Media Advisory: Understanding Land Investment Deals in Africa
MEDIA ADVISORY FOR REPORT EMBARGOED UNTIL 11 A.M. EDT, JUNE 8, 2011
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Liam O’Donoghue, [email protected], (415) 901-0111
Brad Tucker, [email protected], (212) 584-5000
Investigations to Expose How Hedge Funds Create Volatility in Global Food Supply with Land Grabs Across Africa
Reports reveal never-before-seen materials connecting financial backers – including U.S universities and pension funds – to land deals responsible for destabilization of food prices, mass displacement and environmental damage
Oakland, CA – According to a series of investigative reports to be released on June 8 by the Oakland Institute, hedge funds and other foreign speculators are increasing price volatility and supply insecurity in the global food system. The reports are based on the actual materials from these land deals and include detailed information of investors, purchase contracts, business plans, and maps never released before now.
The “Understanding Land Investment Deals in Africa” reports will also reveal that these largely unregulated land purchases are resulting in virtually none of the promised benefits for native populations, but instead are forcing millions of small farmers off ancestral lands and small, local food farms in order to make room for export commodities, including biofuels and cut flowers.
New reports and materials on these deals examine on-the-ground implications in several African nations including Ethiopia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Tanzania and South Sudan – and expose contracts that connect land grabs back to institutional investors in these nations and others. In addition to publicly sharing – for the first time - the paperwork behind these deals, the reports demonstrate how common land grabs are and how quickly this phenomenon is taking place. Investors in these deals include not only alternative investment firms like Emergent Asset Management – that works to attract speculators, but also universities including Harvard, Spellman and Vanderbilt.
In 2009 alone nearly 60 million hectares – an area the size of France – were purchased or leased in these land grabs.
WHAT: “Understanding Land Investment Deals in Africa” telephone press conference for media
WHO: The investigative research team will provide an overview of main findings and answer questions.
Anuradha Mittal, the Oakland Institute executive director
Frederic Mousseau, the Oakland Institute policy director
Devlin Kuyek, GRAIN researcher
Obang Metho, Ethiopian leader in exile and member of Solidarity Movement for New Ethiopia
WHEN: 11 am EDT, June 8, 2011
DIAL-IN: In the United States: call 800-894-5910, conference ID 7AFRICA
Outside the United States: call 785-424-1052, conference ID 7AFRICA
These reports, as well as briefs on other aspects of land grabs, are available at http://www.oaklandinstitute.org.
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The Oakland Institute is an independent policy think tank whose mission is to increase public participation and promote fair debate on critical social, economic, and environmental issues (www.oaklandinstitute.org).