As the regional focal point for Asia of the Land Matrix Initiative, AFA promotes the critical importance of gathering and recording information on LSLAs to raise awareness about the impacts of LSLAs at the local and national level, and to lobby for comprehensive land reform that facilitates access to and tenure over land, water, and forest resources for local communities, including farmers, fishers, forest users and dwellers, indigenous peoples, pastoralists, and herders. In this article published in the Manila Times, the author notes that “Among all Asian countries, even including giants such as India and China the Philippines has the fifth-highest number of LSLA deals since 2000, a total of 87 involving a bit more than 300,000 hectares. More worryingly, there were (as of 2021) a total of about 3.2 million hectares under negotiation, representing about 58 percent of the Philippines’ 5.6 million hectares of arable land. The report drily notes that this ‘might have grave implications for [the Philippines’] food self-sufficiency capacity.'”
Read more here: https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/06/28/opinion/columns/undercover-land-rush/1848954
If you want to contribute information on LSLAs in your area, please do not hesitate to message us through our website or FB page.
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