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Access to Land and the Right to Food

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Introduction

Examining the relationship between access to land and the right to food requires that we first define what we mean by access to land on the one hand – thus, both land and access – and the right to food on the other. We will then briefly draw the complex relationship existing between access to land and the right to food. Finally, we will propose a short analysis of the issue against the current international backdrop of rising commercial pressures on land and then conclude.

Access to Land

Land is, in a first definition, “the part of the earth’s surface that is not covered by water” (Oxford English Dictionary). It is not simply “everything but water” but bears certain features that make it a particularly complex resource. Land does not move; it is heterogeneous and indispensable to almost all human activities; land is inherently linked to notions of identity and authority as well as territory, and it distinguishes itself by the power and depth of the sense of belonging...

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Correspondence to Claire Debucquois .

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Debucquois, C. (2019). Access to Land and the Right to Food. In: Kaplan, D.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1179-9_349

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