ACAPARAMIENTO DE TIERRAS: LA RESPUESTA ARGENTINA

LAND GRABBING: THE ARGENTINE RESPONSE

Abstract

Argentina enacted Law No. 26,737 in 2011, which is commonly known as the "Rural Land Law", as a response to “Land Grabbing”. This regime is structured around the following axes: a) the determination of what is “rural land” and the definition of who will be considered as “foreigner”, b) the system of limits that is imposed on “foreigners” ”, c) the compilation of the information necessary for its operation. The official survey of the situation of rural lands indicates that “foreignization” has remained at relatively low and stable levels since the Law was passed, although the verification of this conclusion would require additional research. It is highlighted that the design of the regulation focuses exclusively on avoiding certain types of concentrations of rural land in aliens´ hands, without a clear articulation with substantive policies aimed at building an “administered land grabbing” process that could have a positive impact on local communities; and that the Rural Land Law has ostensible difficulties to justify the discrimination it makes in the treatment of nationals and foreigners, which brings severe questions to its constitutionality.