Cambodia: Losing Ground

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Powerful images by the acclaimed photographer Emma Hardy, depicting the affect that losing land has on poor people as they try to rebuild their lives in Cambodia. The exhibition, Losing Ground, is in support of Oxfams global land grabs campaign. The beautiful but disturbing images take a harrowing look at the impact of dispossession on peoples livelihoods. Hardys photographs document how poor communities in Cambodia are coming together to fight for their rights to own, live and work on land against the global backdrop of a rush for land as a vital commodity. Hardy said: To meet and photograph people who have been disenfranchised, even de-humanised - who have lost their livelihoods, and often their way of life, whose lives in some cases have been reduced to mere existence is not only humbling but also inspiring. Since many of these people have been deprived of mostly everything, but their spirit, its exactly their spirit which keeps them fighting for their rights: for land, for food, for work, and for a life as opposed to an endurance The exhibition is in support of Oxfams land campaign to tackle land grabs around the world. The international development agency says that the rush for land is putting poor communities at risk of losing the land where they live and that they rely on for food to eat and make a living, often violently and without compensation. Oxfam argues that the global land grabs crisis is caused by a lack of international regulation of those investing in land. Oxfam is calling for global action on land grabs and is specifically calling on the World Bank as an investor in land, an adviser to developing countries on land policies, and an institution that sets standards that many private investors follow - to temporarily freeze its investments in large scale agricultural land. This would give the Bank space to get its own house in order and provide a standard for others to follow so that land grabs can be prevented. After its stint in London, the exhibition will open in Washington DC, where Oxfam will be calling for the World Bank to take action to tackle land grabs at its annual Spring meetings next month. Ben Phillips, Oxfams Campaigns Director, said: This exhibition shows what it can mean for people to lose their land when they are already struggling to make ends meet. The World Bank can make a real difference in tackling land grabs around the world and we are calling for them to take decisive action when they meet in April. .