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 30 March 2023

Cambodia. Rubber Plantations, Protected Areas, REDD+ and Other Threats: A Dramatic Loss for Forest Dwellers

Forests in Cambodia have seen large-scale deforestation with rubber and cassava plantations, illegal logging and other economic interests. Besides, Protected Areas and carbon projects like REDD+ have severely affected forest communities. Despite the criminalization, communities fight back, underlining the important connection between living with their forests and having autonomy to enough, diverse and nutritious food.

Bulletin articles 23 March 2022

The Concession Model in Southeast Asia: Coming Full Circle?

Colonial and anti-colonial movements’ have deeply shaped the patterns and impacts of concessions in SE Asia. In some cases, communities have experienced dispossession through land grabs dressed as concessions. In others, concessions are part of a re-concentration of land holding. Either way, the concession model fits well with ideologies of modernisation.

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