C O M M U N I T I E S FA C I N G

ZERO DEFORESTATION
PLEDGES: THE CASE
OF OLAM IN GABON

Muyissi Environnement and World

Rainforest Movement (WRM),
February 2020

This work was made possible through contributions from Misereor/KZE

(Germany), the Swedish International Development Co-operation
Agency (Sida) through the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC)
and Bread for All from Switzerland. The views herein shall
not necessarily be taken to reflect the official opinion of
contributors or their funders.

Muyissi Environnement World Rainforest Movement (WRM)

BP 2032 Mouila, Gabon Av. Gral José María Paz 1615/ office 3.
Phone.: +241 011.86.27.77 CP 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay
Email: [email protected] Phone/Fax:: +598 2605 6943
[email protected] / www.wrm.org.uy

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 2

 I NDEX
Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 04

1. About “zero deforestation”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 06

2. OLAM and its Zero Deforestation policy in Gabon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 08

“Zero deforestation” in a densely forested country? OLAM´s loopholes. . . . . 11
“Zero net deforestation”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
A focus on protecting HCV forest areas only. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
“Savannah is not forest”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Modifying the definition used for Gabon’s forests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
The consequences of OLAM´s loopholes for communities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

3. OLAM and the communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
OLAM´s arrival in the communities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Social contracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
“Participatory” mapping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

4. Problems faced by communities due to OLAM´s plantations and

“zero deforestation” policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Strangers in their own territories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Undermining fishing and hunting is damaging to people´s identity. . . . . . . 24
Deforestation puts food sovereignty at risk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
The conflict of humans versus animals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Zero deforestation? Plantations advancing over savannah areas. . . . . . . . . . 29
Women face the most severe impacts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Final remarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Sources : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
ANNEX I - Schedule of date, name of village, department and
province visited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 3

 FOREWORD
“Zero deforestation” pledges are one more idea in the list of voluntary
initiatives created in the past 10-15 years to supposedly address the negative
impacts of industrial agriculture commodity crops. Oil palm plantation
companies have responded to pressure from global food corporations such as
Unilever, Nestle and Mars and made a commitment to “zero deforestation”1.
Global food corporations are major buyers of palm oil and they, as well as the
financial backers of oil palm companies, have started to feel consumer pressure
about the contribution made by these companies to the destruction of the
world’s tropical forests. A growing number of European and North American
consumers want to be assured that their purchase of chocolate, biscuits, soap
or lipstick does not contribute to this destruction. Companies in other sectors
such as the meat and soy industry have also adopted “zero deforestation”
pledges, for they too are notorious drivers of deforestation.

Along with other international initiatives, a considerable number of

transnational companies have in one way or another adopted this voluntary
“zero deforestation” idea. But has it resulted in anything significant?

Undoubtedly one outcome of “zero deforestation” pledges has been a surge

in paper work. Along with specific policies that have been generated to
guide the implementation of these commitments, international declarations
about the world´s forests that have been signed by governments, NGOs
and corporations, along with certification schemes, now mention “zero
deforestation” in their documents. All together, an impressive volume of
documents, policies, criteria, plans and recommendations about “zero
deforestation” have emerged.

1 In the case of OLAM, and many other companies, although they talk about having committed to
avoid deforestation in their public relations materials, they actually use a “zero net deforestation”
policy. “Zero deforestation” and “zero net deforestation” are not the same, as will be explained under
section 2 of this booklet.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 4

The commitments are also useful propaganda for oil palm companies that are
concerned about creating a positive image and ‘greening up’ their reputation,
having been targeted for years as drivers of deforestation.

What is striking, however, is the absence of information on the experiences

of communities living inside or adjacent to the plantation areas of companies
that have signed “zero deforestation” pledges. Although there are various
studies and articles specifically about “zero deforestation”, they tend to be
desk studies that lack information on how these policies impact on local
communities.

In response to this deficit, a field study was carried out with communities
located in and around four concession areas used by the agribusiness company
OLAM in the province of Ngounie, which is located in central-southern
Gabon, a densely forested country in Central Africa. OLAM actively promotes
industrial oil palm plantations in Gabon, while supposedly committing to
“zero deforestation” in 2017. The villages that were visited in these four
concession areas are facing varying degrees of impacts from OLAM´s activities.

Women in particular face severe consequences as a result of these plantations,

yet their voices are often absent in studies on the impacts of industrial oil palm
plantations. To address this gap, the research teams placed emphasis during
the field visits on allowing women to access a space to share their experiences,
by way of conversations within women-only groups.

The research was carried out in 18 villages in the period of April 25 to May 25,
2019 (see ANNEX I), by the organisations Muyissi Environnement (based in
Gabon) and the World Rainforest Movement.

Muyissi Environnement and WRM.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 5

 1. About “zero
deforestation”
The first “zero deforestation” commitment was launched in 2007 in Brazil by
nine major conservation NGOs, including WWF, Conservation International
(CI) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). (1) Their objective: to reduce
deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon to zero by 2015. Curiously, they
invited companies that destroy forests to join their initiative. These corporate-
friendly NGOs claimed that companies could continue to expand their
operations as long as the lands they use are not classified as forests and the
companies occupied instead either deforested lands, so-called “degraded”
forest lands, or other biomes with no forest cover. As a result, these NGOs
created possibilities for corporations to continue their destructive expansion.

Over the years, the idea of “zero deforestation” pledges has become very
popular. In addition to company pledges, a large number of international
tropical forest initiatives have also adopted this initiative. They include: the
2014 New York Declaration on Forests, which commits those who sign the
declaration to reach “zero deforestation” by 2030; the 2015 UN Sustainable
Development Goals aim at halting deforestation by 2020; the Consumer
Goods Forum, which consists of around 400 retailers and manufacturing
companies, also set a 2020 target to end deforestation; and the Roundtable
on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) incorporated the so-called High Carbon Stock
Approach in 2018, with the objective to conserve all categories of forests,
including secondary forests and those in the process of regeneration.

A very important additional push came in 2015 with the adoption of the UN
Paris Agreement on climate change. This included one more international
forest policy document that declares forests, especially tropical forests, as crucial
“carbon stores” that must be protected. Forest conservation and measures to
halt deforestation have become the overriding targets to mitigate the global
warming emergency. Halting deforestation is important for many reasons,
although when it comes to the climate crisis the problem lies elsewhere: the
non-stop burning of fossil fuels. Yet the Paris Agreement makes no mention
whatsoever of this direct cause of the climate crisis.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 6

Nonetheless, the most important push for oil palm plantation companies to
adhere to “zero deforestation” pledges is that deforestation has become a
major concern for plantation investors as well as consumers. According to
Glenn Hurowitz, CEO of the Mighty Earth conservation NGO, “in today’s global
marketplace, people simply don’t want to buy food or soap that’s grown by
destroying elephant and chimpanzee habitat”. (2) For its part, the Norwegian
government decided in 2018 to exclude palm oil from its list of biofuels, due
to its contribution to deforestation.

Companies are therefore under strong pressure to actually do something, as

inaction may negatively affect their profit margins. In this context, committing
to “zero deforestation” practices becomes an attractive alternative.

First, it is a voluntary commitment and very far from representing any legal
obligation. And second, it conceals the forest destruction that the company
has already caused prior to making the commitment. What remains in the
spotlight is a new bright image of a “green” company, a friend of nature.
This modus operandi becomes strikingly clear in the case of OLAM International
Limited in Gabon.

<<

Palmeraie Olam de Mouila.

Ph: Jacques Torregano pour
Jeune Afrique

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 7

 2. OLAM and its Zero
Deforestation policy
in Gabon
Gabon is a country in Central Africa with forest covering 89% of its territory. (3)
In 2009, the Gabonese government adopted the “Strategic Plan Emergent
Gabon” (PSGE), with the objective of diversifying Gabon’s economy, currently
heavily dependent on extraction of timber and petroleum. However, one aim
of the Strategic Plan is to make the country the biggest industrial palm oil
producer on the African continent. OLAM –a food and agri-business company
active in 70 countries- is viewed by the Gabonese government as a key corporate
partner to lead this effort. The company’s headquarters are in Singapore and
its main stakeholders are Temasek Holdings (Singapore) and the Mitsubishi
Corporation (Japan). OLAM has been active in Gabon since 1999.

In 2010, OLAM signed an agreement with the Gabonese government by

which it received a number of incentives and benefits to initiate its oil palm
plantation activities in the country. Today, it is Gabon’s biggest industrial oil
palm and rubber plantation company. To promote oil palm plantations, OLAM
and the Gabonese government have created two companies:

Olam Palm Gabon, a joint venture of OLAM (60%) and the

Gabonese state (40%). The Gabonese government provided
OLAM Palm Gabon with a “land bank” of up to 300,000 hectares
(4), to be gradually conceded to the company by way of lots.
The total area of concession land of OLAM Palm Gabon now stands
at 143,412 hectares, of which 59,275 hectares is planted with oil palm.
A total of 43,922 hectares of oil palm plantations is located
in the province of Ngounie, divided between three lots: Lot 1
Mboukou, Lot 2 Mandji and Lot 3 Moutassou. (5)

SOTRADER, a joint venture of OLAM (49%) and the Gabonese

state (51%). SOTRADER set up the so-called GRAINE project, for

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 8

 which the Gabonese government has set aside a “land bank” of
up to 200,000 hectares. (6) The GRAINE initiative promotes the
cultivation of food crops as well as oil palm through small-holder
cooperatives. (7) SOTRADER controls 58,401 hectares in the
province of Ngounie where it focuses exclusively on cultivating oil
palm. To date, an area of 7,953 hectares has been planted with oil
palms, and the intention is to expand such plantations over another
23,169 hectares. (8)

<<

Ngounie province

<<
The three OLAM Palm Gabon
concession lots, identified as
´OLAM´ on the map, as well as
the SOTRADER concession lot,
all in the province of Ngounie,
indicating the location of villages
inside and adjacent to
the concession area
(source: Muyissi Environnement)

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 9

These figures show that the total “land bank” provided by the Gabonese
government for OLAM Palm Gabon and SOTRADER for the development of oil
palm plantations covers a total of 500,000 hectares. The numbers of OLAM´s
“land bank” also underline its huge expansion plans for the near future. In the
province of Ngounie, OLAM´s lot 1 has been RSPO certified. (9)

In 2012, OLAM Palm Gabon started its activities in the province of Ngounie.
It logged and destroyed forests and savannas and set up oil palm plantations.
SOTRADER began its activities a few years later, after it was founded in
December 2014. OLAM has destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of forests
over the years.

As a result of the company´s interest in certifying all of its plantations by RSPO,

and the latter’s requirement that companies conserve at least part of the forest
areas inside oil palm plantation concessions, soon after OLAM started planting
its first oil palms, it hired consultants to identify so-called “High Conservation
Value” (HCV) areas, on which the company would not set up oil palm plantations.
Outside of these areas identified as HCV, however, OLAM could continue to
destroy thousands of hectares of forest and savannah that consultants had
classified as not being of “high conservation value”.

In December 2016, the US-based conservationist NGO Mighty Earth showed

in a public report, which included satellite images (10), that since the start
of its operations, OLAM Palm Gabon had deforested at least 20,000
hectares in its four lots in Gabon. Three months later, in February 2017, OLAM
signed an agreement with Mighty Earth in Washington DC by which the
company committed to a moratorium on any further deforestation: a “zero
deforestation” pledge. According to the agreement, the company agreed to a
“moratorium on any kind of forest clearance for new plantation expansion”. (11)
The company reconfirmed this commitment when it declared in October
2019 that it was on track to have all its plantations certified by RSPO in
2021. RSPO reinforced its criteria about deforestation in November 2018,
adopting also a “zero deforestation” policy. (12)

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 10

“Zero deforestation” in a densely forested
country? OLAM´s loopholes.

The contradictions in OLAM´s commitment to stop deforestation soon

become apparent. In fact, OLAM had first reacted to Mighty Earth’s report
with defending its forest destruction policy, stating that “We agree with
Gabon’s sovereign right to convert a tiny percentage [our emphasis] of its least
valuable forested land for agriculture, so long as it is responsibly and
transparently done” (13). Knowing that the “zero deforestation” commitment
pressure on oil palm companies is intense, the question then is what loopholes
have been built into the commitment to enable such companies to continue
expanding in densely forested countries like Gabon.

“Zero net deforestation”

After assuming its “zero deforestation” commitment, OLAM developed its

so-called “OLAM living landscapes policy”. (14) In that document, the first
loophole appears straight at the beginning: OLAM explains that to achieve
“zero deforestation”, it is adopting “net-positive principles”, resulting in a “net
positive impact”. The company explains it will “set out a long term plan to embed
a net positive approach in the commodity systems in which we participate”.
The word “net”, although it might appear
insignificant, is in fact crucial. “Zero net
deforestation” means that the total area <<
of forest within a given geography remains
unchanged. However, this can be achieved not
only by not destroying any more forest but also
by planting new trees to offset forest that has
been destroyed. (15) “Zero net deforestation”
thus allows a company to continue destroying
forests as long as it restores “comparable” areas
elsewhere by planting trees. In practice, this
means that a company “compensates” for forest
destruction by protecting other “comparable”
areas in terms of biodiversity and types of flora,
which they claim would be at risk of destruction.
Olam Living Landscapes

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 11

The word “positive” in the formulation “net positive impact” goes even
further: in this case, a company not only “compensates” for the destruction it
has caused, but also protects other at-risk places or rehabilitates areas where
forest has been destroyed, claiming that overall, these measures are creating a
“net positive” impact in comparison with a scenario lacking such interventions.
This idea has become popular among corporations, as it allows them to
continue destroying forests and yet present themselves as even more “green”
and as “creators” of biodiversity. The ideas of “zero net” and “net positive
impact” are at the heart of a mechanism called “biodiversity offsetting”. (16)

In essence, however, these concepts are quite perverse. Each place is unique,
has its own diversity, and is rooted in a specific time and space; it cannot be
compared to or replaced by other areas. Such living spaces are also often
used by and sustain the livelihoods of local communities, and should never be
destroyed!

A focus on protecting HCV forest areas only

As part of its “living landscapes” policy, OLAM continues to emphasize that it

will conserve and create more High Conservation Value (HCV) forests. In other
words, those areas, including forests, that the company does not consider part
of this category can be converted into oil palm plantations. Indeed, in a press
release from October 2019, OLAM stated that “Our plantations are located
only on areas of land that have been identified and mapped as grassland,
secondary regrowth or degraded logging areas”. Local communities in the
lots where OLAM is active in the Ngounie province have a different view,
claiming that before OLAM set up its oil palm plantations, the company
logged the forests itself, thus turning them into “degraded logging areas”.
In fact, in the case of OLAM and in the context of its project to establish oil
palm plantations in its densely forested concession areas, the company itself
hired a logging company to fell timber with any commercial value inside said
areas. The profits generated were then shared between the logging company,
the Gabonese state and the communities. In the case of the communities,
these revenues were distributed in the form of community projects. After the
logging, OLAM prepared the land cleared for planting oil palm trees.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 12

Moreover, OLAM in its “living landscapes policy” document underlines that
it supports the policy for “sustainable palm oil” development that has been
adopted by a number of African governments. This policy only requires
protection of HCV and also High Carbon Stock (HSC) forests – both are usually
considered primary forest areas. That means that the remaining forest areas
that consultants hired by the company consider secondary or logged/degraded
forests can be destroyed. (17)

“Savannah is not forest”

Another loophole OLAM uses is planting oil palm trees on areas of savannah,
which are very valuable for communities (see more in the next section).
A comparable focus in Brazil over the past 10-20 years to protect the Amazon
forest led to the large-scale destruction of the very rich Brazilian savannah,
known locally as the cerrado.

Modifying the definition used for Gabon’s forests

But the biggest and most perverse loophole adopted by OLAM and its
business partner, the Gabonese government, is a change in the country’s
definition of what constitutes a forest. This change in the forest definition is
crucial for the company to be able to both continue expansion of its industrial
plantation and claim to be adhering to its “zero deforestation” policy. (18)

In 2018, the Gabonese Ministry of Agriculture proposed to modify the current

forest definition, itself based on the UN FAO definition, which only takes into
account tree coverage. The proposal is unprecedented. It would consider
a forest not only as an area with trees but would also set a parameter of a
minimum quantity of carbon that a forest area must contain. According to the
proposal prepared by Gabon’s National Agency for National Parks (ANPN),
“a forest is an ecosystem with a surface of at least 4 hectares of endemic forest
trees with an average of at least 5 trees with a DHP [the French initialism for
diameter at breast height] of > 70cm/ha and/or a biomass of > 118 Tons of
Carbon/Ha”. (19)

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 13

If this definition is adopted it would create a dangerous precedent.
The suggested minimum quantity of 118 tons of carbon per hectare would
simply exclude secondary forests and those in a state of regeneration from
the definition used for forests. The objective is very clear: if such environments
are no longer defined as forests, OLAM could convert those secondary and
regenerating forests into oil palm plantations, while still claiming to be
upholding its international “zero deforestation” commitment in terms of its
stakeholders and consumers. OLAM would also be able to maintain its RSPO
certification. It would even allow the company to further its plans to obtain
RSPO certification of all of its plantations. Given that RSPO no longer allows
the destruction of secondary forests or those in regeneration, a loophole was
needed. The change in the forest definition would provide this loophole.

The consequences of OLAM´s loopholes for

communities

These loopholes, if implemented, tend to heavily impact on the communities

living inside and adjacent to OLAM´s concession areas:

If a forest area is identified by the company as supposedly under risk

and receives protection, or rather to serve as a “compensation area”,
the community using that forest suffers negative impacts. They are
the ones blamed for deforestation. Companies such as OLAM claim
that peasant agriculture and other uses of the forest will destroy that
environment in the future, and that, they argue, is the reason why
these areas need “protection.” In its 2018 progress report on its
sustainable oil palm activities, OLAM refers to peasant farmers and
forests as follows: “encouraging them to conserve forests and wildlife
and to seek other development opportunities for communities.” (20)

OLAM´s focus on creating more HCV areas ignores the potential

value and importance of these areas for local communities.
It does so when it argues in its “living landscapes” policy that “some
degraded ecosystems such as logged tropical forests may be
classified as HCV or critical habitat and require protection and
restoration.” And OLAM’s announcement that “we will promote

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 14

 sustainable agricultural systems and elimination of unsustainable
forest burning” might well lead to the demonizing of communities
practising swidden agriculture systems that include controlled
burning. Thus, severe restrictions on community land use and
constant surveillance are a likely consequence.

The expansion of oil palm plantations over savannah, much of

which is grassland and not forest areas, tends to affect community
use of this particular biome.

The change in the forest definition will enable OLAM to set up oil
palm plantations in secondary forest areas and those in a state of
regeneration. Most of these areas are extremely important for and
part of the territories used by local communities.

However, according to its “living landscapes policy” document, OLAM

argues that its “net positive principles” will produce a “triple positive impact”,
resulting in: “prosperous farmers and farming systems”, “thriving communities”
and that they will help in “regenerating the world”. Nice words.
The problem is that they don’t reflect the reality on the ground, as the
following sections will show.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 15

 3. OLAM and the
communities
The communities whose territories overlap with OLAM´s concession areas have
built close ties with their territories over many generations, be they forests or
savannahs. The present location of the villages in this sector is a direct result
of French colonization. After the construction of the Libreville-Mouila highway,
French colonial policies forced people to relocate their settlements close to
this road, the purpose of which was to facilitate tax collection. As a result,
the different family clans that until then lived dispersed in their respective
territories, were forced to rebuild their villages alongside the highway.

In spite of the forced displacement, people maintained strong ties with their
respective territories or ´terroirs´. They continued to return to these lands to
grow their food, hunt, fish, and collect fruits, mushrooms and medicinal plants.
Their livelihoods continued to center around maintaining a connection with
“their forests”, their ancient villages and sacred sites.

OLAM´s arrival in the communities

When OLAM Palm Gabon started its activities in the country, the central
government had already provided the company with concession areas.Taking
into account that the Gabonese government was its business partner, it is clear
that it not only had a clear interest but had already decided that the project
would go ahead.

When the company arrived in the province of Ngounie in 2012, OLAM came
to the province not merely as a private sector company, but as a partner in
a joint project with the State. Having said that, OLAM did not ignore the
principle of free, prior and informed consent. Public consultations took place
to ascertain if the communities would accept the project. However, OLAM
was able to exert a strong influence on this process in its own favour, given
that when it arrived in the province the decision to implement the project had
already been taken. Besides, for some villagers, “OLAM c´est la présidence”

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 16

(OLAM is the presidency), alluding to the robust participation of the President
of the Republic in the project, what also had a threatening effect.

During our visits to the area, we heard of two communities that had rejected
the project. Such was the case of the town of Ndendé where a whole district
said no to the project, receiving the support of the town´s mayor. OLAM has
not set up plantations in that district. Besides, in the case of the community of
Bemboudie, villagers also successfully rejected OLAM’s project. In this second
case, villagers commented that their rejection of the plantation project did not
stop OLAM from invading their lands and destroying forest. This deforestation
took place around the same time that OLAM signed its “zero deforestation”
commitment. According to the villagers, shortly after forest had been
destroyed, the company claimed the deforestation had been a mistake and
offered compensation.

Conversations with representatives of local departmental and municipal

authorities also revealed that the oil palm plantation project is being imposed
by the Gabonese State and OLAM. Their main message is that they can do
little or nothing about the problems the communities face related to OLAM´s
plantations and the company’s control over their territory. They claim they have
no influence and fear opposing “the president’s project”. Remarkably, they
also have no information about OLAM’s project, not even an outline document
or an impact assessment.

Social contracts
What OLAM and the government of Gabon allowed communities was
to make a list of grievances, so-called “doléances”. In meetings with
community members, they were asked to detail their needs, resulting in supposed
“social contracts” signed by community chiefs from one particular lot or
concession area and OLAM Palm Gabon. (21) In practice, these are social projects
that the company had promised to carry out. According to these contracts, in
exchange the communities hand over the territories, forests and savannahs they
depend on, so that the company can start setting up its plantations and
related infrastructure. What we found in our field investigations was that the
contents of the contracts had not been disseminated within the communities.
Many chiefs do not disseminate the contents and many village people do not
even know that the chiefs have such contracts in their possession.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 17

Some of the “compensation” projects were fulfilled. Others are still pending
or are not functioning following implementation. The “social contracts” we
were shown during our visits, do not include schedules for the company to
implement the list of community demands. They also do not contain details
on how a health service should be equipped and maintained. To name just
a few examples: the dispensary in the Rembo community does not function,
the reason being there is no staff or medicines available. The majority of the
solar panels installed in this and several other communities are defective. The
water coming out from the two water pumps in the village of Moutambe Sane
Foumou is undrinkable. And the list goes on and on. Communities feel cheated
and expressed indignation because of these crucial omissions and the poor
implementation of other commitments set down in the “social contracts”.

<<

The closed dispensary at Rembo village. Photo: Muyissi Environnement/WRM.

A related problem is mentioned by villagers in Fanguidaka, Lambarene-

Kili and Rembo. The steering committees (comités de pilotagem), led by the
mayor and set up with representatives of each community in each concession
lot to oversee the implementation by OLAM of the social contracts, barely
function. Villagers complain these committees have not held any meetings for
a long time.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 18

“Participatory” mapping

Another initiative OLAM claims to have carried out with communities when it
started activities in 2012 was a so-called “participatory” mapping of community
territories. This was carried out by consultants and resulted in a map of each
village territory. The maps identify types of flora, the location of the villages
and important places for local use, including subsistence farming and lakes
where fishing activities are carried out, as well as old settlements, lakes and
rivers, sacred sites, and the areas set aside for OLAM´s plantations.

Some villagers called into question the “participative” nature of the mapping
exercise. An inhabitant of the village of Rembo noted the following: “We have
not been informed about the production of a participative map and we have
no idea who produced it”.

Meanwhile, OLAM has not even respected the sites that the communities
defined as important for their livelihood activities or because they are considered
sacred, even though the company promised to respect them, according to the
social contract. Some examples:

in Rembo, villagers claim that the sacred site used for hunting and
fishing, referred to locally as Mavassa, has been destroyed;

in Boungounga, villagers claim that a sacred site with ancient

cemeteries known as Pangani, where OLAM presently has its office
in Mandji, has been destroyed;

in Mbadi, villagers claim that the historical site Mbombé-Nyonda

Makita (where the first battle took place between two warriors) is
under threat due to OLAM’s plan to install a new palm oil mill on
the same site.

Villagers in Rembo, Doubou and Guidoma also report that the promised
distances – i.e. buffer zones - between OLAM’s plantations and important
sites for the physical and cultural survival of communities have not been
respected either. This partly explains the problems reported by villagers in
the following section.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 19

 <<

Participatory map of
Mboukou. Source of
the document:
INC, WRI/Palm
Olam Gabon/
Écosphère, 2012)

The map appears to be one more item on OLAM´s checklist of requirements

in order to start up its project, rather than a meaningful exercise with
communities to visualize and defend the extent and importance of their
territory.

In the following section, it will also become clear that OLAM’s “compensation”
through the provision of social projects does not provide even
minimum compensation for the severe problems and losses the communities
are facing, due to the arrival and expansion of the company’s plantations
over their territories.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 20

 4. Problems faced by
communities due to
OLAM´s plantations
and “zero deforestation”
policy
Strangers in their own territories

Community members frequently mention that one major impact of OLAM’s

plantation project is the growing number of restrictions and obstacles imposed
on people, making it difficult for them to access their own territory. Particularly
problematic are restrictions on the forest and savannah they use. Villagers
state that this started around 2015 when OLAM created the so-called “High
Conservation Value” (HCV) areas inside the village territories – these represent
50% of OLAM´s concession areas. (22) It became worse, they say, from 2017
onwards, which was when OLAM adopted its “zero deforestation” policy.
According to women in Mboukou village, the guards that supervise the OLAM
concession told people: “this forest no longer belongs to you, it belongs to
the State and we [OLAM] are the State!”

For several years, OLAM has also been requesting that people carry a permit
issued by the company when they enter the concession areas. The permit is
referred to as “macaron”. Several villagers complained that they still don’t have
such a permit and thus cannot access their own territory. Some also stated that
although the company had come to the villages to take their photograph, it
had never provided anyone with the required permits.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 21

<<
Example of a ´macaron´ permit.
Photo: Muyissi Environnement/WRM.

Even with a permit, however, the company still creates problems. Villagers
complain they can no longer pursue their activities inside their territory during
OLAM´s working hours (between 08:00hs-16:00hs). According to a woman in
Nanga village, women without a permit can only fish on Sunday in the few lakes
that remain, such as the one located at Moulalambe. Only those villagers with
a permit can access these lakes during the week, but only outside company
working hours.

Another obstacle was described by the villagers of Kanana and Ferra, who
complained that the company had dug ditches around their plantations,
supposedly to stop elephants from entering and destroying them. But neither
can villagers cross the 3 to 4 meter deep ditches, and accidents involving
people and animals have been reported. By digging these ditches, OLAM
violates the freedom of movement of villagers, as well as the right to use their
traditional pathways throughout their territory. The ditches restrict villagers’
rights to fish, hunt, collect food, materials and medicines, and even to grow
their own food, while also denying them their right to visit sacred sites located
within the forests.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 22

 <<

A ditch dug by OLAM in lot

3 Moutassou. Depth
between 3-4 meters
Photo: Muyissi Environnement/WRM.

Consequently, and in order to access their territory, villagers are forced

to use the only road available – the one that crosses OLAM´s plantations.
This road includes a checkpoint controlled by OLAM’s guards, who only let
people pass if they carry the company-issued permit. The guards also search
people’s bags, even though article 252 of the Gabonese forest code – law
016/2001 – permits citizens to exercise their customary rights in terms of their
personal or collective needs, including the right to hunt. According to one
villager: “if a security agent of OLAM finds you carrying something you
hunted or tools used for fishing, they will confiscate the meat or expel us from
the places we traditionally use to fish”.
<<
Checkpoint
Photo: Muyissi
Environnement/WRM.

This has severely undermined the liberty and freedom of villagers to come
and go as they please, as well as their capacity to maintain and transmit their
culture and knowledge about fishing, hunting and other activities to the future
generations.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 23

Undermining fishing and hunting is damaging to
people´s identity

Fishing is a traditional activity of women in the region. However, it has become

much more difficult in communities impacted by OLAM´s activities for women
to fish in the rivers and small lakes known locally as “marigots”.

The way OLAM has established their blocks of oil palm plantations has also
had a negative impact on women’s fishing activities, as the company basically
ignored the geography of the region’s water basins. The flow of water in the
basins was obstructed and many were backfilled, which in practice has severely
affected rivers and lakes. Women in the village of Bemboudie reported that
the Disouva, Malaga and Moukouakou rivers have all been backfilled, while
one of the worst situations was reported at Nanga village, located between
the concessions of SOTRADER and OLAM Palm Gabon. According to one
villager, most of their lakes are now “closed off” to them.

Local women also complain about the water pollution caused by the
run-off of chemical products such as fertilizers and other agrotoxins, as well as
plantation workers defecating in the small lakes where women traditionally fish.
According to one woman from Mboukou, “the OLAM people have damaged
our waters and we often catch them defecating in the lakes that still exist”.
In the case of the Mboukou and Rembo villages, they have basically lost all
their lakes and small rivers. And according to a villager from Moutam Sane
Foumou, “the majority of the rivers and lakes that served us are backfilled,
due to the expansion of the plantations, while those left are also a problem,
because if we wash our bodies with this water they start itching”.

Women from the Doubou and Sanga villages also reported that the water in
their lakes has changed colour. They are now forced to smoke the fish they
catch in order to consume it, given that fresh fish is of little use as it soon starts
to rot. And when fish is being prepared, foam rises out of the cooking pot.
The village women told investigators that after OLAM workers finish applying
the chemical products inside the plantations, they empty what’s left into the
lakes, contaminating the water and even changing the physical appearance of
the fish. According to one woman from the village of Boungouga, “the water

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 24

is not good quality anymore, the body itches and we do not eat [the fish] any
longer; we prepare it by boiling it and when we fish, the fish [caught] has no
flavour or a nice taste anymore, and this has been happening since OLAM´s
activities started on our lands”.

The pollution of the lakes forces women to walk longer distances to find
drinkable water. To make things worse, the company now plans to irrigate
its plantations due to the ever-longer dry periods that affect the region.
In Bemboudie village, women complain that OLAM wants to set up irrigation
reservoirs for its plantations along the Ovigui river, which flows through a
dozen villages. For the local women, this is the only river left that they can still
use to go fishing.

Hunting in the forest and savannah areas as well as visiting sacred sites inside
the plantations has also become difficult. Women in Mboukou reported that
many of these activities have to be carried out in clandestinely, while if they are
caught by the security guards, the animals they have hunted are confiscated.

Villagers are also angry that OLAM does not seem to distinguish between
villagers and outsiders, including workers who are not from the local
communities. Many local people complain about the plantation workers who
enter the forests to hunt in territories belonging to the communities, but who
never gave their permission to do so.

These hunting restrictions not only violate the legal rights of community
members, they also violate a clause in the social contracts signed between
OLAM and the villagers. In these contracts, the company assured villagers
that they would be able to freely hunt and fish for subsistence purposes
inside their territories.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 25

Deforestation puts food sovereignty at risk

The “zero deforestation” commitment adopted by OLAM in 2017 has not

offset the profound ecological and social damage caused by the company’s
destruction of thousands of hectares of forest in the province of Ngounie
since 2012. To date, in lots 1 and 2, OLAM has already destroyed most of the
forests. This destruction continues to have a heavy impact on communities
and people’s livelihoods.

A woman from Mboukou village, one of the most heavily affected communities,
described how by taking control of fertile community land, OLAM´s
destruction has left them without the necessary land to maintain their
livelihoods: “All the forest has been destroyed; they built their accommodation
facilities inside our forest and destroyed our lands”.

For OLAM, in contrast, deforestation has been highly lucrative. Given the size
of its concession areas, the amount of conversion timber logged inside the
future plantation areas has been huge. No information is available on how
much profit has been obtained from this conversion wood. Villagers stated
that the company had promised part of the windfall from selling this timber to
their communities. In the village of Kanana, people complained that they’re
waiting for this to happen.

The impacts caused by the forest destruction and subsequent implementation

of large-scale oil palm monocultures are numerous and severe:

destruction of areas where villagers collected food products such

as fruits, medicine and medicinal plants;

a profound ecological imbalance, including the fragmentation of

fauna and flora habitats and the destruction of water sources; this
has resulted in a tremendous problem with elephants and other
animals regularly roaming around the communities looking for food;
villagers have also observed a significant increase in the population
of flies, along with other insects and reptiles, including snakes;

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 26

 destruction of fertile fields for food production in forest and
savannah areas that are now planted with oil palm monocultures.

the use of chemical products, fertilizers and agrotoxins in the

plantations, contaminating soils, rivers and lakes in the area;

the water needs of the plantations; this has been aggravated

by the irrigation programme being planned by OLAM to ensure
year-round availability of water for plantation areas, placing
communities at even greater risk in terms of water shortages.

An academic article (23) commenting on the destructive impacts of OLAM’s

intensive logging in the areas that were the turned into oil palm plantations,
states the following: “logging is helping to open up paths that facilitate that
elephants come to villages. Also, logging is the main cause of destruction
of natural habitats through the elimination of plant species. The elephant,
for example, which is the primary animal involved in the conflicts linked to
the destruction of crops in the agricultural fields in Gabon, has a dense and
diversified diet. (..), an elephant consumes between 150 and 180 kg of food per
day in the dry season; between 200 and 260kg in the rainy season. As a result,
the search for food resources can be one of the main causes of their migration
to village areas when their natural habitat is fragmented by logging.” (..)“the
presence of elephants in certain villages in this province [Ngounie] is linked to
the installation of OLAM’s oil palm plantations.”

The conflict of humans versus animals

The Ministry of Water and Forests that deals with such “human-fauna” conflicts,
is understaffed and has a restricted budget. Villagers complain that they even
have to cover the transport costs themselves if they request ministry staff to
record a situation where wild animals have damaged their crops. In 2017,
the 317 complaints received from the province of Ngounie were the highest
number in the country related to elephants threatening people´s crops, followed
by the province of Haut-Ogooué with 247.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 27

In the villages most impacted by OLAM’s plantations, the only way to cultivate
food is in small plots located around the houses of the local villagers. The soil
in these plots is usually far less fertile than in the fields used before OLAM took
control of the land and turned it into oil palm plantations. Women in Kanana and
Sanga complain that the quality of the food they produce has fallen, that some
crops have a bitter taste and that others are tasteless. Moreover, if and when the
crops mature, the harvested products rot more quickly. The women attribute this
to soil pollution. What makes the women even more desperate is that elephants,
porcupines, apes and other animals ravage their fields and there’s nothing much
they can do about it. Elephants in particular can be quite dangerous, but they
are also a protected species; this means that villagers cannot kill them and risk
fines and imprisonment if they try to do so. In the village of Boungounga, people
report that they can no longer leave their homes at night, all because of the
presence of elephants.

<<

Elephant dung not far from the village of Lambarene-Kili

Photo: Muyissi Environnement/WRM.

A villager from Bougounga described the situation: “We do not have enough
space left so we plant near our homes due to the problems with the elephants,
as they ravage everything we try to do in the forests that are left. That’s why we
decided to plant close to our homes, but over time we have become victims of
these elephants that come right behind our homes to feed, and we fear for our
safety and that of our children.”

This puts communities in an extremely difficult situation. While the Ministry of

Water and Forests campaigns around the importance of protecting the country’s
wildlife, and especially elephants, which are a totally protected species,
communities suffer from their presence. Villagers in the Ndolou department area
say that they view themselves as being “imprisoned”: on one side by OLAM’s
plantations that have gobbled up most of the fertile lands, and on the other
side, foraging elephants.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 28

Even in the village of Lambaréné-ili, where women still practice traditional
agriculture, people suffer from the invasion of elephants and the destruction of
their fields. This has forced them to watch over their fields day and night, which
is both exhausting and discouraging. Some prefer to abandon growing food
altogether under such dangerous conditions, while wondering at the same time
what other options they might have to survive.

The problem puts people´s food security and sovereignty in danger, and is
impoverishing the communities ever more. In order to feed their families,
women are often obliged to buy food, which depends on finding work that
provides a cash income.

Zero deforestation? Plantations advancing over

savannah areas

The communities visited during our field trips did not report any significant
destruction of forest areas by OLAM around their villages since the company
committed to “zero deforestation” in 2017. They did, however, explain that
OLAM has continued to expand its destruction of savannah areas in Lot 3
and in Lot Sotrader and that this is also putting their livelihoods at risk. The
current RSPO rules allow destruction of vegetation types defined as “scrub” and “
cleared/open land” –­ which includes the savannah in Gabon - for industrial
oil palm plantations, as these plant types are not considered a forest and thus
supposedly not valuable enough to be protected.

The CEO of the Mighty Earth NGO, commenting on how OLAM could go
ahead with its business expansion without destroying forests, argued that “most
countries (…) have lots of degraded lands where they can expand agriculture”.
(24) Can the only available “non-forest” areas in the Mouila region - savannah –
really be defined as “degraded land”?

The researcher Boussou Bouassa G. in the framework of his Ph.D., “Urban Study
of the Ngounie” (1984) revealed the importance of savannahs in the provinces
of Ngounié and Nyanga. His information on soil formation mentioned two
particularly pertinent aspects: first, the soil is an important water reservoir during
the dry seasons and fortifies the natural vegetation. Second, the good conservation

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 29

of humidity allows for the fast re-growth of the grassland. In addition, the
diversity of these savannahs is important for the fauna, such as buffalo.

As for the communities, women in particular have customarily used the

savannahs, which allow them to find and produce food, and there are also trees
that only grow on the savannah. Now that OLAM’s no-burn policy prohibits the
burning of the savannah, villagers claim that it also puts their mushroom harvest
at risk, as traditional controlled burning secures a good mushroom crop.

<<
Savannah in the
department of
Ndoulou.
Photo: Muyissi
Environnement/WRM.

Women face the most severe impacts

For women the story is often one of “before OLAM” and “after OLAM”.

Before OLAM arrived, women could find food and plants in the forest to care
for the health needs of their families. While according to one woman in the
village of Guidouma, “when our husbands went hunting, they came back
with two or three game a day and that was a plus for the family. The sale of
products from hunting allowed us to feed ourselves better and, above all,
to educate our children well.” The sale of products from their farming plots,
along with the hunting and gathering of materials from the forests and
savannahs, allowed people to keep their children in school, even when children
had to go to Libreville, the capital, to continue their studies. Before OLAM,
children were also taught traditional activities such as food gathering and
fishing. The forest and savannahs enabled villagers to reproduce the way of
life on which they base their culture and identity. The soil was fertile at that

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 30

time and villagers had access to a healthy territory. The women note that even
if they could afford it, they did not need a refrigerator then, because the food
was always fresh and diverse.

After OLAM arrived, everything changed. The women are no longer allowed
to practice their traditional activities. Access to their territory, to the forest,
has become limited. Their agriculture is restricted and the only place left is
behind their houses where the elephants destroy everything. Their fishing
activities have also become impossible, mainly due to the pollution caused by
chemical products used in the plantations. Nowadays, almost all the products
to feed their families are purchased from the town. The quality and diversity
of food has been drastically reduced to merely chicken, rice and canned food,
while the only locally grown food is a type of wild banana (the matotou) that
grows behind the houses (a problem that has been commented on especially
in the village of Guidouma). Food prices are also increasing, which makes
things even more difficult. The money comes from those who are employed
by OLAM and whose wages, according to the women, are miserable. One
woman in Mboukou reports that “Our children are obliged to leave us and go
and live in the workers camps of OLAM. So there are hardly any young people
left in our villages to help us”.

Final remarks

An on-going process of forest destruction since 2012 has severely affected

the physical and cultural survival of communities in the province of Ngounie.
Their mode of living is based on a healthy territory. The situation in the
villages visited differs, depending on the extent of expansion by OLAM over their
territories. In recent years, OLAM expanded especially over savannah areas and
imposed more restrictive measures on the freedom of communities to come
and go inside their traditional territory. Women in particular suffer and are
distressed by elephants ravaging their subsistence crops.

Initiatives such as voluntary “zero deforestation” pledges are propaganda tools

for oil palm plantation companies like OLAM, but do not improve the lives of
the people that make up the communities living inside and around OLAM`s
concession areas. On the contrary, the advance of plantations over the valuable

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 31

savannah areas and the access restrictions imposed on villagers, make traditional
activities unfeasible. The expansion of OLAM’s industrial plantations onto
savannahs infringes even more on the ability of families to sustain themselves
and maintain their mode of living. This expansion risks pushing families into
abandoning their villages without significant change to the company’s policies,
which are driving the spread of plantations into the only areas left for families to
grow their food, and to go fishing and hunting.

The proposed change in the Gabonese forest definition is a dangerous and

unprecedented one, and could make other countries with a relatively high forest
cover to follow Gabon´s example. It will also lead to more forest destruction and
more problems for forest-dependent communities. Besides, it strengthens the
current problems with the FAO forest definition, according to which a forest is
reduced to just a clump of trees. And also, it further reinforces the false solutions
that use forests to supposedly combat climate change, by promoting the view
that what really matters is the carbon stored in the trees.

The major conservation NGOs, banks and consumers need to wake up to

the serious impacts that industrial large-scale monoculture plantations imply
for communities on the ground. These impacts include but are not limited to
deforestation. They also need to call out the loopholes that companies are
inventing to continue expanding their plantations and maintain their profits.
Policies such as “zero deforestation” are often defended with arguments for
protecting tigers, elephants, gorillas and other animals. When these policies hit
the ground, they only make communities more vulnerable, not least because
these policies make it easier to blame deforestation on communities rather than
the companies that are the real drivers of deforestation. In the case of OLAM in
Gabon, villagers say they have now lost their freedom; they feel like strangers
on their own lands and the women a shadow of themselves. On top of that, it is
important to highlight always that women also suffer from harassment and
sexual violence. These are among the most silenced but also most terrible
impacts that come with the expansion of industrial oil palm plantations. (25)

What is urgently needed is that control over their territories reverts back to
communities. This is crucial to ensure their and the future generations’ physical
and cultural survival. The communities of Nanga and Ferra made that very clear
on the occasion of September 21st, 2019, International Day of Struggle against

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 32

Tree Monocultures: they demanded that OLAM stop any further expansion on
lands needed by the community. They made clear they see this as a first step in
reclaiming and securing their territory for future generations. (26)

Forest conservation is urgently needed, but it should only be carried out by

respecting and listening to forest-dependent communities. Evidence shows that
forests have the best chance to be conserved if the rights of forest-dependent
communities over their territories are respected. Respecting their rights means
that communities can effectively control and take care of the lands, forests and
other valuable areas inside their territory.

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 33

Sources :

(1) https://wrm.org.uy/books-and-briefings/united-nations-2015-international-day-
of-forests-theme-forests-climate-change-what-change/

(2) https://news.mongabay.com/2017/07/big-forests-big-ag-are-rainforests-the-
right-place-for-industrial-agriculture-commentary/

(3) According to the Gabonese agency for Study and Spatial Observation (AGEOS)

(4) http://www.mightyearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Palm-Oil-Black-Box-
PrintApproval4.pdf

(5) https://theforestsdialogue.org/sites/default/files/tfd_udf_gabon_olampalm_
presentation_2017.pdf

(6) http://www.mightyearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Palm-Oil-Black-Box-
PrintApproval4.pdf

(7) https://wrm.org.uy/articles-from-the-wrm-bulletin/section1/the-seed-
of-despair-communities-lose-their-land-and-water-sources-due-to-olams-
agribusiness-in-gabon/

(8) https://rspo.org/view-acop-pdf/oil-palm-growers/SOTRADER__Societe_
Gabonaise_De_Transformation_Agricol_-ACOP2018.pdf

(9) https://www.rspo.org/certification/search-for-certified-growers

(10) Mighty Earth, 2016. Palm oil´s black box. http://www.mightyearth.org/wp-

content/uploads/2016/12/Palm-Oil-Black-Box-PrintApproval4.pdf

(11) https://www.olamgroup.com/news/all-news/news-bites/false-allegations-about-
olams-palm-plantations-in-gabon.html

(12) https://www.olamgroup.com/news/all-news/news-bites/false-allegations-about-
olams-palm-plantations-in-gabon.html

(13) https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/palm-oil-giant-defends-its-deforestation-
in-gabon-points-to-countrys-right-to-develop/

(14) OLAM, 2018. OLAM Living Landscapes Policy. https://www.olamgroup.com/

content/dam/olamgroup/pdffiles/Olam-Living-Landscapes-Policy_English.pdf

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 34

(15) https://theforestsdialogue.org/sites/default/files/2018_gabon_cochair_
english_0.pdf

(16) For more information about biodiversity offsetting see the case of Rio Tinto on
Madagascar in: https://wrm.org.uy/pt/livros-e-relatorios/rio-tinto-in-madagascar-a-
mine-destroying-the-unique-biodiversity-of-the-littoral-zone-of-fort-dauphin/

(17) https://www.tfa2020.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/TFA2020_Marrakesh_
Declaration_post-embargoed.pdf

(18) https://wrm.org.uy/articles-from-the-wrm-bulletin/section1/olam-palm-
gabon-pretends-to-use-the-forest-definition-to-implement-its-zero-deforestation-
pledge/

(19) WWF-Gabon, la rédefinition de la fôret, quels enjeux pour le Gabon?

November, 2018

(20) OLAM, Progrès annuels 2018, Janvier 2019, Olam et l´huile de palme durable

(21) Olam Palm Gabon SA, Social Contract Lot 1 Mouila between the OLAM oil
palm company and the communities of Lot 1 Mouila

(22) https://www.olamgroup.com/news/all-news/news-bites/false-allegations-about-
olams-palm-plantations-in-gabon.html
(23) MOUKAGNI Léa-Larissa, 2019. L’impact de la conservation sur les
communautés rurales dans la province de la Ngounié au Gabon. (Article not yet
published).

(24) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/12/palm-oil-products-
borneo-africa-environment-impact/

(25) https://wrm.org.uy/books-and-briefings/breaking-the-silence-harassment-
sexual-violence-and-abuse-against-women-in-and-around-industrial-oil-palm-and-
rubber-plantations/

(26) https://wrm.org.uy/actions-and-campaigns/help-stop-the-advance-of-oil-palm-
plantations-in-gabon/

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 35

ANNEX I - Schedule of date, name of village, department
and province visited

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 36

Communities facing Zero Deforestation pledges: the case of OLAM in Gabon 37