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forcing people off their land in what could be Afforestation and reforestation schemes in seen as a form of tertiary displacement6. Uganda, conducted under the Clean Devel- opment Mechanism, have also evicted ap- Examples from Africa proximately 20,000 residents who had been living on their land since 197510. Given the lack How diverse ‘green’ interventions impact the of recognised rights for populations and the human mobility of local populations depends corruption of elites, the distribution of benefits on a variety of factors ranging from the social from these projects is often captured by local and tenure arrangements already in place, to and international elites rather than distributed the purpose of the project, the negotiation equally amongst local populations11. On the power of populations, the level of rule of law other hand, whilst employment creation is in the host country, and how the costs and often presented as the main benefit of benefits are distributed7. Although land and large-scale biofuel plantations by govern- green grabs are occurring worldwide, it is in ments, investors, and local populations countries where the protection of human themselves, de facto employment creation rights is low, or inexistent, that they have tends to be scarce, seasonal, or unreliable. reached the most alarming peaks. Due to a For example, around the Lac de Guiers in combination of international and domestic Senegal, the livelihoods of 9,000 drivers, Africa has been by far the most tar- semi-nomadic herder populations have been geted continent8. Tropical forests are typical- infringed upon by a land acquisition which ly under the formal control of the govern- claimed to produce sweet potatoes for eth- ment and it is relatively simple to expropriate anol export to Europe and that failed to de- them from inhabitants in the name of climate liver production and employment promises. mitigation. When tenure is not formalised, As land that was previously used for agricul- populations have little negotiation power and ture and grazing has been converted, com- can be labelled as illegal settlers and evicted munities have been either displaced or left without compensation. For example, in the with little more options than to move12. In fact, Rufiji Delta in Tanzania, the state portrayed plantations are often highly mechanized and inhabitants who had been occupying the land have a much lower labor input than the for millenia as recent migrants and poor small-scale family farms that they often re- stewards of the mangrove forest. This false place. In Mozambique, a biofuels company portrayal has justified their expulsion in the that had estimated employment creation for name of REDD+, deprived them of their live- 2,650 people had only created 35 to 40 full lihoods, and created considerable conflicts9.

6 S. Vigil, “Climate Change and Migration. Insights from the Adding Insult to Injury: Climate Change, Social Stratification, and the Sahel”, in Out of Africa. Why People Migrate, Milano, Ledi Pub- Inequities of Intervention, vol. 22, no. 2, 2012, pp. 332-41. lishing-ISPI, 2017, pp. 51-71 ; S. Vigil, “Green Grab- 10 R. Carrere,. “Carbon Sink Plantation in Uganda : Evicting bing-Induced Displacement”, Handbook on Environmental Dis- People for Making Space for Trees”. Upsetting the Offset: The placement and Migration, Routledge, 2017. Political Economy of Carbon Markets, 2009, pp. 98-101. 7 B. White, M. Saturnino, Jr. Borras, R. Hall, I. Scoones, and W. 11 E.O. Sills, S. Atmadja, C. de Sassi, A.E. Duchelle, D. Kweka, I.a.P.

Wolford, “The New Enclosures: Critical Perspectives on Cor- Resosudarmo, and W.D. Sunderlin (Eds.), REDD+ on the Ground: A 8 porate Land Deals”, Journal of Peasant Studies, vo. 39, no. 3-4, Case Book of Subnational Initiatives across the Globe, Center for Interna- 2012, pp. 619-47 tional Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia, 2014. 8 Land Matrix (2017). 12 S. Vigil, ‘Without Rain or Land, Where Will Our People Go? ©ISPI201 9 B.A. Beymer-Farris and T.J. Bassett, “The REDD Menace: Climate Change, Land Grabbing and Human Mobility. Insights Resurgent Protectionism in Tanzania’s Mangrove Forests”, from Senegal and Cambodia’, 2016.

commentary

time jobs two years after its approval13. More- The perverse impact of bad “solutions” over, the growing demand for land for climate Amongst those interested in forced dis- interventions increases the value of the land placement, there remains a tendency to ana- that millions of people depend upon for their lyse the drivers of displacement as a result of livelihoods. Although this could bring oppor- visible disruptions such as natural disasters, tunities to certain farmers, it can also translate development projects, or civil wars, and to into the inability for the poorest to access understand movements following lack of needed farmland and to further increase the tenure, market calamity, or debt as numbers of involuntary migrants. Concerning out-migration rather than as evictions. This destinations, and as occurs with any other means that the forces underlying and coerc- type of movement, migration tends to remain ing people to move – such as land and green internal, inter-regional, and south-south. The grabs – often remain invisible and analyzed main explanatory factor is that people need a through the lenses of ‘labour migration’ 18 . higher amount of human, financial, social, and However, when climate projects are imple- natural capital to be able to move longer dis- mented in countries where human rights tances. Since green grabs take place in coun- protection is low or inexistent, they are de tries that are often incapable of absorbing the facto serving as a mechanism to legitimize labour they expelled, they are contributing to the expulsion of the most vulnerable and to higher inequality, exclusion, and increasing the further reinforce and centralise the control of planet of slums14. Moreover, displacement al- natural resources in the hands of the political so describes situations in which some people and corporate elites which are responsible for are deprived of their productive lands or in- climate change to begin with. Solving the come-generating assets without being physi- very real problem of anthropogenic climate cally evicted15. Mobility is just one of the pos- change through exactly the same mecha- sible outcomes emanating from a multifacet- nisms that created it (e.g. the market in the ed ‘package of losses’ including the loss of absence of social protection), will not only social networks and capital, economic and take us further from the 2°C commitment, but material goods and power, political and legal will also contribute to delegitimizing the vital- rights, and even of cultural moorings16. Lack- ly important cause of climate change alto- ing the necessary assets to make a move, gether. These indirect impacts of climate many of those who lose land become ‘invol- policy should thus be urgently addressed in untarily immobile’ 17 and in conditions of in- order to avoid further ‘green grab- creased social vulnerability. bing-induced displacement’19, and to prevent the impoverishment of the most so- 13 E. Aabø and T. Kring, ‘The Political Economy of Large-Scale cio-environmentally vulnerable populations. Agricultural Land Acquisitions: Implications for Food Security and Livelihoods/Employment Creation in Rural Mozambique’, 2012. pp.32-35. bility: Theoretical Reflections and Cape Verdean Experiences’, 14 M. Davis, Planet of Slums, London, New York, Verso, 2006. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 28, no. 1, 2002, pp. 5-42. 15 M. Cernea, 2005. ‘Restriction of Access’ Is Displacement: A 18 S. Sassen, ‘Expelled: Humans in Capitalism’s Deepening Crisis’.

Broader Concept and Policy.’ Forced Migration Review, vol. 31, 2005, Journal of World-Systems Research, vol. 19, no. 2, 2013, pp. 198-201. 8 pp. 48-49. 19 S. Vigil, 2015a. ‘Displacement as a Consequence of Climate 16 S.C. Lubkemann, 2008. ‘Involuntary Immobility: On a Theo- Change Mitigation Policies’. Forced Migration Review, no. 49, retical Invisibility in Forced Migration Studies’, Journal of Refugee 2015, pp. 43-45. S. Vigil, ‘Green Grabbing-Induced Displace- ©ISPI201 Studies, vol. 21, no. 4, 2008, pp. 454-75. ment’, in Handbook on Environmental Displacement and Migration, 17 J. Carling, 2002. ‘Migration in the Age of Involuntary Immo- Routledge.