The land grabbers: a journey from farm to boardroom
A huge land grab is going on around the world, for food and for profit. Author and journalist Fred Pearce will be talking at Leeds on 21 November about his journey to meet the land grabbers.
According to Fred, the world’s richest and most acquisitive countries, corporations and individuals have spent the past five years buying and leasing foreign fields. Tens of millions of hectares have been gobbled up across the plains of Africa, the paddy fields of southeast Asia, the jungles of South America and the prairies of eastern Europe. The raiders are the super-rich sovereign funds of Gulf oil sheikhdoms, Chinese entrepreneurs, jumpy governments worried about food security in an ever more populated world, and Wall Street and City of London speculators looking for the next big new thing. The victims are the poor peasants and pastoralists of Africa and elsewhere, whose title to the land they work is uncertain and whose power to prevent their governments selling it from beneath them very small.
Fred will talk about his journey to meet with the land grabbers in their board rooms and ministries and with the people they claim will benefit from their investments.
Fred Pearce has been an environment consultant of New Scientist magazine since 1992, reporting from 67 countries. He also writes regularly for the Guardian and Mail on Sunday. His recent books include The Landgrabbers, Peoplequake, The Climate Files, When the Rivers Run Dry, and Confessions of an Eco Sinner. When the Rivers Run Dry was listed among the all-time Top 50 Sustainability Books by the University of Cambridge’s Programme for Sustainable Leadership.
His talk will take place:
On: Wednesday 21 November 2012
At: 5.30-7pm
In: Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre, Michael Sadler Building
There will be a drinks reception from 5pm.
Please note the above location has recently changed from the previous Geography Lecture Theatre due to high demand.
For further details, please contact Louise Walker.