paper. There is no contract, and they are just made to convince people to give away their land, water, and other resources.”
He said the Oakland Institute’s research shows that small-scale farming operations actually employ more people, because in large-scale operations equipment often replaces human jobs. However, this is not formal employment with a traceable paycheck, so it is much more difficult to document.
“So yes, you have more formal employment with wages, but at the end of the day, you have larger numbers of people who are losing their livelihoods, who are losing their sources of food and income,” he said.
This makes people who could once care for themselves and their families dependent on food aid, he added.