Neocolonization as a new research area and its meaning for Russia

Abstract

It is demonstrated that the global food crisis of 2008–2009, increase of the world population and the growing demand for food have stipulated the aggravation of global competition on the market of agriculture land resources. Whilst not transforming the borders of own states, such countries as UK, USA, China and United Arab Emirates are becoming the new metropolies of the 21st century, using legal mechanisms for acquaring new lands. It has been noted that by 2012 Russia lost control of over 2,3% of surfaces of cultivated lands, while the number of deals for transfering rights to use the land resources to nonresidents of Russian Federation has seen a stable growth. Weak state control in the area of land rights transfer, which prompted an increase of cases of violation of landutilization regulations by foreign citizens, led to the increase of number of deals on renting farming acreages, which in turn created a risk for the food safety in Russia. It is recommended to conduct a full-scale cross-disciplinary scientific-research on the issues of acquisition of lands in Russian Federation as an essential prerequisite for preserving and effective utilization of country’s natural resources.

Keywords

• land grabbing
• new colonization
• world land market
• food crisis
• purchase of land and land tenure