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Farming communities abused at troubled DRC mega-farm, campaigners say

Mongabay

April 4, 2019

When then-President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Joseph Kabila hoisted himself into a tractor to celebrate the first harvest of the Bukanga Lonzo agro-industrial park on March 5, 2015, it was supposed to be a triumphant moment. Just under 300 kilometers (186 miles) to the east of the capital city Kinshasa, the park had been heralded as a cutting-edge solution to food shortages in the DRC.

Report Says Loggers Declaring Losses But Increasing Exports

Post Courier Online

February 12, 2019

A high-end investigative report has revealed that despite decades of operating in PNG, logging companies barely declare profits. Furthermore, the report reveals an odd financial contradiction where loggers have reported doubling their losses while continuing to increase their exports of tropical timber. In a comprehensive report furnished by renowned international researching group The Oakland Institute, new evidence of financial misreporting and grand scale tax evasion in the PNG logging industry have been unearthed.

Think Tank Report Highlights Tax Puzzle in PNG Logging Sector

ABC Radio

September 6, 2018

Two years ago the Oakland Institute published a report on illegal logging in Papua New Guinea, and warned that millions of dollars in taxes were being lost because of financial misreporting.

Tanzania’s Maasai Losing Ground to Tourism in the Name of Conservation, Investigation Finds

Mongabay

May 11, 2018

The government of Tanzania is casting aside Maasai communities to make way for lucrative high-end safari tourism and hunting, says the Oakland Institute, a policy think tank, in a report published May 10.

Maasai Herders Driven Off Land to Make Way for Luxury Safaris, Report Says

The Guardian

The Tanzanian government is putting foreign safari companies ahead of Maasai herding communities as environmental tensions grow on the fringes of the Serengeti national park, according to a new investigation.
Tanzania’s Maasai Evicted in Favor of Tourism, Group Says

The Washington Post

By Rodney Muhumuza | AP

KAMPALA, Uganda—Tens of thousands of Tanzania’s ethnic Maasai people are homeless after the government burned their houses to keep the savannah open for tourism benefiting two foreign safari companies, a U.S.-based group charged Thursday.

Villagers in northern Tanzania’s Loliondo area, near the Ngorongoro...
Thousands Homeless as Tanzania's Government Burns Houses to Clear Space for Tourism: Report

Chicago Tribune

Rodney Muhumuza Associated Press

Tens of thousands of Tanzania's ethnic Maasai people are homeless after the government burned their houses to keep the savannah open for tourism benefiting two foreign safari companies, a U.S.-based group charged Thursday.

Villagers in northern Tanzania's Loliondo area, near...
Ethiopian Indigenous Leader Okello Akway Ochalla is Free!

Norway News

Oakland, CA—On February 14, 2018, Mr. Okello Akway Ochalla, an indigenous Anuak leader, Norwegian citizen, and the former Governor of the Gambella region of Ethiopia, was released after being held as a prisoner on trumped up charges in an Ethiopian jail for nearly four years.
Carbon Colonialism: Failure of Green Resources’ Carbon Offset Project in Uganda

World Rainforest Movement

Green Resources – a Norwegian tree plantation, carbon offset, wood products, and renewable energy company – champion themselves as a good corporate citizen. They claim to have planted more trees in Africa than any other private company in the last ten years, and to have invested over 125 million US dollars in tree planting, as well as providing...
OPINION: Rainforest or the Illegal Logger – Who is Really Under Threat in Papua New Guinea?

Pacific Islands News Association

Frederic Mousseau

“The forestry industry is on the brink of disaster” warned Bob Tate, the head of the Papua New Guinea Forest Industries Association (PNGFIA) on November 22, 2017. According to Tate, a spokesperson for the logging companies clear cutting...