The policy brief “Policy Shift: Investing in Agricultural Alternatives” takes seriously the call for a paradigm shift in favour of investment in agricultural alternatives by identifying a set of ten key policy changes required to support and promote positive alternative investments. The approach adopted is both a normative one, informed by prevailing human rights norms, and an empirical one, informed by practical, on-the-ground examples of positive agricultural investments.
In order to set up the framework for such analysis, four premises or starting points are outlined at the beginning. The brief ends with a discussion as to how these recommendations can feed into existing policy initiatives and regulatory tendencies around agricultural investment, most notably the ongoing discussion on responsible agricultural investment (rai) at the Committee on World Food Security.
Following a press release by the National Union of Mozambican Peasants (UNAC) on February 13, 2014 about the increasing climate of violence the Mozambican rural population currently faces, an international call has been made to express the extreme concern about the widespread systematic violations of the economic and social rights of peasants in Mozambique due to development projects.
According to several reports sustaining the general climate of violence in Mozambique and the deterioration of peace achieved 21 years ago after the civil war in this country, the collective statement urges the Mozambican state to respect and protect the rights of the Mozambican peasants. It recommends to review the current development strategy and to include the Plano Nacional de Apoio a Agricultura do Sector Familiar developed by the UNAC.
In addition to signing the letter, all signing organizations will further request FIAN’s sections in Europe and supporters to send this statement to their governments and to their embassies in Maputo, Mozambique.
Read below the collective statement with signatories in Portuguese (original language) and in English:
A powerful new documentary film “Seeds of discontent” has been launched today October 2, 2013 drawing attention to the role of a Swedish investment firm, Dutch pension fund and Norwegian church endowment in land grabbing in Mozambique. The film, released less than a week before the UN Committee for World Food Security meets in Rome, gives a compelling visual portrait of how investment by private financial players can undermine food security and human rights in developing countries.
The documentary film by director Geoff Arbourne looks at the community of Licole, located in the region where the company Chikweti Forests of Niassa has set up large tree plantations. Chikweti Forests of Niassa is a subsidiary of Global Solidarity Forest Fund (GSFF), a Sweden-based investment fund, co-owned by Dutch pension fund ABP, the Diocese of Västerås (Sweden), and the Norwegian church endowment, OVF.
The documentary film was launched just five days before the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) meets for its 40th round of talks. CFS is an international and intergovernmental platform that seeks to ensure food security and nutrition for all. Transnational Institute (TNI) and FIAN as part of the “Hands off the Land Alliance” are campaigning for effective measures to stop land and resource grabbing, such as the implementation of the Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests, which were adopted by the CFS in 2012. “Seeds of discontent” is a case study of how investors in agriculture that claim to be well-meaning and to apply “responsible” practices can end up fueling land grabs and sowing deep divisions in rural communities such as Licole.
“Cases like this one in Mozambique are happening every day, all over the globe” argues Philip Seufert of FIAN International, member of the Hands off the Land Alliance. “Communities are confronted with investors who arrive and promise a lot to them: jobs, ‘development’, money, a bright future. But what really happens, then, is that communities find their valuable land no longer available for farming, people have to work under bad conditions for the investors, communities get divided against each other, and all nice promises turn out to be empty. The people of Niassa have to be able to realize their right to adequate food and to live a life in dignity. While the Mozambican state has the main responsibility to ensure this, European home states of foreign investors carry responsibilities as well.”
“The beautiful and uncommon intimacy of the footage provided a powerful palette for the film”, Geoff Arbourne says about the film. “In just a few weeks we witnessed the dangers and disappointments of these kinds of investment deals and saw how the experience of one forestry company affected people’s attitudes, hopes and dreams”.
See more background on the case of Licole here at the Seeds of Discontent website.
Click here to watch the trailer of the documentary film.
While many governments and civil society supported the negotiation of a declaration, the USA and some European states, as well as Korea and Japan remain opposed.
The international peasant movement La Via Campesina, which represents around 200 million peasants all over the world, together with other civil society organizations, has been calling upon the UN to adopt a declaration on the rights of peasants for many years. FIAN has supported this process since the beginning. With the first session of the intergovernmental working group, the process towards the adoption of a UN declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas enters into a new phase. The working group was established through a resolution of the Human Rights Council passed in October of last year, and was given the mandate to negotiate a draft declaration to be presented to the Human Rights Council.
While a majority of countries supported a declaration, others, especially the USA and several EU member states, decided not to engage in negotiations. They pointed to procedural matters and to concerns that new rights might be established. They also raised doubts about the need for an instrument to protect peasants specifically. This despite the fact that over two days renowned experts and representatives of peasant organizations and other small-scale food producers presented overwhelming evidence about the importance of peasants to feed the world and the extreme discrimination faced by rural populations.
FIAN finds unacceptable the fact that some states question that the protection of peasants and small-scale food producers, who are disproportionately affected by hunger and malnutrition, is a human rights issue. “From our longstanding experience, we can not only say that peasants’ rights are human rights, but also underline that the problems faced by peasants and other people living in rural areas are genuine human rights issues and not merely economic or political conflicts,” underlined Philip Seufert from FIAN International.
The protection of the most vulnerable and marginalized people should be at the heart of the human rights agenda, and is key for states to comply with their obligations under international human rights law. Therefore, all states should contribute to this process in a constructive spirit.
The next session of the working group will take place in 2014. In the interim, Bolivia, as the chair, will hold informal consultations with all stakeholders, including governments, peasant organizations and other civil society organizations, in order to elaborate a new draft declaration that will serve as the basis for further negotiations.
During the session, FIAN called upon states to use the aspirations of the rights holders as the starting point for the negotiations. Philip Seufert underlines that “reality on the ground clearly shows that there is an urgent need to take strong action in order to address the precarious human rights situation of many rural communities. We should not forget that the protection of peasants and other small-scale food producers is not only necessary for them, but for all humanity.”
The Swedish development agency, Sida, has promoted and financed the establishment of tree plantations in Niassa. In addition, the responsible company, Chikweti Forests of Niassa is a subsidiary of the Swedish-based Global Solidarity Forest Fund (GSFF).
In late September, a delegation of peasants from Mozambique toured Europe in support of their claims. The delegation of the national peasant union, UNAC, met with government representatives and investors in Sweden and other countries in order to explain the problems they are facing and articulate their demands.
While some authorities and investors that stand behind Chikweti have showed a willingness to meet the demands of the delegation, the human rights violations in Niassa have not yet been addressed and the affected communities are still suffering.
Therefore, UNAC has requested that FIAN continue to increase the pressure on the Swedish government to address the demands of the communities, i.e., to conduct a human rights assessment of Swedish development aid to Mozambique, to regulate investors operating from Sweden and to introduce a monitoring mechanism to track business enterprises’ activities.
To that end, FIAN International is extending this urgent action through April 30, 2013. Please join us in supporting the Niassa community.
16 October 2012 – On this World Food Day, FIAN International, a human rights organization, asks the public to take a stand for the rights of Mozambican peasants experiencing right to food violations at the hands of European investors.
Mozambique is one of the poorest countries of the world. Around 35 % of Mozambican households are chronically food insecure and 46 % of all children below 5 years are malnourished.
In order to boost development, the Mozambican government and donors have been actively promoting large-scale private investment in tree plantations. According to recent figures, six companies are operating on a total project area of 550,000 hectares (ha).
Chikweti Forests, a subsidiary of Global Solidarity Forest Fund (GSFF), a Sweden-based investment fund, has established tree plantations on 13,000 ha in Niassa province.
While Chikweti announced that it would provide jobs, the jobs created are scarce, instable and not well paid, and thus do not provide alternative sources of livelihood, according to FIAN International’s report ‘The human rights impacts of tree plantations in Niassa province, Mozambique.’
"Peasant communities in the area have seen their access to land for food production diminished and fear that the environmental consequences of the fast growing pine and eucalyptus trees, present a growing threat to water supplies, soil conditions and biodiversity," said Philip Seufert, of FIAN International and author of the report
As small-scale agriculture is the main source of livelihood in the region, these factors have a huge impact on the rural population and put peasants at risk of food insecurity. Their rights to adequate food and water, as recognized by the United Nations and Mozambican law, are violated.
"All are affected, but especially women," said Rita João Rezuane, a representative of the peasants. "They perform all the work in the house and in the fields, and they are responsible for cooking and fetching water. Because the plantations are surrounded by fences, which the people are not allowed to cross, the women must walk all around them to fetch fire wood and, in the future, water. They have to travel much longer distances."
An investigation by the Mozambican government in 2010 confirmed the complaints of the local population. However, so far, no adequate and effective measures have been taken.
Even though the main responsibility for the violations of the right to food of the affected people lies with the Mozambican state, Sweden carries responsibilities as well. The Mozambican peasant organization, UNAC, which supports the affected communities, has therefore requested FIAN to address the Swedish government.
A delegation of three representatives of Mozambican peasants’ organizations recently toured Europe, meeting with politicians, investors and journalists to alert them to the situation in Niassa and articulate their demands.
"It was good to deliver our message in person," said Júlio Dos Santos Pêssigo, a peasant member of the delegation. "It is now extremely crucial for the public to let the Swedish authorities know that they support us, the peasants, in our quest to defend our right to food by holding them accountable for the actions of Chikweti Forests."
More information:
FIAN International calls on the public to support the Mozambican peasants’ struggle for their rights to land and food by asking the Swedish foreign ministry, the ministry for trade and the ministry for international development cooperation: – for a human rights impact assessment of the forest policy promoted by the Swedish development aid in Mozambique, and the Chikweti project in particular; – for the adoption of effective measures to ensure cessation of violations of the right to food and land in Niassa, including the regulation of the GSFF; and – for the introduction of a monitoring mechanisms to track companies’ activities and to receive complaints from local communities and human rights defenders.
More particularly, it looks at the impacts of the operations of Chikweti Forests of Niassa on the local population in the districts of Lago, Lichinga and Sanga.
The company Chikweti Forests of Niassa has established tree plantations on 13,000 hectares in Niassa. Backed by Dutch pension fund ABP, Swedish development aid money and a number of Nordic churches, Chikweti said it would deliver jobs, environmental protection and community development to an impoverished region. In reality, the economic, social and cultural rights of local peasants were trampled and the situation is likely to aggravate, says the report ‘The human rights impacts of tree plantations in Niassa province, Mozambique.’
Last year the tree monocultures in Niassa already caused some political turmoil in the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, the home states of the institutions investing in Chikweti Forests of Niassa. The affected communities accused the companies of grabbing more land than agreed upon, job opportunities failed to materialize and working conditions on the plantations were below standard.
Investors rushed in to apologize and promised improvements, and management was replaced in an attempt to silence the critics. However, the situation has not improved. “Peasant communities in the area have seen their access to land for food production diminished and fear that the environmental consequences of the fast growing pine and eucalyptus trees, that present a growing threat to water supplies, soil conditions and biodiversity,” said Philip Seufert, of FIAN International and author of the report.
As small-scale agriculture is the main source of livelihood in the region, these factors have a huge impact on the rural population and put peasants at risk of food insecurity. Their rights to adequate food and water, as recognized by the United Nations and Mozambican law, are impaired. Given the planned expansion of the plantations, a further deterioration of the situation is more than likely.
A delegation with three representatives of peasants’ organizations in Mozambique is visiting six European countries 26 September – 13 October to draw attention to the situation in Niassa. They will meet with politicians, investors, journalists and the general public to explain the problems they are facing and articulate their demands. The delegation will visit the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Poland, Norway and Sweden.
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Download the report ‘The human rights impacts of tree plantations in Niassa province, Mozambique below
The press is invited to interview the members of the delegation. Below you will find the contact person in each country. For more information on the report, contact Philip Seufert at FIAN International.
FIAN International Philip Seufert Seufert [at] fian.org
