The G8 and Land Grabs in Africa The G8, several African
governments and transnational corporations such as Cargill came
together in 2012 to form the “New Alliance for Food Security and
Nutrition”. Cooperation framework, an agreement that forms part
of the New Alliance, binds the African governments involved to
reform land laws to facilitate foreign investment. As part of
the agreement, foreign companies promise to invest heavily in
agricultural expansion and development. At the beginning of this
year, the government of Cote D’ivoire leased the grain trader
Louis Dreyfus 100,000-200,000 hectares of land for rice
production. These steps are the G8’s response to the global food
crisis. However, these dealings force thousands of local
communities and farmers off their land; undermine local food
markets and lead to the destruction of livelihoods and the
deepening of food insecurity. There are no policy obligations in
the New Alliance to ensure the protection of peasants’ and
farmers’ human rights or land rights. I