Agriculture and Fisheries

Large-Scale Land Investments in Least Developed Countries: Legal conflicts between investment and human rights protection

This book analyzes large-scale land investments for agricultural purposes in Africa’s least-developed countries from a law and economics perspective.

ITN  |  December 12, 2016

Awards and Decisions

Venezuela to Pay Us$1 Billion For Expropriating Canadian Mining Company’s Investment

ICSID Tribunal dismisses MFN Clause in WTO GATS as a means of importing Senegal’s consent to arbitration from third party BIT

PCA tribunal deemed acts of Polish Agricultural Property Agency not attributable to Poland

Claimant not considered Investor due to interpretation of “Seat” under Cyprus–Montenegro BIT

Ecuador’s Levy on extraordinary oil profits at a 99% rate has breached Murphy’s legitimate expectations, decides PCA tribunal

Ecuador ordered by PCA tribunal to pay $24 million to Canadian Mining Company

ICSID tribunal orders Zimbabwe to return expropriated farms

In a 318-page award issued July 28, 2015 but only published February 2016, a tribunal at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ordered Zimbabwe to return farms it seized without compensation in 2005.

Farmland Investments and Water Rights in Africa: The Legal Regimes Converging over Land and Water

Access to water is the driving force behind the surge in foreign investment in farmland. Yet, with all the focus on “land grabbing” and food security, water issues have received little attention. It is vital to understand all applicable legal regimes and the rights of all stakeholders.

Going public to improve investment in agriculture

The public began to hunger for information about investment in the agriculture sector when a massive wave of foreign investment in farmland and water was triggered, in 2008, by a […]

A global thirst: How water is driving the new wave of foreign investment in farmland

It is no longer a secret that there is a new wave of foreign investment in farmland, predominantly in Africa. An explosion of media reports and a series of studies by the World Bank, Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), have confirmed the scale and consequences of this new influx of foreign investment. The World Bank report, by far the most comprehensive, found that reported deals amounted to 45 million hectares in 2009 alone.

ITN  |  September 29, 2009

Claim by Cargill leads to another loss for Mexico

By Elizabeth Whitsitt 2 October 2009 Mexico has suffered another loss in a series of investor-state arbitral disputes involving its sugar industry. While attempts have been made by Mexico to […]

Tribunal orders compensation in Dutch farmers’ claims against Zimbabwe

By Damon Vis-Dunbar 28 April 2009 An ICSID tribunal has ordered the government of Zimbabwe to compensate a group of Dutch nationals who saw their farms expropriated under Zimbabwe’s controversial […]

ITN  |  October 29, 2008

Canadian investors sue Costa Rica alleging failure to protect their farm

By Fernando Cabrera Diaz and Damon Vis-Dunbar 29 October 2008 A tribunal has been constituted in an arbitration that pits a group of Canadian investors against the government of Costa […]