Palm Oil Detectives

2025-11-29 13:21:00

Indigenous Peoples Fight Climate Change

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In the wake of the worst wildfires in living memory in Mexico and Central America in 2024, news outlets were looking for someone to blame. Howler monkeys and many species of parrots perished in the blazes. Slash and burn farming practices by Belize‘s indigenous communities were singled out as a primary cause. Yet this knee-jerk reaction is not evidence based and doesn’t take into account forces like corporate landgrabbing for mining and agribusinesses like meat, soy and palm oil.

Belize’s indigenous Maya communities are rebuilding stronger based on the collective notion of se’ komonil: reciprocity, solidarity, traditional knowledge, gender equity, togetherness and community.

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In the wake of horrific #wildfires in #Belize and #Mexico caused by #climatechange, #indigenous #Maya are rebuilding using the notion of se’ komonil: reciprocity #community and solidarity. #indigenousrights #landrights #BoycottPalmOil @palmoildetect wp.me/pcFhgU-924

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Written by James Stinson, Senior Research Associate and Evaluation Specialist, Young Lives Research Lab, Faculty of Education, York University, Canada and Lee Mcloughlin, PhD student, Global Sociocultural Studies, Florida International University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

---

Driven by extreme heat and drought, some of the worst wildfires in living memory raged across Mexico and Central America through April and May 2024.

News agencies reported howler monkeys dropping dead from trees, and parrots and other birds falling from the skies.

In Belize, a state of emergency was declared as wildfires burned tens of thousands of hectares of highly bio-diverse forest. Farmers suffered huge losses as fires destroyed crops and homes, and communities across the country suffered from hazardous air quality and hot, sleepless nights. Many risked their lives to fight off the approaching fires.

As the wildfire crisis subsided with rains in June, public attention shifted toward identifying the causes and allocating blame. Many singled out the “slash and burn” farming practices in Belize’s Indigenous communities as the primary cause. This simple knee-jerk reaction ignores the underlying causes of the climate crisis, are scientifically unfounded and stoke resentment of Indigenous Peoples.
Young Mayan women. Image source: Wikipedia

Fanning the flames

On June 5, one of Belize’s major news networks ran a story with the headline “Are Primitive Farming Techniques Responsible for Wildfires?” The story placed blame for Belize’s wildfires on “slash-and-burn farming”, arguing that “there has to be a shift away from this destructive means of agriculture.”

The story was followed by an op-ed published online asserting that “because of the increased amounts of escaped agricultural fires, aided by climate change, global warming and drought, slash and burn has become more of a problem than the solution it once was.” This sentiment was further reinforced by Belize’s prime minister, who declared that “slash аnd burn has to be something of the past.”

While some of the recent fires in Belize were connected to agricultural burning — and poorly managed fire-clearing practices can have negative air-quality impacts — blaming “slash and burn” for the wildfire crisis ignores the larger context and conditions that made it possible, namely global warming.

May 2024 was the hottest and driest month in Belize’s history. This extreme heat is part of a broader global trend, with June 2024 marking the 13th consecutive “hottest month on record” globally.

More fundamentally, these statements confuse other forms of slash-and-burn agriculture with the distinct “milpa” systems employed by Indigenous people in Belize.

Indigenous knowledge undermined

Throughout Belize, Indigenous Maya farmers commonly practise a form of agriculture referred to as milpa in which fire is used to clear fields and fertilize the soil. Within this system, small areas of forest are chopped down, burned, and planted with maize, beans, squash and other crops. After being cultivated for a year or two, the field is then left fallow and allowed to regenerate back to forest cover while the farmers move on to a new area within a cyclical pattern where areas are reused after a regenerative period.

youtu.be/ok787HRp_gA

Commonly derided as slash-and-burn farming, milpa has long been perceived as environmentally destructive. This perspective has been perpetuated by long-standing myths and misconceptions that portray the farming practices of non-Europeans, and specifically the use of fire, as wasteful and irrational.

In Belize, this negative view of slash and burn has driven many colonial and post-colonial interventions to modernize Maya farming practices.

Recent research, however, has shown that the lands of Indigenous Peoples around the world have reduced deforestation and degradation rates relative to non-protected areas. The southern Toledo district of Belize, where the majority of Maya communities are located, boasts a forest cover rate of 71 per cent, significantly higher than the national average of 63 per cent.

Further research has found that the species composition of contemporary Mesoamerican forests has been shaped by the agricultural practices of ancient Maya farmers.

In Belize, fire has been found to play a role in promoting ecosystem health and resilience and intermediate levels of forest disturbance caused by milpa can increase species diversity. Well-managed milpa farming can support soil fertility, result in long-term carbon sequestration and enriched woodland vegetation.

Research has also shown that previous studies of deforestation in southern Belize significantly overestimated the rate of deforestation due to milpa agriculture by not accounting for its rotational process.

Many researchers now believe that milpa is a more benign alternative, in terms of environmental effects, than most other permanent farming systems in the humid tropics. Indeed, findings such as these have led to a growing appreciation for the role of Indigenous Peoples in advancing nature-based and life-enhancing climate solutions.

Unfortunately, research in the region has also found that climate change is undermining the ecological sustainability of milpa farming by forcing farmers to abandon traditional practices and adopt counterproductive measures in their struggle to adapt. In some cases, this has resulted in a decrease in the biodiversity and ecological resilience of the milpa system. This issue is compounded by the decreasing participation of young people, resulting in a further generational loss of traditional ecological knowledge.

Together, these issues are serving to alter and undermine a livelihood strategy that has proven sustainable for thousands of years. However, rather than call for Maya farmers to abandon slash and burn, we encourage support for the self-determined efforts of Maya communities to adapt to this changing climate. youtube.com/embed/ok787HRp_gA?… A video documenting the Maya response to the 2024 wildfire crisis.

Planting seeds of collaboration

Since winning a groundbreaking land rights claim in 2015, Maya communities in southern Belize have been working to promote an Indigenous future based on principles of reciprocity, solidarity, traditional knowledge, gender equity and, most significantly, se’ komonil, the Maya notion of togetherness and community.

Led by a collaboration of Maya leaders and non-governmental organizations, work toward this has included efforts to revitalize traditional institutions and governance systems, as well as the development of an Indigenous Forest Caring Strategy and fire-permitting system. In an effort to encourage and support the participation of youth in this process, Maya leaders have collaborated with the Young Lives Research Lab at York University to develop the Partnership for Youth and Planetary Wellbeing.

Building on previous research with Maya youth, the project has produced innovative youth-led research and education on the impacts of climate change, the importance of food sovereignty, traditional ecological knowledge and the struggle to secure Indigenous land rights in Maya communities. This work has been shared with global policymakers at the United Nations and local audiences in Belize.

Rather than fanning the flames of climate blame, we must work together to revitalize Indigenous knowledge systems and plant seeds of climate collaboration and care.

Written by James Stinson, Senior Research Associate and Evaluation Specialist, Young Lives Research Lab, Faculty of Education, York University, Canada and Lee Mcloughlin, PhD student, Global Sociocultural Studies, Florida International University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

ENDS

---

Read more about human rights abuses and child slavery in the palm oil and gold mining industries

SOCFIN’s African Empire of Colonial Oppression: Billionaires Profit from Palm Oil and Rubber Exploitation

Investigation by Bloomberg exposes that despite being RSPO members, #SOCFIN plantations in #WestAfrica are the epicentre of #humanrights abuses, sexual coercion, environmental destruction, and #landgrabbing. Operating in #Liberia, #Ghana, #Nigeria, and beyond, SOCFIN’s…

Read more

Palm Oil Threatens Ancient Noken Weaving in West Papua

Colonial palm oil and sugarcane causing the loss of West Papuans’ cultural identity. Land grabs force communities from forests, threatening Noken weaving

Read more

Family Ties Expose Deforestation and Rights Violations in Indonesian Palm Oil

An explosive report by the Environment Investigation Agency (EIA) details how Indonesia’s Fangiono family, through a wide corporate web, is linked to ongoing #deforestation, #corruption, and #indigenousrights abuses for #palmoil. Calls mount for…

Read more

West Papuan Indigenous Women Fight Land Seizures

Indigenous Melanesian women in West Papua fight land seizures for palm oil and sugar plantations, protecting their ancestral rights. Join #BoycottPalmOil

Read more

Greasing the Wheels of Colonialism: Palm Oil Industry in West Papua

A landmark study published in Global Studies Quarterly in April 2025 has revealed that the rapid expansion of the #palmoil industry in #WestPapua is not only fuelling #deforestation, #ecocide and environmental destruction but…

Read more

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Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.

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2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

Wildlife Artist Juanchi Pérez

Read more

Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings

Read more

Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao

Read more

Health Physician Dr Evan Allen

Read more

The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert

Read more

How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy

Read more

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status…

twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status…

twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1…

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

#belize #boycottPalmOil #boycottpalmoil #childLabour #childSlavery #climatechange #community #goldMining #humanRights #hunger #indigenous #indigenousActivism #indigenousKnowledge #indigenousRights #indigenousrights #landRights #landgrabbing #landrights #maya #mexico #palmOil #poverty #slavery #wildfires

Partnership for Youth and Planetary Wellbeing Present Results at the Society for Applied Anthropology Conference - Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research

Dahdaleh research fellow James Stinson and research assistant Lee Mcloughlin recently presented at the Society for Applied Anthropology annual conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico on a panel titled "Decolonizing Alliances for the Post-Carbon Transition…

^{hnawu (Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research)}

Palm Oil Detectives

2025-11-29 13:21:00

Indigenous Peoples Fight Climate Change

---

In the wake of the worst wildfires in living memory in Mexico and Central America in 2024, news outlets were looking for someone to blame. Howler monkeys and many species of parrots perished in the blazes. Slash and burn farming practices by Belize‘s indigenous communities were singled out as a primary cause. Yet this knee-jerk reaction is not evidence based and doesn’t take into account forces like corporate landgrabbing for mining and agribusinesses like meat, soy and palm oil.

Belize’s indigenous Maya communities are rebuilding stronger based on the collective notion of se’ komonil: reciprocity, solidarity, traditional knowledge, gender equity, togetherness and community.

---

In the wake of horrific #wildfires in #Belize and #Mexico caused by #climatechange, #indigenous #Maya are rebuilding using the notion of se’ komonil: reciprocity #community and solidarity. #indigenousrights #landrights #BoycottPalmOil @palmoildetect wp.me/pcFhgU-924

Share to BlueSky
Share to Twitter

Written by James Stinson, Senior Research Associate and Evaluation Specialist, Young Lives Research Lab, Faculty of Education, York University, Canada and Lee Mcloughlin, PhD student, Global Sociocultural Studies, Florida International University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

---

Driven by extreme heat and drought, some of the worst wildfires in living memory raged across Mexico and Central America through April and May 2024.

News agencies reported howler monkeys dropping dead from trees, and parrots and other birds falling from the skies.

In Belize, a state of emergency was declared as wildfires burned tens of thousands of hectares of highly bio-diverse forest. Farmers suffered huge losses as fires destroyed crops and homes, and communities across the country suffered from hazardous air quality and hot, sleepless nights. Many risked their lives to fight off the approaching fires.

As the wildfire crisis subsided with rains in June, public attention shifted toward identifying the causes and allocating blame. Many singled out the “slash and burn” farming practices in Belize’s Indigenous communities as the primary cause. This simple knee-jerk reaction ignores the underlying causes of the climate crisis, are scientifically unfounded and stoke resentment of Indigenous Peoples.
Young Mayan women. Image source: Wikipedia

Fanning the flames

On June 5, one of Belize’s major news networks ran a story with the headline “Are Primitive Farming Techniques Responsible for Wildfires?” The story placed blame for Belize’s wildfires on “slash-and-burn farming”, arguing that “there has to be a shift away from this destructive means of agriculture.”

The story was followed by an op-ed published online asserting that “because of the increased amounts of escaped agricultural fires, aided by climate change, global warming and drought, slash and burn has become more of a problem than the solution it once was.” This sentiment was further reinforced by Belize’s prime minister, who declared that “slash аnd burn has to be something of the past.”

While some of the recent fires in Belize were connected to agricultural burning — and poorly managed fire-clearing practices can have negative air-quality impacts — blaming “slash and burn” for the wildfire crisis ignores the larger context and conditions that made it possible, namely global warming.

May 2024 was the hottest and driest month in Belize’s history. This extreme heat is part of a broader global trend, with June 2024 marking the 13th consecutive “hottest month on record” globally.

More fundamentally, these statements confuse other forms of slash-and-burn agriculture with the distinct “milpa” systems employed by Indigenous people in Belize.

Indigenous knowledge undermined

Throughout Belize, Indigenous Maya farmers commonly practise a form of agriculture referred to as milpa in which fire is used to clear fields and fertilize the soil. Within this system, small areas of forest are chopped down, burned, and planted with maize, beans, squash and other crops. After being cultivated for a year or two, the field is then left fallow and allowed to regenerate back to forest cover while the farmers move on to a new area within a cyclical pattern where areas are reused after a regenerative period.

youtu.be/ok787HRp_gA

Commonly derided as slash-and-burn farming, milpa has long been perceived as environmentally destructive. This perspective has been perpetuated by long-standing myths and misconceptions that portray the farming practices of non-Europeans, and specifically the use of fire, as wasteful and irrational.

In Belize, this negative view of slash and burn has driven many colonial and post-colonial interventions to modernize Maya farming practices.

Recent research, however, has shown that the lands of Indigenous Peoples around the world have reduced deforestation and degradation rates relative to non-protected areas. The southern Toledo district of Belize, where the majority of Maya communities are located, boasts a forest cover rate of 71 per cent, significantly higher than the national average of 63 per cent.

Further research has found that the species composition of contemporary Mesoamerican forests has been shaped by the agricultural practices of ancient Maya farmers.

In Belize, fire has been found to play a role in promoting ecosystem health and resilience and intermediate levels of forest disturbance caused by milpa can increase species diversity. Well-managed milpa farming can support soil fertility, result in long-term carbon sequestration and enriched woodland vegetation.

Research has also shown that previous studies of deforestation in southern Belize significantly overestimated the rate of deforestation due to milpa agriculture by not accounting for its rotational process.

Many researchers now believe that milpa is a more benign alternative, in terms of environmental effects, than most other permanent farming systems in the humid tropics. Indeed, findings such as these have led to a growing appreciation for the role of Indigenous Peoples in advancing nature-based and life-enhancing climate solutions.

Unfortunately, research in the region has also found that climate change is undermining the ecological sustainability of milpa farming by forcing farmers to abandon traditional practices and adopt counterproductive measures in their struggle to adapt. In some cases, this has resulted in a decrease in the biodiversity and ecological resilience of the milpa system. This issue is compounded by the decreasing participation of young people, resulting in a further generational loss of traditional ecological knowledge.

Together, these issues are serving to alter and undermine a livelihood strategy that has proven sustainable for thousands of years. However, rather than call for Maya farmers to abandon slash and burn, we encourage support for the self-determined efforts of Maya communities to adapt to this changing climate. youtube.com/embed/ok787HRp_gA?… A video documenting the Maya response to the 2024 wildfire crisis.

Planting seeds of collaboration

Since winning a groundbreaking land rights claim in 2015, Maya communities in southern Belize have been working to promote an Indigenous future based on principles of reciprocity, solidarity, traditional knowledge, gender equity and, most significantly, se’ komonil, the Maya notion of togetherness and community.

Led by a collaboration of Maya leaders and non-governmental organizations, work toward this has included efforts to revitalize traditional institutions and governance systems, as well as the development of an Indigenous Forest Caring Strategy and fire-permitting system. In an effort to encourage and support the participation of youth in this process, Maya leaders have collaborated with the Young Lives Research Lab at York University to develop the Partnership for Youth and Planetary Wellbeing.

Building on previous research with Maya youth, the project has produced innovative youth-led research and education on the impacts of climate change, the importance of food sovereignty, traditional ecological knowledge and the struggle to secure Indigenous land rights in Maya communities. This work has been shared with global policymakers at the United Nations and local audiences in Belize.

Rather than fanning the flames of climate blame, we must work together to revitalize Indigenous knowledge systems and plant seeds of climate collaboration and care.

Written by James Stinson, Senior Research Associate and Evaluation Specialist, Young Lives Research Lab, Faculty of Education, York University, Canada and Lee Mcloughlin, PhD student, Global Sociocultural Studies, Florida International University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

ENDS

---

Read more about human rights abuses and child slavery in the palm oil and gold mining industries

SOCFIN’s African Empire of Colonial Oppression: Billionaires Profit from Palm Oil and Rubber Exploitation

Investigation by Bloomberg exposes that despite being RSPO members, #SOCFIN plantations in #WestAfrica are the epicentre of #humanrights abuses, sexual coercion, environmental destruction, and #landgrabbing. Operating in #Liberia, #Ghana, #Nigeria, and beyond, SOCFIN’s…

Read more

Palm Oil Threatens Ancient Noken Weaving in West Papua

Colonial palm oil and sugarcane causing the loss of West Papuans’ cultural identity. Land grabs force communities from forests, threatening Noken weaving

Read more

Family Ties Expose Deforestation and Rights Violations in Indonesian Palm Oil

An explosive report by the Environment Investigation Agency (EIA) details how Indonesia’s Fangiono family, through a wide corporate web, is linked to ongoing #deforestation, #corruption, and #indigenousrights abuses for #palmoil. Calls mount for…

Read more

West Papuan Indigenous Women Fight Land Seizures

Indigenous Melanesian women in West Papua fight land seizures for palm oil and sugar plantations, protecting their ancestral rights. Join #BoycottPalmOil

Read more

Greasing the Wheels of Colonialism: Palm Oil Industry in West Papua

A landmark study published in Global Studies Quarterly in April 2025 has revealed that the rapid expansion of the #palmoil industry in #WestPapua is not only fuelling #deforestation, #ecocide and environmental destruction but…

Read more

Load more posts

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

---

Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• WordPress
• YouTube
• Mail
• Mastodon

Enter your email address

Sign Up

Join 3,171 other subscribers

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

Wildlife Artist Juanchi Pérez

Read more

Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings

Read more

Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao

Read more

Health Physician Dr Evan Allen

Read more

The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert

Read more

How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy

Read more

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status…

twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status…

twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1…

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

#belize #boycottPalmOil #boycottpalmoil #childLabour #childSlavery #climatechange #community #goldMining #humanRights #hunger #indigenous #indigenousActivism #indigenousKnowledge #indigenousRights #indigenousrights #landRights #landgrabbing #landrights #maya #mexico #palmOil #poverty #slavery #wildfires

Partnership for Youth and Planetary Wellbeing Present Results at the Society for Applied Anthropology Conference - Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research

Dahdaleh research fellow James Stinson and research assistant Lee Mcloughlin recently presented at the Society for Applied Anthropology annual conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico on a panel titled "Decolonizing Alliances for the Post-Carbon Transition…

^{hnawu (Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research)}

Palm Oil Detectives

2025-09-09 16:31:00

Papuan women will not be silenced while palm oil behemoths consume their land

In the colonised region of #WestPapua, Indigenous Melanesian women’s rights are being forgotten as companies and the Indonesian government seizes ancestral land for palm oil and sugar cane plantations — without owners’ consent. These women are fighting to protect customary lands for future generations. The following is a summarised version of a story published by Human Rights Watch, read the original ‘There will be nowhere left.’

#News: #Indigenous women’s #landrights trampled in #Papua as #palmoil giants seize forests and jostle for power —the women will not be silenced! 🚫🌴☠️ #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect via @[url=https://society.oftrolls.com/users/hrw]Marcin Juszkiewicz 🙃[/url] palmoildetectives.com/2025/09/…

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Human Rights Watch. (2025, August 20). “There Will be Nowhere Left: Government, Companies Take Indigenous Lands Without Women’s Consent in Indonesia’s South Papua. hrw.org/feature/2025/08/20/the…

“Tomorrow, when everyone has sold their dusun (customary land), where will our children and grandchildren find food? There will be nowhere left. They’ll have to go to someone else’s dusun and buy food. That’s why I said no. I won’t let the company into my dusun. Let it remain for my children and grandchildren.”

Imelda Maa via Human Rights Watch

Laurensia Yame is from the Indigenous community, the Awyu. She heard from women traders that workers were surveying the community’s forest for a company’s commercial use, including the hamlet where she farms.

“My brother decided alone to work with the company and allow them into our village lands. He never discussed it with me. Instead, he worked with my father’s nephew, the only boy. But my uncle’s children don’t have land there. That land is my father’s land; it belongs to me.”

Laurensia Yame via Human Rights Watch

Rikarda Maa, a Maa clan member, attended the only meeting held in Ampera village. She recalled a discussion after which several men – including her uncle and a male cousin – signed documents provided by the company. Neither the company nor village representatives read the document aloud to the meeting participants, so women who went to observe didn’t know what exactly their male relatives signed away.
She later found out that her relatives’ signatures were used by the company to represent the Maa clan’s release of its claims to the land—even though her clan never met and discussed the company’s plans.

Rikarda Maa via Human Rights Watch

A new investigation by Human Rights Watch finds that the world’s leading palm oil producer, Indonesia is rapidly expanding agricultural frontiers into Papua, especially the western New Guinea region. This aggressive and unrestrained expansion is driving mass deforestation and loss of Indigenous lands, as government and private companies move in—often without the consent of local women.

Customary lands known as dusun are central to the livelihoods and cultural identity of Indigenous Papuans. Women like Imelda Maa warn of the implications: “Tomorrow, when everyone has sold their dusun (customary land), where will our children and grandchildren find food? There will be nowhere left. They’ll have to go to someone else’s dusun and buy food. That’s why I said no. I won’t let the company into my dusun. Let it remain for my children and grandchildren.”

Despite Indonesian law requiring companies to obtain community consent—including through environmental and social impact assessments—the reality is different. Permits are granted after so-called consultations that routinely exclude women, even though under national law they possess equal land rights. As Laurensia Yame, from the Awyu community, explains: “My brother decided alone to work with the company and allow them into our village lands. He never discussed it with me. Instead, he worked with my father’s nephew, the only boy. But my uncle’s children don’t have land there. That land is my father’s land; it belongs to me.”

Corporate strategies to acquire land have included meetings involving only male representatives, leaving women’s voices ignored—even though both women and men inherit and use community lands. These decisions jeopardise food security, traditional livelihoods, and the ability of Indigenous families to sustain themselves.

While legally companies must engage with the whole affected community, testimonies highlight the persistent exclusion of women across South Papua. As the government authorises clearance of old-growth forests for palm oil, rice, and sugar cane, these vital lands are vanishing, sparking fears articulated by many Papuan women: there will be nowhere left for their descendants to survive.

The struggle continues as the Awyu and others campaign for the rights to their lands and forests—advocating for legal recognition and genuine, inclusive consultation, not just box-ticking exercises. The HRW report highlights the urgent need for indigenous-led land management and respect for women’s voices in decision-making.

Indonesia is the top producer of palm oil in the world, and Indonesian Papua – the western half of the island of New Guinea – is its final frontier for agriculture-driven deforestation.

Rather than preserve the old, undisturbed trees, the Indonesian government is authorising companies to clear millions of hectares of primary forests, primarily for oil palm, rice, and sugar cane plantations.

Via Human Rights Watch

To acquire land and establish a plantation, companies are required by Indonesian law to obtain certain permits from relevant local government authorities and conduct environment and social impact assessments, which involves engaging with the affected community.

Despite being half the community’s population and having equal land rights to men under national law, women’s voices were repeatedly ignored, including by the men in the Awyu community.

Via Human Rights Watch

Read more: “There Will be Nowhere Left: Government, Companies Take Indigenous Lands Without Women’s Consent in Indonesia’s South Papua,” by Human Rights Watch.

Original article was written by Juliana Nnoko, women’s rights senior researcher. Edited by a senior program editor, and Amy Braunschweiger, former communications associate director. James Ross, legal and policy director, and Joseph Saunders, deputy program director, provided legal and programmatic review, respectively.

Human Rights Watch. (2025, August 20). “There Will be Nowhere Left: Government, Companies Take Indigenous Lands Without Women’s Consent in Indonesia’s South Papua.” Human Rights Watch. hrw.org/feature/2025/08/20/the…

ENDS

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Read more about human rights abuses and child slavery in the palm oil industry

Colonial Palm Oil Threatens Ancient Noken Weaving in West Papua

A powerful new indigenous art exhibition has highlighted the tragic loss of #WestPapua’s cultural identity due to #deforestation for #palmoil and #sugarcane monoculture plantations. A situation perpetuated by the illegal Indonesian colonisation of…

Read more

Family Ties Expose Deforestation and Rights Violations in Indonesian Palm Oil

An explosive report by the Environment Investigation Agency (EIA) details how Indonesia’s Fangiono family, through a wide corporate web, is linked to ongoing #deforestation, #corruption, and #indigenousrights abuses for #palmoil. Calls mount for…

Read more

Greasing the Wheels of Colonialism: Palm Oil Industry in West Papua

A landmark study published in Global Studies Quarterly in April 2025 has revealed that the rapid expansion of the #palmoil industry in #WestPapua is not only fuelling #deforestation, #ecocide and environmental destruction but…

Read more

Palm Oil Workers Expose Industry Practices Resembling Colonialism

Palm Oil Workers Expose Industry Practices Resembling Colonialism | A coalition of palm oil workers in Indonesia has unveiled industry practices that mirror colonial exploitation, including land grabbing, poor working conditions, and environmental…

Read more

Papua’s ‘Empty Lands’: A Dangerous Myth Displacing Indigenous Peoples

In #WestPapua, on illegally colonised and disputed land taken by violence from Melanesian Indigenous peoples last century by Indonesian forces, authorities label indigenous lands as “empty”. This is done in order to justify…

Read more

Load more posts

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

---

Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• WordPress
• YouTube
• Mail
• Mastodon

Enter your email address

Sign Up

Join 1,399 other subscribers

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

Wildlife Artist Juanchi Pérez

Read more

Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings

Read more

Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao

Read more

Health Physician Dr Evan Allen

Read more

The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert

Read more

How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy

Read more

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status…

twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status…

twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1…

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

#BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #childLabour #humanRights #indigenous #indigenousRights #landRights #landgrabbing #landrights #Melanesia #Melanesian #News #PalmOil #palmoil #Papua #slavery #WestPapua #womenSRights

“There Will be Nowhere Left”

Read a new feature on how the government and companies take Indigenous lands without women's consent in Indonesia's South Papua.

^{Human Rights Watch}

Palm Oil Detectives

2025-12-17 06:27:46

Finance giants fuel $8.9 trillion deforestation economy

Global Canopy’s Forest 500 report reveals that 150 of the world’s largest financial institutions invested nearly $9 trillion in deforestation-linked industries during 2024, with six out of ten firms lacking any public deforestation policies. The analysis tracked $8.9 trillion in direct and indirect financial support for 500 companies exposed to forest-risk commodities including palm oil, soy, beef, cocoa, and timber, with $864 billion going to businesses making no public commitments against deforestation. Financial titans Vanguard, BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase alone accounted for more than one-fifth of total funding at $1.6 trillion. The EU’s upcoming Deforestation Regulation #EUDR will ban imports of products linked to forest destruction from December 30, potentially locking out companies without robust policies. Urgent action needed to redirect finance away from forest destruction and toward Indigenous-led forest protection. Support a strong and strict EUDR to safeguard forests, be vegan and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife

💰☠️ $8.9 TRILLION funds deforestation! BlackRock, Vanguard, JPMorgan lead with $1.6T funding #palmoil, #soy and #meat #deforestation 🌴🔥 Support the #EUDR ban Dec 30 ⛔️ #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect palmoildetectives.com/2025/12/…

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Sustainable Times. (2024). Global finance giants under fire for fueling an $8.9 trillion ‘deforestation economy’ in 2024. Sustainable Times. sustainabletimes.co.uk/post/gl…

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The world’s largest financial institutions Vanguard, BlackRock, and JPMorgan Chase are bankrolling a massive $8.9 trillion deforestation economy whilst offering minimal safeguards against forest destruction, according to explosive new research that exposes the banking sector’s complicity in global environmental destruction.

Global Canopy’s comprehensive Forest 500 report tracked investments from 150 of the planet’s biggest financial institutions throughout 2024, revealing systematic funding of industries driving tropical rainforest annihilation across palm oil, soy, beef and timber sectors. The scale of financial exposure proves staggering, with institutions providing $8.9 trillion in direct and indirect support for 500 companies engaged in forest-risk commodities.

The research exposed catastrophic policy failures across the financial sector. Six out of ten institutions reviewed maintain no publicly stated deforestation policies whatsoever, representing only marginal improvement from the previous year when two-thirds lacked such protections. Even more alarming, fewer than four in ten financial giants openly acknowledge that deforestation poses business risks to their portfolios.

Three financial behemoths dominate the destruction economy. Vanguard, BlackRock, and JPMorgan Chase “alone were responsible for more than one-fifth of the total” funding, collectively channelling $1.6 trillion toward forest-risk industries. Their enormous market influence means policy changes from these titans “could trigger rapid change across the global financial system,” according to Global Canopy analysts.

The geographic concentration of destruction finance reveals systematic patterns. Beyond the United States, “China and France also emerged as central hubs of financial flows into deforestation-linked industries.” This concentration demonstrates how relatively few financial centres drive global forest destruction through investment decisions.

Perhaps most damning, nearly $864 billion flowed directly to companies making zero public commitments against deforestation. This represents “almost one in every ten dollars” of total financing going to businesses with no safeguards protecting tropical forests from destruction for palm oil plantations, cattle ranches, or soy cultivation.

Global Canopy researchers emphasised the sector’s transformative potential, stating: “Unless financial institutions engage portfolio companies to act on deforestation risk – for instance, through strong stewardship of investee companies – their financing activities will undermine the positive impact of any transition finance they provide.” However, they noted these “financial heavyweights could use their investment strategies to drive better practice and transform commodity supply chains for the better.”

The European Union’s new Deforestation Regulation dramatically increases pressure on financial institutions to implement robust policies. Beginning December 30, the EU “will ban large businesses from importing beef, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, natural rubber, soy, or wood if these products are linked to deforestation.” The ban will eventually extend to smaller businesses, creating comprehensive market exclusions for forest-destructive products.

This regulatory shift creates urgent risks for financial institutions backing non-compliant companies. “Without robust policies, they will find themselves backing companies that are locked out of key markets,” the report warns. Financial institutions face the prospect of massive portfolio devaluations as their investee companies lose access to lucrative European markets.

A handful of progressive institutions demonstrate viable alternatives. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Deutsche Bank, and Lloyds Banking Group represent “the only institutions shown to be screening and monitoring all the highest-risk commodities.” Their comprehensive approaches “provide a blueprint for others to follow” in developing effective deforestation policies.

Global Canopy outlined essential components for credible deforestation policies extending “well beyond a vague pledge.” Effective policies require “clear standards for screening clients and portfolio holdings, active engagement to bring non-compliant firms into line, and strict deadlines for divestment if companies fail to improve.” Additionally, institutions must maintain “transparent reporting of progress and commitments to human rights safeguards.”

The analysis examined nine critical forest-risk commodities: “beef, cocoa, coffee, leather, palm oil, pulp and paper, soy, rubber, and timber.” Each sector drives habitat destruction threatening wildlife populations whilst displacing Indigenous communities dependent on intact forests for survival.

The report concludes that financial institutions possess “immense influence over whether deforestation is curbed or allowed to spiral further out of control.” Current investment patterns tell “a troubling story, but with the right commitments, banks and investment firms could become powerful drivers of change” toward forest protection rather than destruction.

Sustainable Times. (2024). Global finance giants under fire for fueling an $8.9 trillion ‘deforestation economy’ in 2024. Sustainable Times. sustainabletimes.co.uk/post/gl…

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Read more about deforestation and ecocide in the palm oil industry

Seeing Forest As Merely A Carbon “Commodity”: Dangerous Greenwashing

Commodifying forests as merely an investment for ‘carbon credits’ has many dangerous loopholes that human rights to indigenous peoples, take action!

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Saola Pseudoryx nghetinhensis

Saolas are rare and considered Southeast Asia’s ‘unicorns’, this Critically Endangered antelope is facing imminent extinction due to hunting and deforestation

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Songbirds Socialise Mid-Flight During Migration

Songbirds communicate with different species during nocturnal flights sharing vital info about navigation and stopover habitats. Save their fascinating world!

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Why Pangolins Are So Special

Pangolins get their name from the Malay ‘pengguling’ meaning rolling up. These special critically endangered animals deserve a break from savage poaching

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Tucuxi Sotalia fluviatilis

Tucuxi, small freshwater dolphins of Peru Ecuador Colombia and Brazil are Endangered due to fishing nets, deforestation, mercury poisoning from gold mining.

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Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings

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Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao

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Health Physician Dr Evan Allen

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The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert

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How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy

Read more

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status…

twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status…

twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1…

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

#BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #corruption #crime #deforestation #ecocide #ecolabel #EUDR #greenwashing #meat #meatAgriculture #meatAndSoyDeforestationInBrazil #News #PalmOil #palmOilDeforestation #palmoil #soy

UK Pressuring Forests For Palm Oil and Beef

Urgent call to action! 🌍 #UK’s heavy use of #palmoil #soy & #beef fuels global #deforestation. Demand stricter regulations & transparency. Make every purchase count and #Boycottmeat #…

^{Palm Oil Detectives}

Palm Oil Detectives

2025-03-11 13:17:00

Violence for Palm Oil Against Peasant Communities in Honduras Meets Resistance

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In the Aguán Valley of northern Honduras, peasant communities reclaiming ancestral lands face increasing violence and intimidation from armed groups linked to organised crime. The Dinant Corporation, a prominent palm oil producer, is accused of land theft and involvement in the murders of local activists. International organisations have condemned these human rights abuses, with a coalition of 33 organisations calling for a boycott of Dinant and for multinational companies: Pepsi, ADM, Cargill and Nestle to immediately cease business with Dinant. Despite governmental promises to address the conflict, concrete actions remain absent. You can resist for them in solidarity by boycotting their products in the supermarket! #BoycottPalmOil #LandRights #IndigenousRights #HumanRights

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#News: Peasant Communities in #Honduras 🇭🇳 face violent #landgrabbing from armed groups claiming their ancestral lands on behalf of #palmoil company #Dinant. 33 #HumanRights orgs call for an end to violence and a boycott of Dinant. #LandRights #IndigenousRights #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🔥⛔ wp.me/pcFhgU-an1

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In the Aguán Valley, northern Honduras, peasant communities striving to reclaim ancestral lands from the palm oil industry are encountering severe threats from heavily armed groups associated with organised crime. Recent incidents include the assassinations of peasant leaders José Luis Hernández Lobo and Suyapa Guillén in February 2025, and activist Arnulfo Díaz in January 2025. On December 24, 2024, the Los Camarones cooperative suffered a violent eviction by armed factions, displacing over 160 families who now endure precarious conditions without access to land or resources.

Dinant Faces Allegations of Murder, Violence and Threats Against Peasant Farmers

The Dinant Corporation, a major palm oil producer, claims ownership of lands that peasants assert as their ancestral territory. For over a decade, Dinant has faced allegations of engaging in violence, including murders and threats against peasant leaders and human rights defenders. International bodies, such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, have denounced these abuses. In February 2022, Honduran President Xiomara Castro pledged to investigate and resolve the conflict through a tripartite commission; however, tangible actions have yet to materialise.

Environmental and Economic Implications

The expansion of palm oil monoculture in Honduras, now covering approximately 200,000 hectares—over 18% of the nation’s arable land—has led to significant deforestation, ecosystem destruction, and soil degradation. This growth often involves collaboration between corporations and paramilitary groups, exacerbating the displacement and persecution of peasant communities.

International Coalition of 33 Orgs Call for Boycott of Dinant

A coalition of 33 environmental and human rights organisations has called on multinational corporations, including ADM, Cargill, Pepsico, and Nestlé, to cease business relations with Dinant. These organisations accuse Dinant of employing paramilitary and military forces to forcibly remove peasants resisting plantation expansion, using tactics ranging from physical violence to the destruction of livelihoods. In response to mounting pressure, companies such as BASF and Bunge have suspended commercial ties with Dinant, while Nestlé has announced plans to eliminate the supplier from its supply chains.

Call for Immediate Action

The ongoing violence and displacement of peasant communities in Honduras necessitate urgent intervention from both national authorities and the international community. Protecting the rights and lives of these communities is imperative, alongside promoting land use practices that fully respect indigenous territories and environmental integrity.

Latchford, R. (2025, February 20). Peasant communities under attack in Honduras. Freedom News. Retrieved February 25, 2025, from freedomnews.org.uk/2025/02/20/…

ENDS

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Read more about human rights abuses and child slavery in the palm oil industry

The Great Malaysian Timber and Palm Oil Swindle

A joint investigation by Malaysiakini and Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network (RIN) reveals alarming deforestation in Pahang, #Malaysia, caused by one of the country’s largest #palmoil plantations. The plantation threatens endangered species like…

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Deadly Harvest: How Demand for Palm Oil Fuels Corruption in Honduras

Latin America is the fastest-growing producer of palm oil, but at what price for the environment and its defenders? Park rangers in Honduras tell harrowing tales of daily threats to their lives and…

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Ten Victories and Challenges to Indigenous Rights in 2024

From Brazil’s action against illegal gold miners to the Sacred Headwaters Alliance defending the Amazon, these top Indigenous stories of 2024 highlight resilience and challenges. The year of 2024 underscored the importance of…

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Palm Oil Protesters Silenced and Arrested in Congo

On Tuesday, April 30, 2024, a shocking and disgraceful incident occurred in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). During a meeting of shareholders from Plantations et Huileries du Congo…

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Amazon Clarion Call: Pandemics Emerging in the Rainforest

The Amazon’s diverse ecosystem is under threat from rampant deforestation, degradation, a biodiversity crisis, and the climate crisis – jeopardising its ability to act as a carbon sink. This degradation increases the likelihood of zoonotic diseases emerging…

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1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.

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2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

Wildlife Artist Juanchi Pérez

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Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings

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Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao

Read more

Health Physician Dr Evan Allen

Read more

The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert

Read more

How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy

Read more

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status…

twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status…

twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1…

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

#BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #childLabour #childSlavery #Dinant #Honduras #humanRights #HumanRights #indigenousRights #indigenousrights #landRights #landgrabbing #landrights #LatinAmerica #Nestle #News #PalmOil #palmoil #Pepsi #PepsiCo #slavery #SouthAmerica #violence

Peasant communities under attack in Honduras - Freedom News

Palm oil company Dinant accused of land theft and murder of local activists ~ Rob Latchford ~ In the Aguán Valley in northern Honduras, heavily armed men linked to organised crime have been employing intimidation and violence towards farmers, who hav…

^{neil (Freedom Press)}

Palm Oil Detectives

2025-09-23 16:57:00

Colonial Palm Oil Threatens Ancient Noken Weaving in West Papua

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A powerful new indigenous art exhibition has highlighted the tragic loss of #WestPapua’s cultural identity due to #deforestation for #palmoil and #sugarcane monoculture plantations. A situation perpetuated by the illegal Indonesian colonisation of Melanesia. The ancient Melanesian tradition of noken weaving is under threat, as military-backed land grabs force Indigenous Muyu communities from their forests. Protect people and culture, when you shop make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #HumanRights #IndigenousRights

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#News: Exhibition highlights vanishing of West Papua’s UNESCO recognised #noken weaving for #palmoil and #sugarcane in #WestPapua. Reject corporate #landgrabbing for palm oil in when you shop! #BoycottPalmOil #HumanRights #IndigenousRights @palmoildetect wp.me/pcFhgU-bmj

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Asia Pacific Report. (2025, March 28). Researcher warns over West Papuan deforestation impact on traditional noken weaving. Evening Report. eveningreport.nz/2025/03/28/re…

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West Papuan doctoral candidate Veronika T. Kanem has issued a stark warning about the cultural and ecological destruction unfolding in Indonesia-occupied West Papua. As the region faces what may be the world’s largest deforestation project—two million hectares for palm oil and sugarcane—centuries-old Indigenous traditions are being pushed to the edge of existence.

Veronika T. Kanem, whose exhibition “Noken/Men: String Bags of the Muyu Tribe of Southern West Papua” opened at Auckland University, says the forced removal of her people from their forests has endangered not only biodiversity but the sacred art of noken weaving—a practice deeply embedded in the identity and social fabric of her father’s tribe, the Muyu.

Known locally as “men,” the noken is more than a string bag. Made from inner fibres of the genemo tree and other natural materials, noken symbolises a woman’s womb, a vessel of life used in ceremonies, food gathering, child-rearing, and cultural gift-giving. It holds economic, spiritual, and ancestral significance across Melanesia.

Now, industrial agriculture and military occupation threaten the entire cultural landscape. These new plantations are not only destroying forests; they are severing communities from their knowledge systems, their land, and each other.

Kanem’s research applies Indigenous Melanesian methodologies, using the act of noken weaving as a metaphor for knowledge, kinship, and resistance. Her work captures the lived experience of displacement and climate injustice at the intersection of colonial occupation, corporate extraction, and Indigenous resilience.

The Auckland exhibition also screened a documentary showcasing noken weaving traditions from across West Papua, including Asmat, Nabire, and Wamena. Speakers at the event, including Pacific scholars and artists, praised the project as a vital act of cultural preservation and defiance.

As Indonesia accelerates its colonial development schemes, the voices of West Papuans like Kanem are essential. Indigenous peoples must lead solutions to environmental destruction. Without indigenous justice, there can be no climate repair.

Defend West Papua’s forests and ancient indigenous cultures. Reject palm oil-driven genocide. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife #HumanRights #IndigenousRights

Read more: Researcher warns over West Papuan deforestation impact on traditional noken weaving (Evening Report, 2025)

Asia Pacific Report. (2025, March 28). Researcher warns over West Papuan deforestation impact on traditional noken weaving. Evening Report. eveningreport.nz/2025/03/28/re…

ENDS

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Read more about human rights abuses and child slavery in the palm oil industry

Family Ties Expose Deforestation and Rights Violations in Indonesian Palm Oil

An explosive report by the Environment Investigation Agency (EIA) details how Indonesia’s Fangiono family, through a wide corporate web, is linked to ongoing #deforestation, #corruption, and #indigenousrights abuses for #palmoil. Calls mount for…

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Papuan women will not be silenced while palm oil behemoths consume their land

In the colonised region of #WestPapua, Indigenous Melanesian women’s rights are being forgotten as companies and the Indonesian government seizes ancestral land for palm oil and sugar cane plantations — without owners’ consent.…

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Greasing the Wheels of Colonialism: Palm Oil Industry in West Papua

A landmark study published in Global Studies Quarterly in April 2025 has revealed that the rapid expansion of the #palmoil industry in #WestPapua is not only fuelling #deforestation, #ecocide and environmental destruction but…

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Palm Oil Workers Expose Industry Practices Resembling Colonialism

Palm Oil Workers Expose Industry Practices Resembling Colonialism | A coalition of palm oil workers in Indonesia has unveiled industry practices that mirror colonial exploitation, including land grabbing, poor working conditions, and environmental…

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Papua’s ‘Empty Lands’: A Dangerous Myth Displacing Indigenous Peoples

In #WestPapua, on illegally colonised and disputed land taken by violence from Melanesian Indigenous peoples last century by Indonesian forces, authorities label indigenous lands as “empty”. This is done in order to justify…

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Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.

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Join 1,399 other subscribers

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

Wildlife Artist Juanchi Pérez

Read more

Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings

Read more

Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao

Read more

Health Physician Dr Evan Allen

Read more

The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert

Read more

How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy

Read more

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status…

twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status…

twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1…

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

#art #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #childLabour #childSlavery #deforestation #humanRights #HumanRights #indigenousRights #indigenousrights #landRights #landgrabbing #News #noken #PalmOil #palmoil #slavery #sugarcane #WestPapua

Researcher warns over West Papuan deforestation impact on traditional noken weaving | Evening Report

Evening Report Provides daily analysis of geopolitics, politics, business, the economy and news. Evening Report also publishes and webcasts authoritative podcasts that analyse global issues and events.

^{eveningreport.nz}

Palm Oil Detectives

2025-10-21 15:34:00

SOCFIN’s African Empire of Colonial Oppression: Billionaires Profit from Palm Oil and Rubber Exploitation

An investigation by Bloomberg exposed that despite being RSPO members, #SOCFIN plantations in #WestAfrica are the epicentre of #humanrights abuses, sexual coercion, environmental destruction, and #landgrabbing. Operating in #Liberia, #Ghana, #Nigeria, and beyond, SOCFIN’s #rubber and #palmoil plantations continue historical colonial legacies of exploitation. Despite widespread evidence of abuse and deforestation, SOCFIN and its partners benefit from weak sustainability certifications such as #FSC and #RSPO. Europe and the US buy products directly linked to these violations, greenwashing the destruction in the process. Indigenous communities and workers are actively resisting this huge injustice —They seek proper redress in the form of stricter #EUDR regulations and better protections of their health, livelihoods and families. Consumers can boycott palm oil and rubber in solidarity. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife

#News: 🚨 #SOCFIN #palmoil and #rubber is linked to sexual #violence, forced #labour, #landgrabbing #deforestation in #WestAfrica🌴🔥🤢☠️🙊🚫 French tycoon Vincent Bolloré profits while communities suffer. 💀✊🏽 #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife palmoildetectives.com/2025/10/…

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A recent Bloomberg investigation into SOCFIN, a plantation empire co-owned by French billionaire Vincent Bolloré, reveals ongoing human rights violations, sexual exploitation, deforestation, and colonial-style land grabs across West Africa. SOCFIN, based in Luxembourg and co-owned by Bolloré, operates sprawling palm oil and rubber plantations in Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, and elsewhere. The investigation uncovered systemic abuses and environmental destruction, exposing the toxic greenwashing reality behind RSPO corporate sustainability claims.

According to Bloomberg’s extensive report published in April 2025, SOCFIN plantations in Liberia and Ghana are sites of widespread sexual coercion, rape and sexual abuse.

Women workers at the Liberian Agricultural Company (LAC) plantation, one of SOCFIN’s largest operations, routinely face demands for sex from supervisors as a condition for securing daily work. Women like Rebecca (a pseudonym) describe daily harassment and abuse, forced to accept demands out of economic necessity. Contract workers earn as little as $3.50 a day and face threats of dismissal if they refuse sexual advances.

Similar accounts emerge from SOCFIN’s Salala Rubber Corporation (SRC), recently sold after violent worker protests over labour abuses, inadequate medical care, and poor housing conditions. Women workers have described supervisors openly demanding sexual favours in exchange for continued employment. Mamie, a former SRC worker, described being violently raped by her supervisor after repeatedly refusing his advances. Such experiences remain common, despite superficial anti-harassment measures like “No Sexual Harassment” signs erected by the company (Bloomberg, 2025).

SOCFIN’s operations are rooted deeply in colonial history. Established in the Belgian Congo in the late 1800s, SOCFIN expanded aggressively during colonialism, exploiting rubber and palm oil resources across Africa and Asia. Today, its co-owners, Vincent Bolloré and Belgian businessman Hubert Fabri, control vast landholdings, perpetuating neo-colonial dynamics of wealth extraction. According to an article by Tony Lawson for Shoppe Black, the plantations replicate exploitative plantation models, extracting wealth from African land and labour for European profit, reminiscent of colonial rubber plantations and antebellum slave operations like Louisiana’s Nottoway Plantation.

This neo-colonial exploitation is glaringly evident in Nigeria, where SOCFIN’s subsidiary, Okumu Oil Palm Company, operates 19,062 hectares of palm plantations and 7,335 hectares of rubber plantations. Palm Oil Detectives (2024) documented widespread displacement of local Indigenous communities due to plantation expansion. Villages such as Lemon, Agbeda, and Oweike have been forcibly dismantled, leaving hundreds homeless. The affected communities received no compensation or consultation—violating international human rights standards on Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).

Austin Lemon, whose family established Lemon village in 1969, recounted witnessing his ancestral land seized by SOCFIN and converted into plantations without consent or compensation. The trauma from losing their homes, livelihoods, and ancestral heritage remains profound, with many residents still unable to recover decades later.

In Ghana, SOCFIN’s Plantations Socfin Ghana (PSG) has systematically destroyed vital rainforests, despite clear warnings from environmental assessments. PSG admitted clearing over 1,089 hectares of natural forest between 2012 and 2016. The loss of biodiversity and increased carbon emissions from these activities directly exacerbate the climate crisis, severely impacting local rainfall patterns and agricultural productivity. Farmers around PSG’s plantations suffer reduced yields, poverty, and food insecurity.

Meanwhile, the EU continues to import vast quantities of palm oil and rubber from SOCFIN, despite mounting evidence of human rights violations and deforestation. Europe’s reliance on SOCFIN’s supply chains for products such as Michelin tyres, Nestlé’s consumer goods, and numerous cosmetic brands implicates major companies in these abuses. Investigations show European tyre manufacturers purchasing rubber sourced from plantations like Liberia’s LAC and SRC, despite credible allegations of labour abuses, sexual coercion, and land theft.

SOCFIN and its partners rely heavily on weak and ineffective sustainability schemes like the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). But investigations repeatedly reveal these certifications as ineffectual greenwashing tools. For example, SOCFIN’s Cameroon plantations—RSPO-certified—face lawsuits alleging severe environmental damage and community displacement. Water pollution tests conducted near these plantations revealed dangerous contamination levels, threatening public health (Bloomberg, 2025).

Vincent Bolloré, despite his influential position as a major shareholder and board member, consistently denies responsibility, claiming limited involvement. Yet Bolloré’s role remains central. Known for his vast media empire and conservative political influence in France, Bolloré has maintained his SOCFIN stake despite decades of documented abuses. Lawsuits brought under French duty-of-vigilance laws now challenge Bolloré directly, arguing that his oversight constitutes effective control, making him legally responsible for SOCFIN’s actions.

Public pressure is growing. In 2024, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund excluded Bolloré Group and strongly recommended divestment from Bolloré and SOCFIN, citing overwhelming evidence of abuse. Luxembourg’s stock exchange delisted SOCFIN the same year, further isolating the company. Despite these actions, European governments and multinational corporations including the RSPO continue to support SOCFIN financially, facilitating ongoing abuses in Africa.

Communities across West Africa resist despite enormous personal risk. Liberian union leader Mary Boimah was jailed after protests against SRC’s labour conditions. Nigerian community member Iyabo Batu was shot by SOCFIN-affiliated security personnel while protesting environmental contamination and blocked access to her village. Despite these risks, communities persist in their demands for justice, compensation, and the return of their lands.

SOCFIN’s stated commitments to human rights and sustainability remain hollow. Decades of documented abuses, superficial responses to audits, and persistent denial illustrate systemic failure and wilful negligence. As long as global markets reward SOCFIN’s rubber and palm oil, the cycle of violence and exploitation will continue.

The time has come to demand real accountability. Regulators and law-makers in the EU and USA must recognise their complicity in human rights abuses and ecocide in palm oil and rubber supply chains. Until this time, people and landscapes will continue to suffer from forced labour, sexual coercion, and environmental destruction. SOCFIN’s ecocide and human rights abuses—must end now.

Learn more

Bloomberg. (2025, April 17). The Rubber Barons. Retrieved from bloomberg.com/features/2025-so…

Palm Oil Detectives. (2024, July 31). Socfin’s Destructive Empire: Palm Oil Deforestation and Human Rights Abuses in West Africa. Retrieved from palmoildetectives.com/2024/07/…

Shoppe Black. (2025). Labor Abuses: Nottoway and Liberia Plantations. Retrieved from shoppeblack.us/labor-abuses-no…

ENDS

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3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

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