Claiming (back) the land: the geopolitics of Egyptian and South African land and water grabs

Ambiente & Sociedade

Antoinette Sebastian¹  Vanessa Empinotti²  Jeroen Warner³ 

[1] ;Universidade de São Paulo;Wageningen University;

关键词: Water grabbing;    Land grabbing;    Virtual water;    South Africa;    Egypt;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1414-753X2013000200002

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Snapped up for, in places, as little as fifty cents per hectare, African land is not necessarily brought into immediate food, forestry and mining production, and when it is, staples and biofuels dominate rather than export crops. Speculative hoarding, with a view to bringing the land into production when grain and other staples commodities markets are at their most profitable or selling the cheaply acquired land off again at enormous profit at a propitious future moment. The present contribution will see land grab, along with the virtual energy and virtual water that come with the land, as a phase in an ongoing geopolitical game for influence. Moreover, the present article considers the circumstances and options of two regionally hegemonic powers, Egypt and South Africa, claiming land and virtual water - or claiming it back.

【 授权许可】

Unknown