Select Page

OXFAM — AN ECONOMY FOR THE 99% REPORT

OXFAM — AN ECONOMY FOR THE 99% REPORT
Advertisement

Change in land ownership in developing countries is commonly driven by large-scale acquisitions, which see the transfer of land from small-scale farmers to large investors and the conversion of land from subsistence to commercial use. UP TO 59% of land deals cover communal lands claimed by indigenous peoples and small communities, which translates to the potential displacement of millions of people.

 

THE CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH DEEPENS

Total glob­al wealth has reached a stag­ger­ing $255 tril­lion. Since 2015, more than half of thiswealth has been in the hands of the rich­est 1% of peo­ple. At the very top, this year‟s datafinds that col­lec­tive­ly the rich­est eight indi­vid­u­als have a net wealth of $426bn, which is the same as the net wealth of the bot­tom half of humanity.

Wealth con­tin­ues to accu­mu­late for the wealthy. Cap­i­tal own­ers have con­sis­tent­ly seen their returns out­strip eco­nom­ic growth over the past three decades. Oxfam‟s pre­vi­ous reportshave shown how this extreme and grow­ing wealth in the hands of a few trans­lates to pow­er and undue influ­ence over poli­cies and institutions.

Mean­while the accu­mu­la­tion of mod­est assets, espe­cial­ly agri­cul­tur­al assets such as land and live­stock, is one of the most impor­tant means by which to escape pover­ty. Wealth is crit­i­cal for peo­ple liv­ing in pover­ty to be able to respond to finan­cial shocks like a med­ical bill. How­ev­er, esti­mates from Cred­it Suisse find that col­lec­tive­ly the poor­est 50% of peo­ple have less than a quar­ter of 1% of glob­al net wealth. Nine per­cent of the peo­ple in this group have neg­a­tive wealth, and most of these peo­ple live in rich­er coun­tries where stu­dent debt and oth­er cred­it facil­i­ties are avail­able. But even if we dis­count the debts of peo­ple liv­ing in Europe and North Amer­i­ca, the total wealth of the bot­tom 50% is still less than 1%.

Unlike extreme wealth at the top, which can be observed and doc­u­ment­ed through var­i­ous rich lists, we have much less infor­ma­tion about the wealth of those at the bot­tom of the dis­tri­b­u­tion. We do know how­ev­er, that many peo­ple expe­ri­enc­ing pover­ty around the world are see­ing an ero­sion of their main source of wealth – name­ly land, nat­ur­al resources and homes – as a con­se­quence of inse­cure land rights, land grab­bing, land frag­men­ta­tion and ero­sion, cli­mate change, urban evic­tion and forced dis­place­ment. While total farm­land has increased glob­al­ly, small fam­i­ly farms oper­ate a declin­ing share of this land. Own­er­ship of land among the poor­est wealth quin­tile fell by 7.3% between the 1990s and 2000s.

Change in land own­er­ship in devel­op­ing coun­tries is com­mon­ly dri­ven by large-scale acqui­si­tions, which see the trans­fer of land from small-scale farm­ers to large investors and the con­ver­sion of land from sub­sis­tence to com­mer­cial use. UP TO 59% of land deals cov­er com­mu­nal lands claimed by indige­nous peo­ples and small com­mu­ni­ties, which trans­lates to the poten­tial dis­place­ment of mil­lions of peo­ple. Yet only 14% of deals have involved a prop­er process to obtain „free pri­or and informed con­sent‟ (FPIC). Dis­tri­b­u­tion of land is most unequal in Latin Amer­i­ca, where 64% of the total wealth is relat­ed to non-finan­cial assets like land and hous­ing and 1% of „super farms‟ in Latin Amer­i­ca now con­trol more pro­duc­tive land than the oth­er 99%.

Read the full report here: https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/bp-economy-for-99-percent-160117-en.pdf

 

FEBRUARY 8 — SAINT BAKHITA

ADLAUDATOSI INTEGRAL ECOLOGY FORUM WEBINARS

FABRICE HADJADJ — VIRTUAL AND REAL WORLDS: HOW TO INHABIT THE DEVASTATED EARTH?

OUR MISSION:

THE PURPOSE IS TO SHARE BEST PRACTICES AND PROMOTE ACTIONS AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING.

WE MAKE AVAILABLE TO YOU GUIDES AND RESEARCH ON TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS FROM THE MOST RECOGNISED LEGAL AND OPERATIONAL ACTORS.

AN EXAMPLE FOR CATHOLIC ENTITIES TO FOLLOW: ERADICATE MODERN SLAVERY IN ALL ITS FORMS FROM THE OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAINS OF CATHOLIC ENTITIES IN AUSTRALIA — PROPOSAL OF ACTION PLAN – MODERN SLAVERY RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FROM 2021 TO 30 JUNE 2023

HELP OUR ORGANIZATION BY MAKING A DONATION TODAY!

Adlaudatosi Webinars Videos VIMEO

Videos of the speakers’ interventions adlaudatosi VIMEO

Adlaudatosi Webinars Videos YOUTUBE

Religious Helping Trafficking Victims along the Road of Recovery (ON-DEMAND VIDEO WEBINAR)

Religious Working In International Advocacy Against Human Trafficking (ON-DEMAND VIDEO WEBINAR)

Impact Of Human Trafficking On Health: Trauma (ON-DEMAND VIDEO WEBINAR)

Impact Of Human Trafficking On Health: Healing (ON-DEMAND VIDEO WEBINAR)

International Prosecution Of Human Trafficking — Where Are We Now? (ON-DEMAND VIDEO WEBINAR)

International Prosecution Of Human Trafficking — What can be done? (ON-DEMAND VIDEO WEBINAR)

International Prosecution Of Human Trafficking — Best Practices (ON-DEMAND VIDEO WEBINAR)

Demand As Root Cause For Human Trafficking – Sex Trafficking & Prostitution

Human Trafficking — Interview with Prof. Michel Veuthey, Order of Malta — 44th UN Human Right Council 2020

POPE’S PAYER INTENTION FOR FEBRUARY 2020: Hear the cries of migrants victims of human trafficking

FRANCE — BLOG DU COLLECTIF “CONTRE LA TRAITE DES ÊTRES HUMAINS”

Church on the frontlines in fight against human trafficking

Holy See — PUBLICATION OF PASTORAL ORIENTATIONS ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING 2019

RIGHT TO LIFE AND HUMAN DIGNITY GUIDEBOOK

Catholic social teaching

Doctrine sociale de l’Église catholique

Register to our series of webinars adlaudatosi on Human Trafficking

You have successfully registered !