BEING PRESS BRIEFING TO MARK THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF STRUGGLE AGAINST MONOCULTURE TREE PLANTATIONS BY DR GODWIN UYI OJO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS ACTION/FRIENDS OF THE EARTH NIGERIA HELD AT PRECIOUS PALM ROYAL HOTEL, BENIN CITY ON 21 SEPTEMBER 2017.
Gentlemen of the Press,
On behalf of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) we are pleased to welcome you warmly to this interactive session focusing on the assault of transnational industrial large scale plantations manifesting in massive land grabbing in the global South, Latin America, Asia and Africa. Today, 21 September 2017, ERA/FoEN, our colleagues from Ghana, Liberia and Togo, the various Civil Society Organisations and communities’ representatives join the rest of the world to mark the International Day of Struggle against Monoculture Plantations.
Since this initiative was launched in Brazil, 2004, the occasion serves to create a special moment of reflection on the status of our environment that is facing serious assault from industrial large scale plantations. We use this opportunity to denounce in strong terms the negative environmental and social impacts of monoculture plantations on communities and ecosystems.
In particular, the voracious expansion of Wilmar PZ oil palm operations in Cross River State from about 40,000 hectares to additional 50 hectares is leading to land scarcity for small scale farmers and resulting in local food shortage and rising food prices. Similarly, here in Edo State, Okomu Oil Palm PLC is expanding its oil palm operations by additional 13,750 hectares. In both cases, land grabbing and loss of access to farmlands and forests, deforestation, impacts on community land rights, impacts on water supply, and local food shortages are some of the negative consequences. There is neither respect for the rule of law nor community Free, Prior, and Informed Consent sought concerning such shady land deals and industrial plantations.
As both cases show, the mandatory Environmental, and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) were conducted perfunctorily, and only as a post mortem after massive land clearance had commenced. Community farm lands have been appropriated and many others face eviction from their ancestral land they lived on for centuries. The result is a growing tension in the communities where the companies’ activities continue in wanton destruction of forests leading to land use change, deforestation, human rights violations, poverty, labour exploitation, land grabbing and distortion of the local food sovereignty.
The oil palm companies operate with impunity and often above the laws of the land. In the case of Okomu Oil Palm PLC they have flagrantly disregarded Edo State Government Revocation Order for 13,750 hectares for the company’s expansion of their oil palm plantation. The Edo State Government Edict was signed into law on November 5, 2015 by the former Edo State Government. Till date, and in spite of all entreaties and pressure, Okomu Oil PLC is defiant and has failed to respect the Edo State Government Revocation Order. Instead it has deliberately and confrontationally continued the aggressive forests and farmlands clearance for oil palm planting. Their operation is currently displacing and dispossessing about 60,000 small scale farmers across four local government areas in Edo state: Ovia South West, Ovia North East, Owan West and Uhunmwode. Some of the communities impacted include, Makilolo, Agbede, Odighi, Odiguetue, Orhua, Umokpe, Uzebba, Uzalla, and Sabogida Ora.
The impacted communities and CSOs demand that Edo State Government should stop treating Okomu Oil Palm PLC with kid gloves. We urge the present Governor, His Excellency, Godwin Obaseki to take the bull by the horn and ensure enforcement of the revocation order against the recalcitrant Okomu Oil Palm PLC so as to compel them to conduct business within the ambit of the law.
We make the following demands:
Edo State Government should enforce its land Revocation Order and compel Okomu Oil PLC to comply with the revocation Edict.
Okomu Oil Palm PLC should comply with the Edo State Revocation Order and commence regeneration of the degraded forests and farmlands.
Adequate compensation should be paid to farmers whose farms and food crops have been destroyed by the rampaging bulldozers of the Company.
Local farmers should be encouraged to farm local staple foods and not to be dispossessed from their ancestral lands in favour of transnational companies under the guise of employment generation.
Edo State Government should not mortgage the sovereignty of Edo State and the Federal Government as no individual or company is above the laws of Nigeria.
Okomu Oil Palm PLC should provide relief measures and food to cushion food shortage challenges facing displaced farmers suffering from land dispossession and farm crops destruction.
To conclude, I salute and celebrate you all for your courage and resilience in the forms of resistance and solidarity to say No to Monoculture Tree Plantations in Edo state, in Nigeria and worldwide.
Plantations are not forests. The Environment is Our Life. It is not for Sale.
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