Land grabbing in Uganda: Voices from the community

Denis Burke — 2013-05-21T11:15:00Z

Wilmar International is developing palm oil plantations in biodiverse islands off the coast of Lake Victoria, Uganda. The first phase of the project was completed in 2011 and the second phase of the project is currently going ahead. The second phase will expand palm oil plantations onto several other islands. The project is being promoted as a poverty-reducing endeavour, yet it is causing displacement, food insecurity and deforestation. Read more on the background to this case.

Watch more video testimonies from community members affected by land grabbing >

Images and personal stories


Okia comes from the mainland and is a palm plantation security guard. He is employed to protect the land from locals looking for firewood or people attempting to remove diesel from the diggers.	Some of the men and their machines on a newly cleared site of hundreds of acres by the lakeside. This land assumed by locals to be common land and therefore for public use was all of a sudden in the hands of the plantation owner, BIDCO. Locals were shown a piece of paper and told that BIDCO were now the new owners.	Nathaniel Bagira is one of only a few in the small village of Kasenyi who have not lost land. He, however, is worried that once the forestland has been consumed by the plantation, his 3.7 acre plot may be given to the company. Without the plot he has nothing and no way of supporting himself.

John Zziwa is a farmer from the village of Njoga which is surrounded by palm plantations. John's neighbours (Epson and Rosemary) have joined the plantation scheme and have planted over forty acres with palm trees. Instead of walking home through a tropical forest John now walks through a plantation.	Edison Musiimenta, Rosemary Nabukeera and daughter Maureen Nuwagaba have come from the mainland. Around eight years ago Edison came looking for work. He was so impressed with the quality of the soil and crop that he asked someone for a small plot of land to farm on. Edison is now one of the larger charcoal producers selling huge bags of the fuel to a mainland agent.	Deforestation on Buvuma Island

Okia comes from the mainland and is a palm plantation security guard. He is employed to protect the land from locals looking for firewood or people attempting to remove diesel from the diggers.

Some of the men and their machines on a newly cleared site of hundreds of acres by the lakeside. This land assumed by locals to be common land and therefore for public use was all of a sudden in the hands of the plantation owner, BIDCO. Locals were shown a piece of paper and told that BIDCO were now the new owners.

Nathaniel Bagira is one of only a few in the small village of Kasenyi who have not lost land. He, however, is worried that once the forestland has been consumed by the plantation, his 3.7 acre plot may be given to the company. Without the plot he has nothing and no way of supporting himself.

John Zziwa is a farmer from the village of Njoga which is surrounded by palm plantations. John's neighbours (Epson and Rosemary) have joined the plantation scheme and have planted over forty acres with palm trees. Instead of walking home through a tropical forest John now walks through a plantation.

Edison Musiimenta, Rosemary Nabukeera and daughter Maureen Nuwagaba have come from the mainland. Around eight years ago Edison came looking for work. He was so impressed with the quality of the soil and crop that he asked someone for a small plot of land to farm on. Edison is now one of the larger charcoal producers selling huge bags of the fuel to a mainland agent.

Deforestation on Buvuma Island

See more images and videos >

Transnational Corporations don’t respect Human Rights in Guatemala

Radio Mundo Real — 2013-05-02T09:35:00Z

Guatemala has increasingly opened its doors to foreign and European investors exploiting the country's hydrological and mineral resources, and sugar and palm oil plantations, which has resulted in mounting pressure on local communities and the environment, and has led to land grabs and human rights violations.

These violations often take place in collaboration with the government, according to the representatives of social movements.

“The current government has introduced a policy of repression – pursuing and illegally incarcerating people from social movements resisting so called “development” projects,“ warned Víctor Barro, chair of Friends of the Earth Spain.

Barro took part in a November 2012 international mission organized by Friends of the Earth International that verified systematic human rights violations and criminalization of environmental activists and communities resisting mining and hydroelectric projects in Guatemala and El Salvador.

According to Natalia Atz Sunuc, Friends of the Earth Guatemala general coordinator : "Campesinos and indigenous people are labeled as 'terrorists' for defending their basic human rights in a peaceful way".

According to Paula del Cid, representative of the Feminist Association “La Cuerda” of Guatemala : "in a context of mandatory evictions, the role of the army is increasing, and sexual abuse is being used as a tool to intimidate women who are defending their land."

In June 2011, forty European parliamentarians denounced the situation in Guatemala, but the European Union still refuses to take a stand in their trade and investment policies.

Civil society organisations based in Brussels – Friends of the Earth Europe, Aprodev, CIFCA and Grupo Sur – have called on the European Union to ensure policies include mechanisms to monitor and enforce the defence of human rights.

The Spanish company Hidralia Energía, developing dams for hydroelectric power in Santa Cruz de Barillas, Guatemala, began development with neither permission nor consent from indigenous and local communities.

This is just one blatant example of how a company supported by the government grab land to exploit Guatemala's natural resources while criminalising peasants and indigenous people.

“The Guatemalan and Spanish governments must take responsibility and do everything in their power to protect human rights in Guatemala,” said Víctor Barro, Chair of Friends of the Earth Spain.

A recent example of unjust detention is the case of Ruben Herrera who has been detained since March 2013 in Guatemala. He is the leader of the resistance to projects such as Hidro Santa Cruz (originally Hidralia SA) and a member of the Peoples’ Assembly of Huehuetenango (ADH).

An international petition to free Herrera has been launched. The petition states that over 20 community leaders, including Ruben, are being unjustly persecuted or are unjustly put on trial.

Friends of the Earth Netherlands: Nigerians and Milieudefensie appeal in Shell case

milieudefensie — 2013-05-02T09:22:11Z

In one case, the court ruled in favour of Milieudefensie and one of the Nigerian plaintiffs, Elder Friday Akpan. Shell was ordered to pay compensation to this farmer from the village of Ikot Ada Udo, because the company did not adequately protect its oil well from vandalism, and oil from the well streamed over Akpan’s land. In this case, however, the court ruled that Shell Headquarters in The Hague could not be held liable for the failures of its subsidiary, which is responsible for the daily management of Shell in Nigeria. Milieudefensie hopes that the court in The Hague will reverse its decision on this point – for Milieudefensie it is clear that the headquarters shares responsibility for the massive environmental damage in Nigeria.

The lawyer for the farmers and Milieudefensie disputes in its entirety the decision taken by the court in the cases addressing damage from oil spills from Shell pipelines in the other two villages, Goi and Oruma. In those two cases, the court did not find Shell liable for the damages suffered by the farmers due to the oil spills because the cause was
considered to be sabotage and the court ruled that Shell could not have reasonably prevented it.

In Nigeria the cases are being watched with great interest. Oil and Mining campaigner Evert Hassink of Milieudefensie has been to the country numerous times: ‘In the village of Goi, Chief Eric Dooh and his fellow villagers are still living amidst the sticky black remnants of oil spills from the Shell Trans-Niger pipeline. In Oruma, Chief Fidelis
Oguru, Alali Efanga and the rest of the village are trying to rebuild normal lives. But the fish that supported them in the past have yet to return to the polluted creeks, and they are still hoping to receive compensation for all the years that agriculture was impossible because their fields were polluted by Shell oil.’

The case, which today enters its next phase in the court in The Hague, is of considerable international significance, especially after the recent decision by the US Supreme Court in a comparable case. It ruled that under US law it is not possible in principle to take multinationals to court for human rights violations outside the United States. This further increases the need to hold multinationals liable in their home
country.

Friends of the Earth South Africa: Climate change to be 'unpacked' on Earth Day 2013

Megan Lewis — 2013-04-22T08:30:00Z

Written by groundWork associate researcher David Hallowes, the guide aims to help readers work through the jargon and engage with the global debate on an issue that is already majorly impacting upon people today.

Climate change is just one dimension of global ecological change forced by the massive scale of industrialisation powered by the fossil fuels: coal, oil and gas. The scale of change is such that scientists are calling this the beginning of a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene. Almost as scary as climate change is the jargon that comes with it. This short guide is intended to let people know what is happening and to make the debate more accessible.

This online version of Unpacking Climate Change is interactive, enabling readers to engage in critical discussion with groundWork around the issue of climate change and the various points raised by this publication.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] groundWork is an environmental justice organisation working with community people from around South Africa, and increasingly Southern Africa, on environmental justice and human rights issues focusing on Air Quality, Climate and Energy Justice, Waste and Environmental Health. groundWork is the South African member of Friends of the Earth International www.groundwork.org.za

[2] To read the e-book, visit http://www.groundwork.org.za/Unpacking%20climate%20change%20for%20web/Unpacking%20climate%20change%20for%20web.pdf

[3] For more information on the Earth Day Network and what they have planned this year, visit the website at http://www.earthday.org/2013/

[4] David Hallowes is a Durban-based researcher focusing on climate and energy. His most recent publication Toxic Futures: South Africa in the Crises of Energy, Environment and Capital was published in 2011 by UKZN Press.

European companies not respecting Human Rights in Guatemala

admin — 2013-04-18T15:45:00Z

Guatemala has increasingly opened its doors to European investors, which has resulted in mounting pressure on local communities and the environment, and has led to land grabs and human rights violations. This is often done in collaboration with the government, according to the representatives, in a rush to exploit the nation's gold and nickel deposits, and land for sugar and palm oil development.

The current government wants to introduce a policy of terrorism and repression – pursuing and illegally incarcerating people from social movements. Natalia Atz Sunuc, Friends of the Earth Guatemala said: "Campesinos and indigenous people are labelled as 'terrorists' for defending their basic human rights in a peaceful way".
Paula del Cid, representative of the Feminist Alliance of Guatemala said: "in a context of mandatory evictions, the role of the army is increasing, and sexual abuse is being used as a tool to intimidate women who are defending their land."

In June 2011, forty European parliamentarians denounced the situation in Guatemala, but the European Union still refuses to take a stand in their trade and investment policies. Civil society organisations based in Brussels – Friends of the Earth Europe, Aprodev, CIFCA and Grupo Sur – call on the European Union to ensure policies include mechanisms to monitor and enforce the defence of human rights.

The Spanish company Hidralia Energía, developing dams for hydroelectric power in Santa Cruz de Barillas, Guatemala, began development with neither permission nor consent from indigenous and local communities. This offers a clear example of company and governmental roles in criminalising peasants and indigenous people, while grabbing land to exploit Guatemala's natural resources. Either the Guatemalan or Spanish government must assume their responsibility to respect and protect human rights in Guatemala.