Open Letter from CEO of Herakles Farms in Response to Report On ...

Bruce Wrobel describes the Oakland Institute Report as “dishonest”. Dishonesty is best perceived by
dishonest people. Once more, the Cameroonian people wish to know what will happen to the percentage
Dr. Isidore Timti was going to make from the project for 99 years if it was authorized. Dishonestly, HF
decided to eliminate him than respect a simple gentlemanly agreement. It is also dishonest for Herakles to
go around announcing that the project was a government project and that government had authorized HF
to go around mapping land.
Environmental Issues around project
HF cleared forest without an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). If the company has not got the
logistics to carry out an EIA, why did they not exploit the recommendations of the three environmental
NGOs who used time and resources to study the area? In 1987, WWF, GTZ (GIZ) DFID after studies
proposed that the area straddling the KORUP National Park and the Rumpi Hills be used solely for local
farming. The report went ahead to state that any massive clearing of large expanses of land should be
avoided as that will lead to erosion, environmental degradation and global warming. The report was
endorsed in 1989 and has been widely accepted as real and authentic. Without the relevant knowhow, HF
prefers to scathe this all important report from three objective organizations.
When I listen to people in the HF proposed concession area around Mundemba and Toko, they ask
pertinent questions like, where does the government want us to go after they had taken away our 129,000
hectares for the KORUP National Park and tens of thousands more for the Rumpi Hills? They argue that
government had promised them that the land left between the KORUP and Rumpi Hills was just
sufficient for them to live on it sustainably. When their means of sustenance is today taken and given to
SGSOC, where does government want them to go?
Chief Nangea Felix of Fabe village, a vocal proponent of HF project seems to avail a ready answer. He
confesses that the Prime Minister had reassured them that they should give land to SGSOC and that if
they needed land in the future, government will go to the KORUP National Park and cut part of the park
and retrocedes to them. This allegation flies in the face of conservation and vindicates environmental
skeptics who have vehemently stated that HF will threaten the national Parks of Korup, Rumpi Hills,
Bayang Mbo Sanctuary and Bakossi Mountains. I have already noticed how much the cleared nursery
surface in Fabe is being eroded and the chemicals which are washed from the nursery into nearby rivers
as such dangerously modifying the environment.
The Rumpi Hills is a major watershed for the sub region. Most rivers in the South West Region and
Littoral Region take their rise from the Rumpi Hills. The River Mungo which is canalized and potted in
homes in Douala for drinking and other uses originates from the Rumpi Hills. The Cross River which
gives its name to Cross River State in Nigeria also rises from the Rumpi Hills. Any massive clearing of
this area will be deleterious to the catchment and deal a devastating blow to humanity.
The natural forest as it stands, primary or secondary, plays a major role that Bruce Wrobel cannot pretend
to ignore. Clearing forest in the South West Region does not impact only the region adversely. The
consequences are universal. These 73,000 hectares of forest is part of our common human heritage.
Global warming is not a local Cameroonian problem. It is a global problem that is best tackled by leaving
the concession area the way it is.
Bruce Wrobel seems to be advancing the idea that because the forest is secondary it has no value.
Unfortunately, secondary forest seems to be more environmentally robust as new species are locked in a
new biodiversity struggle leading to evolutionary modifications and generation of hitherto unknown fauna