Liberia: Grow but Cherish Your Environment

Aug 15, 2014 | The Economist
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For half a century, Indonesia and Malaysia have accounted for the vast majority of the world’s exports of palm oil. But now investors are flocking to west Africa to secure land for rival plantations. Environmentalists say the forests of South-East Asia have been massively despoiled and are warning west African governments not to follow suit. A growth-versus-conservation battle is in the offing.

The oil palm is native to west Africa, but most of today’s production is small-scale; exports barely exist. Yet restrictions on logging and the acquisition of land in Malaysia and Indonesia are pushing investors into Africa, where concessions for new plantations are more freely available. In the past decade, politicians in west Africa and countries of the Congo basin have leased out around 1.8m hectares of land for palm-oil plantations, according to Hardman, a London-based research company. Another 1.4m hectares is being sought. Foreign companies sniffing around include groups such as Wilmar, Olam, Sime Darby, Golden Veroleum and Equatorial Palm Oil.