Over the heads of local people: consultation, consent, and recompense in large-scale land deals for biofuels projects in Africa

Highly publicised large-scale land deals for biofuels are raising prospects for macro-level benefits in recipient countries, but also carry the threat of appropriation of land and natural resources from the poor local people who depend on these assets. This paper examines the extent to which local p...

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Main Authors: Vermeulen, Sonja J., Cotula, Lorenzo
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Informa UK Limited 2010
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/7021
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author Vermeulen, Sonja J.
Cotula, Lorenzo
author_browse Cotula, Lorenzo
Vermeulen, Sonja J.
author_facet Vermeulen, Sonja J.
Cotula, Lorenzo
author_sort Vermeulen, Sonja J.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Highly publicised large-scale land deals for biofuels are raising prospects for macro-level benefits in recipient countries, but also carry the threat of appropriation of land and natural resources from the poor local people who depend on these assets. This paper examines the extent to which local people are party to land allocation processes, considering both the procedural issues of consultation and consent, and the distributive issues around compensation. Current evidence is that local people's capacity to bargain or give free consent to investments is limited by their lack of access to economic and institutional alternatives. While host governments may offer policy support to local rights and claims, government agencies tend to align with the interests of large-scale investors when tested in real negotiations.
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spelling CGSpace70212025-11-12T06:31:25Z Over the heads of local people: consultation, consent, and recompense in large-scale land deals for biofuels projects in Africa Vermeulen, Sonja J. Cotula, Lorenzo Highly publicised large-scale land deals for biofuels are raising prospects for macro-level benefits in recipient countries, but also carry the threat of appropriation of land and natural resources from the poor local people who depend on these assets. This paper examines the extent to which local people are party to land allocation processes, considering both the procedural issues of consultation and consent, and the distributive issues around compensation. Current evidence is that local people's capacity to bargain or give free consent to investments is limited by their lack of access to economic and institutional alternatives. While host governments may offer policy support to local rights and claims, government agencies tend to align with the interests of large-scale investors when tested in real negotiations. 2010-10 2011-09-12T11:01:36Z 2011-09-12T11:01:36Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/7021 en Open Access Informa UK Limited Vermeulen SJ, Cotula L. 2010. Over the heads of local people: consultation, consent, and recompense in large-scale land deals for biofuels projects in Africa. Journal of Peasant Studies 37(4):899-916.
spellingShingle Vermeulen, Sonja J.
Cotula, Lorenzo
Over the heads of local people: consultation, consent, and recompense in large-scale land deals for biofuels projects in Africa
title Over the heads of local people: consultation, consent, and recompense in large-scale land deals for biofuels projects in Africa
title_full Over the heads of local people: consultation, consent, and recompense in large-scale land deals for biofuels projects in Africa
title_fullStr Over the heads of local people: consultation, consent, and recompense in large-scale land deals for biofuels projects in Africa
title_full_unstemmed Over the heads of local people: consultation, consent, and recompense in large-scale land deals for biofuels projects in Africa
title_short Over the heads of local people: consultation, consent, and recompense in large-scale land deals for biofuels projects in Africa
title_sort over the heads of local people consultation consent and recompense in large scale land deals for biofuels projects in africa
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/7021
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