This blog was written as a contribution to the Mekong Regional Land Forum that took place from June 21-23 in Hanoi, Vietnam. Duncan Pruett was a keynote speaker at this event.

By Duncan Pruett, Program Policy Advisor for Oxfam in Myanmar

By Kaitlin Y. Cordes and Sam Szoke-Burke

How should governments address the concerns of their citizens tied to land investments? And do their legal obligations constrain their options for doing so?

Large-scale investments in agriculture and forestry have far-reaching implications for the lives of affected individuals and communities. They are also an integral part of efforts by national governments to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and improve the governance of land resources. Despite their significance, these “land deals” and the contracts that govern them are often cloaked in secrecy, removed from relevant spheres of public scrutiny and debate.

At last month’s International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Malaysia, I co-hosted a panel on land grabbing and corruption with Transparency International. This global annual event gathers together governments, civil society, enforcement agencies, journalists and others to discuss ways of tackling corruption. This year’s IACC focused on ending impunity – a problem which has helped make land grabbing prolific and very hard to tackle.