Deal #3907

Those villages are located in Paksong district, Champasak

No consultation, they do not want compensation, they want their lands back. In the beginning of the project, more lands than those identified by the ESIA were in use, and many in the community beyond the village leadership were not aware that the land had been leased, as they had not been consulted nor informed during preparation of the ESIA (that was conducted in 2010) [MRLG, 2016].

Village authorities did not agree with the project Villagers reported that they had not seen any documentation for the lease of the concession area.

In April 2014 Olam released a statement claiming that all land conflicts with 132 families had been resolved,including returning 281 ha to villagers (Olam, 2014), but it appears that problems remain.

52 families

promised: education, infrastructure, income opprtunities; received: nothing Company returned some of the private lands and paid the compensation to villagers. Villagers shared they generally satisfied with the resolution of the dispute. However, tensions within the villages appear to remain, and four families refused to participate in the government-led compensation process due to its perceived inadequacy [MRLG, 2016]. From Ian G. Baird's study, it mentions that it cost Outspan US$3-4 million to return the productive coffee land to villagers, and also to provide compensation for some of the land not returned.

OBL’s efforts to improve investor-community relationships includes, returning some contested lands, revising the company’s land acquisition processes, and implementing the ‘Enhancing Sustainability of Coffee-based Agriculture’ (ESCA) project

OBL provided donations to communities in the past 5 years of 570,000,000 kip (around $70,000USD). This includes around $12,000USD for infrastructure in 4 villages near the Xekatam Estate in the last financial year (in the time of the MRLG in 2016). OBL spent around 600 persondays on development and implementation related to their ‘Outgrower’ program last financial year [in 2015]. Company also hired labourers from the village and provided eleven wells.

At the end of 2013, at the end of a grievance process (with assistance from NGOs and the LIWG), the communities received back use rights over some family agricultural lands (as mapped by the District-Provincial conflict solution committee), comprising of 230 hectares, as well as compensation for cleared crops [MRLG, 2016].