Home
 What's New
 About
 Contribute
 Submissions
 Rainforests
   Mission
   Introduction
   Characteristics
   Biodiversity
   The Canopy
   Forest Floor
   Forest Waters
   Indigenous People
   Deforestation
   Consequences
   Saving Rainforests
   Amazon rainforest
   Congo rainforest
   Country Profiles
   Works Cited
 Deforestation Stats
 Pictures
 Books
 Links
 Site Map
 Mongabay Sites
   Animal Photos
   Conservation
   Travel Tips
   Tropical Fish
   Madagascar
 Reference
 Contact




FOE: Palm Oil Linked to Deforestation

Britain may be sued for deforestation

Tribes attack UK over 'destruction of homeland'
Antony Barnett, public affairs editor
Sunday August 15, 2004
The Observer
Original Article


Britain is facing a �25 million claim for compensation from tribes in Papua New Guinea who claim the government has backed a project that destroyed their ancestral lands, poisoned their water and made them ill.

Lawyers acting for indigenous communities of the south-east Asian island have written to Development Secretary Hilary Benn outlining their claim. They have detailed a catalogue of destruction allegedly caused by a 10,000-hectare oil palm plantation in Oro province, near their northern coast .

The UK Department for International Development is the major shareholder in a company called Higaturu Oil Palms, the firm that runs the controversial plantation. It has put �4m of British taxpayers' money into the company through the government-owned CDC Group, which invests aid money in projects it believes will benefit developing countries.

The tribes claim Higaturu has used toxic chemicals to grow and process oil palms and that these have polluted the sole source of water for thousands of villages. Lawyers also claim the company has dug up ancestral graveyards and destroyed the sole habitat of the world's largest butterfly, Queen Alexandra's birdwing.

The letter was sent to Benn by Damien Ase, executive director of Celcor, the Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights in Papua New Guinea. He has demanded the minister takes immediate action to halt the damage to the land and environment and 'fully compensate the local landowners'.

Ase alleges that Higaturu illegally acquired the land from the tribes and caused damage by destroying rainforests and polluting rivers. The plantation began operating 26 years ago.

Andrew Mamoko, chairman of the Ahora pressure group, which represents the local tribes, said: 'Now we are landless, and are just another lot of hopeless, lifeless people grieving over our land while others reap goodness out of it and enjoy it.'

Oil from the palm trees provides a valuable harvest for developing countries, which export it for use as a vegetable oil in food or for cosmetics. The problem is that rainforest has to be cleared and chemicals used.

Friends of the Earth, which is backing the claim, has collected testimony on videotape from tribespeople who have suffered. Theresa Stanley, who represents the women of the community, claims that children have been born with deformities and died as a result of the polluted waters.

Chief Neville Ondopai of the Ahora Village said: 'All the people in these villages, they drink the water and they are dying. How can they exploit us so much?'

Lawyers claim that toxic waste was dumped directly into the Ambogo river, which is used by thousands of villagers.

CDC, which is wholly owned by the British government, has its funds managed by private equity group Actis. A spokesman for Actis said: 'We take these sorts of allegations very seriously and are committed to working with the management of Higaturu to ensure improvement in the environmental management of its palm oil plantations.'

In a detailed statement, Actis rejected many of the claims of the tribes. It said: 'Higaturu has systems in place designed to ensure that its discharges into the river do not create health or environmental damage and we do not believe that Higaturu's activities are responsible for the health problems facing the local community.'

from The Observer
Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004



CONTENT COPYRIGHT Guardian Unlimited. THIS CONTENT IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES.

mongabay.com users agree to the following as a condition for use of this material:

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental issues. This constitutes 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

If you are the copyright owner and would like this content removed from mongabay.com, please contact me.


what's new | madagascar | help support the site | search | about | contact

Copyright Rhett Butler 1994-2006