Much has been written about palm oil and deforestation, and never enough, including on this site. The industrial cultivation of oil palm-as also denounced by the European Parliament-is one of the main causes of deforestation (1) at the planetary level. (2) A recent report confirms the World Bank’s role in the devastation of virgin forests in Gabon, Central Africa.
Gabon-known as ‘Africa’s Eden’ -is more than 80 percent covered by the Congo Basin rainforest, the second largest in the world after the Amazon. A unique treasure trove of biodiversity, with more than 8,000 plant varieties, 700 species of birds and 190 mammals. Like gorillas, chimpanzees, forest elephants and leopards. As well as the land of the indigenous Baka and Babongo peoples.
The global battle against climate change finds a valuable ally in Gabon’s forests, which absorb about a ton of carbon dioxide every minute. Equal to that emitted by an average of 100 cars in 70 km of driving. The protection of forests would therefore allow, among other things, an important source of income for Gabon through the international market for carbon permits(Emission Trading System).
The Gabonese government, however, has implemented a joint venture, starting in 2010, with Singapore-based agricultural commodities giant Olam International. To develop the largest palm oil production in Africa. Out of 500,000 hectares to be used for new crops. Thanks to a grant from IFC(International Finance Corporation),World Bank. (3)
A survey conducted by Mighty and Gabonese NGO Brainforest in 2016 (4) found that‘Olam has been destroying forests in Gabon, over the past five years, and continues to threaten forests through new developments.’ Analysis of satellite imagery and on-site studies have revealed the devastation of at least 19,000 hectares of‘mature, high-quality forest,’ the habitat of great primates, within oil palm concessions.
Palm oil and deforestation, lethal nexus
Deforestation is essential, in the perverse logic of the palm oil business. According to Olam, who is a member of RSPO, (5)‘obtaining high-yielding plantations requires an appropriate initial base‘ and‘non-forested land is not enough to initiate such development.’
Abuses on the rights of local communities are a side effect of that same perverse logic. Robbery of lands and destruction of ecosystems where life and cultures have taken root, felling of their villages and sacred sites.
Palm oil, free to choose. The boycott.
Notes
(1) See http://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/stop-deforestation/whats-driving-deforestation#.WOuphlPyuGQ
(2) Certifications of hypothetical sustainability, among other things, neglect at least one million hectares of crops. As demonstrated by the Zoological Society of London
(3) Olam Palm Gabon’s operation was financed for $228 million, in 2012, by Ecobank Capital. Which is headed by Ecobank Transnational, in which IFC has participated since 2011 for $137 million. V. https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/projectDetail/SPI/29145
(4) See Palm Oil’s Black Box Report,
(5) Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil Production. The organization of palmocrats responsible for countless abuses against indigenous peoples, the environment, workers’ rights
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
