The emerging global framework for the governance of large-scale land-based investment: A literature review

In the hope of disciplining investments in land to ensure that rural communities benefit from land deals and are guarded against their possibly detrimental impacts, a host of actors have engaged in creating new regulatory instruments, especially for transnational investments. As such, land-based investment has emerged as a significant and also as a controversial issue in contemporary global governance. Regulatory instruments have been developed by and negotiated between multilateral organisations, states, global civil society and corporate actors, creating an emerging transnational system for the governance of land and land-based investments.

This working paper reports on a review of the academic literature that deals with the development, implementation and current or potential impacts of some of the most prominent global governance instruments relating to large-scale land-based investments. This includes instruments designed to deal specifically with land and agricultural investments, as well as those designed to promote responsible business and investment practices more generally, and therefore also applicable to investments in land.