Photo Credit: RELUFA.org
May 14, 2012 |
Editor's Note: Azore Opio is a reporter for the Post in Cameroon.
After submitting this article for publication, he never received a
response from the paper’s editorial board, whether due to intimidation
by the government, the company concerned or self-censorship. It is no
wonder that Cameroon’s press status is rated as "not free" by Freedom House.
In
recent years, large-scale land acquisitions in sub-Saharan Africa have
increasingly attracted the attention of the media, environmental
scientists and conservationists. But these acquisitions have come with
enormous ecological costs that affect local people by cutting off access
to the resources they depend on for their livelihoods.
The
current dispute raging between the American-owned SG Sustainable Oils
Cameroon PLC (SGSOC) and the indigenous people of Toko and Nguti, in the
southwest region of Cameroon, is an extraordinary case in point.
In
2009, SGSOC signed a 99-year contract with Cameroon's government for
around 70,000 hectares (over 170,000 acres) in the Ndian and
Kupe-Muanenguba regions of the country. The company plans to develop a
large industrial palm oil plantation and refinery on 60,000 hectares of
the concession, and produce palm oil and other products. SGSOC insists
that the plan will create 7,500 jobs, as well as generate revenues for
Cameroon's government, improve road infrastructure and deliver other
social services.
However, local
and international NGOs are raising concerns about the impact the project
might have on the environment and human rights. The company’s contract
gives it the right to arrest and detain people within their concession.
It also practically exonerates the company from paying taxes, and states
that all contractual terms are valid even if they are in conflict with
Cameroonian law.
SGSOC is a subsidiary of American agribusiness corporation Herakles Farms.
In turn, Herakles Farms is a subsidiary of Herakles Capital, a New
York-based venture finance firm that specializes in investments in
developing countries. Herakles Farms, in partnership with its
non-profit, All for Africa, is focused on large-scale sustainable agricultural projects in sub-Saharan Africa.
SG Sustainable Oils Cameroon has also been a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
since March 2008, whereas Herakles Farms was only approved as a member
in 2011. RSPO requires its members to use best-practice social and
environmental standards when developing new industrial palm oil
plantations.
The company has not lived up to those standards.
SGSOC
been accused by the indigenous people of the region, as well as local
NGOs and environmental conservationists, of "grabbing" communal land,
which could dispossess hundreds, if not thousands, of people from their
ancestral land and sources of livelihoods. The continuing dispute could
lead to conflict, hunger and human rights abuses.
The government of Cameroon, for its part, doesn’t seem to have helped matters.
According to four wildlife and environmental conservation groups, the government of Cameron approved the company's environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) in September 2011. But by then, the company had already cleared at least 28 hectares of forest.
This was in blatant violation of Cameroonian laws that lay down what is subjected to an environmental impact assessment.
And
last year, the German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and
Development criticized the lack of transparency SGSOC displayed when
interacting with stakeholders during an informal meeting.
Cameroon's
government gave no heed to the complaints nor did it react to the
German Minister’s criticism. Instead, on August 4, 2011, a senior
territorial administrator attempted to force stakeholders present at a
separate meeting into accepting the proceedings of the meeting as a
green light for SGSOC.
source:
http://www.alternet.org/world/155358/how_a_u.s._company_is_breaking_laws_and_grabbing_land_in_africa
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar