Orientador: Bernardo Mançano Fernandes / Resumo: O debate em torno do processo de land grabbing, entendido neste trabalho como controle do território – o poder de controlar o território e o acesso a este através de distintas relações diretas e indiretas – intensificou-se a partir da crise de sobreacumulação de 2007/2008. Concomitante a crise financeira, emergem outras crises [ou um receio ou discurso de escassez] como alimentar, ambiental, climática e energética. Os maiores alvos deste processo são os países do Sul global, porém o processo de controle do território está além da dicotomia Norte-Rico-Apropriador e Sul-Pobre-Apropriado. A América Latina é um dos principais alvos do processo e apresenta diferentes peculiaridades, como diferentes formas de apropriação e controle do território – compreendido através da multiescalaridade e multidimensionalidade; forte presença do capital regional; marcante compreensão de estrangeirização como sinônimo de land grabbing e a história do processo. O Paraguai, nosso recorte territorial, é uma nação que historicamente – desde o final da Guerra da Tríplice Aliança, em 1870 – é afetada pelo controle e estrangeirização do território, onde os maiores controladores são os empresas e pessoas físicas oriundas da Argentina, Brasil e, recentemente, Uruguai. A partir do estudo da territorialização do agronegócio argentino, brasileiro e uruguaio no Paraguai, o nosso objetivo é analisar a nova dinâmica territorial criada pelo processo de estrangeirização inserido em um processo mais amplo de contro... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Doutor

[pt] Os últimos anos têm presenciado um rápido aumento nos casos de land grab em diversas regiões do mundo. Terras e outros itens relacionados a ela têm sido apropriados em uma corrida global, que têm resultado em desapropriações, violações de direitos humanos, insegurança alimentar, dentre outros. O principal objetivo desta dissertação é analisar as iniciativas de organizações internacionais para a regulação global dos investimentos em terra e discutir seus efeitos sobre o fenômeno land grabbing no início do século XXI. Para isso, o estudo busca, primeiramente, avançar na compreensão do land grabbing, entendido como apropriação de terras, ideia que está diretamente ligada aos processos paralelos de acumulação por espoliação e reprodução ampliada do capital, conforme conceitos de David Harvey, e a transformações recentes na economia e política mundiais, que contribuíram para a corrida contemporânea. Esta perspectiva é complementada pela teoria crítica neogramsciana das Relações Internacionais, que explicam como a governança global do período está entrelaçada a um modelo de desenvolvimento dominante. A governança global dos land grabs é analisada por meio do foco em duas iniciativas multilaterais, elaboradas pelo Banco Mundial e agências da ONU. Os conceitos de novo constitucionalismo e civilização de mercado são essenciais para notar como as organizações internacionais têm sido aliadas no processo de mercantilização da natureza, em uma governança pautada por um discurso neoliberal e coordenada pela disciplina de mercado e pelo poder político. Argumenta-se que tais organizações, por meio de suas iniciativas de governança da terra, legitimam as apropriações de terra e contribuem para uma despolitização do debate sobre land grabbing. / [en] Recent years have witnessed a rapid increase in land grabbing in several regions of the world. Land and other related items have been appropriate in a global race whose dynamics have resulted in expropriations, human rights violations, food insecurity, among others. The main objective of this dissertation is to analyze the initiatives of international organizations for the global regulation of investments on land and to discuss their effects on the land grabbing phenomenon at the beginning of the 21st century. To this end, this study seeks firstly to advance the understanding of the land grabbing phenomenon, understood as appropriation of land, an idea that is directly linked to the parallel processes of accumulation by dispossession and reproduction of capital, according to David Harvey s concepts, and to recent transformations in world economy and politics, which contributed to the contemporary race. This perspective is complemented by assumptions and concepts of neogramscian critical theory of International Relations, which explain how the global governance of the period is intertwined with a dominant development model. The global governance of the land grabs is analyzed by focusing on two multilateral initiatives, launched by the World Bank and UN agencies. The concepts of new constitutionalism and market civilization are essential to note how international organizations have been allied in the process of commodification of nature, in governance ruled by a neoliberal discourse and coordinated by market discipline and political power. It is argued that such organizations, through their land governance initiatives, legitimize land appropriations and contribute to depoliticizing the land grabbing debate.

Cette thèse analyse les fondements et l'évolution de l'économie et de la gestion de l'eau au Liban dans ses cadres juridiques, institutionnels et politiques. L'étude s'appuie sur une méthodologie mixte, à la fois qualitative, à travers des études de terrains et celle de la littérature existante, et quantitative, en utilisant des outils d'analyse économétrique. Nous avons pris comme grille de lecture les liens entre les modes de production et d'usage de l'eau, la nature de la propriété foncière et sa structure dans une démarche d'économie politique. L'étude se compose de cinq chapitres. Notre premier chapitre, élaboré à partir d'une lecture critique de la littérature économique qui traite de la valeur de la ressource et de sa rareté, remet en cause la notion de crise de l'eau. Il propose une critique des paradigmes globalisés, notamment la gestion par bassin et la bonne gouvernance, qui sont à la base de la notion de Gestion Intégrée des Ressources en Eau (GIRE) d'inspiration libérale. En dépassant ces théories à l'aide d'une approche historico-matérialiste, ce chapitre construit notre grille de lecture d'un "paysage de l'eau" en mobilisant la théorie de Wittfogel des sociétés hydrauliques et la théorie des "moments" développée par David Harvey. Le deuxième chapitre suit chronologiquement et sur un temps long l'évolution juridico-institutionnelle de la gestion de la ressource depuis l'Empire ottoman et le mandat français sur le Liban jusqu'à la construction nationale entre l'indépendance et la guerre civile libanaise. Notre analyse reconstitue les fondements historiques de la relation du pouvoir aux régimes fonciers durant ces périodes. Nous développons en particulier les éléments qui sont à la source de la formulation de la vision de la mission hydraulique libanaise afin de présenter une interprétation de la relation de l'Etat à l'eau et le discours dominant de la gestion de la ressource. Le troisième chapitre expose les caractéristiques socio-spatiales du service d'eau potable et d'assainissement dans la phase de reconstruction. Il analyse la nature de la fragmentation institutionnelle des autorités publiques ainsi que la politique de l'eau engendrée par l'ajustement structurel et par les paradigmes néolibéraux, notamment, l'adoption des principes de la GIRE par le gouvernement libanais et la préparation du terrain pour des contrats de Partenariat Public-Privé. Le quatrième chapitre propose un modèle formalisé d'économie publique qui nous informe par ses résultats économétriques sur les critères d'allocation des projets de l'eau durant les deux dernières décennies. Les résultats économétriques de ce modèle vont confirmer notre hypothèse de base en montrant que seule la distance politique apparaît comme facteur décisionnel dans l'allocation des fonds aux régions, sans prise en compte de leurs caractéristiques socio-économiques et environnementales. Le cinquième chapitre étudie la question de l'irrigation et sa place dans les politiques agricoles du pays. Dans le fil de notre analyse sur la relation du pouvoir à l'eau, nous revenons sur les privilèges des grands propriétaires terriens dans l'accès aux subventions pour une production intensive en eau à destination des pays du Golfe. Ce chapitre pose la relation de l'eau au système alimentaire du pays en exposant le commerce et l'empreinte en eau virtuelle du pays. Finalement, nous utilisons un modèle de gravité commercial pour analyser la place de l'eau dans le processus de libéralisation du marché agro-alimentaire du pays. En conclusion, notre lecture de l'évolution du processus socio-naturel du paysage de l'eau confirme que les modes de production, d'usage et d'appropriation de la ressource hydrique au Liban sont le produit d'une relation étroite entre la propriété foncière et le pouvoir, héritée de l'histoire politique du pays et maintenue par son système confessionnel. / This thesis analyses the foundations and the evolution of the water economy and management in Lebanon by emphasizing the legal, institutional and political frameworks. The study uses a mixed approach combining a qualitative methodology, through surveys, interviews and documentation and a quantitative approach using econometric modeling. By composing our conceptual framework, we seek to define the political economy of the resource in Lebanon and the ties linking water use to land tenure structures. The study is composed of five chapters. Our first chapter reviews the economic literature dealing with the water value and scarcity and addresses a criticism concerning globalized paradigms, mainly, river basin management, good governance and the Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). Going beyond those theories and using a historic-materialist approach, we propose our analytical framework of a "waterscape" combining the hydraulic societies theory developed by Karl Wittfogel and the "moments" approach of David Harvey. Our second chapter explores, by adopting a chronological approach over a long period, the evolution of the legal and the institutional structures of water management in Lebanon. This chapter covers four centuries of the Levant territories under the Ottoman Empire, followed by the French mandate over Lebanon and, finally, the national construction phase between the independence and country's civil war. Our analysis seeks to understand the historical foundations of the relationship between land tenure regimes and social power during those periods. We also develop in this chapter the pilars that drove the Lebanese hydraulic mission in order to present an interpretation of the dominant discourse in the water management. Our third chapter reviews the socio-spatial characteristics of the water and wastewater infrastructures during the reconstruction period. We extend our analysis to depict the institutional fragmentation characterizing the water public authorities in Lebanon. We emphasize on the water policies undertaken in the country during this recent period under structural adjustment and neoliberal paradigms, mainly, the adoption of the IWRM principles by the Lebanese government and the ground preparation to Public-Private Partnerships. The fourth chapter offers a public good model analyzing the concerns behind the allocation of water projects during the last two decades. Econometric results clearly approve our hypothesis that the distributive politics are solely driven by partisanship concerns during this period with no consideration about socio-economical and environmental features of regions. The fifth chapter develops the links of water use to the Lebanese agricultural economy in order to understand the main drivers of irrigation. We shed the light on the privileges of big landowner in accessing to subsidies following a water intensive production destined to the Gulf countries. This chapter detects the link between country's food system and water by presenting the virtual water balance and food water footprint. Finally, the chapter verifies the state of water in the liberalization process of the country by using a gravity model. From our reading of the socio-natural process of water in Lebanon, our results show that the modes of use, production and appropriation of the resource in the country are produced by a close relation between land property and power, an inherited link from the political history of Lebanon maintained by the confessional system.

Using Tanzania as a case-study, this dissertation approaches the land grab issue in Tanzania with the following two main research question: How are new farmland investments shaping political dynamics and actors’ interactions in Tanzania? And, how actors’ interactions between and within levels of governance influence farmland investments’ outcomes at the local level? I tackle these questions by proposing an original theoretical framework which is based on two main assertions. First, local outcomes associated with farmland investments in Tanzania result from actors’ interactions. Second, these interactions are shaped by the interplay between three main elements: contingencies (C), actors’ agency (A), and structure (S). I use the acronym CAS to refer to these three elements. CAS, by combining various theoretical insights, is analytically productive because it furthers our understanding of what shapes relations among actors, and accounts for how their interactions change in time and space. It contributes significantly to the literature on land grabbing by proposing a unified analytical tool that builds up on the relational perspective that has been proposed by different scholars. In addition, CAS allows researchers to overcome misleading categorisations and to question dominant narratives that have been associated with the land grabbing literature. This dissertation is divided into 9 chapters. After the usual literature review (Chapter 1), theoretical framework (Chapter 2) and method (Chapter 3) chapters, Chapter 4 gets into the crux of the matter by first briefly presents Tanzania’s historical trajectory, with a specific focus on land policies in order to introduce this thesis’s empirical chapters, and to situate the reader in regards to Tanzania politics. Chapter 5 analysed land policies and related politics at the national level. It highlighted that actors’ interactions in relation to new farmland investments participate to the process of state formation. Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 both adopted a local perspective to capture the impacts associated with new farmland investments in district political arenas. More specifically, chapter 6 highlighted the importance of not overstating the authority of the central state, rather insisting on the key role played by intermediaries in Rufiji district. Chapter 7, seeking to capture how a specific investment has restructured the local political agrarian economy in Missenyi district, argued that Kagera Sugar safeguards its operational profitability by creating locally mediated market relations. It led to the emergence of new local patrons who used their position to benefit and foster their own material interests at villagers’ expense. Chapter 8 adopted a micro perspective, examining the political dynamics associated with investors-related land conflicts in a village in Missenyi district. I compared and explained why actors’ interactions are different even in the same institutional context, highlighting that the same local context may produce different CASs. In sum, this dissertation’s main findings are as follow. First, investments’ local impacts are contingent on investments’ terms of inclusion and exclusion that are constantly being negotiated between numerous actors. Second, although all actors exert their agency, their very capacity to negotiate and shape the social structure is partly influenced by structural constraints themselves. Third, it is interesting to note that specific local actors—and not necessarily the most powerful—such as district officials win almost every time, at least more than all the others. Although their place in the institutional architecture is decisive, it also shows that their capacity and ability to exert their agency is crucial: these district officials may have known better than others how to play their cards in the new Tanzanian farmland investment game. Fourth, even though processes through which new farmland investments affect the local political economy vary according to structural components (historical and institutional legacies), in both districts, the associated local outcomes were very similar. There are few exceptions, but the general trend in Tanzania is that most of the benefits associated with new farmland investments, the commodification of land and the increase of capital flows, are captured by government officials and political elites.

The growing demand for biofuels in the European Union is expected to have a significant impact on rural environments in sub-Saharan Africa. In the wake of Directive 2009/28/EC, Ghana experienced a rapid rise in foreign land acquisitions and direct investments to its agricultural sector. The potential implications of this development are multi-fold: While proponents of the EU biofuels policy stress the potential for agricultural development and improved energy security in the region, its opponents criticise the lack of binding rules and regulations concerning social sustainability and indirect land use changes. As a means of assessing the validity of these opposing views, this research paper provides an analysis of the directive's impact on Ghanaian energy security and agricultural development in the country. The analysis is based on key informant interviews and a comprehensive literature reviews. It is concluded that the potential of host countries to generate benefits from the cultivation of energy crops largely rests on their institutional framework. In Ghana, foreign biofuel investments appear to have at least partially resulted in negative socio-economic impacts on local rural communities. Formal and informal land rights, as well as land acquisition procedures present significant obstacles. Civil action and the proposal for a new national biofuels policy indicate, however, that the country could eventually emerge as a beneficiary of the global trend towards biofuels.

This paper examines and problematize the effects of biofuel production by focusing on local communities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The premise lays in a critique of neoliberal thoughts of development and the concept of sustainable development. The establishment of biofuel production in SSA has been depicted to carry with it opportunities of development for the rural population. However, there have been a big interest from foreign actors looking to invest in sub-Saharan biofuel production which have raced concern for land grabbing. A conflict of interest has emerged between Southern and Northern interests. A literature study is used as the method to examine reported outcomes on local communities in the proximity of biofuel production in order to determine if sub-Saharan biofuel production is established for the development need of SSA or the interest of the North. To analyze the results a theoretical framework has been constructed from concepts of large-scale land acquisition (land grabbing), environmental justice and the four worldviews market liberalism, institutionalism, bioenvironmentalism and social greens. The paper concludes that the large-scale production of biofuels is highly problematic due to the risk of land grabbing and Northern mitigation schemes are based on Southern lands raises the question of environmental justice. Depending on which worldview one adopts there can be several explanations to why this occur.

I am submitting this thesis to the Faculty of Law, the University of Ottawa in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in August 2016. The thesis examined the issue of land-grabbing through an environmental justice lens. The thesis first reviewed the concept of environmental justice and the threats that land-grabbing by powerful transnational corporations pose to subsistence communities in Africa. Additionally, this study investigated the adequacy of international guidelines to regulate against land-grabbing, including the Minimum Human Rights Principles, the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure, and the Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investments. Using Cameroon as my case study, the study also examined the adequacy of Cameroon’s land tenure rules and environmental impact assessment (EIA) system to protect vulnerable communities against land-grabbing. Drawing on examples from Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda, this thesis argues that subsistence communities who failed to have their customary land rights formalized or failed to adequately participate in environmental decision-making end up dispossessed of their means of surviving and thriving. There were three key findings: first, international guidelines regulating against global land-grabbing lack the binding force to coerce host states to take the necessary action to enforce the guidelines and, hence promote responsible agricultural investments. Next, the land rights of subsistence Cameroonians are not formally recognized under Cameroon`s land tenure system, making it difficult for vulnerable populations to contest these allocations or receive compensation in the event of expropriation. Thirdly, EIA follow-up in Cameroon is driven entirely by the investor: the EIA system does not encourage a joint follow-up activity initiated by all groups of stakeholders involved in EIA. Without an independent environmental oversight body that can provide expert evaluation and monitor the Cameroon government and (agricultural) corporations, there is no guarantee that proposed mitigation measures will be translated into specific actions by Herakles Farms. Based on the evaluation results, the following recommendations are made to the Cameroon Government to promote environmental justice in communities that are vulnerable to land-grabbing: (1) formalize customary land tenure, (2) promote environmental contracting; (3) encourage sustainability assessments.

The diploma thesis include improvement proposal of drive slewing 12,5t grabbing crane. Second part this work deal with causes which in the past lead to failure the supporting pole of grab crane by using FEM analysis. Detected causes are applied to new supporting pole of grabbing crane and comparison both results. In the last part of the thesis is constructional, technological and economical summary.

This paper discusses the possibilities of realization of VGA grabber for FITkit. Text is focused on software and hardware implementation possibilities. The first part introduces the reader to the theory of the issue. Next, the paper proposes several options of VGA grabber implementation and brief evaluation of alternatives. The second part describes a chosen architecture of VGA grabber of the featured options and includes a brief summary of the findings of the processor LPC4370 from NXP and USB Video Class UVC, on which the resulting architecture is based. The conclusion includes a brief summary.

This thesis examines the Chinese investment programme; the Belt and Road Initiative, through a post-colonial lens, to categorise whether it fits the postcolonial draining of emerging economies. The purpose of this research is to broaden the way we see post-colonial relationships and contribute to the notion that all advanced economies can have a draining relationship with emerging ones. This is done by examining the geographical and economical aspects of the BRI-projects in two states; Kenya and Sri Lanka, to detect draining. The thesis comes to the conclusion that China, through the Belt and Road Initiative, fits the post-colonial description of draining the examined states. The results hopefully mean a humble contribution to the broadening of what is included in the post-colonial theory.