The World Water Forum held in Marseille, France was an opportunity for multinational water companies to make money out of nature.

Three illegal fishing vessels - the Five Star, Marcia 777 and the Kum Myeong 2 - have fled Sierra Leone, escaping fines for doing illegal fishing and transhipment in the country's Inshore Exclusion Zone, IEZ. The disclosure was made by the Project Coordinator of Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Andy Hickman at a press briefing held at the conference room of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.

Foreign land investment is on the rise in Sierra Leone and, as with many of its neighbours, the government wants more companies to come in to boost the economy and spur much-needed agricultural development in rural areas. Sierra Leone ranked 180 out of 187 countries on the UN human development index in 2011. But as more and more companies flock to the country to lease large tracts of land, murmurs of protest and unrest are cropping up among local populations who are unhappy with the way the deals are done; and civil society groups are growing increasingly concerned that foreign land deals are not producing the win-win scenarios they had hoped for.

A new report by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) points out that millions of hectares of farmland in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America have been leased to foreign countries, sovereign wealth funds, and private corporations over the past four years with little or no explicit legal agreement on how water can and will be used on the acquired properties. With 70 per cent of global water withdrawals used in agriculture, the rapid increase in cultivated farmland will require significant quantities of water to sustain production.

Saudi Arabia and China are buying up significant parcels of agricultural land in South Sudan. So is Egypt. Egypt’s Citadel Capital is buying land in South Sudan, with designs on agricultural production to help feed Egypt’s growing population.

The Sixth World Water Forum taking place between 12-17 March in Marseille, France costs $1,000 for participants from wealthy nations, and about $450 for participants from the ‘under-developed countries,’ making the the forum inaccesible to those who come from the countries of the Global South, writes Marcela Olivera for Climate Connections. 'And so it is that every three years those of us who believe this Forum to be illegitimate gather together to denounce it. And every three years, over the course of many months, organizations and movements from around the World come together to hold the Alternative World Water Forum.'

As investors turn to land-based assets and commodities, large areas of fertile land are being acquired around the world to produce biofuels, food commodity crops, timber and develop extractive industries. Where land governance is weak, new risks are being created. These include, on one hand, the security of local people, their access to food and water, and conflicts associated with forced evictions. A report, 'The Land Security Agenda', from the Earth Security Initiative, outlines the security and risk implications of the growing wave of investments in farmland and commodities.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) Environmental Politics Institute is an interdisciplinary forum which brings together African scholars undertaking innovative research on topics related to the broad theme of environmental politics. The aim of the Institute is to promote and sustain the development of coherent social sciences engagement with environmental issues in Africa. The Institute will promote research and debates on issues related to environmental politics especially as they relate to democratic decision making in climate change adaptation and mitigation policies and programs on the continent. The Institute will be launched in 2012 and subsequently held annually in Dakar, Senegal.

With the World Water Forum (WWF) convening representatives of the water industry, other major corporations and government officials in Marseilles to shape international water policy such that it to prioritizes for-profit models of water delivery, and profit-oriented allocation of the world’s most essential resource, a statement from Corporate Accountability International has noted that while water for domestic purposes is a recognized human right, today nearly 900 million people lack consistent, safe access. Corporate control and management has proven a failure in addressing this tragic shortfall, instead diverting the investment dollars and political will required to reverse this global crisis.

The trend of privatisation and commercialisation of water services, which set in in the 1980s and continued throughout the 1990s, has come to a halt due to the process’ own failures, and has given rise to a return of those services into efficient public management, according to a new book. Released on 11 March, 'Remunicipalisation: Putting water back in public hands' was authored by several activists at the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute (TNI) and the watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) in cooperation with several non- governmental organisations.

The authors of the paper ‘Treading Troubled Waters’ speak of the critical situations faced by the water sector on the strength of a process that involved partnerships, network of academic institutions, peoples and non-government organizations, and local communities. This process undertaken through the Development Roundtable Series (DRTS) program initiated and anchored by Focus on the Global South-Philippines, involved consultations, roundtable discussion, research and case studies across the country. These activities have produced both anecdotal information and hard data from the field and existing documents.

New book uncovers private failures leading cities to take back control of water worldwide.

Gunshots rocked Amuru District as the police tried to disperse about 100 people who had crossed from Adjumani District to the disputed border area of Elegu, to reportedly distribute plots of land among themselves. Although Atiak residents in Amuru District claim legitimacy over the land, the Ofodro clan members in Arinyapi Sub-county district claim the land, that has since become lucrative, belongs to their grandparents and that they only abandoned it during insecurity.

Media Release
March 13, 2012

The country’s Ministry for Coordination of Environmental Affairs (MICOA), has canceled 146 investment projects in various economic activities because they failed to meet the requirements of the country’s environmental laws. The canceled proposals include the activities of some major Western firms. Permanent Secretary Samuel Xirinda told journalists that the 146 projects canceled because of environmental legislation strictures constituted a third of the 437 projects audited by the government in 2011.

Despite longstanding laws against gas flaring - the burning of natural gas during oil extraction - in Nigeria, and shifting deadlines to end the practice, the activity continues, with serious health consequences for people living nearby. In the Niger Delta, where most of the flaring takes places, residents living near gas flares complain of respiratory problems, skin rashes and eye irritations, as well as damage to agriculture due to acid rain.

Platform has released a new briefing analysing Uganda’s draft 'Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) Bill'. The report – entitled 'The Ugandan Upstream oil law: A search in vain for accountability and democratic oversight', highlights the lack of parliamentary oversight, transparency, or consultation or involvement of affected communities in the proposed oil law. At the same time, the Bill does include clauses that restrict information flow and could potentially threaten or close down public debate.

Chances are that, no matter where you live on Earth, land acquisitions for mining, oil and gas might soon be at your door, says this report from the Gaia Foundation. 'This trend is now a major driver of land grabbing globally, and poses a significant threat to the world’s indigenous communities, farmers and local food production systems, as well as to precious water, forests, biodiversity, critical ecosystems and climate change. This report alerts global citizens to the dynamics in the extractive industries as a whole, and shows the alarming scale of this overall trend.'

Jolted by a public outcry since the start of the year, Nigeria's government has announced a series of measures to address oil industry corruption in the world's eighth biggest producer. It is an issue that may come to define Goodluck Jonathan's presidency. But two recent audits of the oil industry reviewed by Reuters show billions of dollars in irregularities despite years of government promises to clean it up.

Land is crucial to resolving South Africa's wealth gap. Here are 12 practical steps that could lead to a solution.