By Kemo Cham
Activities of the French agro-investment firm, Socfin, pose serious threats to forests, communities and wildlife in Africa, a new report has found.
The findings by Greenpeace revealed that the company’s activities have led to conflicts with affected communities where they operate.
Socfin, Société Financière des Caoutchoucs, is partially owned by the logistic firm Bolloré group which has a 38.75% controlling stake. Bollore itself has a lucrative deal manning the Freetown ports, which has itself attracted a lot of concerns.
Socfin controls over 6000 acres of plantation in Sahn Mallen in the southern Pujehun District, which was recently the subject of protests following a verdict after long-running court hearings that left six aggrieved local land owners jailed. They were found guilty of destroying plantains belonging to the firm.
The Mallen people are opposed to the company’s ‘illegal” acquisition of their lands in connivance with local authorities.
SOCFIN’sauthorities in Sierra Leone have over the years denied any wrongdoing, insisting that they have always complied with all government laws and regulations governing their operations in the east of the country.
Meanwhile, the Green Peace report: ‘Africa’s forests under threat’, reveals that Socfin’s expansion plans in a dozen countries, mostly in Africa, are threatening forests that are essential for the preservation of climate balances, biodiversity and communities’ livelihood.
The report urges the CEO Bollore, Vincent Bolloré, to immediately commit against deforestation. It notes that Africa may only represent a small proportion of global palm oil production, but that there is currently a run on the continent’s forests.
“An increasing number of investments are being made, with investors attracted by favourable climatic conditions and above all by soft regulations that are either not applied (in particular due to corruption) or that are particularly favourable to foreign investment,’ the authors note.
Socfin is considered the leading planter in Africa, and it is known to also own palm oil and rubber plantations in Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Cameroon and Democratic Republic of Congo, amounting to some 51,000 hectares.
Green Peace’s report however focused on the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sao Tome-Principe, and it shows that the company’s plantations include primary and secondary forests, that store large quantities of carbon. The authors of the report say Socfin is found to be involved in many conflicts with forest communities in these countries.
“We found that some concessions border onto unique ecosystems, as in São Tomé where they are located next to a national park that is home to remarkable biodiversity. However, unlike its main competitors in the palm oil sector, Socfin has no policy to combat deforestation and end the land conflicts." Cécile Leuba, campaigner for Greenpeace France, was quoted in a statement.
Greenpeace estimations that the total amount of carbon stored in the cleared forests in Sao Tome exceeded 600, 000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent. This is the equivalent of annual emissions from a small coal-fired power station.
Socfin is mostly owned by two people: the French man Vincent Bolloré with the largest share, followed by the Belgian businessman Hubert Fabri. Vincent is France’s ninth-richest man.
Green Peace is a non-governmental organization with focus on protecting the environment. It has offices in over 40 countries, with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The organization urges the investors and their companies to use their influence to make Socfin immediately commit to a credible zero deforestation plantation policy that respects the rights of local communities. The campaign group also called on the Bolloré Group to publish a zero deforestation policy that covers all of its investments in the sector.
“To prevent African forests from being subjected to the same fate as Indonesian or Malaysian forests, investors must immediately adopt zero deforestation policies, together with social safeguards. The Bolloré Group cannot clear itself of its responsibility with regard to Socfin’s practices,” Said Leuba.Green Peace has instituted a petition urging its call for Zero Deforestation in the Congo Basin.
(C) Politico 02/03/16
