Sierra Leone

The oil palm is native to West Africa, where it plays a vital role in food security and local economies, especially for women. But in Sierra Leone, the arrival of an industrial oil palm plantation has threatened all this.

Some community members accuse Socfin of land-grabbing and pollution. We visited the company’s plantation in Malen to find out what’s happening beneath the palm fronds.

"Reducing the risk of land conflicts and offering opportunities for investments are critical for Sierra Leone," says the Bank's representative

Open Letter to the RSPO Board of Governors, RSPO Secretariat, Investigation and Monitoring Unit, Human Rights Working Group

From Sierra Leone to Nigeria, through Cameroon, Guinea and Ivory Coast, communities living near the industrial palm oil and rubber plantations of Socfin/Bolloré are fighting for their rights and against repression.

De la Sierra Leone au Nigeria, en passant par le Cameroun, la Guinée et la Côte d'Ivoire, les communautés vivant à proximité des plantations industrielles d'huile de palme et de caoutchouc de Socfin/Bolloré se battent pour leurs droits et contre la répression.

The dismissal of a petition signed by 1,475 community members objecting to the certification of Socfin Agricultural Company by the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil is an attempt to silence and criminalize opposition to the operation of SOCFIN in Sierra Leone

Land for Life Initiative, a civil society organization that advocates land rights, has issued a press statement calling on government to intervene and settle the land dispute between members of the Malen Affected Land Owners Association (MALOA) and Socfin Agricultural Company (SAC).

Press Statement on the disagreement between members of the Malen Affected Land Owners Association (MALOA) and Socfin Agricultural Company (SAC) in relation to the RSPO Certification, the counter-report of the Pujehun District Multi-stakeholder Platform (DMSP) and the position of Land for Life Consortium

Signatories of a petition objecting to the certification of SOCFIN Agricultural Company by the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil have been a target of arbitrary harassment and criminalization.

Socfin says the result of clauses limiting lease agreements to an initial max of 5000 hectares, and for a period not exceeding 21 years for non-citizens, would be no more investment in rubber, forestry, palm oil or other plantation crops

The Malen Affected Land Owners and Users Association has submitted a petition signed by 1,475 of its members objecting to the certification of SOCFIN by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.