{"id":14195,"date":"2021-08-09T12:11:31","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T12:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=14195"},"modified":"2021-12-01T12:38:26","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T12:38:26","slug":"greenpeace-africa-to-eu-ambassador-address-forest-destruction-in-cameroon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/blogs\/14195\/greenpeace-africa-to-eu-ambassador-address-forest-destruction-in-cameroon\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace Africa to EU Ambassador: address forest destruction in Cameroon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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SOLIDARITY WITH BAKA PEOPLE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

His Excellency Ambassador Philippe Van Damme<\/p>\n\n

Head of the Delegation of the European <\/p>\n\n

Union to the Republic of Cameroon<\/p>\n\n

9 August 2021<\/p>\n\n

Re: New EU policies to combat global deforestation must tackle destruction in Cameroon driven by the rubber industries <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Dear Ambassador, <\/p>\n\n

We are writing to urge the European Commission to swiftly present ambitious and effective legislation on forest and ecosystem risk commodities, in order to end the EU\u2019s complicity in the destruction of forests and other ecosystems and in the related abuses of human rights and Indigenous People\u2019s rights. We would also like to alert you to the critical importance of including rubber in the scope of the legislation, in light of the detrimental effects that the production of this commodity has on people and the environment in Cameroon.  <\/p>\n\n

Throughout the years, Greenpeace has witnessed the detrimental impacts of the expansion of the rubber industry in Cameroon. Cameroon is currently suffering one of the worst cases of deforestation in recent African history<\/a>, and rubber consumption in the EU, as well as the bloc\u2019s financial sector, bear some responsibility for this destruction. <\/p>\n\n

For example, the Singapore-based rubber producer Halcyon Agri is invested in rubber plantations in Cameroon. Its subsidiary in southeast Cameroon, Sud Cameroun H\u00e9v\u00e9a (SudCam), displaced Indigenous People<\/a> and destroyed more than 10,000 hectares of pristine rainforest on the border of the Dja Faunal Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

Despite this, rubber from this area and from similar plantations is being processed and exported to markets around the world, including to the EU market. The EU\u2019s financial sector is supporting this: Deutsche Bank provided a 21\u20ac million loan to Halcyon Agri \u2013 scandalously described as a \u201csustainability loan\u201d \u2013 despite all the negative impacts recorded in its projects in Cameroon<\/a>, and the continued violation of indigenous Baka communities\u2019 rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The case of Halcyon Agri and its subsidiary SudCam proves once again that new EU legislation is urgently needed to regulate the placing of forest and ecosystem risk commodities on the EU market in order to halt deforestation, forest degradation, ecosystem conversion and degradation, and the human rights violations driven by EU consumption. <\/p>\n\n

As we have laid out in our policy briefing<\/a>, this new law should:<\/p>\n\n