The Lobé-Kribi iron ore project in Cameroon is a large-scale mining initiative designed to operate a major iron ore deposit. Directed by Sinosteel Cam SA, a subsidiary of Sinosteel Corporation LTD Chinese, the project includes large infrastructure developments, including mine, treatment facilities, transport networks and a mineral terminal. Once fully operational, it aims to extract 10 million tonnes of ore per year.
A report of mid-February of the local NGO for the promotion of development (YPD) warned that the project presents serious social and environmental risks, threatening the health, livelihoods and cultural heritage of communities in the Lobé-Kribi region.
Although the construction is still in its early days, Sinosteel Cam SA has already started infrastructure installation operations, with large-scale production planned for mid-201. Given the magnitude of development – including a network of access roads of 17 kilometers connecting the mine to the deep water port of Kribi – The considerable impact of the project does not surprise.
A consultation mechanism with local communities, although designed as a transparency exercise, has been riddled with faults. Key information has been selected, independent experts was excluded and the concerns of the local community was ignored. Rather as a real dialogue, he worked as a superficial exercise to legitimize a project that had already been decided. Disabled with sincerity and respect for those affected, it finally served as a facade for an opaque decision -making process where the dissident voices were systematically ignored.
“We were not even consulted, we could not say what we thought. We have just been presented with a fait accompli, “said VIP Ivaha Theodore in the village of Lolabé. “It is not a development. It is a flight, pure and simple.
Community leaders who have expressed their disagreement have received threats, and a politically influential leader imposed a silence order, prohibiting villagers from talking about the project.
Neither sinosteel nor the government of Cameroon commented on the procedures adopted to consult the affected communities or to inform them of the measures taken to mitigate environmental and health risks.
The engine park of the Lobé industrial mine. Photo graceful of YPD.
The study carried out by YPD described serious environmental risks associated with the project. The runoff of the mines and the leachate can contaminate the Lobé and Likodo rivers, the ocean and the Manyange Na Elombo Campo marine park. A visit to the site confirmed the first signs of deterioration in water quality, even before the start of extraction operations.
Air quality will also be affected. The main sources of pollution include nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and particles. Sulfur dioxide reacts with atmospheric water, leading to acid rain, which can harm local ecosystems and human health.
The project threatens tropical forests, wetlands and endemic species, especially in the Campo Ma’an National Park and the campo Na Elombo Campo marine park, which houses a single turtle species found anywhere else in the world. The increase in deforestation should cause a fragmentation of the habitat and move wildlife. Already, deforestation and noise pollution have led to an increase in interactions between fauna (elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees) and humans, in particular affecting agricultural land near the Campo Ma’an National Park.
Social impacts are also enormous. The entire village of Lolabé will have to be moved due to the construction of the mineral terminal. Sacred and historical sites In Ebodjé, Malaba and Mbendji run a risk of destruction.
Even before the start of large -scale operations, deforestation has already reduced local income by exhausting non -passing forest products and by moving the wild wildlife for hunting. Future economic inequalities and demographic changes due to the influx of migrant workers can lead to an increase in social tensions and crime rates. Already, the project deepens tensions between local populations and elites.
“It is unacceptable that this iron extraction project, located on our land in Campo, is systematically called” Lobé-Kribi “. It is an appropriation of our resources, as was done with the Memve’Ele dam, and many other structuring projects that naturally belonged to Campo. It is a negation of our identity, ”said Mete Dieudonné, chief of the village of Malaba.
“The political influence of Kribi 1 [municipality] The elite is obvious; They monopolize the potential advantages of this project, while it is our communities that will suffer the environmental and social consequences, “he continued.
“This project must be called Campo, not Kribi, because it is there, in Campo, that the deposit is located, and it is us, the inhabitants of Campo, who should be the main beneficiaries of its development.”
An interview with the community and the traditional chiefs of Malaba. Photo graceful of YPD.
Reactions to the project vary according to the affected communities. Although some require its complete judgment and dismantling, others think that the company should compensate for the inhabitants by attacking critical gaps in social infrastructure, because many villages still lack electricity, drinking water and health services. Some also recommend the prioritization of local work in future mining activities – provided that the project truly respects their environment, their rights and their needs. However, skepticism remains, because the previous projects of Chinese societies in Cameroon, including those of mining construction and road construction, have often failed to hold such promises, leaving communities with little or no real advantages.
All members of the community are suitable for the need for greater transparency and better information sharing concerning the concrete developments of the project, the impacts and the attenuation measures planned. They also want to know the real commitments provided for in the mining agreement granted by the President of the Republic of Cameroon (Annex 2), which refers to the social development program and the content of the study on the environmental and social impact and support measures.
As the main stakeholders, the inhabitants insist on being consulted on decisions affecting their land and their environment. A call for independent monitoring to control the environmental and social consequences is also widely shared.
“As a woman and leader of a development organization engaged in the well-being of our communities, I am deeply concerned about the iron extraction project,” said Mama Chantaline, head of the local development organization AFEDYMID (Association Women Dynamics of Malaba, Itonde and Doum-Essamendjang).
“We are not against economic development, but it must be done in a responsible and sustainable manner.”
The inhabitants of the village of Lolabé, which will house the mineral terminal, require equitable remuneration and resettlement plans which respect their rights and their means of subsistence. This community is already threatened by the work on the port of Pak Deepwater in Kribi, and the inhabitants say that they are again frustrated by the iron extraction project, which follows the same traces as the port project in terms of non-compliance with their rights.
“We were promised jobs, schools, hospitals and roads as part of the Deepwater Kribi (Pak) project … But we have not seen it so far,” said Theodore de Lolabé. “They returned with a project for the industrial exploitation of iron ore, which will deprive us of our land and all that it provides for our livelihoods, which will pollute our rivers and make our health forever vulnerable. Now we are even poorer than before. »»
The mine construction site in Lobé. Photo graceful of YPD.
There was a strong local opposition, with petitions and complaints led by community leaders such as Njokou Dongo, chief of the village of Ebodjé and Mouendji Pierre Elie, chief of the village of Mbendji, who is also the current president of the Council of Campo chiefs. They cite concerns about loss of biodiversity, health risks, land dispossession and cultural destruction. Residents also accuse Kribi 1’s political elite of influencing hawking, entering projects for the Campo detriment.
Despite this, government representatives have largely rejected these real concerns facing the people of the Campo district, and there are intimidation reports against vocal criticism.
The village chief of Ebodjé has received warnings from civil servants for opposing the project. Meanwhile, in Doum-Essendjang, the villagers are muzzle to express the project due to political pressure.
The Lobé-Kribi iron ore project is an important economic opportunity for Cameroon but also has serious socio-economic and environmental risks, as the YPD report points out. The most recent results indicate the worsening of environmental degradation, climbing social tensions and the inadequate government response to community grievances.
Responding to these concerns thanks to the improvement of the commitment of stakeholders, independent surveillance and sustainable development strategies is crucial to alleviate negative impacts and ensure a fairer and inclusive approach to the exploitation of resources.