understanding land investment deals in africa - Oakland Institute

of encroachment by the local communities residing inand around the forest reserves. People from the localcommunity would fell trees in the reserves and takethem for sale in neighboring countries. The company’spresence has reportedly reduced these activities.Challenges of Operating in a Post-ConflictContextBoth Equatoria and Central Equatoria Teak haveencountered numerous obstacles in trying to get theirplantations operational. In Western Equatoria, forexample, Equatoria Teak was prevented from accessinga portion of the forest reserve due to insecurity causedby the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).According to a former employee, the company had tohire several soldiers from the Sudan People’s LiberationArmy (SPLA) to protect its workers in some parts ofthe plantation. 119 In Central Equatoria, the roles werereversed and company managers ran into problemswith SPLA officers who were allegedly stealing treesfrom one of its reserves. According to a governmentofficial:“Unfortunately, there are military barracks in thatforest. Some of the military officers exploit theirproximity to these plantations to illegally cut treesin the forest. When this white man learned of thisthing, he called the police and arrested some ofthe vehicles. Now this is where you can see howcorruption operates in this country. While hewas following up on this thing in Juba, insteadof arresting the people who were stealing thetrees, the police asked for his documents andlater on he was put in jail. Simple as that. He wasfollowing his stolen things and later on the wholething turned against him.” 120Effectively balancing the competing needs of localpopulations to access forest resources with thedemands of forest conservation and the company’scommercial interests is likely to be a major challengefor the company moving forward. According to theterms of the concession agreement, people fromaffected communities may not cut live trees on theforest reserves, but they are still permitted to accessfallen fuelwood and other forest products. Accordingto the concession agreement:“[T]he Concessionaire shall, as far as may bereasonably practicable, have due regard to thewishes of the Village Communities living adjacentto the Plantation and their customary dependenceon the Plantation with respect to forest products(including controlled access to fuel wood, houseconstruction material, thatching grass, andnon timber forests products) and employment,and shall avoid any action which might tendto prejudice good relations between the saidVillage Communities and the Concessionaire orGovernment.” 121The investment faces more fundamental challengeswith respect to the people who are living on the forestreserves. According to the SGS Qualifor report, about1,000 people live on one of the forest reserves inWestern Equatoria, causing “a negative effect on theintegrity of the forest ecosystem.” 122 The report citedEquatoria Teak for a minor non-conformance for failingto manage the situation by either (i) putting in place asystem to relocate the people to an alternative site offof the forest plantation, (ii) redefine the boundaries ofthe plantation to exclude these areas, or (iii) establisha co-management agreement that would regulate thissituation to ensure that the ecological function of theforest is not harmed. 123To date, there are no reports of people being displacedfrom the forest reserves owned by Equatoria Teak andCentral Equatoria Teak. However, government officialshave expressed a desire to relocate populations livingon these reserves in order to reduce the pressures theyput on the forest and make the land available for thecompany. If not managed carefully through a processin which people are free to refuse the government’srequests, such relocations could serve to underminerelations between the affected communities,the companies, and the concerned governmentinstitutions. As discussed below, the relationshipbetween the communities is already strained, andadditional pressure could easily spur heightenedcommunity opposition to the project.Lack of Prior ConsultationAmong the main issues of contention associated withboth the Equatoria Teak and Central Equatoria TeakThe Oakland Institute understanding land investment deals in africa: south sudan | 31