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University Of Dschang Axes Herakles Farms Project Over Nature Conservation
University Of Dschang Axes Herakles Farms Project Over Nature Conservation
14/08/2013 (Business in Cameroon) - A group of universities and NGOs, in a joint report say the proposed oil palm plantation in the South-West threatens the survival of some species in this region of Cameroon, according to the French language daily, Le Messager of Monday August 12.
Herakles, an American agro-industrial company, owner of project to open a huge palm oil plantation in the South-West Region, Cameroon, was once again been pinned in a study released on August 8, 2013. This new study was conducted by the University of Dschang, in collaboration with the University of Göttingen (Germany), and supported by the Greenpeace, Save Wildlife and WWF Germany NGOs.
This study suggests that part of the forest habitat of endangered chimpanzees in Cameroon will be destroyed if the project is not stopped. It says that the area is not only a habitat for chimpanzees, but also for the forest elephant.
For Filip Verbelen of Greenpeace International, the study challenges the U.S. government that has invested heavily in recent years in a wide action plan for the conservation of chimpanzees in Nigeria and Cameroon. “It would be an irony that it is an American company that comes to trample these conservation efforts with the project,” he told the private daily.
According to Dr. Kadiri Serge Bobo of the University of Dschang, the study by Herakles farms was inadequate and did not mention the presence of species of these mammals as they should have done.
The Herakles Farms project was launched in Cameroon in 2009. And, the state has granted the American company more than 80,000 hectares of land for the development of a huge palm plantation, on very favorable terms, since the said project should offer many benefits: increased production Palm oil, and on the social side, the project is estimated to create tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs.
Herakles, an American agro-industrial company, owner of project to open a huge palm oil plantation in the South-West Region, Cameroon, was once again been pinned in a study released on August 8, 2013. This new study was conducted by the University of Dschang, in collaboration with the University of Göttingen (Germany), and supported by the Greenpeace, Save Wildlife and WWF Germany NGOs.
This study suggests that part of the forest habitat of endangered chimpanzees in Cameroon will be destroyed if the project is not stopped. It says that the area is not only a habitat for chimpanzees, but also for the forest elephant.
For Filip Verbelen of Greenpeace International, the study challenges the U.S. government that has invested heavily in recent years in a wide action plan for the conservation of chimpanzees in Nigeria and Cameroon. “It would be an irony that it is an American company that comes to trample these conservation efforts with the project,” he told the private daily.
According to Dr. Kadiri Serge Bobo of the University of Dschang, the study by Herakles farms was inadequate and did not mention the presence of species of these mammals as they should have done.
The Herakles Farms project was launched in Cameroon in 2009. And, the state has granted the American company more than 80,000 hectares of land for the development of a huge palm plantation, on very favorable terms, since the said project should offer many benefits: increased production Palm oil, and on the social side, the project is estimated to create tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs.