Indigenous Land Rights and Economic Efficiency

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Assessing the encroachment of squatters into Arimae's reservation.Assessing the encroachment of squatters into Arimae's reservation.An interesting piece of news recently came out of Indonesia regarding the need for land and carbon rights for Indigenous Peoples if conservation programs (especially REDD) are to work. One of the higher level politicians announced a new focus by the government to deliver and enforce territorial land rights for forest communities.

Often we hear calls for the recognition of Indigenous Peoples land rights, but what is encouraging about this is the government’s recognition that their lack of land rights is economically inefficient. Because the Indigenous Peoples don’t have legal rights to their land, it is partitioned inefficiently and is not generating the potentially significant economic gain and poverty reduction.

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New York Times profiles African land grabs (2 of 2)

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This is part two of our response to the New York Times article entitled African Farmers Displaced as Investors Move In. In the first part, we explored how land right affects your investment with us. Now we'll look at how different definitions of productive land use is driving development in our partner community Arimae.
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New York Times profiles African land grabs (1 of 2)

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The December 21st New York Times story, African Farmers Displaced as Investors Move In, examines the trend of land acquisition in Africa by foreign governments and corporations.

This is a complex subject involving issues of food security, ethics, politics, and capital markets, among others. While Africa's situation is different than Latin America's, there are some parallels to be drawn from the story.

A topic as controversial as land rights merits two separate blog posts. Here in the first, we'll explore how land rights pertains to our business, and how that affects your investment with us. The next post will go into more depth as the topic relates to our indigenous partner Arimae.

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