SPECIAL REPORTS AND PROJECTS
Bibanja holders petition land probe over Kyankwanzi eviction
Published
6 years agoon
A group of 3,500 Bibanja holders in Kyankwanzi district, who are on the brink of eviction from a three-square mile land in three villages, have petitioned the land probe commission.
The probe has since commenced its public hearing in Kampala, over the contention, with the testimony of the evictees’ representative Ronald Lutakome.
Asked by deputy lead counsel John Bosco Suuza to justify the group’s grievance, Lutakome on Thursday alleged that a one Andrew Tendo, is behind their woes, starting April 2005.
He purported that Tendo solicited the services of some army officers, and claimed the eviction had been endorsed by the army leadership.
The villages are Mbogo-biri, Bugondi, and Kasambya. The land is registered as Singo Block 812 Plot 25 LRV2269 Folio 13.
“A one Kayitambogo came with documents and said he owned the land with Tendo. He came with a one Simon Muhinda and some soldiers. I saw the soldiers dressed in full army gear,” said Lutakome.
“Some soldiers beat the Bibanja holders, especially those who had declined to surrender their Bibanja. They were given a two-month ultimatum to vacate.”
Lutakome said Muhinda claimed the President had directed them to come and take over the land, as a reward for victory in the NRM liberation war.
The witness said, they were compelled to report to Kigando Police Post, and subsequently filed a civil suit at the High Court in Kampala.
Asked by Suuza about the status of the court case, Lutakome responded that from 2005 to date, there were only two appearances and that the case has since stalled, with no explanation from court.
He said they lived peacefully until last year August 17, when misery re-emerged, with Kayitambogo claiming Tendo owned the entire land.
The witness stated that they were prompted to write to the the Kyankwanzi district officials, and inquired whether the three villages had been sold.
Lutakome said a meeting was convened last year on August 29, and in attendance were several bibanja holders. Others in attendance were Muhinda and Tendo, who purportedly lied.
“Tendo said he had lived for long on the land and that he had visible development projects. But this was an outright lie. The meeting was adjourned to September 7, 2017 and we were informed that Tendo’s documents were fake,” stated Lutakome.
-New Vision
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DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS
Statement: The Energy Sector Strategy 2024–2028 Must Mark the End of the EBRD’s Support to Fossil Fuels
Published
1 year agoon
September 27, 2023The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is due to publish a new Energy Sector Strategy before the end of 2023. A total of 130 civil society organizations from over 40 countries have released a statement calling on the EBRD to end finance for all fossil fuels, including gas.
From 2018 to 2021, the EBRD invested EUR 2.9 billion in the fossil energy sector, with the majority of this support going to gas. This makes it the third biggest funder of fossil fuels among all multilateral development banks, behind the World Bank Group and the Islamic Development Bank.
The EBRD has already excluded coal and upstream oil and gas fields from its financing. The draft Energy Sector Strategy further excludes oil transportation and oil-fired electricity generation. However, the draft strategy would continue to allow some investment in new fossil gas pipelines and other transportation infrastructure, as well as gas power generation and heating.
In the statement, the civil society organizations point out that any new support to gas risks locking in outdated energy infrastructure in places that need investments in clean energy the most. At the same time, they highlight, ending support to fossil gas is necessary, not only for climate security, but also for ensuring energy security, since continued investment in gas exposes countries of operation to high and volatile energy prices that can have a severe impact on their ability to reach development targets. Moreover, they underscore that supporting new gas transportation infrastructure is not a solution to the current energy crisis, given that new infrastructure would not come online for several years, well after the crisis has passed.
The signatories of the statement call on the EBRD to amend the Energy Sector Strategy to
- fully exclude new investments in midstream and downstream gas projects;
- avoid loopholes involving the use of unproven or uneconomic technologies, as well as aspirational but meaningless mitigation measures such as “CCS-readiness”; and
- strengthen the requirements for financial intermediaries where the intended nature of the sub-transactions is not known to exclude fossil fuel finance across the entire value chain.
Source: iisd.org
Download the statement: https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-09/ngo-statement-on-energy-sector-strategy-2024-2028.pdf
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SPECIAL REPORTS AND PROJECTS
Will more sovereign wealth funds mean less food sovereignty?
Published
2 years agoon
April 13, 2023- 45% of Louis Dreyfus Company, with its massive land holdings in Latin America, growing sugarcane, citrus, rice and coffee;
- a majority stake in Unifrutti, with 15,000 ha of fruit farms in Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, Philippines, Spain, Italy and South Africa; and
- Al Dahra, a large agribusiness conglomerate controlling and cultivating 118,315 ha of farmland in Romania, Spain, Serbia, Morocco, Egypt, Namibia and the US.
Sovereign wealth funds invested in farmland/food/agriculture (2023)
|
|||
Country
|
Fund
|
Est.
|
AUM (US$bn)
|
China
|
CIC
|
2007
|
1351
|
Norway
|
NBIM
|
1997
|
1145
|
UAE – Abu Dhabi
|
ADIA
|
1967
|
993
|
Kuwait
|
KIA
|
1953
|
769
|
Saudi Arabia
|
PIF
|
1971
|
620
|
China
|
NSSF
|
2000
|
474
|
Qatar
|
QIA
|
2005
|
450
|
UAE – Dubai
|
ICD
|
2006
|
300
|
Singapore
|
Temasek
|
1974
|
298
|
UAE – Abu Dhabi
|
Mubadala
|
2002
|
284
|
UAE – Abu Dhabi
|
ADQ
|
2018
|
157
|
Australia
|
Future Fund
|
2006
|
157
|
Iran
|
NDFI
|
2011
|
139
|
UAE
|
EIA
|
2007
|
91
|
USA – AK
|
Alaska PFC
|
1976
|
73
|
Australia – QLD
|
QIC
|
1991
|
67
|
USA – TX
|
UTIMCO
|
1876
|
64
|
USA – TX
|
Texas PSF
|
1854
|
56
|
Brunei
|
BIA
|
1983
|
55
|
France
|
Bpifrance
|
2008
|
50
|
UAE – Dubai
|
Dubai World
|
2005
|
42
|
Oman
|
OIA
|
2020
|
42
|
USA – NM
|
New Mexico SIC
|
1958
|
37
|
Malaysia
|
Khazanah
|
1993
|
31
|
Russia
|
RDIF
|
2011
|
28
|
Turkey
|
TVF
|
2017
|
22
|
Bahrain
|
Mumtalakat
|
2006
|
19
|
Ireland
|
ISIF
|
2014
|
16
|
Canada – SK
|
SK CIC
|
1947
|
16
|
Italy
|
CDP Equity
|
2011
|
13
|
China
|
CADF
|
2007
|
10
|
Indonesia
|
INA
|
2020
|
6
|
India
|
NIIF
|
2015
|
4
|
Spain
|
COFIDES
|
1988
|
4
|
Nigeria
|
NSIA
|
2011
|
3
|
Angola
|
FSDEA
|
2012
|
3
|
Egypt
|
TSFE
|
2018
|
2
|
Vietnam
|
SCIC
|
2006
|
2
|
Gabon
|
FGIS
|
2012
|
2
|
Morocco
|
Ithmar Capital
|
2011
|
2
|
Palestine
|
PIF
|
2003
|
1
|
Bolivia
|
FINPRO
|
2015
|
0,4
|
AUM (assets under management) figures from Global SWF, January 2023
|
|||
Engagement in food/farmland/agriculture assessed by GRAIN
|
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SPECIAL REPORTS AND PROJECTS
Farmland values hit record highs, pricing out farmers
Published
2 years agoon
November 21, 2022African Women forge bold actions for climate justice at the 2024 Women’s Climate Assembly in Senegal.
Women’s Climate Assembly, 2024: African women vow to protect human and environmental rights amidst an influx of destructive land-based investments on the continent.
UN approves carbon market safeguards to protect environment and human rights
Breaking: West and Central African women meet in Senegal over the climate crisis.
Industrial plantations: stop endangering local farmers, Indigenous knowledge, and food system models – land-grab victims
EACOP: Another community of 80 households has lost its land to the government and Total Energies to construct an oil pipeline.
Breaking: West and Central African women meet in Senegal over the climate crisis.
Carbon offset projects exacerbate land grabbing and undermine small farmers’ independence – GRAIN report
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- African Faith Leaders Demand Reparations From The Gates Foundation.
- GUNS, MONEY AND POWER GRABBED OVER 1,975,834 HECTARES OF LAND; BROKE FAMILIES IN MUBENDE DISTRICT.
- THE SITUATION OF PLANET, ENVIRONMENTAL AND LAND RIGHTS DEFENDERS IS FURTHER DETERIORATING IN UGANDA AS 2023 WITNESSED A RECORD OF OVER 180 ATTACKS.
- A CASE STUDY REPORT ON THE CHALLENGES OF ACCESSING JUSTICE BY VICTIMS OF LAND GRABBING DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE IMPACT ON DISPLACED COMMUNITIES IN UGANDA
- MEDIA STATEMENT ON THE PRESIDENT’S DIRECTIVE STOPPING ILLEGAL EVICTIONS
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Legal Framework
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