Bruce Wrobel, the chief executive of Herakles Farms, claims his company’s efforts to flatten a chunk of Cameroon’s dense rainforest to develop a palm oil plantation are borne of a desire to address a “dire humanitarian need”. Continue reading
Author Archives: Laila Sapphira Williams
About Laila Sapphira Williams
Laila is a campaigner for the Congo forest campaign at Greenpeace USA. Demanding a straight answer from Herakles Farms
Like many activists, we ask lots of questions, and often these questions go unanswered in the hope that we’ll simply give up and stop asking.
US agribusiness Herakles Farms and its chief executive Bruce Wrobel think they can put their heads in the sand in the hope we’ll eventually stop pestering them. Why? Because they don’t like answering questions about how they intend to carve out 73,000 hectares of largely dense forest in Cameroon. Learn more about Palm oil’s new frontier. Continue reading
Challenging year ends in hope for Cameroonian environmental activist
Original blogpost by Alexa Phillips, Greenpeace Africa
For many people thoughts are already turning to the festive period and a well-earned rest. All Nasako Besingi wants for Christmas is for Herakles Farms to say they are leaving him and his fellow villagers’ land alone.
2012 has been a tough year for the Cameroonian activist, the director of the NGO Struggle to Economize Future Environment (SEFE), which has been leading resistance to Herakles’ proposed palm oil plantation in the country. While preparing a peaceful demonstration last month, he was arrested with other SEFE activists and detained without charge. For months he’s been subjected to constant harassment culminating in a court appearance this week where he again left without any charge being laid. Continue reading