Samuel Nguiffo, General Secretary, Center for Environment and Development, Cameroon, also had occasion to make a presentation on land deals during the break out session on investments on land of the African Development Forum Eight (ADF-VIII). He talked on the need to "Integrate Environmental Sustainability Conditions in Large-scale Land Deals".

Nguiffo made a quote that I will never forget when he said, "There is no free land in Africa". I agree. Land in Africa is either State/government, community or private. So wherever it is that an investment must take place in Africa, there is ownership, whether formally recorded or not. Even States/governments hold land in trust for their people hence have a duty to ensure that such land rights are used or conveyed in the best interests of their citizens. And in the seemingly vast open/idle land in parts of Africa, there will be communities who practice either shifting cultivation or pastoralism who may have wondered far off in search of arable land or suitable pasture. But they always return. Think about their anger when they do so only to find that such land may have been committed without their knowledge and permission. Think about how they feel and view the central or local government that may have been responsible for the passing over of their land rights without permission. It is true......there is no free land in Africa!

Nguiffo went on to point out that we all have a duty to ensure the sustainability of the land we use for future generations. He observed that in most African countries, there are little or no environmental standards at all to govern Large-Scale Land-Based Investments (LSLBI). Furthermore, any attempts to set such standards or conditions is viewed as "keeping away investors" from our countries.

He noted that there is need to ensure that land based investments happening in Africa at the moment result in growth that is equitable and which ensures that future generations too will derive benefits from the investments. It is therefore necessary to integrate land investments with land use planning and national long-term development blue prints of countries. He noted that some of the investments happening in Cameroon were in conflict with land uses of communities, national parks and other local land uses, something which shouldn't happen if such investments were preceded by integrated land use plans and aligned with national development plans.

He also suggested that land deals in Africa should be compliant with existing government policies such the climate change policies and national land policies. He also pointed out that if the consideration for land deals is only monetary, then it is necessary to look at the comparative value of such land investments. For instance, since forests forests help to mitigate climate change and given that there is an existing global carbon credit market, land given away for other investments reduces possible carbon credits against such land. He noted that governments may therefore wish to first look at the comparative value of carbon credit to be lost before sanctioning alternative use of such land.

Nguiffo also noted that where investments must happen, governments need to devise innovative tools (technical tools...survey, satellite imagery, aerial photography etc) to identify and quantify the community land affected by land based investments and ensure that the investing companies share the wealth they make with such communities.

He also shared a case study from Cameroon that has demonstrated that palm oil produced through large scale farms have yields very close to the yield from an equivalent spread of small holder farms. This helps African governments to appreciate that instead of committing land to large scale land based investments with all the associated challenges, they may as well consider promoting small scale farmers.