From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Gender-based civil society organisations have decried the grave socio-economic, cultural and environmental impacts of land grabbing on communities and local dwellers.
The organisations noted that women were the worst hit when lands were forcefully taken and redistributed by the government or transferred to foreign collaborators under the guise of addressing food insecurity and mechanisation.
Speaking in Asaba during a press conference as part of activities marking this year’s World Environment Day, they said land grabbing accounted for the high poverty status, inequality and power dynamics that negatively affect women.
The groups include Women Engage for a Common Future; Women Environmental Programme (WEP); Noble Delta Women for Peace and Development International (NDWPDI) among others.
Executive Director of NDWPDI Mrs Caroline Usikpedo-Oliseowe, who spoke on behalf of the coalition, said land grabbing in farming communities has brought about displacement, dispossession, loss of income sources, human rights violation, and environmental degradation among other negative impacts.
“Growing up in a community where the inhabitants are predominantly farmers who depend largely on their family or clan’s land to make a living from traditional or subsistence agriculture, any activity by a third party on the land that deprives them of having access to the land is inimical to their very survival.
“This is more worrisome wherein the incursion of the third party has caused some the land owners/locals to relocate to other nearby villages in search of other lands to start subsistence farming for themselves and their farmers,” she said.
Usikpedo-Oliseowe lamented that women’s traditional livelihoods are significantly altered by a shortage of farmlands for cultivation, adding that women are not usually carried along when lands are being grabbed in the name of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding.
She called on the government and relevant stakeholders to urgently implement actions that would address land grabbing and forest degradation, particularly in the South-South and the country in general.
Usikpedo-Oliseowe insisted that women must be consulted for their input in any MoU between the community and any investor, adding that they must also be included in the negotiating team.
“There should be training and capacity building for the community leadership on forest preservation, governance/strategic leadership, women in peacebuilding, communication, lobbying, negotiation, mediation and conflict handling styles.
“Communities should be empowered to embark on tree planting exercises in order to avoid forest going into extinction, boost economic activities and livelihood enhancement as well as conservation of our rich biodiversity,” she added.