The Public Broadcasting Network aired a Center for Investigative Reporting video during the PBS Newshour on February 28. The video is episode 3, “A Land Grab in Ethiopia,” of a series called Food for Nine Billion. Anuak people tell how the government forcibly removed them from their homelands so that foreign agro-industrial investors can plant food and fuel crops for export. The problem is examined from the point of view of feeding the world’s growing population.
The Bedouin are traditionally a pastoral, semi nomadic Arab people, Indigenous to the Sinai Peninsula and the Negev desert in southern Israel. Today, while most live in towns and villages, they are still considered the “Arab nomads” of Israel -- a minority within the Arab minority -- in the Jewish state. There are an estimated 160,000 Bedouin in Israel, 110,000 of which live the Negev. As one, Sarab Abu-Rabia-Queder remembers growing up among the three distinct cultures in her hometown of Beer Sheva, the largest city in the Negev. Sarab was the first Bedouin woman to earn her Ph.
The BBC World Service is hosting a series of debates on the topic, "Is 'land-grabbing' good for Africa?" The debates are taking place within Africa, with participation from local communities who are experiencing the impacts of foreign agricultural investment. The first debate was held today in Freetown, Sierra Leone, with panelists including representatives of the Sierra Leone minister of agriculture, foreign investors, local activists, and The Oakland Institute.
On February 17, the prime minister of Cambodia signed a sub-decree that protects 480,000 hectares of the Prey Lang forest as a conservation area. Local activists from the Prey Lang Network are celebrating the decision, but remain skeptical of the plans.
Human rights organizations and government institutions of Southeast Asia formed a joint statement after a four-day workshop in Bali, Indonesia, this past November. The workshop was convened by the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission and organized by Forest Peoples Programme and Indonesian NGO SawitWatch, with participation of 60 individuals from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Cambodia.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
