The term land grabbing in scientific literature has been used since approximately 2007 - 2008 to describe a trend of large scale land transactions (deals, acquisitions etc.) in rural areas made mostly by foreign companies or multinational corporations as well as governments. In many places worldwide, such transactions have reached large-scale proportions. There are several similar characteristics that explain what exactly is ‘land grabbing’, its causes and its consequences. The purpose of this research is to identify the trend of land grabbing in general and then to determine whether land grabbing characteristics are found in Latvia. Specifically, this research is focused on the data analysis of forest land owned by foreigners who own a minimum 500 hectares in at least one region of Latvia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]