Land Grabbing, Investment Principles and Plural Legal Orders of Land Use
Recently, foreign direct investment in land, also termed ‘land grabbing’, has increased significantly in developing countries. In response to growing concerns about its detrimental impacts, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Bank and other multilateral organizations have come forward with two proposals, namely the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (FAO 2012, FAO guidelines), to protect people’s rights, and the Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment that Respects Rights, Livelihoods and Resources (FAO et al. 2010, RAI principles), to make such investments more responsible. One of their central tenets is that investors and host governments respect local people’s existing property rights over land by formalising them in a transparent and participatory manner.The article challenges the two proposals – and thus much of the recent land grab debate – from a legal pluralism perspec...