An Overview of (International) Large-Scale Land Transactions (LSLT) in the context of Food Security

The present report provides an overview of the scale, speed, drivers, key players and main expected consequences in terms of food security of the recent wave of (international) large-scale land transactions (LSLT´s) which has taken place at world level in the past years. This task is particularly challenging because a universal definition of what constitutes a ¨large¨ land investment as well as the potential advantages and disadvantages to all involved parties at different levels are not straightforward. Moreover, large-scale land transactions usually present different traits depending on the region in which they take place. Similarly, there is a wide range of investors with what appears to be (at first glance) rather different objectives. An added difficulty is related to the availability of reliable data (IFPRI, 2009). In order to overcome these obstacles, three basic steps were taken: i) Assess whether and how the wave of land deals is a new phenomenon, provide a working definition in order to identify actors and motives in both global and regional scenarios, ii) Understand why this new wave of LSLT´s emerged and establish a connection to food security challenges iii) Reflect on the theoretical and empirical consequences of LSLT´s at productivity, environmental and social level.