Herakles Farms facts for kids

Herakles Farms, also known as SG Sustainable Oils, is a company from the United States. It focuses on growing oil palm trees to make palm oil and also works in the timber business, which means selling wood. The company's main office is in New York City. Herakles Farms states on its website that it is dedicated to being environmentally friendly and responsible.

Herakles Farms in Cameroon

Herakles Farms began its work in the country of Cameroon in 2009. A part of Herakles Farms, called Sithe Global Sustainable Oils Cameroon (SGSOC), was given permission to use a very large area of land. This land was about 73,000 hectares of rainforest, which is like 180,000 football fields. The plan was to clear this rainforest to plant oil palm trees.

However, the government of Cameroon stopped this project in May 2013. Herakles Farms had said it would invest a lot of money, about 300 billion francs CFA, and that its project would make life better for the local people living in the area.

Many local people were against this project, more so than those who supported it. There were concerns about how the company interacted with community leaders and people who spoke out about the project, like Nasako Besingi. In January 2014, a court in Limbe, Cameroon ordered Herakles Farms to pay a fine of 4.6 million francs CFA.

The rainforest area that was part of the project is a very important habitat for many animals. It is home to special animals like the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee and the drill, which are both types of primates.