Liberia

Liberia would be better off with smaller community-run plantations that could supply multinational firms’ thirst for palm oil and put the wealth into the community, says SDI

Malaysia’s Sime Darby says it will sell its underperforming palm oil concession in Liberia to Mano Manufacturing Company (MANCO), Liberia’s largest manufacturer of household health and cleaning products.

Stakeholders attending a two-day regional dialogue on oil palm development in West Africa have called for the inclusion of local communities in oil palm development in the sub-region.

One year after palm oil company Golden-Agri Resources (GAR) and its subsidiary Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) were called out for illegal deforestation, land grabbing, and the destruction of critical wildlife habitats, and many ongoing abuses later things on the ground don’t look much better.

Several communities say that Equatorial Palm Oil is continuously intimidating, threatening and dividing communities into signing away their land.

The Dutch development bank FMO says its investments promote oil palm plantations in local communities. But the local communities are not welcoming these plantations. They want their land back.

Déforestation et accaparement des terres au Cameroun par les agro-industriels du secteur de l’huile de palme, l’ONG Milieudefensie, pointe le doigt accusateur sur certaines banques néerlandaises et européennes.

Community representatives, impacted by palm oil companies in Liberia and Indonesia have traveled to the Netherlands to convey their grievances with ABN Amro, the financier of those companies.

Twenty-seven concessions intended for industrial oil palm plantations in West and Central Africa have either failed or been abandoned in the last decade.

Friends of the Earth Africa member groups visit the Joegbahn clan community in Liberia, which is facing threats from the Equatorial Oil Palm (EPO) Company to cede their remaining land to allow the company to expand its plantations.

Sur 220 000 hectares de palmeraies prévues, seulement 10 000 hectares ont été plantés jusqu’ici.

The impoverished state of Bomi County is likely to worsen as many subsistent farmers are at the verge of losing their residential and farm lands to elites, who have since begun land-grabbing spree in the county