Large-Scale Tree Plantations

A woman from the village of Mbonjo 1, Cameroon, which has witnessed the impact of industrial palm oil plantations and the constant presence of the military, calls for international solidarity and protection of right to life and freedom.

India’s programme to compensate for the destruction of forests for development projects is routinely setting up monoculture tree plantations on community commons. Women, who are mostly affected, are at the centre of its resistance.

The voices and stories of forest-dependent women are often rejected, unheard or silenced, which makes it easier for companies to grab community land. But what happens when they start to raise their voices?

Women suffer many types of violence committed by oil palm plantations companies’ employers, security forces, police and military, which subsequently reinforce patriarchy and their roles and relations within society in general. (Available in Indonesian).

The organization and sexual division of labor and job insecurity in single crop activities affect the health of female workers and territorial changes derived from this model of production directly affect women.

Plantations are increasingly surrounding and engulfing communities. Women must walk through company-occupied lands in order to seek their livelihoods. This, among other things, can cost them their lives.

On the 8th of March2018, International Women’s Day, we from the World March of Women, diverse women from all peoples, races and ages, come together once again to reaffirm that we will keep marching until we are all free from all the oppression from the patriarchal, capitalist and colonial system; we will continue to use our feminism as a way of life, and the streets as the space to amplify our demands.

The sixth and latest issue of the magazine “Trait d’Union“, a trimestral magazine and liaison of the associations of populations surrounded by oil palm plantations from SOCAPALM, workers’ unions and oil palm planters, was released. The magazine shares over 15 relevant articles highlighting different aspects of the struggles surrounding these oil palm plantations in Cameroon. This time, we want to emphasize two articles:

(Only available in Spanish). Documental sobre la expansión de monocultivos de palma aceitera y piña en América Latina, realizado por Aldo Santiago, periodista mexicano independiente, y Claudia Ramos, integrante de la organización Otros Mundos A.C./Amigos de la Tierra México. Duración: 35 minutos. Idioma: Español.

Support African women! Sign the petition included on this article by filling the form enclosed below. Organized women who live around industrial oil palm plantations denounce different forms of violence.

In order to better understand peoples' struggles across the southern and eastern regions of Africa, reflecting on its history is crucial. This editorial highlights some parts of this history. And this, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg.

Green Resources S.A., a company with mostly Norwegian capital, is considered to be the largest tree plantation company in Africa. The reality on the ground reveals serious land conflicts between the company and local communities, in Mozambique, Uganda and Tanzania. This article reflects the situation in Mozambique.