Palm oil plantations in Liberia are billed as bringing jobs and development but actually leave locals poorer, said a Liberian lawyer who won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize on Monday.

Two years ago Alfred Brownell was forced to flee Liberia after a successful campaign against a foreign palm oil plantation led to death threats and intimidation

Locked within the legislation is a flaw for those living on the quarter of the country’s land set aside for concessions: it is not retroactive. A difficult truth that is only just beginning to permeate thousands of villages in Liberia.

ESCR-Net members have been engaged in several actions in opposition to Luxembourg registered agri-business Socfin Group and its operations in several Western African countries.

The Prince said his country currently has agriculture cooperation agreements with several other African countries, and is now keen on ensuring that Liberia becomes part of such pacts.

Food companies doing business in Africa risk becoming bogged down in decades-long legal disputes over land that could cost tens of millions of dollars, according to a new report from ODI.

Recent reports have shed light on land rights violations and other abuses allegedly committed by SOCFIN oil palm and rubber plantations against local communities in Africa.

L’entreprise qui a signé en 2009 un contrat de concession de 63 ans portant sur 220 000 ha, examinerait actuellement un désengagement de ses opérations dans l’oléagineux et le caoutchouc, rapporte Reuters.

New report alleges that residents of Grand Bassa, Margibi and Bong Counties are being harmed by activities of Salala Rubber Corporation and Liberia Agricultural Company.

Sime Darby, the world’s biggest oil palm planter by land holdings, is considering exiting its palm and rubber operations in Liberia

Infractions au droit foncier, expulsions, violences: Le groupe luxembourgeois Socfin, exploitant des plantations, et ses filiales sont impliqués dans des violations graves des droits humains au Libéria, selon un rapport de l’organisation de développement Pain pour le prochain.

Land rights violations, expulsions, violence: According to a report by the development organization Bread for all, the Luxembourg-based Socfin plantation group and its Swiss subsidiaries are involved in serious human rights violations in Liberia.