From the African Biodiversity Network comes a tale of plunder,
opportunism, and greed, a story of how biofuels are providing a
pretext for privatisation. Full story below the fold.
Press Release Summary
This is the story of how a Norwegian biofuel company took advantage
of Africa's traditional system of communal land ownership and current
climate and economic pressure to claim and deforest large tracts of
land in Kusawgu, Northern Ghana, with the intention of creating "the
largest jatropha plantation in the world".
Bypassing official development authorization and using methods that
hark back to the darkest days of colonialism, this investor claimed
legal ownership of these lands by deceiving an illiterate chief to
sign away 38 000 hectares with his thumb print.
This is also the story of how the affected community came to realize
that, while the promised jobs and incomes were unlikely to
materialize, the plantation would mean extensive deforestation and
the loss of incomes from gathering forest products, such as sheanuts.
When given all the information the community successfully fought to
send the investors packing, but not before 2 600 hectares of land had
been deforested. Many have now lost their incomes from the forest and
face a bleak future.
Those of us involved in this struggle want to tell the story as a
warning to other African communities, leaders and policy-makers to be
wary of the promises made by biofuel investors and the disasters that
their land grabbing may bring. Biofuel land grabbing in Northern Ghana
By Bakari Nyari, Vice Chairman of Regional Advisory and Information
Network Systems (RAINS), Ghana and African Biodiversity Network
Steering Committee member
Full report here.
[permaculture] Biofuel and Land-Grabbing in Africa,
Wesley Roe and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network, 04/30/2008