Land Theft as Rural Eco-Crime
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Date
2012-11
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ohio State University. Libraries
Abstract
Land grabbing in various forms is happening in many different parts of this globe. This
involves ‘outsiders’ - nation-states as well as corporations - colluding with local domestic
elites to radically alter existing land ownership and land uses. Contemporary forms of land
theft take place under the guise of acquiring land for food and biofuels, and through
imposition of resource extraction activities such as logging and mining. They also occur
when land is sealed up for the purposes of carbon sequestration and for conservation. From
the point of view of environmental justice, such land reconfigurations represent ‘theft’ insofar
as they challenge the basic ways of life and subsistence abilities of traditional land owners.
These stakeholders are generally vulnerable to land grabs by powerful interests, leading to
immediate and longer term hardship. For green criminology, activity which diminishes social
equity in the provision of healthy sustainable environments can be considered a type of eco-crime.
Description
Keywords
land theft, land grabbing, environmental justice, green criminology, eco-crime, conservation
Citation
International Journal of Rural Criminology, v1, n2 (November, 2012), p. 203-217