Monrovia – The Civil Society Oil Palm Working Group (CSO-OPWG) is urging President George Weah to assure the safety of the Liberian winner of the 2019 Goldman Environmental Award so that he can return home. The awarding body praised Brownell’s advocacy against oil palm concessionaires for alleged land grab, deforestation and forest degradation in southeastern Liberia. Communities in Sinoe, Grand Kru and Grand Cape Mount have lost farmlands, ancestral graveyards and sacred sites to oil palm plantations. That incident happened two years after he led affected communities to file a complaint with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)—the global body that sets standards for the palm oil industry. The RSPO mandated GVL to halt its oil palm development until locals agree.

Source: Front Page Africa May 06, 2019 01:41 UTC