A powerful new documentary film “Seeds of discontent” was launched today that draws attention to the role of a Swedish investment firm, Dutch pension fund and Norwegian church endowment firm in land grabbing in Mozambique.
Part 2 is the full film.
Amsterdam, Heidelberg, 2 October 2013
“Seeds of discontent”, released less than a week before the UN Committee for World Food Security meets in Rome, gives a compelling visual portrait of how investment by private financial players can undermine food security and human rights in developing countries.
The documentary film by director Geoff Arbourne looks at the community of Licole, based in the region where the company Chikweti Forests of Niassa has set up large tree plantations. Chikweti Forests of Niassa is a subsidiary of Global Solidarity Forest Fund (GSFF), a Sweden-based investment fund, co-owned by Dutch pension fund ABP, the Diocese of Västerås (Sweden), and the Norwegian church endowment, OVF.
Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, based in the Netherlands, is the world’s second largest pension fund with a total asset value of Eur 264 billion. Its interest in investing in land and agriculture is clear with its slogan “The world is our farm”.
The documentary film was launched just five days before the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) meets for its 40th round of talks. CFS is an international and intergovernmental platform that seeks to ensure food security and nutrition for all. Transnational Institute and FIAN as part of the “Hands off the Land Alliance” are campaigning for effective measures to stop land and resource grabbing, such as the implementation of the Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests, which were adopted by the CFS in 2012. The film is a case study of how investors in agriculture that claim to be well-meaning and to apply “responsible” practices, can end up fuelling land grabs and sowing deep divisions in rural communities such as Licole.
--from the film's website