Foreign investment, law and sustainable development: A handbook on agriculture and extractive industries

Foreign investment in agriculture and extractive industries is increasing pressures on land and natural resources. This handbook is about how to use law to make foreign investment work for sustainable development. It aims to provide a rigorous yet accessible analysis of the law regulating foreign investment in low and middle-income countries – what this law is, how it works, and how to use it most effectively. Because several legal arenas are relevant to any given investment project, the handbook takes an integrated approach that cuts across areas of law typically treated in separate literatures – including investment treaties, extractive industry legislation, land tenure, human rights, environmental legislation and tax law. For both government and civil society, the strategic use of a variety of legal tools is critical in harnessing the full potential of law. This book aims to support government officials in low and middle-income countries in their management of foreign investment for sustainable development, and to support civil society efforts to influence decisions and hold government and investors to account. This handbook has been produced under IIED’s Legal tools for citizen empowerment project.

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