Land grabs are not only plunging affected communities into poverty; it’s also bad for business. Shona Hawkes, Sustainable Food Advocacy Coordinator, is in Chiang Mai. Shona is joining hundreds of people from across Asia at the Land Deals Politics Initiative (LDPI) conference to better understand how, and why, land grabbing is happening — and more importantly, what can be done to stop it.
Illovo is the latest food and beverage company to adopt a zero tolerance land grabs policy. Will it follow through in practice? The company sources from countries where land tenure is complex. It can’t go it alone or cut corners. It’ll need to enlist the support of others to help, and recognise it’s just beginning a journey.
People often tell us that the bank response to their email about land grabs is confusing and full of jargon. Lately we’ve had a lot of questions about ANZ. Below is a recap of what ANZ has done, and not done, since Oxfam launched its Banking on Shaky Ground report in April.
Together, we’ve been campaigning for six months to have Australia’s Big 4 Banks change their policies to land grabs. In the past two weeks both NAB and Westpac have taken steps to reduce their risk of backing companies involved in land grabs. Now, the pressure is on the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the ANZ Bank.
Westpac and National Australia Bank (NAB) have become the first of the big four banks to release a policy on land grabs — a significant step forward to stop unfair land deals that leave people around the world homeless and hungry.
Over the course of a year, Oxfam has spent hundreds of hours researching and documenting links between Australia’s big banks and multinational agriculture and timber businesses that are land grabbing in some of the world’s poorest communities. Since our report was issued both the NAB and Westpac have developed policies to better respond to the issue of land grabs.
Some pointers for those wanting to take action A number of Oxfam supporters with shareholdings in the big four banks have approached us for information about the upcoming series of big bank Annual General Meetings (AGMs) being held in the lead-up to Christmas. Below is a Q & A about these AGMs, and how bank […]
On 5 July we heard that Cambodia’s Phnom Penh Sugar – a company implicated in various human rights abuses including forced evictions, food shortages and child labour – has suddenly repaid its loan to ANZ. ANZ now claims that it has no responsibility to support justice for affected communities, despite financing a notorious sugar plantation […]
In response to the allegations made in Oxfam Australia’s report, Banking on Shaky Ground, the ANZ bank has responded with a disappointing series of feeble denials. In the face of specific and well substantiated allegations of support for companies that are land grabbing, providing inadequate compensation and employing child labour, the ANZ has replied saying […]
Is your bank involved in land grabbing in some of the poorest communities overseas? Oxfam’s report, Banking on Shaky Ground, details four case studies involving each of the big four banks; these outline personal stories of those affected by land grabs. We have stories from across the world, including nineteen-year-old Christophilda who lives in Turubu Bay […]