investors, which means that land formerly destined to family food production (corn, beans, sorghum, cassava, etc.) is now being used for cash crops geared towards exporting or other goals (soy, sesame, corn, banana, etc.)6. It is well known that the land grabbing undertaken by multinational companies has intensified in Africa over the last decade and other countries of the global South. The World Bank reported in 20107 that over the past decade over 70% of agricultural land acquisitions by multinational corporations for large scale investments have occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Ethiopia, Sudan and Mozambique. This phenomenon has occurred as a response to a growing demand of wood arising from the Asian countries’ difficulties in supplying raw materials for the panels and paper industries. It is this context that justifies the presence in Mozambique of large investments in forest plantations by companies such as Portucel, IFLOMA, Moflor, Chikweti, New Forest, Foresta do Niassa, Floresta do Planalto, Sociedade/Fundação Malonda, Companhia Florestal de Massangulo and Green Resources. According to official MINAG8 data, lands granted for eucalyptus and pine plantations in the provinces of Niassa, Nampula, Zambezia and Manica totaled in 2014 over 700 thousand hectres, of which 38% are occupied by Green Resources Moçambique, which places GRM as the largest forest company in terms of area controlled. FAO (2014: 12) data reveals that Mozambique would have by 2015 a total of 75.383 ha of industrial monocultral plantations (up from 12.000 ha in 2010 and 14.329 ha in 2011). FAO projects a scenario considering annual growth rates of 30%, which would mean 11.778 ha were planted in 2013, 15.311 ha in 2014 and 19.905 ha in 2015). Such a large evolution in terms of planted area over the past 5 years can be tied down to the arrival of LGR in 2009 and the development of Chikweti plantations from 2005, both at Niassa.
1.2.
Legal framework and public policies on land and natural resources
Policy and legislation on land and other natural resources build on a constitutional understanding that land is owned by the State (Art. 109, No. 1 of the CRM) and intended for benefit of the citizens. (Art. 109 No. 3 and Art. 110 No. 2 of the CRM), from which comes the need for its sustainable use to observe environmental and social care (Art. 117 No. 2 Paragraphs a and d of the CRM). Based on this understanding, the Constitution and ordinary legislation hold important dispositions with a view to safeguard, first and foremost, acquired rights over the land, including those acquired by occupation through customs and practices or through the so-called good-faith occupation or direct land grab and its effective use through own initiative, as long as it is performed without violence and in plain sight (Art. 111 of the CRM and Art. 12 of the Law of Lands). The following list includes the main laws, regulations and policy documentation approved over the last 25 years in order to materialize and enlarge these constitutional norms.
Lands
− Resolution No. 10/95 of 17 October - approves the National Land Policy (NWP). − Law No. 19/97 of 1 October - Land Law - establishes the terms on which operates the establishment, exercise, modification, transfer and termination of DUATs. Regulated by Decree No. 66/98 of 8 December − Resolution 70/2008, of 30 December – approves the rules for granting large areas (over 10,000 ha) for large projects − Ministerial Decree No 158/2011 of 15 June - fixing the Community consultation procedures. 6 UNAC and GRAIN. The Land Stealers of Nacala Corridor UNAC and GRAIN: A new era of struggle against colonial plantations in northern Mozambique. 2015. 7 Vide: World Bank. Rising global interest in farmland: can it yield sustainable and equitable benefits? Washington DC: 2010. http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/88BA6FBA8CDE34E649257798000CAB2B-wb-sep2010.pdf. 8
4
Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. Forest plantations in Mozambique: Challenges. Brazil: 2015.