The grab of the world's land and water resources

Abstract

In this paper, I review recent developments in global political economy and political economy of development that have captured inter alia the attention of agrarian political economists. I do so through the periscope of two recent publications by Fred Pearce, Great Britain's leading eco journalist and an edited volume by Tony Allan, Martin Keulertz, Suvi Sojamo and Jeroen Warner, scholars trained in different disciplines and based at various universities in the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland. The account of the pace, places, and perpetrators, procedures, and problems of this particular agrarian model provides fodder for the further development of a locus classicus on what is happening to the land question in this current moment under the capitalist order, a shorthand for which is 'water and land grab'.

The Meaning, Prospects, and Future of the Commons: Revisiting the Legacies of Elinor Ostrom and Henry George

“…Yet, driven by the quest to disprove the “tragedy of the commons,” she turns her attention mainly to the internal forces of change. Ostrom ignores growing contemporary land and water grabs that have left many hungry, dispossessed, landless, and climate stricken (Elhardary and Obeng‐Odoom ; Obeng‐Odoom , ). For Ostrom and most of her followers, changes outside the commons constitute no problem as long as they do not emanate from internal overexploitation.…”

“…Generally, the economic organization of such indigenous systems supported the welfare of their people. Research reveals four important insights about such economies (Hill ; Ciriacy‐Wantrup and Bishop ; Obeng‐Odoom , , ). First, detailed local knowledge of the environment enabled the society to devise the most appropriate tools for work.…”

“…These matters are examined in detail in Private Property : The History of An Idea (Schlatter ). In modern times, particularly in Africa, tracts of land and bodies of water have been enclosed or “grabbed” through such processes, too, and a combination of them (Obeng‐Odoom )—a process that is ongoing with catastrophic consequences for economy, society, and environment. In Madagascar, for example, there was a coup d’état to protest the continuing privatization of the commons; many have died as a result of being denied access to the commons, indeed being removed from the commons, in turn, becoming landless, homeless, and hopeless (Obeng‐Odoom , ).…”

Oil, capitalism, and crises

“…Positioning the State, Land and Society in Foreign Large-Scale Land Acquisitions in Africa [17]. These books document the pace and places, perpetrators, procedures, problems, proposals, and prospects of land grabbing, recently labelled the '6 Ps of land grabbing' ( [18], p. 529) for biofuels. These point to design but also systemic reasons about the nature of biofuel capitalism.…”