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Episode details

World Service,06 Dec 2014,28 mins

Bread and Soil: The Global Scramble for Land

In the Balance

Available for over a year

Vast global land transactions take place as nations scramble to ensure they can eat. But are these deals always fair? And what happens when yield countries change their mind? We speak to Fahad bin Mohammed al-Attiya, the man whose job it is to make sure Qatar, a nation which imports 95% of its food, does not run out. Professor Jacqueline McGlade, chief scientist of the UN Environment Programme talks about the social and environmental challenges involved in buying land from within vulnerable and unstable African countries and Ken Ash, director of Trade and Agriculture at the OECD tells us why the world needs to wake up to a future in which land ownership and land distribution will look very different.

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