Liberia

Communities in Liberia are being pressured to sign away their land to make way for palm oil plantations, according to a campaign group.

The Liberian government’s refusal to recognize and respect rural people’s customary land rights is marginalizing and destabilizing local communities, leading to full-scale conflict.

Since April, communities and activists in Cameroon, Cambodia, Liberia and the Ivory Coast have also staged direct protest actions against subsidiaries of Socfin, one of the world's largest independent plantation owners with 150,000 hectares of rubber and oil palm in several African and Southeast Asian countries.

Activists called Thursday for French conglomerate Bollore to return land, or compensate farmers, over disputed concessions for plantations in Cambodia and three African countries.

On Thursday the 4th of June, people from Cameroon, the Ivory Coast and activists from the Conféderation Paysanne, will disrupt the AGM of the Bolloré group in Puteaux, outside Paris.

Jeudi 4 juin, des Camerounais, des Ivoiriens et des militants de la Confédération Paysanne vont perturber l’AGe du groupe Bolloré à Puteaux.

Following the uprisings in Cameroon and in Cambodia, the residents of villages neighboring the Socfin plantation in Liberia are mobilizing to confront the company this Saturday 16th of May.

Après les soulèvements au Cameroun et au Cambodge, les villageois riverains de la plantation Socfin au Liberia marchent sur la direction ce samedi 16 mai.

The palm oil industry's repeated failure to keep its promises illustrates why global initiatives to achieve 'sustainable palm oil' must place communities centre-stage, writes FPP

Farmers in Africa and Asia on Wednesday announced in a statement a string of protests over a holding company Socfin Bollore's "landgrab" in their areas.

Those keen to see an end to years of environmental destruction and see genuine change in the behavior of major palm oil producers and suppliers feel there is still a lot to be mistrusting of.

Golden Veroleum and Golden Agri-Resource’s palm oil operations in Liberia are compounding poverty and food insecurity by taking land without community consent and making hollow promises of development benefits, says new report.