Global Citizenship magazine for schools

Throughout history people have searched for and fought over land. It is a source of power and the basic economic engine upon which entire civilizations have been built. For those who secure access to and control over it, land can be a source of great power and prosperity, but for those who lose access, the result can be extreme poverty. 

History Repeating Itself?

An indigenous Mayan women surveys the ruins of her home after she was evicted from her land. Credit: Oxfam

An indigenous Mayan woman surveys the ruins of her home after she was evicted from her land.The struggle over land is a central issue in Scotland’s history. In many ways, the experience of Scotland is similar to countries in the Global South who have experienced colonialism and land dispossession and continue to struggle with land reform today.  The Highland Clearances stand out as a notorious episode which changed the physical and social landscape of Scotland forever, and are a subject well studied within the Scottish curriculum.

“None of the pupils had been aware of the land grab issue before we discussed it. Pupils said they were shocked by the scale and severity of land grabs.  It was great to witness the next generation engage confidently and passionately in discussion – it left me with a feeling of hope for a more sustainable future.”
Sean Meikle, Biology teacher, Inverness Royal Academy

Whilst Scotland may well have moved on from the land rights abuses of the 18th and 19th centuries, many poor communities around the world face a similar scenario today. The increased demand for resources has resulted in a rush for the world’s limited supply of land, with an area of food producing land the size of Loch Ness being sold off every four hours to foreign governments, agribusinesses and investors. These large-scale land deals, also known as land grabs, are happening in countries with serious hunger problems, with thousands of poor communities begin evicted from the land they depend on to meet their basic needs.

The Demand for Land

A combination of recent crises in the food, energy, environmental and financial sectors have led to spike in demand for land.  Many countries do not have enough land to meet the growing food and fuel requirements of their own populations. As a result, investors have begun to seek out cheap farmland in poor countries to grow crops to export back home. In addition, land is now increasingly being viewed as a safe investment in unsure financial times, with investment banks, pension funds and wealthy individuals all adding farmland to their investment portfolios. A major driver of land grabbing is the demand for palm oil, which can be used as a biofuel. It is increasingly being used by countries such as the UK in order to secure energy needs, and to meet green energy targets set by the EU. Palm oil is also an ingredient in approximately 50% of all packaged products on our supermarket shelves, from breakfast cereals and biscuits, to shampoos and cosmetics.

To meet these demands, large areas of land are being cleared of their people and their forests, with profound social, economic, environmental and political consequences.

Whose Rights Count?

For some cultures, land and the resources contained within it are viewed as something which should be shared for the benefit of everyone, whilst for others it is viewed as something that can be owned exclusively for individual gain.

“We were told we only had two – five minutes to leave the land and we couldn’t take our belongings. They burnt everything – we were devastated when they burnt our house down…..The land belonged to my ancestors and grandparents, it was taken away by these business men and landowners."
Indigenous women, Polochic Valley, Guatemala, 2012 (from Trocaire video transcript ‘food not fuel’)

Similarly to Scotland, land in the Global South is characterized by extremely unequal patterns of distribution and ownership, with control over its use in the hands of a very few. Much of the land is ‘legally’ owned by governments and wealthy landlords. Many of the communities who are being forced from their land have lived there for generations and believe the land is theirs, but because they do not possess legal titles, they are often powerless to stop it being sold off to investors.

Women and indigenous communities regularly face discrimination when it comes to owning and accessing land, and are often left out of the decision-making process at all levels. Many of these groups are given no prior warning before being evicted, sometimes violently from their homes and land.

For victims of land grabs, the result is not only loss of homes and belongings, but also their source of food, income, water and medicine - a denial of the most fundamental of human rights.

Land grab and forced eviction of indigenous farmer, Guatemala. Credit: Oxfam

Land and Learning for Sustainability

As our  growing needs and lifestyle requirements here in the Global North are increasingly being met without direct access to the land itself, the close link to land and an understanding of the connection between our own resource use and its social, economic, environmental and political consequences has been diminished.

The themes of power, rights, justice and sustainability which are interwoven throughout this land issue provide an excellent context for learning across the curriculum, enabling young people to consider not only the importance of land in meeting many fundamental human rights, but also the connections between their own lives and those of people living throughout the world. It also offers a focus for learners to consider how they might be able to contribute as active citizens to the development of a more just and sustainable world where power and access to resources are distributed in a more equitable fashion.