Land grabbing, tourism and conservation in the Philippines

This book examines the global political-economic and discursive forces driving the current land grabbing phenomenon as well as its material effects at the local level. Whilst media and academic attention has been centred on the acquisition of land for crop production, this book takes a broader perspective, focusing on tourism and conservation as drivers of land grabbing. Research findings are based on fieldwork carried out in Hacienda Looc in the Philippines, where a sizeable area of land has been appropriated for the construction of an eco-tourism resort. It is argued that land grabbing needs to be seen as a form of "accumulation by dispossession" being driven by neoliberal policies which favour investors over the interests of the poor. A political economy approach is adopted to facilitate a critical analysis of the impacts of the land grab in Hacienda Looc, with a particular focus on property relations, labour regimes, livelihoods and poverty reduction. Contrary to the "win-win" narratives propagated by mainstream institutions, the poor invariably lose out as they experience new forms of exclusion alongside adverse incorporation into the neoliberal capitalist economy.