| The American palm oil corporation is arguing with the verdict of the Cameroonian Court |
| Sunday, 18 December 2011 21:17 | |||
SAVE continues the struggle for the Korup National Park For the last few months SAVE has been attempting to fight against the cutting down of 70 thousand hectares of rainforest. The American investor, Heracles Capital, plans to set up an oil palm plantation there, which would at the same time destroy one of the Earth’s most important ecosystems. We celebrated our crucial success in August when the Cameroonian Court stopped the rainforest clearing with a temporary court order. Unfortunately, the palm oil producers did not abide by the provisions of the court order because they did not consider the verdict valid. We are not aware on what grounds they based their decision but they continued to keep clearing the rainforests. Although some arrests have already been made, Heracles Capital keeps on fighting with the Cameroonian authorities. The American palm oil company is putting unbearable pressure on the judge who is responsible for the order. They feel he is biased since he is the local attorney for environmental issues and the legal representative for the Cameroonian partnership organization SEFE. At the same time, SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund has information that the SG-SOC company is massively lobbying the locals, who have also been protesting against the loss and destruction of their environment. The company representatives visit one village after another and are responsible for the negative propaganda against nature protection organizations, which – as they say – protect nature at the expense of people’s backwardness. But we know that the inhabitants of the Korup National Park have been coexisting peacefully with the rainforests since their earliest generations. The planned oil palm plantation would in a couple of dozen years destroy the soil with pesticides and herbicides and the locals, with a spot of luck, would get a job at the plants for starvation wages, not to mention the complete loss of rainforest biodiversity. SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund has serious doubts as to whether the plantation is going to truly benefit the locals and introduce their intended progress. Many inhabitants of the rainforest share these doubts and rely on the temporary court order to stop the company, but Heracles Capital is doing everything they can to manoeuver around the order no matter the means involved. SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund will keep supporting human rights, protecting the diversity of plant and animal species, and doing everything we can to ensure the rainforests are around for our future generations. For that, we need your help. It is only with you on our side that we can wage this difficult fight. Please, donate today to save this unique environment, which forms the Earth’s green lungs! SAVE Wildlife Conservation FundStadtsparkasse Wuppertal
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