Access to land has become a critical front in the long-running battles between big business and local communities. Land conflicts are nothing new (extractive industries, big infrastructure projects), but they pose a novel and growing risk to those commodity speculators, land investors, and big ag companies fueling the most recent “land rush.”  According to the IMF, much of the arable land targeted by these investors sits in weakly governed countries that have poorly-titled land and multiple claimants. Traditionally that needn’t have concerned unscrupulous companies or investors, but today it poses a serious business risk.

Large land deals often mean evicting local communities and farmers to make way for industrial export-oriented agriculture. Africa has been a particularly attractive target given that the majority of its lands are still untitled and governments have been eager to make quick deals to the highest bidders. Similar conditions prevail in countries throughout Asia and Latin America. Under these circumstances, investors may gain official title to lands, but find themselves mired in conflicts down the road.

There is a strong business case for companies/investors to avoid risks by ensuring respect for traditional land rights in their own dealings and by insisting on fair and effective land governance of local governments. However because these risks are too easily overlooked, companies continue to blunder into conflicts. Work to bring these risks to the fore for the corporate sector is happening along three promising lines.

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