One is a politically loaded term, the other is more or less a technical and legal term.

The word land grabbing is sometimes used, when property on land is redefined. for instance in a traditional property concept villagers might have the right to collect wood in the forest. A legal reform might concentrate all use rights in favor of the owner of the forest.

Thanks a lot Sidney and Hans-Bernd for the opinions shared. Your opinions are well noted and appreciated

Both answers can be supported by my lifetime experience in Africa and Europe. For Hans-Bernd's answer I may contribute a published historical case from Tyrol (19th century), Austria. Use rights of villagers for forests products in Tyrol were indeed transferred legally to the forest owner in some places. In return portions of the forest were legally transferred into the ownership of the village commons. A trade rather than a grab. For an illustration of these village forests in Tyrol please refer to my paper on ResearchGate. This article deals primarily with the village pasture, but in broad terms the same applies to the village forest. If you read German, you may follow the literature reference trail to the details of the swap of use rights versus full ownership rights.

Hein Van Gils Can you indicate which paper your refer to ? I am quite interested to read it. I am also looking for an epistemological discussion of the concepts of "appropriation" "property" "ownership" and land "grabbing" , if you have any source to suggest. Thanks