Contested land grabbing in Belgium: Port expansion, nature compensation, and the impact on farming in the Antwerp Left Bank.

This article examines the concept and process of land and green grabbing through the case study of the Port of Antwerp's expansion on the Left Bank of the river Scheldt and the associated nature compensation measures. Using the strategic-relational institutionalism (SRI) framework combined with the notion of ecological and economic crisis moments, the study identifies four institutional fields and three major judicial crises from 1997 to 2022 that shaped the planning process, revealing how nature compensation—a planning tool mandated by European environmental legislation—can enable a "double land grab." This double grab refers to land appropriation occurring both for spatial development (port expansion) and environmental purposes (nature compensation), often at the expense of local agricultural communities and rural inhabitants. The research highlights complex power dynamics among diverse social groups, including port authorities, environmental NGOs, farmers, and local residents, showing that land grabbing is a prolonged, politicized social process embedded in institutional shifts rather than a singular event. The study underscores the importance of nuanced, context-specific analysis of land grabbing in Western Europe, particularly regarding how environmental policies may legitimize economic development while simultaneously transforming land access and control.