Industrial palm oil production in West and Central Africa is mainly controlled by five multinational corporations, and could continue expansion. Plantations take up large tracts of land and water. The current water crisis in these territories would not exist if corporations had not grabbed the land from communities.
There is no other crop that has grown faster globally in the last decade than palm oil. This almost uncontrollable expansion leaves a deep trail of destruction and conflicts around it. As companies take over more community land, they also grab the water sources from them.
The impact on water availability for communities that live in and around industrial oil palm plantations is systematic and dramatic.
As companies take over more community land, they also grab the water sources from them.
Morocco is seeking investors for a $213 million agriculture project in Western Sahara that will establish farms on 5,200 ha for growing fruit, vegetables and animal feed.
As foreign agribusinesses take over Kiryandongo communities’ fertile land, other local investors are also eyeing the remaining land occupied by the poor families in the southwestern district of Uganda to grab their land.
Fresh controversy has emerged over the leading certification scheme for sustainable palm oil after a verification mission exposed ongoing issues around certified oil palm plantations in Cameroon.
A tycoon once named one of Indonesia’s richest has gone on trial for alleged corruption estimated to have cost the state the equivalent of US$5.25 billion and caused major environmental damage from the destruction of vast amounts of virgin forest for oil palm plantations.
Canada's National Farmers Union applauds the efforts by two provincial members of parliament tabled in their respective provincial legislatures this spring and attempt to curb farmland grabbing by powerful financial actors.
El proceso de extranjerización de las tierras partió de la conquista y colonización de America Latina. La lucha por el acceso a la tierra por parte de las mujeres campesinas es, en consecuencia, parte de la lucha anticapitalista, contra la privatización compulsiva producida por la conquista y la colonización, y frente a algunas reformas agrarias
L’Union nationale des fermiers du Canada applaudit deux projets de loi d’initiative parlementaire qui furent déposés pour tenter de limiter l’accaparement des terres agricoles par de puissants acteurs financiers.
Film maker Gabriela Cowperthwaite uncovers a massive global scheme to gobble up resources, pairing with the Center for Investigative Reporting to bring these shadowy operations to light.
