PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Taking Land for Economic Growth

Taking Land for Economic Growth In Ethiopia, land is taken from villages in the name of commerce displacing families, sometimes entire populations. Little compensation is provided to reestablish livelihoods in an alternative location, leaving these people to fend for themselves. More than six million rely on UN food aid, while the bulk of domestic food production is exported on land leased to foreign investors.

Private enterprise, entrepreneurs, sometimes government run companies, anyone connected to bureaucrats with the power and oversight, have hopped on this land grab, taking advantage of those without means to object, knowing that there are no consequences to these actions.

The award-winning photojournalist Alfredo Bini captured this tragic situation in Ethiopia where this practice is rampant.

Land-use issues are worldwide. Bini focuses on those in areas of conflict. Phylos team has also worked in projects such as sustainable lodging in Borneo, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon forest and we look forward to expanding land-use issues in the United States (strip mining as an example).

Land Grabbing, a photo exhibition, will appear this fall at the Brooklyn Photoville, a festival that attracts more than 60.000 people. The exhibition will also appear at the 24th Visa Pour L’image in Perpignan, France, the prestigious French photojournalism festival; and at the 12th China Pingyao International Photography Festival in 2012.

IMPACT
This work helped NGOs and advocacy groups support efforts to address this human tragedy and brings awareness to the needless suffering not only in Ethiopia, but in other African countries where land rights are ignored. Alfredo Bini’s images from this exhibition have already been published by the BBC, International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, El Pais Semanal, Corriere Della Sera and in television channels like RAI.