Response to Mongabay Article

We refer to an article published on Mongabay on 14 September headlined Liberia land policy a ‘challenge to national development’. Sime Darby Plantation would like to categorically state that it is not involved in any ‘land grabs’. The company only develops land where it has the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of affected communities.

We would also like to clarify other inaccuracies in the article:

1. Statement: Sime Darby, a Malaysian oil company and citizens of Grand Cape Mount county have on several occasions had bitter disputes Actual situation:

• Between 2011 and 2012 there were disputes with the communities but since 2013 we have been engaging them and other stakeholders on a regular basis.
• With the establishment of the Sustainable Plantation Initiative (SPI) as a stakeholder consultative forum, we are able to reduce the number of disputes significantly.
• The company takes the FPIC process seriously, precisely to avoid the problems in 2011. We have conducted FPIC in Zodua for the last five years. We signed an MoU with the Clan leaders to make sure the community is in agreement and understands the process. The MoU was witnessed by the Government of Liberia, namely the Land Commission and local NGO.

2. Statement: the company has gone beyond the boundary as spelled out in the agreement
Actual situation:

• The concession agreement is for a gross area of 311,187 ha and a net area of 220,000 ha. In the last seven years, SDPL only managed to develop 10,437 ha, 7,876 ha of which were old rubber plantation that belonged to the former Guthrie Plantation Liberia.
• SDPL did not and will not develop any land outside its boundaries especially given the fact that we still have roughly 300,669 ha available within the company’s gross concession area.

3. Statement: the company is destroying their farmlands
Actual situation:

• The company’s policy is to obtain each community’s FPIC before any development. This means that the community has to agree for the company to develop land in exchange for proper access, jobs, education, sanitation and other development opportunities.
• If there are farms on the land, our policy is to pay compensation for the crops and this is part of the agreement between the community and the company.

4. Statement: residents don’t know exactly how many hectares of land was granted to Sime Darby by the government
Actual situation:

• The boundaries of the concession area are detailed out in the concession agreement, which is a public document. Furthermore, when it comes to Zodua land, a detailed participatory map has been developed by the community itself to clearly identify the land that would be given to SDPL for development and the areas that would be left out such as graveyards and sacred sites.

5. Statement: the company expanding its plantation every year
Actual situation:

• In order for the company to have a commercially viable business, the company has to expand every year. However, due to the self-imposed moratorium, the High Carbon Stock study and the new definition of forest based on the study, the company has stopped land expansion for the last two years.
• The company’s total planted area was 10,437ha in September 2014 when the moratorium was announced and it remains the same today.

*Land clearing and planting stopped due to Moratorium in September 2014