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Large-Scale Land Acquisitions in Tanzania: a Critical Analysis of Their Implications on Water Security

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Large-Scale Land Acquisitions in Tanzania: a Critical Analysis of Their Implications on Water Security LARGE-SCALE LAND ACQUISITIONS IN TANZANIA: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THEIR IMPLICATIONS ON WATER SECURITY by Alanna Taylor Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia August 2015 © Copyright by Alanna Taylor, 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... vi ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS USED ................................................. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 1.2 THE ‘LAND RUSH’ ................................................................................................. 2 1.3 THE ROLE OF WATER .......................................................................................... 4 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION ......................................................................................... 6 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROJECT ..................................................................... 6 1.6 CHAPTER OUTLINE .............................................................................................. 7 CHAPTER 2: OVERVIEW OF THE ‘LAND RUSH’: LAND AND WATER GRABBING IN AFRICA ................................................................................................... 9 2.1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 9 2.2 WHAT’S DRIVING THE ‘LAND RUSH’? .......................................................... 10 2.3 HOW MUCH LAND HAS BEEN ‘GRABBED’? ................................................. 14 2.4 PERSPECTIVES ON ‘LAND GRABBING’ ......................................................... 15 2.5 VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES: A WIN-WIN SOLUTION? ................................. 21 2.6 OVERVIEW OF WATER GRABBING ................................................................ 23 2.7 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................... 27 CHAPTER 3: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON WATER SECURITY ......................... 28 3.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 28 3.2 DEFINING ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY & CRITICAL SECURITY .......... 28 3.3 WATER SECURITY: SCARCITY, CONFLICT AND COOPERATION ............ 33 3.4 AN EMERGING CRITICAL WATER SECURITY .............................................. 36 ii 3.5 OPERATIONALISING WATER SECURITY ...................................................... 38 3.5.1 INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ................................... 39 3.5.2 THE WATER-ENERGY-FOOD SECURITY ‘NEXUS’..................................... 42 3.6 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................... 44 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY .................................................................................... 45 4.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 45 4.2 RESEARCH RATIONALE .................................................................................... 45 4.2.1 WHY TANZANIA? ............................................................................................ 46 4.2.2 WHY ECOENERGY? ........................................................................................ 47 4.3 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS .......... 48 4.4 CHALLENGES AND ETHICS OF CONDUCTING FIELDWORK IN SUB- SAHARAN AFRICA .................................................................................................... 54 4.5 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................... 57 CHAPTER 5: OVERVIEW OF PROCESSES SHAPING LARGE-SCALE LAND ACQUISITIONS IN TANZANIA .................................................................................... 58 5.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 58 5.2 AGRICULTURAL INITIATIVES ......................................................................... 58 5.2.1 THE NEW ALLIANCE FOR FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION ............... 59 5.2.2 SOUTHERN AFRICAN GROWTH CORRIDOR OF TANZANIA .................... 61 5.3 BIOFUEL INVESTMENTS ................................................................................... 64 5.3.1 BIOFUELS AND THE EUROPEAN UNION ................................................... 65 5.3.2 BIOFUELS IN TANZANIA ............................................................................... 67 5.4 THE LAND DEBATE ............................................................................................ 69 5.4.1 LAND ACQUISITION IN LEGAL TERMS ....................................................... 70 5.4.2 LAND ACQUISITION IN PRACTICE .............................................................. 73 5.5 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................... 76 CHAPTER 6: BAGAMOYO ECOENERGY LTD .......................................................... 77 6.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 77 6.2 SEKAB GROUP’S CORPORATE HISTORY IN TANZANIA ............................ 77 iii 6.2.1 THE BAGAMOYO DISTRICT’S GEOGRAPHIC SETTING............................ 80 6.2.2 THE RUFIJI DISTRICT’S GEOGRAPHIC SETTING ..................................... 83 6.2.3 THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT AND RISK ASSESSMENTS ..................... 84 6.2.4 TRANSITION FROM SEKAB BT TO ECOENERGY ....................................... 88 6.3 ECOENERGY: A MODEL FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE? ................ 90 6.3.1 BENEFITS AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL ..................................................... 93 6.3.2 FUNDING THE PROJECT .............................................................................. 98 6.4 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 100 CHAPTER 7: EVALUATING WATER SECURITY IN THE WAMI SUB-BASIN ... 101 7.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 101 7.2 OVERVIEW OF ECOENERGY’S WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN .............. 101 7.2.1 SHORT-TERM MITIGATION MEASURES ................................................... 109 7.2.2 LONG-TERM MITIGATION MEASURES ..................................................... 113 7.2.3 SHARING THE SHORTAGE .......................................................................... 116 7.3 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 121 CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION ....................................................................................... 122 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 127 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1: List of participants .......................................................................................................... 50 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Schematic map of EcoEnergy’s project in Bagamoyo ..................................... 52 Figure 2: Breakdown of ownership LSLAs in Tanzania. ................................................ 69 Figure 3: Proposed Biofuel Investments in Tanzania. ..................................................... 70 Figure 4: Bagamoyo Sugarcane Project Timeline .......................................................... 79 Figure 5: EcoDevelopment AB subsidiary companies. ................................................... 90 Figure 6: River water availability and irrigation requirements for 7,800 hectares during dry year ........................................................................................................................... 109 vi ABSTRACT The surge in large-scale land acquisitions – or ‘land grabs’ – following the financial crisis has provoked a polarised debate centred on the role of foreign investment in African agriculture. A critical, and often overlooked, component of this debate is the role of water. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in 2013, this thesis explores a large-scale sugar project slated to begin in Tanzania in order to understand the likely implications of large- scale land acquisitions on water security. Although the original project bore all of the hallmarks of a ‘land grab’, a change in ownership saw the project reinvented and rebranded as a model for sustainable agriculture. Using a critical lens that transcends simplistic understandings of water security as water availability, this thesis provides some insights on how large-scale agricultural projects approach water management and what this may mean for water security in Tanzania. vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS USED ADBG African Development Bank Group ASDP Agricultural Sector Development Program ASDS Agricultural
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