A comparison of the regional dynamics of large-scale land aquisitions or land-grabbing in Australia, South America and South East Asia

• Grant number: 15/50307-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: March 01, 2016
• End date: February 28, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Agreement: University of Sydney
• Principal Investigator: Antonio Thomaz Júnior
• Grantee: Antonio Thomaz Júnior
• Principal researcher abroad: Alana Mann
• Institution abroad: University of Sydney, Australia
• Host Institution: Instituto de Políticas Públicas e Relações Internacionais (IPPRI). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This comparative research agenda-setting initiative focuses on the regional dynamics of large-scale land acquisitions or land grabbing in three key world regions: Australasia (Australia), Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam) and South America (Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile and Colombia). The research team, comprised of members with expertise in each region, aims to compare the responses of, and tensions between, actors engaged in conflicts over disputes of territorial development models in each geo-political context - actors including peoples' movements, governments, NGOs, foreign investors and agribusiness corporations. Through interrogation and comparison of the different policies, debates and resistance to changing modes of land use, ownership and governance in each region, the researchers propose to establish a collaborative research agenda that theorizes the contextual nature of contemporary land deals and disputes in the context of converging food, fuel, climate and financial crises. Applying political economy, political ecology, geographical and sociological approaches in their analyses of intersecting issues including food security, food sovereignty, local development, gender inequality, indigenous land rights, energy production and environmental protection, the team will build on their region-specific expertise to make a vital contribution to deepening and broadening cross-regional understandings of the dynamics of the international politics of large-scale land acquisition, and the framing of alternatives by members of civil society. (AU)