Professor Andreas Neef celebrates 20 years in international development

Professor Andreas Neef will outline his personal journey of 20 years working in international development research at a public lecture at the University of Auckland.

Professor Neef joined the Faculty of Arts' Development Studies programme last December. His lecture is also celebrating the 20th anniversary of Development Studies' beginning at the University.

During these 20 years Professor Neef has worked at the forefront of development interventions in Africa, Asia and the South Pacific.

But his interests in development and people’s land rights first started when he started reading books about the Native Americans.

“I was always intrigued by issues of injustice. The history of the first natives of America and how they were deprived of their land rights by their colonists captured my attention when I was a young boy.

“The question why people in some regions of the world do not have officially recognised rights to their land and where they have been chased off their land has preoccupied me ever since.”

Professor Neef’s lecture will explore the interface of property rights regimes, poverty dynamics and power relations, featuring agro-pastoralist people in West Africa, ethnic minority groups in the hillsides of Southeast Asia and disaster-affected coastal communities in Southern Thailand and Fiji.

He will discuss the effects – both positive and negative – of development policies and interventions by governments, development agencies and NGOs in the increasingly contentious global land rush that has targeted countries in the Global South.

“I believe development – wherever it takes place – always creates winners and losers. And as critical development scholars we need to pay particular attention to those at the losing end of development.”

Professor Neef was previously employed as Professor of Resource Governance and Participatory Development at the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Japan.

He holds MSc and PhD degrees in Agricultural Economics, Development Policy and Rural Sociology from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany. He has extensive research experience in Mainland Southeast Asia, West Africa, the South Pacific and the Middle East. His current research focuses on natural resource governance with particular emphasis on the ethics and politics of land grabbing, development-induced displacement, adaptation to climate change, and post-disaster response and recovery. He served twice as scientific advisor to the German Parliament.

Professor Neef’s lecture is on Thursday 20 November, 6-8pm in Library Room B10, City Campus, the University of Auckland.