Aerial photographs of Talangaye oil palm nursery in Nguti subdivision of Herakles Farms planned oil palm plantation. Photographs
taken in February 2012. Photographer wishes to remain anonymous.

19/11/2012 (Mongabay.com) - Activists protesting conversion of rainforest to an oil palm plantation have been arrested in Cameroon, reports Greenpeace.

Nasako Besingi, the director of Struggle to Economise Future Environment (SEFE), was arrested November 14 with three others in the town of Mundemba. An emailed statement from Greenpeace calls Besingi a "vocal and peaceful critic of the plans and working practices of US-based company Herakles Farms." It adds that "the activities of SEFE have always been based on legal court actions and peaceful social dialogue around the only real tangible asset of people in the region – land."

The environmental group is calling for an immediate release of Besingi and his colleagues.

The Herakles project has emerged as a battleground for environmentalists seeking in deter conversion of rainforests for oil palm plantations in West and Central Africa. Green groups say the project is opposed by some local communities and risks destroying large tracts of rainforest. Herakles says the plantation, which will cover some 70,000 hectares in southwest Cameroon, will bring much needed development to the region. It also maintains that it will not convert high conservation value forest, although the New York-based company recently pulled out of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, which sets basic standards for environmentally-responsible practices.