Doctoral Dissertation Research: Community Factors, Negotiation Processes and Land Acquisitions

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SES-1434965Robert MazurJuliana Nnoko-Mewanu, Iowa State UniversityDuring the past decade, there has been an exponential increase in the rate and scale of large-scale agricultural land investments globally. These investments are accompanied by opportunities and risks from a social and ecological point of view. The quality of local participation in the management and decision-making on the transfer of land rights is vital in fostering beneficial and sustainable community impacts. This research examines key elements of decision-making processes that represent diverse interests and involve negotiations and compromise resulting in beneficial outcomes for all stakeholders. The central research question asks how do variations in community structures, capabilities and relationships shape negotiations to transfer land use rights. The main research objectives are to: identify key social dimensions - social networks and knowledge - associated with land negotiations, and assess how they affect negotiation processes; determine the extent to which land negotiation processes reflect differences in power within emerging spaces for decentralized governance; and identify the social dimensions and power relations that are associated with a greater degree of resource access maintenance. The research uses basic premises in power theory as a framework to study how power mechanisms influence decision-making within local institutions. Power theory is combined with access analysis to map dynamic processes and relationships of access to resources, facilitating analysis of who actually benefits and through which processes they are able to do so. The researcher will complete a comparative analysis of negotiation processes to study the interests and patterns of interaction among key stakeholders in land acquisition for export agriculture. The research will study the case of the Herakles Farms in Ndian and Kupe-Muanenguba divisions in Southwestern Cameroon. Primary stakeholders include government, business, farmers, non-farmers, researchers and civil society organizations. The investigation will take place in a forested area of southwestern Cameroon in targeted villages that are currently negotiating a major land transaction. The methods used include interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation, Net-Mapping and content analysis. Interviewees in the villages will be selected using stratified random quota sampling based on gender, age, and livelihood status. Interviews will be complemented by transect walks and Net-Mapping to understand livelihoods, perceived importance of the land, social networks and power dynamics within the communities. Secondary data sources, newspaper articles from 2009-2014, documents, maps, records on inventories of approved land deals from government agencies, will be used to build the contextual framework of the project.Research results have the potential to provide new insights regarding the social context of negotiation processes for land acquisition for export agriculture as well as contribute to a broader understanding of successful negotiation processes. The research will contribute to a better understanding of the key elements involved in decision-making processes that represent diverse interests, negotiations and compromise that produce beneficial outcomes for all stakeholders.