The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
has published a handbook that shows how
government officials and civil society organisations in low and middle-income
countries can use legal tools to ensure foreign investments contribute to
sustainable development.
NaijaAgroNet reports that the book focuses on investments in agriculture and the extractive
industries – mining, oil and gas, authored by Dr Lorenzo Cotula.
These sectors, the author said attract much of the foreign
investment in many low and middle-income countries. Increased investment could
transform local economies by contributing public revenues and new livelihood
opportunities. But the deals can also pile pressure on natural resources and
spark conflict with local communities who depend on them.
"Public mobilisation against 'land grabbing' highlights
that investment quality, not just quantity, matters a great deal, even in
countries where investment is much needed," Dr Cotula said, stressing that
legal tools can influence investment quality – from the tax regime to social
and environmental safeguards, though to the inclusiveness of investment models
and processes.
"There is much that governments and civil society can do to
use those tools to promote investments that respond to local aspirations, and
to get a better deal from incoming investments," he said.
The handbook, NaijaAgroNet gathered, explained what the laws
that regulate foreign investment are, how they work, and how to use them most
effectively.
It covers the variety of legal arenas that can influence the
outcomes of investments — from investment treaties, extractive industry
legislation, land tenure, human rights norms, environmental legislation and tax
law —including arrangements to fight tax avoidance.
The book covers four main ways in which government and civil
society can use legal tools to promote sustainable development, by:
- Aligning
public policies and decisions on investment with a strategic vision of
sustainable development based on local and national aspirations.
- Ensuring
a fair economic deal.
- Taking
social and environmental considerations seriously.
- Balancing
investment protection with competing policy goals.
The handbook aims to support government officials in low and
middle-income countries in their management of foreign investment for
sustainable development, and support civil society efforts to influence
decisions and hold government and investors to account.
Governments play a central role in developing and enforcing
legal rules. But Cotula argues that engagement with investment law is not a
task for regulators and legal experts alone.
"Harnessing the law to make investment work for sustainable
development requires vibrant civil society organisations and social movements
to advocate, scrutinise, challenge and influence," writes Cotula.
"Perhaps most importantly, it requires citizens themselves to be able to
appropriate and wield legal tools in their efforts to shape their own
future."
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
... Linking agrobiz, people & technologyPix: cover of the book