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From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
A group on the platform of Women Impacted by Industrial Plantation Expansion, yesterday, appealed to the federal government and the state government to stop forthwith any new concession agreement that clears the forest at the detriment of the women.
Addressing newsmen in Benin on behalf of Odiguetue, Ekosa, Ologbo and Obaretin communities, Mrs. Gladys Osaghae, said they depend on forest and farmlands for their survival and wellbeing of their families.
She said the arrival of different multinational companies into their localities in the name of development have not brought them development but poverty, hunger, sickness and diseases.
Mrs. Osaghae added that industrial expansions have robbed them of their lands and access to forest resources.
“As caregivers, wives, mothers, sisters and local midwives, we depend on forest to meet our health needs.
“We are worried about the creation of policies and the transfer of land that are carried out without the engagement of women.
“This affect our lives and those that depend on us in many ways”, she said.
In her opinion, she called on the state government and the federal government to support and invest in community and women led solutions like agroecology that support food production and local food economy as well as community forest management method that put the management of the diverse forest ecosystem in the hands of community men and women.
Speaking also, Edo State chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Festus Alenkhe, commended the women for crying out for help with the view of conserving their forest.
He also tasked companies in various host communities to honour the international labour law, just as he asked them to carry out their social responsibility so as to reduce the burdens on them.
Earlier, Rita Uwaka, Programme Manager, Forest & Biodiversity, ERA/FoEN, said the livelihoods of the women must be protected adding that the impacts of deforestation tell more on them than the men.
