1. Opportunities to responsible land-based investments in Central Africa Laurène Feintrenie Laurene.feintrenie@cirad.fr

2. Contents Land-based investments in Central Africa, a long story Policies and national strategies for land-based investments Impacts of land-based investments

3. Land-based investments in Central Africa, a long story

4. Colonization and concessionary regime large piece of land, made available by the State to a private or public society Nucleus Estates and Smallholders projects Independencies and socialism Public societies Collection and commercialization of agricultural products organized by public services Liberalization and privatization Privatization of public plantations 4 th wave: 2000s Rush for farmland Biofuels, Carbon sink, food-crops reserves

5. Cameroon Gabon Republic of Congo Democratic Republic of Congo Republic of Central Africa

7. Total (ha) Under negotiation (ha) Acquired (ha) Cameroon 1 026 400 650 000 376 400 Congo 774 294 110 000 664 294 DRC 163 794 Gabon 147 400 CAR 16 337 Total 2 128 225 760 000 1 368 225 Surface of agro-industrial concessions acquired or under negotiation in five countries of Central Africa

9. Policies and national strategies for land-based investments

10. Policies toward a sustainable management of land-based investments Lack of formal procedures and issue of transparency

11. In Gabon: no permit of plantation for industrial agricultural plantations => Olam was first granted a forestry permit In Congo: no procedure for logging before planting => Atama was accused of illegal logging As a consequence, States develop new procedures and institutions to answer to immediate needs, and under the pressure of agro-industries. Lack of formal procedures opens doors to badly informed, one-way decisions and lack of transparency.

12. Cameroon SG-SOC, Herakles Farms oil palm plantation

13. Policies toward a sustainable management of land-based investments Lack of formal procedures and issue of transparency Overlaps of land attributions, needs for inter- sectorial coordination for economic development

14. Cameroon

15. Republic of Congo

16. Atama, oil palm plantation (180 000 ha / 470 000 ha) Part of the concession comes from declassified forest management unit

17. Policies toward a sustainable management of land-based investments Lack of formal procedures and issue of transparency Overlaps of land attributions and inter-sectorial coordination for economic development Land-based investments as part of national strategies of economic development

18. Republic of Congo ProNAR: 1 000 000 ha planted in 2021 Atama, oil palm plantation (180 000 ha / 470 000 ha) Saris, sugar cane (12 500 ha / 21 000 ha) Industrial timber plantations (73 000 ha)

19. Gabon strategic plan for agriculture and livestock

20. Mineral resources in Gabon

21. Impacts of land- based investments

22. Land grab and conflicts over land? Impact on livelihoods and national economies? Deforestation, Carbon stock, and biodiversity? National procedures: FPIC, ESIA Voluntary certification Motivation for sustainable practices? Asia, Africa: a demand for cheap products, not for certified ones Dont fit with high sustainable standards, like European standards (logging: FLEGT, biofuels)

23. Impact on governance New demands: large-scale concessions outside the forestry sector Conflicts of land-users => increasing need for clear tenure status for local people, and also for private societies Conflicts of land-uses => need for national land use planning, land allocation per sector New investors becoming main actors of the national economies => Olam in Gabon; Atama in Congo. Civil society, NGOs, international institutions comment, advice, and get involved. National strategies, new procedures, new institutions

24. Impact on livelihoods Lot of hiring is planned (e.g. 19 000 for Olam in Gabon in 2020, 27 000 for Atama in Congo in 2050): Opportunity and difficulty: local people get priority access to jobs, migrants will be locally needed Few plans for family farming supported by agro- industries in oil palm, more in rubber or cereals.

25. Gabon strategic plan for agriculture and livestock

26. Impact on livelihoods Lot of employment planned (e.g. 19 000 for Olam in Gabon in 2020, 27 000 for Atama in Congo in 2050): Opportunity and difficulty: migrants will be locally needed, local people get priority access to jobs Few plans for family farming supported by agro- industries in oil palm, more in rubber or cereals. Where there is high competition for land, like in Cameroon, social conflicts rise. Agro-industries engaged into certification undertake FPIC and ESIA followed by impact management plans.

27. Impact on the environment Deforestation for conversion to agriculture Forest degradation around agro-industrial plantations due to added pressure on forest resources (timber, fuel-wood, NTFP) Added pressure on fauna for bush-meat. But, agro-industries willing to follow sustainable practices and get certification might have low and controlled impact on the environment. Development of plantations in savannahs should be promoted.

28. Conclusion

29. Can large-scale land based investments be turned from threats into opportunities? Recent land deals are of bigger surfaces than previous waves of investments, and there is a more extended conversion of natural forests into other land-uses. There is a slow but progressive shift in historical patterns of investments from a North-South to a South-South axis. Positive impacts of large-scale land investments on livelihoods and the broader economy might be enhanced by policies toward a green economy. Negative impacts on the environment might be reduced to an acceptable minimum by the same. If policy safeguards are put in place, national land use planning designed following a green economy strategy, and guidelines for sustainable management respected, large-scale land investments might be sustainably managed. Laurene.feintrenie@cirad.fr