{"id":13515,"date":"2021-04-15T09:11:42","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T09:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=13515"},"modified":"2021-12-01T12:39:51","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T12:39:51","slug":"deutsche-bank-must-end-its-sustainability-farce-in-central-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/press\/13515\/deutsche-bank-must-end-its-sustainability-farce-in-central-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Deutsche Bank must end its Sustainability Farce in Central Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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SIGN THE PETITION<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\"Forest
IIndigenous Baka People from Cameroon were displaced by the rubber plantation Sudcam, which trashed a 10,000 hectares of rainforest 
\u00a9 Greenpeace \/ Kate Davison<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Hamburg\/Yaound\u00e9, 15 April 2021 <\/strong>\u2013 For the second time in 12 months, Deutsche Bank is about to violate its own Environmental and Social Policy Framework<\/a>. By mid-2021, the bank is expected to transfer the second tranche of a 25m USD loan to Singapore-based rubber giant Halcyon Agri, knowingly overlooking its record of human rights violations, non-transparency, and some of the most devastating deforestation<\/a> in Africa\u2019s recent history.<\/p>\n\n

In July 2020, Deutsche Bank announced \u201can innovative new loan<\/a>\u201d of USD 25m to Halcyon Agri, through its subsidiary Corrie MacColl, to finance investments for its plantations in Cameroon and Malaysia, promising \u201ca new standard for the rubber industry.\u201d The same month, the bank pledged not to \u201cknowingly finance\u2026 activities within or in close proximity to a World Heritage Site,\u201d yet satellite<\/a> imagery<\/a> shows that between 2011 and 2018 Halcyon\u2019s subsidiary Sud-Cameroun H\u00e9v\u00e9a (Sudcam) cleared more than 10,000 hectares of rainforest \u2013 an area the size of Paris \u2013 less than one kilometer from the Dja Faunal Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The clear-cutting caused the displacement of Baka Indigenous People.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cDeutsche Bank must cancel its toxic loan immediately,\u201d said Christoph Thies, Greenpeace Germany forests and climate campaigner. \u201cIf the bank\u2019s ambitious target of spending 200 billion EUR on sustainability by 2025<\/a> means sponsoring human rights abuses and forest-trashing, Germany and the EU must respond with tighter regulation,\u201d Thies added.<\/p>\n\n

Last July, Greenpeace Africa called for the loan\u2019s cancellation<\/a>, based on findings by UNESCO, [1] Rainforest Foundation UK, [2] Earthsight, [3] Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global<\/a>, [4] the Center for International Forestry Research, [5] and its own fieldwork. [6] <\/p>\n\n

As Greenpeace reported in 2018 and 2019, the Sudcam plantation lies only seven kilometers from the Mvomeka\u2019a mansion, security compound, and airstrip of Cameroonian President Paul Biya, who has held power since 1982. Greenpeace has obtained reliable evidence that Sudcam\u2019s minority shareholder is the President\u2019s son and potential successor<\/a>, Franck Biya. Halcyon Agri has staunchly refused to name Sudcam\u2019s 20% shareholder.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cDeutsche Bank\u2019s champion company kicked Indigenous Baka People off their ancestral lands, without the slightest attempt at obtaining their free, prior and informed consent. Dressing up its loan as sustainable is a textbook case of greenwashing,\u201d said Ran\u00e8ce Jovial Ndjeudja, Greenpeace Africa campaign manager in Cameroon. <\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace Africa and Greenpeace Germany call on Deutsche Bank to immediately terminate its loan to Halcyon Agri.<\/p>\n\n

ENDS<\/p>\n\n

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SIGN THE PETITION<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Notes<\/strong> <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n

[1) UNESCO, Rapport de la mission de conseil d’experts ind\u00e9pendants de l’UNESCO \u00e0 la R\u00e9serve de faune du Dja (Cameroun)<\/a>, 18 February – 4 March 2019.<\/p>\n\n

[2] Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK), Palmed Off: an Investigation into three industrial Palm Oil and Rubber Projects in Cameroon and the Republic of Congo<\/a>, May 2019.<\/p>\n\n

[3] Earthsight, Cameroon women denounce “destruction” of forests and community by agribusiness giants<\/a>, April 2020; The Coming Storm: How Secrecy and Collusion in Industrial Agriculture Spell Disaster for the Congo Basin\u2019s Forest<\/a>, March 2018. <\/p>\n\n

[4] Norway Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) Annual Report<\/a>, February 27, 2019; Rainforest Foundation Norway, Press Release: Norway\u2019s Government Pension Fund acts against deforestation: divests major agricultural companies<\/a>, February 28, 2019.<\/p>\n\n

[5] Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Socioecological responsibility and Chinese overseas investments The case of rubber plantation expansion in Cameroon<\/a>, 2015.<\/p>\n\n

[6] Greenpeace Africa, We were told not to go to our Forest anymore:  Sudcam\u2019s assault on human rights<\/a>, 2019; Halcyon Agri\u2019s Ruinous Rubber<\/a> (2018).<\/p>\n\n

Contact for interviews and more information: <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n