Monrovia – The Civil Society Oil Palm Working Group (CSO-OPWG) is urging President George Weah to assure the safety of the Liberian winner of the 2019 Goldman Environmental Award so that he can return home.
Report by James Harding Giahyue, New Narratives Senior Correspondent
Cllr. Alfred Brownell, 53, of Green Advocates on last Monday received the world’s most prestigious award for environmental advocacy at an elaborate ceremony in San Francisco, United States of America. The awarding body praised Brownell’s advocacy against oil palm concessionaires for alleged land grab, deforestation and forest degradation in southeastern Liberia.
But Brownell has not been in the country for more than two years. In late 2016 he fled into exile after running into trouble with the government of then President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for his refusal to participate in the trial of Guus Kouwenhoven, the Dutchman who smuggled arms for then President Charles Taylor as part of a timber deal.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Civil Society Oil Palm Working Group—comprising Brownell’s Green Advocates, Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) and, among others, Social Entrepreneur for Sustainable Development (SESDev)— called on “President George M. Weah to publicly reassure Brownell that his life, liberty and rights would be protected and respected on his return to the country to continue his work with communities across the country.”
Prior to fleeing into exile in late 2016, Brownell, through Alloycious David, a representative, told FrontPage Africa that he was being pursued by states security. “I was warned to find a secured place for me and my families as there were plans to go to my home and harass my family,” he told FrontPage Africa then from his hideout through David. “I was informed by neighbors that plainclothes men were asking questions about my whereabouts and issuing threats that they would get me and teach me a lesson,” he said at the time.
Brownell told the Guardian in an interview on the margins of the award ceremony that he was willing to come back to Liberia. “I hope this award will help change the minds of people in Liberia so we find more allies to speak to the government and the company,” he said. “We need to find a way to engage with them so I can go home.”
Efforts to contact a spokesman of the former President did not materialize.
Palm oil concessionaires, occupying nearly 600,000 hectares of land in Liberia, have faced off with rural communities in violent incidents over allegations of land grab, forest degradation and deforestation. Communities in Sinoe, Grand Kru and Grand Cape Mount have lost farmlands, ancestral graveyards and sacred sites to oil palm plantations. There has been destruction on plantation and concessionaires’ properties, too.
Brownell often faced death threats while advocating in Liberia. In a 2014 incident, according to him, a mob of GVL workers in Butaw threatened to rip off his heart and eats it, and drinks his blood through his skull. GVL denied the allegation at the time, saying it was townspeople.
That incident happened two years after he led affected communities to file a complaint with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)—the global body that sets standards for the palm oil industry. The RSPO mandated GVL to halt its oil palm development until locals agree.
The body awarding the US$200,000 prize said in a statement “Brownell’s fearless activism in the face of intimidation, harassment, and death threats has protected 513,500 acres of Liberia’s threatened forests – about 94% of the forest leased to Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL).”
Brownell recognized the efforts of advocates around the world who died defending the environment. “Yes, I survived to tell this story, but many defenders around the world who are part of our community have not been so lucky,” he said in his acceptance speech.
The CSO-OPWG statement said threats to advocates must stop. “The award is a clearindication that government and transnational corporations should recognize the critical voices that civil society organizations bring to national debates and work to address the concerns raised by them,” the statement said.
Brownell was among six people who received the award on Monday at an elaborate ceremony in San Francisco, United States of America. The other five recipients of the award include Bayara Agvaantseren of Mongolia, Alberto Curamil of Chile, Ana Colovic Lesoska of North Macedonia, Jacqueline Evans of Cook Islands and Linda Garcia of the United States of America. The Goldman Environmental Prize has since 1990 recognized the efforts of people on each of six continents of the earth for “outstanding grassroots environmental achievements”.
“We celebrate this recognition of the many efforts of Brownell in particular and oil-palm affected communities across Liberia that are advocating protection and respect for the rights of local communities,” the statement read.
Tension in the southeastern region might not be high as in Butaw 2015 when a riot left at least one dead and properties destroyed, but issues remain. In February 2018 reprimanded GVL for land grab. The Indonesian company even withdrew from the RSPO in July and reconsidered its decision four months later.
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as of a Land Rights and Climate Change Reporting Project. Funding is provided by the American World Jewish Service. The funder had no say in the story’s content.