Such a global perspective is not the norm. Land grabs get bad press – for good reasons.
Ahmed Soliman, research assistant on the Horn of Africa at Chatham House, says land grabs put pressure on local communities. “Many of the populations are involved in either subsistence agriculture or very low-level agriculture.
“Taking into consideration what is sustainable for them in terms of how they are able to feed their families and future generations is very important. And when it gets down to national level those concerns are not being met.”
But there may be ways of meeting them.
Prof Jacqueline McGlade, chief scientist of the UN Environment Programme, says: “The kind of investments the Qataris are talking about is a very ‘soft’ power, because they are talking about raising the whole global food production system.
“But in a more aggressive world perhaps there is space for an investment bond that says if things go horribly wrong and you have denuded the land we’re going to use that fund to reinstate some kind of productive farming.”
