International Agricultural Rights Group wins 2011 Right Livelihood Award
International agricultural rights group GRAIN has been named as a winner of the 2011 Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the ’Alternative Nobel Prize’.
The non-profit organisation is honoured for its global work to protect the livelihoods of farming communities and to expose the rush by investors, pension funds and companies to acquire large areas of developing countries, a concept known as ’land-grabbing’.
The group receives a prize of €50,000 from the Right Livelihood Award Foundation to help progress its work.
With the global economy in turmoil, persistent rises in food prices and fertile land becoming scarcer, the ruthless and alarming global trend of ’land-grabbing’ has emerged. It has been estimated by the World Bank, the International Land Coalition, GRAIN and others, that 60-80 million hectares of farmland in over 60 mostlypoor countries – the equivalent of almost half the agricultural area of the EU – have been bought up or leased in just the last few years. This massive rush is resulting in local communities being thrown off their land, natural ecosystems being destroyed and unsustainable farming systems being set up.
GRAIN’s work goes back to the early 1980s when activists around the world started drawing attention to the dramatic loss of genetic diversity on farms. It has developed into an international research organisation which partners with groups around the world to monitor and analyse trends that are affecting farmers’ and rural communities’ control over their livelihoods.
Henk Hobbelink, Coordinator of GRAIN says, "The current industrial food system, dominated by corporate interests, is leading us further down the path of more hunger, environmental destruction, climate change and eviction of rural and indigenous communities. The alternative exists and is being fought for. Food sovereignty implies a fundamental overhaul of the global food system, putting peasant farming, ecological agriculture and local markets centre stage."
GRAIN has received the Right Livelihood Award for "their worldwide work to protect the livelihoods and rights of farming communities and to expose the massive purchases of farmland in developing countries by foreign financial interests."
Background to the Right Livelihood Award
The Right Livelihood Award was founded in 1980 by Jakob von Uexkull to recognise the work he felt was being ignored by the Nobel Foundation. The Swedish-German philanthropist, a professional stamp collector, sold his business to provide the original funding. Since then, individual donors have financed the Award.
The Right Livelihood Award honours some of the world’s most courageous and inspiring people. One in four of the Sweden-based Foundation’s Laureates are under threat because their work challenges powerful interests. Today, there are 145 Right Livelihood Award Laureates from 61 countries. It is the first time a Right Livelihood Award has gone to Chad.
The 2011 Right Livelihood Award will be presented to the four recipients at a ceremony at the Swedish Parliament on 5 December.
