Land use and spatial justice in Latin American countries: lessons for Ukraine

In: Visnyk Instytutu Ekonomiky ta Prohnozuvannja: naukovyj žurnal, Band 2020, Heft 4, S. 87-102

Abstract

The article summarizes the experience of Latin American countries in the field of transforming land relations from the point of view of social justice, forming the necessary space for the livelihood of peasants, ensuring their economic sovereignty and so on. It has been proved that free access to the land resources and control over them largely determine the overall potential of the development of rural areas and the social development of the country as a whole. Studies have revealed persistent trends towards biased land distribution in the Global South and over-concentration in the hands of dominant groups and large agricultural enterprises. It has a strong destructive effect on the overall development of the countries in the region and is reflected in unequal spatial development, systematic infringement of the rights of peasants, limiting employment growth, spreading poverty, destruction of social cohesion, destabilization of food systems at the local, national and global levels, emergence of armed conflicts, etc. The general threats of changes in land tenure and use in Ukraine related to the tendency to redistribute land resources in favor of the corporate sector, land over-concentration and landlessness of peasants are outlined; a number of factors contributing to the unbalanced distribution of land were identified, and the necessity of including the lessons of Latin American countries in the future social development of Ukraine, in the long term is substantiated.