The international aid group Oxfam is reporting that thousands of Ugandans are being forced off their land by the government:
In one case, at least 22,500 people in Uganda lost their homes and land to make way for a British timber company, the New Forests Company (NFC). Villagers told Oxfam that some evictions resulted in physical violence, and destruction of property, crops and livestock. Many have been left destitute, without enough food or money to send their children to school. They have received no compensation or alternative land. NFC denies that it was responsible for any evictions. What’s more, NFC is supported by investment from international institutions which claim to uphold high social and environmental standards, including the World Bank and the European Investment Bank. In addition, HSBC, which prides itself as a responsible bank, owns 20% of NFC and has one of six seats on the NFC Board.
This is the sort of land grab that probably happens all over the world; kleptocratic rulers of mainly poor, but land-rich countries “cooperate” with corporations to make deals involving the land, then use their police or military forces to evict the landowners. Then the rulers take heft financial kickbacks from the corporations as payment for their assistance.
So, no big deal right? This is the kind of corrupt dealing that goes on all the time. True, but what makes this so disgusting to me is that the perpetrator of this particular land-grab deal is a company that claims what they’re doing is good for the environment. Josh Kron of the New York Times reports:
Across Africa, some of the world’s poorest people have been thrown off land to make way for foreign investors, often uprooting local farmers so that food can be grown on a commercial scale and shipped to richer countries overseas.
But in this case, the government and the company said the settlers were illegal and evicted for a good cause: to protect the environment and help fight global warming.
The case twists around an emerging multibillion-dollar market trading carbon-creditsunder the Kyoto Protocol, which contains mechanisms for outsourcing environmental protection to developing nations.
The company involved, New Forests Company, grows forests in African countries with the purpose of selling credits from the carbon-dioxide its trees soak up to polluters abroad. Its investors include the World Bank, through its private investment arm, and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, HSBC.
In 2005, the Ugandan government granted New Forests a 50-year license to grow pine and eucalyptus forests in three districts, and the company has applied to the United Nations to trade under the mechanism. The company expects that it could earn up to $1.8 million a year.
So, the ostensible reason for this operation is to sell carbon credits – which is nothing more than a scheme developed by the likes of fat hypocrite Algore to generate considerable amounts of cash from a problem that doesn’t even exist. You should check out the ridiculously-title “Responsibility” page of their site, which claims they’re “work with the communities.”
Our mission for community development is to help communities help themselves. While many development interventions over the past few decades have perpetuated the dependency mindset, NFC’s projects exist to challenge this by empowering the communities to achieve their own objectives. The communities are then appreciative of NFC for these partnerships, but not dependent on NFC.
Based on our core values and experience over the past few years, NFC has developed best practice policies that govern the design and implementation of all of its community development projects.
That’s pretty laughable. I’ll bet some of those poor Ugandans are wondering about now when the “empowerment” is slated to begin – especially since they don’t live there anymore.
