Resource Conflicts over Arable Land in Food Insecure States: Creating an United Nations Ombudsman Institution to Review Foreign Agricultural Land Leases

Gottingen Journal of International Law, Vol. 3, No. 1, p. 283, 2011

34 Pages Posted: 1 Oct 2011

Date Written: September 30, 2011

Abstract

This paper argues that in food insecure states the recent flurry of land leasing activity to foreign agribusiness is likely to lead to unintended long term consequences for the ecology in land-leasing States by depleting the already fragile environment through monocropping, chemical pesticide and fertilizer applications, and large scale irrigation. The current proposals for self-regulatory voluntary codes of conduct do not provide sufficient oversight over the leasing process to protect the public’s interest in a healthy and productive environment against foreign investors who have under the current lease structure no incentive to improve the land that they are leasing. The creation of an United Nations based ombudsman to provide legal and technical oversight and support for States making long-term leases has greater potential than a voluntary code for ensuring a balanced negotiation among the interests of host State governments for investment, investors for arable land, and the public for long-term environmental sustainability.

Keywords: Long term leases, foreign agribusiness, food security, codes of conduct, ombudsman

Suggested Citation

Telesetsky, Anastasia, Resource Conflicts over Arable Land in Food Insecure States: Creating an United Nations Ombudsman Institution to Review Foreign Agricultural Land Leases (September 30, 2011). Gottingen Journal of International Law, Vol. 3, No. 1, p. 283, 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1936017

Anastasia Telesetsky (Contact Author)

University of Idaho ( email )

875 Perimeter Drive
Moscow, ID 83844
United States

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