Internationell jordbruksmark till salu - Nationell suveränitet, fattigdomsbekämpning & visionen om en hållbar utveckling
Land GrabbingLarge Scale Investments in Foreign FarmlandPovertySovereigntySustainable DevelopmentFAOThe World BankIFPRIG8 Ministers of Agriculture
During 2008 we experienced an expansion of large scale investments in foreign farmland. This increasing trend has become a political hot-spot, but there is not much research available within the field. Due to a lack of research it remains a vital task to outline the potential effects of this trend. Drawing on existing ideas from some of the main actors within the field, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), The World Bank, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the latest G8 summit on agriculture, four main purposes are set out for this paper. First, to outline some of the underlying mechanisms behind the trend is considered crucial for the understanding of the nature of these investments. Second, this paper reviews how these actors? deals with this trend in relation to one of the core objects in the field of Political Science, namely national sovereignty. Furthermore, this paper examines how existing ideas may affect the global vision of reaching a sustainable development and the global commitment to reduce poverty. Using key concepts of sovereignty, globalization theory, development theory and the green theory as a basis for comparison, this study reaches some interesting findings. Some of the key findings are;- The actors, in the scope of this study, have a common understanding of the trend. Joint commitments and actions can therefore be expected from the international community.- National sovereignty is not considerd when discussing the regulation of the trend. Furthermore, sovereignty is not equally distributed between rich and poor countries.- Based on current ideas about development we will very unlikely be able to reduce poverty and at the same time reach the vision on a sustainable society. The two concepts are currently not compatible.