{"id":668,"date":"2019-07-18T05:21:24","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T05:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rootsforequity.org\/?p=668"},"modified":"2019-07-18T05:21:24","modified_gmt":"2019-07-18T05:21:24","slug":"pcfs-statement-to-aiib-stopbankrolling-landgrabs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rootsforequity.org\/?p=668","title":{"rendered":"PCFS Statement – To AIIB: Stopbankrolling landgrabs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The\nPeoples Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) demands the members of the Asian\nInfrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB) to stop funding projects especially\nof China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that result to landgrabbing and rural\npeoples\u2019 displacement. On the occasion of the AIIB\u2019s annual meeting this July\n12-13 in Luxembourg, we stand with the rural peoples on their call for greater\naccountability and transparency, as well as justice for the violations of the\npeople\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nAIIB asserted that it is a multilateral bank for the longest time, recent\npronouncements show that it is ultimately a financing institution of the BRI\nwith over 7,000 China-funded projects that focus on transportation, maritime\nnavigation, energy, and trade spanning more than 60 countries in the Global\nSouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\na multilateral lender, AIIB has been consistently behind most of the BRI\nprojects \u2013 as a co-funder or as a key lender. This will surely accelerate as\nAIIB President Jin Liqun declared to focus more on the bank\u2019s own portfolio and\nsees the bank as a \u201ctwin engine\u201d with BRI.[i]<\/sup> More than 60 out of the 87 member\ncountries of the AIIB are part of the BRI. As it is, AIIB is currently\nbankrolling China\u2019s expansionist lending strategy that ultimately impacts the\nmost vulnerable in the Global South \u2013 the rural peoples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last\nmonth in Hong Kong, PCFS together with the Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN)\nconducted a forum on China\u2019s BRI and its impact on the rural peoples. \nDiscussions and accounts of the participants from Asia, Africa, and Latin\nAmerica regions paint a dismal picture of the BRI projects\u2019 impacts to rural\npeoples and the right to food sovereignty. Numerous cases of rights violations\nsuch as displacement, landgrabbing, harassment, corrosion of traditions, and\naggravation of fragility in regions have been reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nthreat to the right to land.<\/strong> Without adequate environmental and social\nassessment in the regions and countries, AIIB has been co-funding multiple BRI\nprojects that are opaque and inaccessible to the public. As mentioned above,\nthese include megadams, large roads, ports, and energy plants that often result\nin landgrabbing and displacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today,\nChina is the fastest growing landgrabber in the world. With over 5.6 million\nconcluded deals and 12.7 million in the past decade alone,[ii]<\/sup> the BRI is fast\nbecoming one of the key drivers of rural peoples ruin in the Global South.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nCambodia alone, around 370,000 hectares under 42 ELCs have been granted to\nChinese companies, including the 36,000-hectare sugarcane plantation of\nGuangdong Hengfu Sugar Group Co., Ltd. in the province of Preah Vihear.\nThousands of farmers and Indigenous Kuy peoples are being displaced to produce\nsugar for export.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe Philippines, the China government funded New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa\nDam Project in Quezon worth USD 374 million. It was pitched to be funded by the\nAIIB, and is set to displace thousands of farmers and Indigenous Peoples while\ntens of thousands more affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nthreat to the right to food.<\/strong> Securing China\u2019s position in the global\nagricultural trade is at the heart of the numerous BRI projects in agriculture.\nIn a span of 14 years, China has invested USD 98 billion in agriculture[iii]<\/sup> \u2013 75% of which\nwere in the last five years.[iv]<\/sup> According to a study by GRAIN<\/a> , China has\n\u201cgone on massive shopping sprees, buying up operations in global production\nchains like pork in the US and soybeans in Brazil, and gaining greater control\nover the global seed industry by taking on majority ownership of the\nSwiss-based seed giant Syngenta.\u201d[v]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\nagricultural land deals include large agro-industrial parks in Mozambique,\nUganda, Zambia, Kazakhstan, and Laos. The pressure of Chinese imports in\nBrazil\u2019s soybeans is one of the key drivers of the catalyzed destruction of the\nAmazon forest and the ejection of farmers and Indigenous Peoples in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nSri Lanka, the BRI Colombo Financial District, which AIIB funds some of the\nperiphery projects,[vi]<\/sup> has dramatically\nreduced fishers\u2019 access to their waters and decimated their fish catch. Beach\nerosion from offshore sand extraction for the reclamation project is displacing\nwhole villages of fisherfolk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nlarge-scale acquisition of farmlands and establishment of agro-industrial parks\nin Kazakhstan is a threat to the regional food sovereignty. Central Asia\nlargely relies on the said area for grain and grain production. With China\nbuying and controlling the agricultural production and supply chain in the\nregion, rural hunger and malnutrition will not be abated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nthreat to biodiversity.<\/strong> According\nto World Wildlife Fund Hong Kong, China\u2019s BRI will affect hundreds of already\nthreatened animal species. This includes endangered tigers, giant pandas, saiga\nantelope, and much of the biologically richest real estate on the planet \u2013 some\n1,800 important bird areas, key biodiversity areas, global biodiversity\nhotspots and global 200 eco-region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\npush of China\u2019s BRI, with the full backing of the AIIB, will continue to\nadversely impact the rural peoples of the Global South. We call on the members\nof the AIIB to investigate and pursue the impacts of the projects funded by the\nmultilateral bank. We call on the members and networks of the PCFS to actively\nengage their governments on AIIB funded project and demand for transparency and\naccountability. Finally, we reiterate our call that decisions and plans on\ninfrastructure should be founded on the right of rural communities to decide\ntheir needs and development priorities. ###<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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