Ethiopians talk of violence and land grabs as their homes are. Dec 01, 2011 another oi finding contained in its country report on ethiopia and that has raised eyebrows is that up to 75 percent of land grab investors in gambela affiliated with the tplf. The land is not only a vital livelihood asset but also indispensable for the enjoyment of several human rights including the right to life, the right to food, the right to housing, the right to property, the right to development, and the right to selfdetermination. It represented the issue of power and governance in ethiopia, as land was the major source of income and livelihood in this. If a global land rush is at hand, gambellas rift will not be the last. However, for the purpose of fra report these two categories are separated.
O ne of the problems with socalled land grabs is secrecy. Breaking the silence against forced displacement in ethiopia, a report from the california. This paper explores indian land acquisitions in ethiopia and tries to evaluate whether these investments are aimed to address. Land rights, holding rights, expropriation, largescale agricultural investment summary from time immemorial, land had been controlled by the elite kings and their trusted followers in ethiopia. The phenomenon of large scale land acquisition has increased in recent years. It is widely perceived that tigrayans receive beneficial treatment in relation to investment are given land freely and. Gambela agriexport land dispossessions, ethiopia ejatlas. Ethiopia cancels concession for karaturi land grab cultural. The terms of ethiopias land deals and how they are enforced are subject to the will of zenawi, who was reelected last year by 99.
The most common form of land degradation in ethiopia is soil erosion by water. It further examines alternative policy, legislative, institutional and implementation mechanisms, and makes recommendations deduced from a thorough analysis of. A considerable volume of information has been produced since the mid1980s regarding soil erosion in ethiopia barbier 1989. The federal democratic republic of ethiopia ministry of w. Sep 16, 20 a journalists visit to south omo, where rights groups say police have raped women and otherwise pressured locals to leave an area tagged to become a huge sugar plantation, was quickly curtailed.
Jan 18, 2012 ethiopia is forcing tens of thousands of people off their land so it can lease it to foreign investors, leaving former landowners destitute and in some cases starving, human rights watch has said. Th is policy and the att endant land administration practices have drawn impassioned debates over the years, to the extent of holding it responsible for all failures in the overall socioeconomic development of urban centers. Attempts to modernize land ownership by giving title either to the peasants who till the soil, or to largescale farming programs, have been tried under imperial rulers like emperor haile selassie, and under marxist regimes like the derg, with mixed results. Total area of ethiopia agricultural land in ethiopia. This study is conducted in order to shed light on and investigate the welfare situation for people affected by these investments. Some 63 percent of the forestland is located in oromiya, followed by southern nations, nationalities and. In this article i will expose the name and picture of zenawis henchman and the contractual document he signed with the indian agro giant, karuturi global.
Land use dynamics, access, farm size, and fragmentation. In ethiopia, foreign investment is a fancy word for. Population growth and cultivated land in rural ethiopia. Landgrabbing and the right to adequate food in ethiopia 2019 saflii. They say it is for development, but they are clearing the forests. Land governance and the environment building the capacity hanoi, vietnam, 1922 october 2009. In ethiopia, foreign investment is a fancy word for stealing land. Pdf patterns of agrarian transformation in ethiopia. Daniel weldegebriel ambaye, ethiopia land valuation for expropriation in ethiopia. According to a 2004 study, ethiopia has some 60 million hectares of land covered by woody vegetation of which nearly 7 percent is forestland. In ethiopia, more land grabs, more indigenous people. Ethiopia attracts investors with its cheap labor and fertile land. Today, new scrambles are afoot from brazil and nigeria, to ethiopia and indonesia.
The suffering of farmers in ethiopia, especially in oromia, benishangul, somali and gambella regions is going from worse to the worst in ethiopia as a result of inequitable land acquisitions, better called by neocolonial land grabbing, by foreign investors in the name of lease by the ethiopian regime. This deal is the largestever of its kind in southeast asia. The report draws on a fourpronged methodology combining both. Please stay safe, strong and heed public health advisories. Ethiopia is forcing tens of thousands of people off their land so it can lease it to foreign investors, leaving former landowners destitute and in some cases starving, human rights watch has. Land rights and land grabbing in oromia, ethiopia article in land use policy 703. Summary of 2000 and 2005 data as taken from the wbispp report. The impact of land laws, industrial development, villagization and landgrab in rural areas abstract the objective of this thesis is to examine rural populations access to land in ethiopia, in the light of land regulations and different obstacles. Project affected persons paps means persons who, for reasons of the involuntary taking or voluntary contribution of their land andor other assets as a result of the ulgdp project investments, suffer direct economic andor social adverse impacts. Land grabbing in ethiopia ethiopia news and politics. I wonder how to reconcile development with forest destruction.
Other countries like sudan, kenya, nigeria, tanzania, malawi, congo, zambia, uganda, madagascar, zimbabwe, mali, sierra leone, ghana are under the trap of land grabbing where british firms have secured tracts of land in angola, ethiopia, mozambique, nigeria and tanzania to grow flowers and vegetables. Some 63 percent of the forestland is located in oromiya, followed by southern nations, nationalities and peoples region snnp 19% and gambella 9%. Indeed, the ethiopian government is attemptin g to. A journalists visit to south omo, where rights groups say police have raped women and otherwise pressured locals to leave an area tagged to become a huge sugar plantation, was quickly curtailed by authorities. Ethiopians talk of violence and land grabs as their homes. The brutal reality of ethiopia s new sugar wars ethiopia s mursi tribe says they were imprisoned and tortured to protect chinese sugar plantations. We are working remotely and continue to stand by our partner communities.
Jul 14, 2011 the ethiopian times 148 carried an article examining ethiopias land grab, and the dispossession of tens of thousands if not millions eventually of ethiopian citizens, under the 20year old authoritarian and brutal regime of prime minister meles zenawi, which is leasing ethiopian land for up to 99 years to foreign businesses and governments without any significant consultation. In analyzing conflicts of such nature, it is important to combine the historical. According to borra s and franco 2012 a land grab is the power to control large qu antities of land and landed resources fo r capital accumulation i n response to food sec urity crises. Some of the youngsters in ethiopia kits might find themselves spurred to resist the government, like mr okello and the nairobi refugees. Feb 25, 20 indian land grabs in ethiopia show dark side of southsouth cooperation the takeover of peoples land and water by corporations even if they are from the global south is a new form of. The ethiopian highland studies revealed that the ethiopian highlands, which cover 44% of the countrys. In ethiopia, more land grabs, more indigenous people pushed out. To encourage widespread industrialized agriculture in these areas, the ethiopian government is depriving smallscale farmers, pastoralists and indigenous people of arable farmland, access to water points, grazing land, fishing and hunting grounds. Causes of flawed expropriation laws and land grabs in ethiopia. Land rights and land grabbing in oromia, ethiopia request pdf.
Ownership, equity, and liberty in land use rights daniel weldegebriel ambaye, ethiopia key words. It represented the issue of power and governance in ethiopia, as land was the major source of. Low woodland and shrub land are included in other land category in the wbispp report. Land expropriation and the emerging largescale land transfer to investors in ethiopia have farreaching adverse impacts on the livelihood of rural populations and the environment abdo, 2015, ambaye, 20, tura, 2017, grant, 2015. Another oi finding contained in its country report on ethiopia and that has raised eyebrows is that up to 75 percent of land grab investors in gambela affiliated with the tplf. Apr 23, 2012 according to a 2004 study, ethiopia has some 60 million hectares of land covered by woody vegetation of which nearly 7 percent is forestland. Transnational land acquisitions or land grabs have led to significant. Using a qualitative research design, based on a literature study, the following topics will be. Valuation methods and adequacy of compensation 7th fig regional conference spatial data serving people. Land grabbing is the major source of military, political, and economic powers of successive regimes of ethiopia. The result of the land policy is that prior to recent attempts by the government to promote. The problem of land reform in ethiopia has hampered that countrys economic development throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries.
The architect of ethiopias land grab policy is none other than meles zenawi, but we must not forget that there are many sold outs that perform the day to day activities of the land sale. During the interviews, the landgrab affected people dismissed the government justification that all land in ethiopia belongs to the state, and strongly argued that the land grabbing policy was intended to deprive communities of their landuse rights, destroy traditional farming methods and knowledge, and displace them from their ancestral lands and natural environment. Ethiopian officials have revoked land leases in addis ababa that were held by dozens of investors, including ethiopianborn saudi billionaire mohammed hussein alamoudi. In addition to the international driv ers of the land grab, in ethiopia the state play s a key role in promoting agricultural investment. On december 28, 2015 ethiopias agricultural ministry revoked their contract with karuturi global limited, an indian company who in 2010 won a concession for 100,000 hectares of land to be developed for industrial agriculture for export in the gambella region of southern ethiopia, home to the indigenous anuak, mezenger, nuer, opo, and komo peoples. Others might embrace a job at saudi star, maybe rising to run the farm. Ethiopia as a nation, defining it as an obsolete empirestate, a prison house of peoples. Jan 28, 2016 gebar land tenure system in the south as well as the rist tenure system of north ethiopia during imperial regime shows some resemblance to the current land tenure system and with some reservations also it resembles that of the military regime, with the exceptions that the communal rist system is replaced by the organs of state, i. Grab today announced that it has acquired ubers southeast asia operations.
Area of agricultural lands arable land, permanent crops, permanent meadows and pastures. Land rights and land grabbing in oromia, ethiopia sciencedirect. Africa land grab recent articles and reports on african. European involvement in land grabbing with a particular look at uganda. Economics of land degradation and improvement in ethiopia. In the past decade, almost 50m hectares of land have been leased or bought from individuals, communities and governments in the global south for the largescale production of biofuels, food, forest resources, industrial goods.
Ethiopias remote gambela region and lower omo valley are being rapidly converted to commercial agricultural investment centres. They clear all land, choose the best place where trees are, leaving the area open. Ethiopia mercator projection, 720n 0 50 100 150 kilometers 0 50 100 150 miles boundary representation is not necessarily authoritative. Ethiopian land reform founded many generations ago by a chief father, 5 and it is from this chief father that most rights over land or tribute from land.
The impact of land laws, industrial development, villagization and land grab in rural areas abstract the objective of this thesis is to examine rural populations access to land in ethiopia, in the light of land regulations and different obstacles. The gambela region covers 2,978,200 hectares and has a population of 307,096, according to 2007 ethiopian census data. Land grabbing and human rights transnational institute. Posted in analysis, ethiopia, featured, news tagged ethiopia land grab, ethiopia political prisoners, karuturi crop ethiopia destroyed, karuturi gambella, karuturi global ltd. The development bank of ethiopia suspending loans for commercial farms because of the failure of numerous farms in gambella, where the bank was even tricked into giving two loans for a single agriculture project. Yet officials hint that the government wants to promote huge farms. Recent estimates using satellite imagery show that land degradation hotspots over the last three decades cover about 23 % of the land area in the country.
In october 2009, ldc bioenergia of louis dreyfus commodities merged with. Land lease policy in addis ababa l and lease policy in addis ababa 7 the urban land management system and identifying issues and problems underlying the gap between supply and demand. Land lease policy in addis ababa ethiopian, chamber. Such accounts threaten to dent the image of ethiopia.
It focuses on the household level, where most adaptation and coping strategies are implemented. Pdf much of the literature on the land grab has thus far focused on the. Indian land grabs in ethiopia show dark side of south. The ethiopian times 148 carried an article examining ethiopias land grab, and the dispossession of tens of thousands if not millions eventually of ethiopian citizens, under the 20year old authoritarian and brutal regime of prime minister meles zenawi, which is leasing ethiopian land for up to 99 years to foreign businesses and governments without any significant consultation. A journalists visit to south omo, where rights groups say police have raped women and otherwise pressured locals to leave an area tagged to become a. Land grab literature suggests that land grabbing is often a phenomenon to address food security problems in the investor or host country cotula et al. The impact of land grabbing in ethiopia is manifested through five interconnected factors that the regime has designed to sustain its military, political and economic powers in order to protect its brutal and savage governance system for the next quarter or half a century. Government of ethiopia the tplf regime is owner of the land, but the rights of individuals and communities are holding use rights proclamation no.
The victims of land grabbing and displacement are given a rare voice in we say the land is not yours. Apr 14, 2015 the victims of land grabbing and displacement are given a rare voice in we say the land is not yours. See foreign direct investment in the agricultural sector in ethiopia, ecofair trade dialogue. Soil erosion is indeed considered the most significant environmental challenge to the food security of the population and future development prospects of the country wagayehu 2003. The area is the focus of a drive by the government of ethiopia to attract foreign investors to its agricultural sector through tax holidays, duty. Grab will integrate ubers ridesharing and food delivery business in the region into grab s existing multimodal transportation and fintech platform. Think tank deplores ethiopia land grab deals the oakland. Though i was predisposed toward the ethiopia i had studied since the late 1950s, i appreciated that within its.
Situated in the horn of africa, ethiopia is bordered by eritrea to the north, sudan to the west, kenya to the south, somalia to the east and djibouti to the northeast. Ethiopia cancels concession for karaturi land grab january 24, 2016 on december 28, 2015 ethiopias agricultural ministry revoked their contract with karuturi global limited, an indian company who in 2010 won a concession for 100,000 hectares of land to be developed for industrial agriculture for export in the gambella region of southern. Analytical evaluation of effect of current land grabbing policy. Indian land grabs in ethiopia show dark side of southsouth cooperation the takeover of peoples land and water by corporations even if they are from the global south is a new form of. Land degradation is an important problem in ethiopia, with more than 85 % of the land degraded to various degrees. Ethiopia cancels concession for karaturi land grab. How many of each type of land belongs to each man live in the country. Indian land grabs in ethiopia show dark side of southsouth.
May 18, 2011 the push by multinational corporations and foreign governments in recent years to obtain fertile land in african countries such as ethiopia, madagascar and tanzania has spurred debate over whether the move will lead to development or is simply a land grab that further threatens the continents food security. Ethiopia is heavily affected by this and the government is currently. Chapter five examines in detail about recent land investment where, how, and why it is taking place and the magnitude of largescale farmland acquisition in ethiopia based on recent research, and will be followed by the conclusion. Land degradation in ethiopia is a result of complex and interacting processes including adverse changes in soils, water, vegetation, biodiversity, and local climatic resources 58. Oct 17, 2014 in ethiopia, foreign investment is a fancy word for stealing land. There is a current debate regarding the effects of large international investors buying or leasing land in poor countries. Adapting to climate change through land and water management. Section five then relates this emerging pattern of agricultural investment to.