‘Failing’ claims on climate targets

of land from Uganda to grow corn and wheat. The deal that really brought the phenomenon to the surface was the former Madagascar government's decision to lease 1.3 million hectares, or half the island's arable land, to the South Korean giant Daewoo for 99 years for biofuel plantations. When it was revealed that Daewoo would pay nothing for the land and would instead barter it for infrastructure projects, President Marc Ravalomanana's administration became the first to fall over 'land grabbing'. The deal has been scrapped. The scramble has its roots in last year's food crisis, which saw a huge spike in the price of staples and in food protectionism, where countries slapped export bans on rice and other foodstuffs. Food was not only more expensive, it was unavailable for a time in many places. Then came the oil price rises. " Oil-rich and water-poor countries suddenly became interested in securing their long-term food supplies, " said Ruth Meinzen-Dick, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington. " Many of these deals were quite secretive and there was no clear benefit for the people living in these areas. " Added to these factors was the historic switch from food to fuel, driven by US subsidies for corn-based ethanol and hasty moves by the EU to set targets to switch from fossil fuels to biofuels which have since been substantially reduced. The IFPRI is calling for a watchdog " with teeth " to ensure there is " informed consent " in poorer countries where land is being leased, as well as respect for African customary law, which is supposed to protect the traditional rights of smallholders. Meinzen-Dick advocates a system that would ensure that, in times of shortage, there would be restrictions on the amount of food exported from foreign-owned land. The irony is that the current trend could be beneficial in some sense as many people believe Africa is in dire need of investment; foreign and domestic spending on agriculture has dipped substantially in the past two decades. The London-based International Institute for Environment and Development rejects the 'land grab' analysis as too simplistic. In a recent report the think-tank argued that there can be an upside if the investments were structured to create " new opportunities ". The report does warn that too much of the land being signed away is " high value " …