Read:
Stealing The Land Of The Poor Ugandans For The Sake Of Neo-Liberalism: Oxfam And Uganda Land Alliance Face Deregistration Over Exposing Museveni’s Land Grab Schemes
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/05/stealing-land-of-poor-ugandans-for-sake.html
How The World Bank Destroys the
Local Economy: REPORT UNCOVERS WORLD BANK FUNDED LAND GRAB IN UGANDA
by Friends of the Earth International
NEW REPORT UNCOVERS WORLD BANK FUNDED LAND GRAB IN UGANDA
WASHINGTON DC / BRUSSELS (BELGIUM)
/ KAMPALA (UGANDA)
23rd April 2012: Released
on the eve of a World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty [1], a new report
reveals widespread violations of people’s rights and environmental destruction
from World Bank funded land grabs in Uganda. [2]
The Friends of the Earth Uganda report provides first-hand accounts from
communities forced to give up their livelihoods, food supply and access to
water.
The report, hi-res images and video footage are available for media
preview - and under embargo until 23 April- at http://www.foei.org/media/landgrab
The World Bank has provided millions of dollars in funding and technical
support to palm oil expansion in forested islands off the coast of Lake
Victoria in Kalangala, Uganda. Nearly 10,000 hectares have
already been planted covering almost a quarter of the land area of the islands.
[3]
Palm oil plantations have come at the expense of local food crops and
rainforests. Local people have been prevented from accessing water sources and
grazing land. Despite promises of employment, locals have lost their means of
livelihood and are struggling to make ends meet.
David Kureeba from the National Association of Professional
Environmentalists (NAPE) / Friends of the Earth Uganda said:
“People’s rights to land are being demolished despite protection for them
under the Ugandan Constitution. Small scale farming and forestry that protected
unique wildlife, heritage and food of Uganda is being converted to palm
oil wastelands that only profit agribusinesses. The Ugandan Government must
prioritise small scale ecological farming and protect people’s land rights”
John Muyiisha, a farmer from Kalangala, tells of how he woke up one
morning to find bulldozers destroying his crops. He had been on the land for 34
years. Other community members were contracted to plant palm oil and then
forced to sell their land because of debts, low income from palm oil and no
food crops.
Kirtana Chandrasekaran, Friends of the Earth International Food
Sovereignty Coordinator said:
“These Ugandan testimonies show the fallacy of trying to make land
grabbing work for communities or the environment. Decades of policies to
privatise land and promote industrial farming from the World Bank have set the
stage for a massive global land grab.
Governments around the world need to stop land grabbing, not just try to
mitigate its worst impacts. Governments must abide by their Human Rights
obligations on land and drastically reducing demand for commodities such as
palm oil from the West.”
The project is
a joint venture between global agrofuels giant Wilmar International and BIDICO,
one of the largest oilseeds companies in Eastern Africa
with funding from International Financial institutions such as the World Bank
and the Ugandan Government. [4
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Kirtana Chandrasekaran, Food Sovereignty programme co-ordinator, Friends
of the Earth International, Tel: +44 (0)20 7566 1669 or Mobile: + 44 (0) 79 619
86956 or email: kirtana.chandrasekaran@foe.co.uk
David Kureeba,
Friends of the Earth Uganda / National Association of Professional
Environmentalists, Tel: +256-414-530181 or mobile: +256-775-349283 /
+256-718-210592
email: kureebamd@yahoo.com / kureeba@gmail.com
email: kureebamd@yahoo.com / kureeba@gmail.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
[1] The agenda of the April 24-26 Annual World Bank Conference on land
and poverty is focussed on how communities can benefit from land acquisitions
rather than on how they can retain access to land. http://www.landandpoverty.com/agenda/index.html
[2] The report, photo essay and video are available for media preview -
and under embargo until 23 April- at http://www.foei.org/media/landgrab
[3] Kalangala islands cover 432.1 square kilometres or 43,210 hectares http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalangala_District
[4] The project
is funded with $120 Million from private finance, $10 Million from the
International Finance Corporation and World Bank, $19.9 Million from the
International Fund for Agriculture and Development and $12 Million from the
Ugandan Government
Niccolo' Sarno
Media Coordinator - Friends of the Earth International
Email: media@foei.org
Tel: +31-20-6221369 (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Website: http://www.foei.org/media
