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Deal #9769 Version #93199

Congo, Rep.
Created at
2022-12-15
Last update
2024-06-11
Last full update
2024-06-11

Recognition status of community land tenure

Comment on recognition status of community land tenure
The government later signed a lease promising to evict local people with ancestral claims to the land. While the law recognises these customary land rights in principle, in practice land must be registered with the government; experts say this process is too expensive and convoluted for most people. Even then, the law still allows the state to take control of the land for its own purposes.

Consultation of local community

Community consultation
Other
Comment on consultation of local community
Not initially consulted, little dialogue with the local population about it prior to FNC’s deal being inked. After the lease has been signed, some consultation is taking place. Another report states that the Government ministers met with “potential landowners” from June to July 2020, to raise public awareness of the project. A “participatory map” demarcating the land had been drawn up, with the names of landowning families written across each of their plots. Lease signed on November 3rd 2020. in September and October 2021, that the government held two rounds of “negotiations” with local communities.

How did the community react?

Community reaction
Mixed reaction
Comment on community reaction
Officially, the Congolese government consulted local people before requisitioning the land for use by Total. But an investigation by SourceMaterial and Unearthed, Greenpeace’s investigative journalism wing, found that a law transferring the land to the “private domain of the state” was passed more than a year before consultations ended.

Presence of land conflicts

Presence of land conflicts
Yes
Comment on presence of land conflicts
The consultation process between the government and local people over the Lefini reserve has led to confusion, disagreements and complaints by and among affected communities.

Displacement of people

Displacement of people
Yes
Number of households displaced "only" from their agricultural fields
160
Comment on displacement of people
Displacement from agricultural fields. The total number of people who depended on this land for their livelihoods is also unknown – one unfinished survey by a Congolese civil society group called the Justice and Peace Commission counted 160, but the group believes the real figure is higher. Another report states that the fields are said to be cultivated by more than 400 people.

Negative impacts for local communities

Negative impacts for local communities
Displacement
Comment on negative impacts for local communities
Local farmers say they can no longer afford to send children to school after the oil giant’s 40,000 hectare tree plantation barred them from their fields In a joint statement, Total and FRM said work was underway to “establish a complete picture” of the people who had been affected by the project, and to offer them “appropriate remediation” for “negative impacts”. will identify a remediation action plan, including livelihood restoration measures that comply with international standards. Results will be complete and made public in 2023.

Promised or received compensation

Received compensation (e.g. for damages or resettlements)
Representatives of some families from these communities later received a nominal payment, worth around $1 per hectare. Land in the area has previously been rented out for 16 times that amount, according to two sources with knowledge of the local agricultural economy. Some farmers did not receive any compensation. Another source states the representatives of nine families signed a memorandum of understanding in which they agreed to accept a “symbolic” lump sum of 50m central african francs, or just over US$80,000. This franc symbolique payment was equivalent to around one dollar per hectare of land. The document states that the payment is made to the families “with the view to clearing their rights of use” to the land. Some of those who signed this document mistakenly understood it to be a contract; some say they have never seen or were not given a copy and have some regrets about accepting the money. Another report states that the landowning families were dispossessed of their land for a modest sum of 76,000 euros and that some households have not even been compensated. Some community representatives received a nominal payment of around $1 a hectare, authorised by the government, where previously they had rented out the land for $16 a hectare. Other farmers told SourceMaterial that they were not consulted before their land was taken and received little compensation. Some received nothing at all.

Promised benefits for local communities

Promised benefits for local communities
Education
Comment on promised benefits for local communities
According to the company a local development fund will support health, nutritional and educational initiatives to benefit neighboring villages.