Is This Really Benefit Sharing? Understanding Current Practices Around Community-Investor Agreements Tied to Land Investments
Kaitlin Cordes, Tehtena Mebratu-Tsegaye et al.
Communities located near land investments increasingly interact with investors who seek to sign a range of agreements with them. In theory, this is a positive development: guidelines for responsible land and agricultural investments urge greater benefit-sharing with, and participation by, land users and project-affected communities, including through the use of direct agreements between the investor and affected communities or their members. Yet little analysis has been undertaken to date on actual community-investor agreements linked to land investments. This gap in analysis leaves stakeholders without a clear understanding of existing practices, and without evidence-based guidance for improving future agreements. This paper highlights the ?state of play? around community-investor agreements tied to land investments for agricultural and forestry projects. It also provides concrete recommendations on how such agreements, and practices around them, can be improved. These recommendations, which are primarily geared for communities, their advocates, and investors, may also be of interest to other relevant actors, such as host and home governments seeking to ensure greater benefit sharing and more inclusivity around land investments.
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