Foreign business investors are looking to buy farmland in Africa. One of the most profitable new agricultural hotspots is Ethiopia. [Online until: February 4, 2019]

Farmland - the new green gold. In the hopes of huge export revenues, the Ethiopian government is leasing millions of hectares of land to foreign investors. But there’s a dark side to this dream of prosperity.The results are massive forced evictions, the destruction of smallholdings, state repression, and a vicious spiral of violence in light of environmental devastation. Global institutions like the EU, World Bank and DFID are contributing to this disaster with billions of dollars in development money every year. Whoever gets in their way is met with severe consequences. The young Ethiopian environmental activist Argaw learned that the hard way when he tried to raise awareness for his country’s plight. Are transnational land investments bolstering the economy or selling out the country? While some hope for financial gains and development, others are losing their very livelihood. In pursuit of the story, we meet investors, bureaucrats, persecuted journalists, struggling environmentalists and farmers who have been evicted from their land. Swedish director Joakim Demmer’s shocking real-life thriller starts in apparently remote corners of Ethiopia and leads through global financial centers, right to our dining tables.

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DW Documentary gives you knowledge beyond the headlines. Watch high-class documentaries from German broadcasters and international production companies. Meet intriguing people, travel to distant lands, get a look behind the complexities of daily life and build a deeper understanding of current affairs and global events.

Across the globe, global commercial demand for arable land is on the rise. One of the most profitable new agricultural hotspots is Ethiopia. [Online until: February 4, 2019]

Farmland - the new green gold. In the hopes of huge export revenues, the Ethiopian government is leasing millions of hectares of land to foreign investors. But there’s a dark side to this dream of prosperity. The results are massive forced evictions, the destruction of smallholdings, state repression, and a vicious spiral of violence in light of environmental devastation. Global institutions like the EU, World Bank and DFID are contributing to this disaster with billions of dollars in development money every year. Whoever gets in their way is met with severe consequences. The young Ethiopian environmental activist Argaw learned that the hard way when he tried to raise awareness for his country’s plight. Are transnational land investments bolstering the economy or selling out the country? While some hope for financial gains and development, others are losing their very livelihood. In pursuit of the story, we meet investors, bureaucrats, persecuted journalists, struggling environmentalists and farmers who have been evicted from their land. Swedish director Joakim Demmer’s shocking real-life thriller ‘Dead Donkeys Fear No Hyenas’ starts in apparently remote corners of Ethiopia and leads through global financial centers, right to our dining tables.

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DW Documentary gives you knowledge beyond the headlines. Watch high-class documentaries from German broadcasters and international production companies. Meet intriguing people, travel to distant lands, get a look behind the complexities of daily life and build a deeper understanding of current affairs and global events. Subscribe and explore the world around you with DW Documentary.

This World Bank/TerrAfrica documentary showcases Ethiopia's success in sustainable land and water management. It highlights how a landscape approach was used to manage land, water and forest resources to meet the goals of food security and inclusive green growth. The lessons drawn are relevant for other countries in the region and other parts of the world fighting land degradation and climate change issues.

For more than 15 years, cameraman and ecologist John D. Liu has been working on his worldwide mission to green deserts and to restore biodiversity.It all started in 1995 when Liu filmed the Loess-plateau in China. He witnessed a local population who turned an area of almost the same size as The Netherlands from a dry, exhausted wasteland into one green oasis. This experience changed his life. From that moment on, Liu has been travelling all over the world to convince and inspire government leaders, policy-makers and farmers with his film material and knowledge. Liu diligently spreads the message that restoration of ecosystems is not only possible, but also economically very meaningful.Backlight accompanies Liu on his mission in Jordan and shows on the basis of Liu’s own film material that a green future is possible worldwide.Originally broadcasted by VPRO in 2012.

© VPRO Backlight April 2012On VPRO broadcast you will find nonfiction videos with English subtitles, French subtitles and Spanish subtitles, such as documentaries, short interviews and documentary series.VPRO Documentary publishes one new subtitled documentary about current affairs, finance, sustainability, climate change or politics every week. We research subjects like politics, world economy, society and science with experts and try to grasp the essence of prominent trends and developments.Subscribe to our channel for great, subtitled, recent documentaries.

Credits:Composition: Jeroen van den Berk / Gijs Meyer SwanteeDirected by: Rob van Hattum / John D. LiuResearch: Gerko WesselProduction: Marie SchutgensSenior editors: Henneke Hagen / Jos de PutterEnglish, French and Spanish subtitles: Ericsson.French and Spanish subtitles are co-funded by European Union.

Aduna is helping to grow The Great Green Wall: a ground-breaking initiative led by the African Union to build and preserve an 8,000km wall of trees across the African Sahel. The Sahel, where Aduna’s baobab fruit supply chain is based, is one of the world’s poorest regions. People rely on the land to survive but climate change is causing desertification, making it impossible for communities to grow crops and earn a living. Learn how we, together with our local partners ORGIIS, have transformed baobab from an under-utilised resource to a lifeline for local communities. And discover the crucial role Baobab has to play in The Great Green Wall - creating sustainable livelihoods, reversing the effects of climate change and providing communities with a reason to stay. Find out more at https://aduna.com or https://www.greatgreenwall.org. #greatgreenwall #baobab #makebaobabfamous #aduna
Film and edited by James Ward: http://www.jameswardfilms.com
Music by Osei Kwame Korankye: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMhyohZ-6cY

Climate change poses huge challenges and some projections say it will cause hundreds of millions to become refugees. Desertification in sub-Saharan Africa plays a big part of that, and that in turn feeds into Europe's unfolding migrant crisis. Inna Modja is a Malian singer and activist who has been to Senegal for Newsnight to witness a pan-African initiative, the Great Green Wall. It aims to improve livelihoods in the Sahel region, reverse desertification, and break the cycle of exodus.

⁣Eco@Africa: Focus On Waste From Farming Harvest

For more information log on to http://www.channelstv.com

⁣Sustainable Farming Practice In Nigeria | Eco@Africa

For more information log on to http://www.channelstv.com

⁣African Change-Makers: Godfrey Nzamujo - Songhai Centre

How centuries of division built one of the most unequal countries on earth.

For decades, South Africa was under apartheid: a series of laws that divided people by race. Then, in the 1990s, those laws were dismantled. But many of the barriers they created continue to divide South Africans by skin color - which in turn determines their quality of life, access to jobs, and wealth. Racial division was built into the fabric of cities throughout South Africa, and it still hasn't been uprooted.That's partly because, while apartheid was the culmination of South Africa's racial divisions, it wasn't the beginning of them. That story starts closer to the 1800s, when the British built a network of railroads that transformed the region's economy into one that excluded most Black people -- and then made that exclusion the law.

Sources and further reading:

If you want to learn more about the railroads and how they impacted Cape Colony’s economy, check out this paper by Johan Fourie and Alonso Herranz Loncan:https://academic.oup.com/ereh/....article-abstract/22/

To understand segregation in South Africa’s major urban centers, take a look at this paper about segregation and inequality:
https://www.seri-sa.org/images..../SERI_Edged_out_repo

For more information on post-Apartheid cities, you can read this paper by Edgar Pieterse (who we feature in the video):
https://www.africancentreforci....ties.net/wp-content/

To explore the history and legacy of District Six, visit the District Six Museum website:https://www.districtsix.co.za/

Thanks for watching and let us know what you think in the comments!Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com​.