Via Middle East Research and Information Project, a report on The Gulf’s ‘new scramble for Africa’: In early November 2023, shortly before the COP28 summit opened in Dubai, a hitherto obscure UAE firm attracted significant media attention around news of their prospective land deals in Africa. Reports suggested that Blue Carbon—a company privately owned by […]
Read more »Via Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), a new report on extractive agribusinesses used to help ensure food security in the Arab region: Between 2014 and 2021, the total number of Arabs suffering from moderate to severe food insecurity increased from 120 million to 154 million.[1] This insecurity, however, was not distributed evenly across the […]
Read more »Via The Economist, a look at why U.S. politicians are obsessed with mythical Chinese land grabs There was a time when Kim Reynolds, the governor of Iowa, had no problem with Chinese investment. In 2012, when she was the state’s lieutenant governor, she met Xi Jinping, then China’s vice-premier, on a visit to Beijing. In 2017, as governor, she […]
Read more »Via Wall Street Journal, an article on how China’s expanding renewable energy sector is encroaching on cropland: China installed more solar-power capacity last year than the U.S. has built in its history. Now Beijing is worried that the push may have gone too far in some places as solar farms encroach on cropland, undermining leader Xi Jinping’s goal […]
Read more »Via Observer Research Foundation, a look at the UAE’s and Saudi Arabia’s agricultural diplomacy in Africa: With scarce arable land and water resources, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia depend heavily on food imports, as do other Gulf countries. The COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine war, and negative impacts of climate change […]
Read more »Via Australian Strategic Policy Institute, commentary on the link between food security and national security: Australia’s food security should not be taken for granted. The Covid-19 pandemic shows what can go wrong with it during seismic strategic challenges. January’s empty supermarket shelves across Darwin, caused by flooding, illustrate the precarious nature of food security even […]
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