LOCAL COMMUNITIES SHUN SAFACAM’S RSPO CERTIFICATION

unced in the proper language. For this reason the concerned communities and sub-groups were not present. The worse part is that, some parties were not invited, especially those with vital views on the group’s operations. Such a situation is against the RSPO certification requirement, which is to take into account all of the pertinent information and views of stakeholders while examining companies’ compliance with the RSPO standards.

For Samuel Nguiffo, secretary-general of the Cameroonian NGO Center for Environment and Development, “RPSO and the certification body SCS are setting a regrettable precedent and making it look like there is no need to adopt social and environmental standards before getting an RSPO certification.”

“The certification system has seriously lost credibility in Cameroon,” he added.

The fairness of the audit process questioned

The SYNAPARCAM reveals that many civil society organizations have filed complaints against the failed certification process that led to the two decisions to certify companies with controversial operations in Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire. The first protest was submitted to the certification body SCS Global Services (SCS) in November 2020 and the second submitted to accreditation organization Assurance services international in June 2021.

“The various land disputes extensively described by the communities were not reviewed by the SCS auditors, those land disputes, as well as many other complaints, were not built-in into the SCS summary public audit report. Communities, therefore, questioned the independence of the audit mission. In light of some specific complaints accusing the auditor, a community even declined to meet the audit team. At least two members of the community complained about SAFACAM’s intimidations in the framework of that audit. The audit mission was unable to assure confidentiality and a safe place for the meeting. There are also questions concerning why only part of SAFACAM’s plantations was audited by the SCS,” the SYNAPARCAM writes.

Since late June 2021, Business in Cameroon has contacted SAFACAM to get its responses to those accusations but the agribusiness group has remained silent. Its plantations are the results of a long large-scale agricultural development process launched in 1897 when Cameroon was under the German protectorate. Presently, the plantations are located in Dizangué and Mouanko, in Litoral Cameroon.

SF