ABSTRACT
The Indian Ocean World (IOW) is the epicentre of the process known as the ‘global land grab’. Most of the world’s large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs), in terms of transactions as well as target and investor countries, are located within the region (e.g. Borras & Franco, 2010; Daniel, 2011; Smaller & Mann, 2009; Figures 1 and 2). The size and pervasiveness of LSLAs will have a growing impact on how the region influences broad processes of globalisation, food and fuel security, climate change, migration and economic relations (e.g. ABN, 2007; Campbell, 2009; Andrianirina-Ratsialonana et al., 2011; Cotula, Vermeulen, Mathieu, & Toulmin, 2011). Such acquisitions particularly target forested lands for their multiple uses and multiple investment returns. The sequential (and occasionally simultaneous) financial opportunities of timber and other forest products (e.g. from carbon currently held in woody biomass, commercial agriculture once land is deforested, commercial grazing when converted from agriculture, and woody biomass increment for carbon storage when forests regrow1) generate greater income than acquiring purely agricultural or grazing land. At the same time, the preservation of large and biodiverse forests is critical for mitigating global warming and supporting biodiversity
and its related contributions to medical advancement (among other opportunities). Forests are also particularly contentious domains of indigenous land rights.
