2013 Conference – The Law and Development Institute

Law and Development Implications of International Land Acquisitions (2013)

The Law and Development Institute and Kyoto University Graduate School of Environmental Studies co-hosted the LDI’s fourth annual law and development conference in Kyoto, Japan. Twenty leading and rising scholars from a number of developed and developing countries, including United States, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Italy, Ethiopia, Uganda, Poland, Cambodia, and India, made presentations on the law and development issues arising from international land acquisitions.

Date: May 30-31, 2013
Venue: Kyoto University (Clock Tower), Japan

Schedule: 30 May 2013
Location : Clock Tower, International Conference Hall I

10:30-11:00	Registration
1:30pm–2:00pm	Welcome and Opening Addresses Dean of Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies Shigeo Fujii, Kyoto University, Japan Law and Development Institute Yong-Shik Lee, University of Manchester UK Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies Andreas Neef, Kyoto University, Japan
11:00-12:00	Keynote Speech The Law and Land Grabbing: Friend or Foe Liz Alden Wily, Independent Land Tenure Specialist, Nairobi, Kenya
12:00-13:30	Coffee Break
13:30-15:00	Plenary Session I “Land Acquisitions and International Investment Laws” Chair: Yong-Shik Lee, University of Manchester, UK A Primer on International Investment Law Perry S. Bechky, Seattle University School of Law, USA Interaction between Foreign Investment in Land and International Investment Law Regime: History, Trends, Pitfalls and Options Uche U. Ewelukwa, University of Arkansas, USA Responsible Investments in Land Presume a Responsible Trade Regime Elisabeth Burgi Bonanomi, University of Bern, Switzerland
15:00-15:30	Lunch break
15:30-17:00	Plenary Session II “Competing Frameworks and Perspectives on Land Property” Chair: Noboru Ishikawa, Kyoto University, Japan Indigenous People in Latin America and the Right to Non-Renewable Natural Resources: The Bolivian Case Lorena Ossio, Max-Planck-Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, Germany Land Acquisition by Foreign Agribusiness in Northern Mozambique through Triangular Cooperation with Japan and Brazil: An Analysis of Shifting Discourses Sayaka Funada-Classen, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan Land Acquisition for Oil Palm in Forest Frontiers: Options for Improved Legal Compliance and Sustainability Krystof Obidzinski, Center for International Forestry Research, Bogor, Indonesia
17:00	End of Conference Day 1
18:00-20:00	Dinner Reception (for Invited Guests)

Schedule: 31 May 2013
Location: Clock Tower, International Conference Hall I

09:30-10:30	Plenary Session III “International Land Acquisitions and Economic Development” Chair: Liz Alden Wily, Nairobi, Kenya Partners in Development Arab Acquisitions in Islamic Africa Salim Farrar, University of Sydney, Australia Extending the Water Connection: Land Acquisitions and Economic Development Kyungmee Kim, Stockholm International Water Institute, Sweden
10:30-11:00	Coffee Break
11:00-12:30	Plenary Session IV “Regulating International Land Acquisitions and Strengthening Community Rights” Chair: Andreas Neef, Kyoto University, Japan Regulation of Large-Scale Acquisition of Land: New Perspectives of Sustainable Development Lorenza Paoloni, University of Molise, Italy Looking at the Broader Picture: Instruments to Tame Large-Scale Land and Water Acquisitions for Rural Development Michael Bruntrup, German Development Institute, Bonn, Germany Questioning the ‘Regulatory Approach’ to Large-Scale Agricultural Land Transfers in Ethiopia: A Legal Pluralistic Perspective Fantu Farris Mulleta, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
12:30-14:00	Lunch break
Parallel Sessions	Location: Clock Tower, International Conference Hall I
14:00~15:30	Parallel Session I “Land Acquisitions: Policies, Discourses and Practices” Chair: Akiko Morisita, Kyoto University, Japan International Land Acquisition in the Polish Legal System and its Impact on Economic Development Lukasz Jarocki, University of Bialystok, Poland The Discourse of Land Grabbing and Resistance in Newly Reforming Myanmar: The Monywa Copper Mine Emel Zerrouk, Kyoto University, Japan Competing Frameworks and Perspectives on Land Property in Cambodia Christoph Oldenburg, NGO Forum on Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Location: Department of Civil Engineering . Historic Building, 2nd Floor, 207 Parallel Session II “Legal Mechanisms of Inclusion and Exclusion” Chair: Jane Singer, Kyoto University, Japan Inclusion of Local Actors in Decision-making Processes: Normative Considerations and Evidence from Three Cases of Large-scale Land Acquisitions in the Office du Niger Region Mali Kerstin Nolte, German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, Germany The Global Grabbing of Land, Water and Fiscal Revenues: Investment Contracts Between Private Heaven and Public Hell Tomaso Ferrando, Sciences Po Law School, Paris, France Land Grabbing and its Gender Implications – What Do We Know So Far Michael Bruntrup, German Development Institute, Bonn, Germany
15:30-16:00	Coffee break
16:00-16:15	Short Reports from Parallel Sessions Rapporteurs: Liz Alden Wily, Nairobi, Kenya and Uche U. Ewelukwa, University of Arkansas, USA
16:15-17:00	Open Discussion: International Land Acquisitions between Resistance and Mitigation Moderator: Yong-Shik Lee, University of Manchester, UK
17:00	Concluding Remarks Andreas Neef, Kyoto University, Japan