Legitimacy and accountability in the global governance of large-scale agricultural land investments

ABSTRACT

This article examines the international regulatory framework for large-scale agricultural land investments (‘LSALIs’). Population growth, natural resource scarcity, and the financial and food price crises have made financial actors revise their long-held hesitation towards direct investment in farmland. Although these investments could inject much-needed capital into rural areas, LSALIs have been connected with grievous human rights violations and environmental degradation. This article finds that the instruments designed to promote socially and environmentally responsible LSALIs have increasing levels of legitimacy but lack accountability mechanisms. As a result, the emerging regulatory framework for LSALIs does not create the balance required between protecting investors from host state interference and ensuring socially and environmentally responsible agricultural investments.

KEYWORDS:

• Large-scale land investments
• international investment law
• land grabbing
• legitimacy
• accountability

Notes

1. The Land Matrix is a global and independent land monitoring tool. Information is sourced from researchers, activists, practitioners, government departments, journalists, and companies and is coordinated by NGOs and research institutions. The land matrix is funded by its partners (International Land Coalition, Centre for Development and Environment; Centre de Cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement, GIAA (German Institute of Global and Area Studies), and GIZ a federal enterprise owned by German Federal Government) and external sources including Oxfam, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Commission, etc. The data, while potentially the most comprehensive and objective available, have severe limitations because land-deals may lack transparency and public participation.