[E-rundbrief] Info 1580 - Transnational Institute: Land grabbing in Europe

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 1580 - Transnational Institute (TNI, NL): Land 
grabbing and land concentration in Europe.

Bad Ischl, 9.12.2016

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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Land grabbing and land concentration in Europe

Transnational Institute

04 December 2016

Policy briefing

Europe’s young and aspiring farmers will face increasing barriers to 
entry as land is rapidly concentrated in relatively few big farms. 
Land is even more unevenly distributed than wealth. A steep decline in 
Europe’s small farms is underway with damaging consequences for food 
security, employment, and development.

Authors
Sylvia Kay
Projects
Agrarian Justice, Democratising Europe

In discussions on the ‘global land grab’, the popular term to describe 
the rising commercial interest in farmland and the increase in 
large-scale land deals worldwide, Europe is often overlooked. Instead, 
Europe is held up as a showcase for good land governance, where 
well-regulated land markets and sound land investments are assumed to 
prevail. To the extent that the role of Europe in the global land grab 
is addressed, it is through the involvement of European investors and 
policy drivers in land deals in the global South.

This brief aims to fill this research gap by examining the scale, 
scope, drivers and impacts of land grabbing in Europe. Drawing 
together cutting-edge findings from the study Extent of Farmland 
Grabbing in the EU, commissioned by the European Parliament (EP) and 
presented to the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development 
(COMAGRI) in June 2015, it shows that there is significant evidence 
that land grabbing is underway in Europe today.

Land grabbing is however just one element of the ‘land question’ in 
Europe and it is in this sense that the brief draws broader 
connections between the ongoing but still limited process of farmland 
grabbing in Europe and other burning European land issues, not least 
the extreme levels of land concentration observed throughout the EU. 
If left unchecked, there is a danger that land grabbing and land 
concentration, particularly when reinforced by other processes and 
policy biases (e.g. land speculation, land artificialisation, and the 
highly uneven distribution of CAP benefits), will block the entry into 
farming of young and aspiring farmers, while leading to the further 
exit of Europe’s small farmers.

This has real implications for European food security, employment, 
welfare, and biodiversity as with the demise and marginalisation of 
small-scale farming in Europe, the multiple benefits of this type of 
farming system and way of life also disappear. A new approach to land 
governance throughout the EU is called for. The brief ends with a set 
of policy recommendations for reforming European land governance. 
Using insights from the FAO Guidelines on the Responsible Governance 
of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests, the brief argues that a 
fundamental shift in emphasis from a market-based to a human 
rights-based approach to the management of land and associated natural 
resources is required if the EU is to realize the smart, democratic, 
and sustainable land governance framework that European farmers and 
citizens deserve.

The report concludes with several policy recommendations to tackle 
land concentration in the EU and support Europe’s small farms. These 
will be shared and debated  with policymakers, including MEPs and 
representatives from the European Commission, during a day-long 
meeting on December 7th on Access to Land for Farmers in the EU.


Download:
landgrabbing and land concentration in the EU.pdf

https://www.tni.org/en/publication/land-grabbing-and-land-concentration-in-europe


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Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
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