"The Bitter Fruit of Oil Palm"

About this book
Acknowledgements

Oil Palm: The Expansion of Another Destructive Monoculture
By Ricardo Carrere
Basic Facts About Oil Palm
Oil Palm Plantations in the World
Social and Environmental Impacts
Reasons for the Plantations' Expansion

The Case of Cameroon: Oil Palm Plantations, Yet Another Threat to Cameroon’s Native Forests?
By Hervé Sokoudjou
Brief History
The Promotion of Oil Palm Plantations
State Policy and State firms
The Influence of the Economic Situation
Plantation Expansion
Beneficiaries
Social Impacts
Environmental Impacts
Conclusions

The case of Ecuador: Paradise in Seven Years?
By Ricardo Buitrón
Brief History
A Current Case
Main Actors in the Palm Industry
Strategies of the Companies
Social Impacts
Environmental Impacts
Conclusions

The Case of Indonesia: Under Soeharto's Shadow
By Mia Siscawati
Brief History
Ambitious Expansion: A Picture of Indonesia’s Plantations Today
Current Area of Oil Palm Plantation and Future Expansion
Incentives and Subsidies
Foreign Investment
The Social Impacts
Violations of Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities
Human Rights Violations
Destruction of community-based economy
The Environmental Impacts
Oil Palm Plantations and Deforestation
Forest Fires
Those Who Benefit
Indonesian Conglomerates with Links to the Soeharto Family
Foreign Companies and Financial Institutions
Conclusions

Africa
- Cameroon: Oil palm, people and the environment
- Côte d'Ivoire: Increasing conflict between smallholders and oil palm estates
- World Bank promotes oil palm and rubber plantations in Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire
- Ghana: The documented impacts of oil palm monocultures
- Nigeria: Palm oil deficit in a traditional palm oil producing country
- Nigeria: Malaysian corporation to invest in palm oil production

Asia
- Burma: Forced labour in oil palm plantations
- Oil Palm Plantation in Cambodia
- Cambodia: The unfulfilled promises of an oil palm plantation
- Indonesia: Million hectare oil palm plantation programme in Jambi
- Malaysia: Resistance against logging and oil palm in Sarawak
- Malaysia: Exporting social and environmental impacts of oil palm monocultures
- Papua New Guinea: the struggle of the Maisin indigenous people
- Papua New Guinea: Incentives to oil palm plantations

America
- Colombia: Perverse economic incentive for oil palm plantation
- Ecuador: Oil palm in the devastated Garden of Eden
- Mexico: Oil palm and the different meanings of Chiapas
- Nicaragua: US United Fruit, oil palm and forest destruction
- Guyana: Malaysian investment in oil palm plantations
- Costa Rica: the depredatory practices of an oil palm plantation company

Chapter 4 - Working conditions
- Working conditions in oil palm plantations
- The rights and welfare of plantation workers

Chapter 5 - Yet more problems
- Genetically-modified oil palms: The final threat
- Global warming: More plantations or more will to reduce emissions?

Chapter 6 - Our viewpoint
- The urgent need for action against the spread of oil palm plantations

Given the widely ignored impacts of oil palm plantations and their widespread promotion throughout the tropics, the World Rainforest Movement decided to bring together research and local struggles in a book aimed as a tool for action. Given that the problem is present in Africa, Asia and Latin America, we chose three representative cases for each continent: Cameroon, Ecuador and Indonesia. At the same time, we tried to provide people with a general overview and with as many examples in other countries as possible.

We hope that this book will encourage more people and organizations to share their experiences and to become involved in an issue such as this, where networking and mutual support are crucial to halt a globalized plantation model which is resulting in the destruction of nature and peoples' livelihoods.

This book was made possible through the participation of a number of people. Ricardo Carrere wrote chapter 1, coordinated and edited the three case studies and was the editor of a WRM bulletin focused on oil palm which included the articles reproduced in chapters 3-6. Hervé Sokoudjou, Ricardo Buitrón and Mia Siscawati were respectively the authors of the case studies on Cameroon, Ecuador and Indonesia. Larry Lohmann edited chapters 1 and 2. Ricardo Buitrón, Ricardo Carrere, Elizabeth Díaz, Chris Lang, Juan Figuerola, Ana Filippini and Teresa Pérez, were the authors of the articles included in chapters 3-6. Other people provided specific or general information and advice, among whom we would like to mention and thank Nick Ashton-Jones, Nnimmo Bassey, Anne Casson, Marcus Colchester, Tieguhong Julius Chupezi, Saskia Ozinga, Meenakshi Raman andYamila Zepeda. Alicia Porrini and Soledad Domínguez assisted in translations. Novib and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation provided the financial support to make this book possible.