The Guardian, October 6, 2011

Olivier De Schutter, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, calls for consensus before talks this month on land governance, as commercial pressures mount. Governments should be wary of speculation and concentration of ownership when land rights are transferred to investors to “develop” farmland, a UN expert has warned before key UN negotiations on land governance. ”We must escape the mental cage that sees large-scale investments as the only way to develop agriculture and to ensure stability of supply for buyers,” said the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter amid concern among civil society groups about land grabs.