Legal Land Theft

In most countries with tropical forests, governments uphold the colonial legacy that declared the State to be the owner of forest lands. This has enabled governments to legally grant land to private investors, often violating communities' customary ownership of the land. As a result, corporate activities that destroy forests continue to expand.

Bulletin articles 4 January 2022

Arbaro Fund: A Strategy to Expand Industrial Tree Plantations in the Global South

The false idea that industrial plantations are a solution to the climate crisis is a golden opportunity for investment funds like Arbaro, which access scarce climate funding for expanding destructive monocultures.

Articles 16 April 2020

Organisations ask Sierra Leone Government to move forward with resolution of the land conflict between plantation company Socfin and communities

Civil society organizations have welcomed the finalization of a report of a Technical Committee about a legal dispute between the multinational company Socfin and communities affected by the company’s oil palm plantations in the Malen Chiefdom in Sierra Leone.

Publications 4 April 2019

Booklet: 12 Tactics Palm Oil Companies Use to Grab Community Land

The booklet “Promise, Divide, Intimidate and Coerce: 12 tactics palm oil companies use to grab community land” aims to support communities who want to strengthen their resistance and better prepare themselves to stop corporations from establishing on their lands.

Other information 31 January 2019

Report of the fact finding mission on the Human Rights situation in Malen Chiefdom after the violent incidents in January 2019

This report, released on January 29th 2019, was made by human rights defenders in Sierra Leone, concerned for the detention of activists and the death of two people who sustained gunshots from allegedly the state security personnel acting to protect SOCFIN on January 21th 2019