Land grabbing violates human rights, impacts environment

An emerging topic of discussion and concern amongst NGOs at the United Nations is that of land grabs. In essence, land grabbing denotes the seizure of power to control land and the resources it contains (e.g., water, minerals, forests) in order to preside over the benefits of its use. According to the Transnational Institute of Policy Studies (TNI), “[L]and grabbing is essentially control grabbing,” and the desire for capital and profit serve as the predominant motivations for the execution of such an acquisition. This hunger for power and profit results in a flagrant disregard for the inherent meaning, utilization, and management of the land that are embedded in the local community.