Our new joint report, “Land Grabbing and Ecocide,” examines how the investment models and business operations of Harvard, TIAA, and Bunge are fueling staggering rates of deforestation, alarming violence, and ongoing violations of Indigenous Peoples’ land rights in the Brazilian Cerrado. Known as the birthplace of waters, the Cerrado is the world’s most biodiverse savannah, home to Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and other traditional communities and 5% of the world’s plant and animal species. The report was jointly produced by Friends of the Earth U.S., the Brazilian Network for Social Justice and Human Rights, and ActionAid USA.
The report shows how deforestation and land grabbing are driven not only by soybean companies but also by asset managers and banks who buy the land and finance the operations. This includes TIAA, the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, which speculates in land using the retirement savings of university employees, non-profits, and other pension funds, as well as the U.S. banks that finance agribusiness operations in Brazil, such as Citibank and JP Morgan Chase.
As a part of our Fund Our Future campaign, we are working with allies to stop land grabbing and climate destruction by financial institutions.
Check out our resources and publications about TIAA’s land grabs:
- Land Grabbing and Ecocide: How Bunge, TIAA, and Harvard Fuel the Destruction of the Destruction of the Brazilian Cerrado
- New reporting shows TIAA’s unethical business deals in Brazil are endemic
- Part 1: TIAA’s “sustainability reports” can’t paper over the impacts of land-grabbing
- Part 2: TIAA’s farms up close
- Brazilian Government Finds that TIAA and Harvard Violated Law in Acquiring Half a Million Acres of Farmland
