Japanese Large-Scale Land Deals as Drivers of Socio-Ecological Change in the Global South

摘要

Large-scale land deals are new drivers of socio-ecological change. This paper explores Japanese participation in land grabbing. Data from the Land Matrix are used to show that Japanese capital has been involved in land purchases in Asia, Africa and South America. The main goals of these land deals are to produce agro-commodities for energy generation and industrial production, and to develop forestry plantations. These productive activities, founded on the land rights formally transferred through these deals, generate massive changes in land use and land cover. This paper also discusses the potential transformations in local tenure and economic systems, and the increased dependency of national economies on foreign direct investment stemming from biomass energy production and forestry. The findings of this study confirm that investment in non-food agro-commodities and biofuels is one of the drivers of large-scale land deals. Finally, this research suggests that a comprehensive approach combining land use and land cover change with social-ecological systems approaches viewed through the lens of political economy/ecology is needed for an understanding of the complex drivers and effects of the global land rush.