The appropriation of land and resources for environmental ends, including changes to the rules and authority that govern access to them (Fairhead, Leach and Scoones 2012).
Extended definition
Fairhead, Leach and Scoones define green grabbing as “the appropriation of land and resources for environmental ends” (2012, p. 237). The agendas they name include “biodiversity conservation, biocarbon sequestration, biofuels, ecosystem services, ecotourism or ‘offsets’.” Appropriation need not mean outright transfer of ownership: it includes “the restructuring of rules and authority in the access, use and management of resources that may have profoundly alienating effects.”
That last clause is why the wiki uses the term for catchment finance. A facility that pays for outcomes on a community’s land while the community holds no seat and sets no rules has restructured authority over the land without taking title to it.
Contrast with adjacent terms
- Land grabbing. Large-scale acquisition of land, for any purpose. Green grabbing is the subset justified by environmental ends.
- Water grabbing. The capture of control over water and its benefits, the subject of a 2012 special issue of Water Alternatives edited by Mehta, Veldwisch and Franco (introduction).
- Finance exclusion. Absence from the governance, payments or eligibility of a facility. It can occur without any appropriation of land.
Related terms
Sources
- Fairhead, J., Leach, M. and Scoones, I. (2012). Green Grabbing: a new appropriation of nature?
- Mehta, L., Veldwisch, G.J. and Franco, J. (2012). Introduction to the Special Issue: Water Grabbing?
Provenance
Created 25 October 2026 from the evidence brief behind Exclusion from Water Finance. The definition follows the cited author’s published wording; the paragraph on the wiki’s use is the wiki’s own reading.