Congolese farmers barred from own land for tree planting project by French oil giant Total Energies
Farmers living in the Republic of the Congo say that they have been barred from accessing their land so that the French oil giant Total Energies and the Congolese government can use it for a high-profile carbon offsetting project to plant 40 million trees in the next decade.
According to an investigation shared exclusively with Sky News by Greenpeace UK Unearthed and the SourceMaterial investigative group, the project on the Lefini land reserve in the Bateke Plateau appears to have come at a significant cost to an estimated 400 farmers and their families.
In interviews with a SourceMaterial journalist, several farmers said that since planting began in November last year, they have been blocked from their lands without consultation or payment.
“We used to go and collect Koko leaves [a Congolese vegetable], mushrooms,” Natacha Enta said.
“Now that they have forbidden us to enter, how will we cope?
“In the fields, the white man has bought the lands, and we can no longer work our fields. And the people who have sold our land now forbid us to go there.”
Clarisse Louba Parfaite said: “Now, if you are seen with your tractors, you are chased away.
“The crops that we had planted inside, in the middle of the fields, not harvested to date, they refuse to allow our tractors to come and do the work.
“It’s to kill us, to send us back to being slaves again like in the past.”
It’s left some worried about feeding their children.
Clarisse Louba Parfaite says she has been chased away from her land. Pic: SourceMaterial
‘They have taken everything’
Pulcherie Amboula said: “We were not able to go far with our studies, so we gave ourselves to agriculture.
“I was working the fields to feed my children and grandchildren as well. And one day, to my surprise, we are informed that we will no longer be doing our fields. If we see a tractor over there, we will send the tractor back.”
“I feel like these people came to kill us on our own land.”
Maixent Jourdain Adzabi said: “Today, populations are crying, and bitterly. And us, our children? We raise them based on our fields. We work, we find money to get them into school.
“Today, we don’t have space to work, they have taken everything.”
A few well-established families were paid, but not very much – the equivalent of around 80p a hectare.
And some of those who received money say there was not a great deal of choice anyway.
Olivier Calver Ngouba says he was ‘accused of having sold the ancestral lands’. Pic: SourceMaterial
Residents had little control
Olivier Calver Ngouba said: “In the village, I am accused of having sold the ancestral lands, when it is not the case. When [Forest Economy] Minister Rosalie Matondo came, she never consulted before. She arrived with her delegation saying that she came to pay us ‘a symbolic franc’.
“We told her that since the dawn of time, we never sold our land, even our ancestors did not do it. She replied that it is the state that has recovered these lands.”
Documents show that affected residents apparently had little control over what was happening to them.
By the time some had accepted money to give up their lands the government had already changed the law, more than a year earlier, to become the private owner of the Lefini reserve.
That land was then quickly subleased via a French forestry consultancy called Foret Resources Management (FRM) to Total Energies, with reassurances from the government that anyone else trying to use it would be evicted.
Total’s planting scheme. Pic: SourceMaterial
Complaints acknowledged
Other documents seen by SourceMaterial show that after Total’s planting scheme began in November 2021, the forest economy ministry acknowledged a range of problems with the project, including complaints from unpaid families, confusion over land rights and limitations and a lack of leadership.
The Congolese government declined to comment.
Total Energies and FRM defended what they described as an “ambitious” and “pioneering” partnership.
But in a statement they acknowledged issues with the scheme, telling Sky News that in the past few months they had “launched an assessment to identify the project’s potential impacts and to mitigate negative impacts that could not be reduced”.
They said: “This will establish a complete picture of those who are affected by the project in the overall project area… and will identify a remediation action plan, including livelihood restoration measures that comply with international standards. Results will be complete and made public in 2023.”
William McDonnell says local communities must be safeguarded
Example of much bigger problem
For those trying to reform the rapidly growing and poorly regulated voluntary carbon market, this is one example of a much bigger problem.
William McDonnell is the chief operating officer of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market, which is trying to establish and govern a set of globally accepted standards for carbon credits.
He told Sky News: “Social impacts have increasingly over the years been seen as really central to high integrity carbon credits.
“You don’t want, in doing one good thing, to be doing another bad thing.
“Partly it’s about justice and human rights and making sure that the interests of the local communities are safeguarded.
“But actually part of it is also a virtuous cycle.
“If the local community is involved, that makes it much more likely that those climate benefits will be there in the long term.”
Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani, known for ready-to-wear fashion and staple suits, has died.
The 91-year-old started the fashion house in 1975 with his partner Sergio Galeotti, but it is the 1980 classic film American Gigolo that is credited with launching Armani’s career.
He designed the wardrobe for the film’s star, Richard Gere, who was launched into the spotlight as America’s new favourite heart throb, and Armani as one of the most popular designers. Over his career, he earned over 200 wardrobe credits.
Giorgio Armani latest: Follow live updates
As well as dressing actors on screen, red carpets were filled with Armani’s tailored black tie outfits and evening gowns, with everyone from Jodie Foster, Beyonce and Diane Keaton wearing his designs.
Here, we look at some of Armani’s iconic looks created for both the big screen and the red carpet.
Diane Keaton (centre) wearing an Armani men’s suit jacket at the 1978 Academy Awards. Pic: AP
Diane Keaton wore a custom double-breasted jacket to the 1978 Academy Awards, where she won Best Actress for her performance in Woody Allen’s romantic comedy Annie Hall.
Richard Gere in American Gigolo. Pic THA/Shutterstock
Richard Gere stars in American Gigolo. The suits made by Armani were originally for John Travolta, who later dropped out of the film and was replaced by Gere.
Grace Jones wears an Armani blazer on the cover of the album Nightclubbing. Pic: AP
Grace Jones wore a man’s wide-shouldered Armani blazer on the cover of the 1981 album Nightclubbing.
Julia Roberts wearing an Armani men’s suit at the 1990 Golden Globes. Pic: AP
Julia Roberts wore an oversized men’s Armani suit at the 1990 Golden Globes. The look has become iconic in fashion history as the actress stepped away from wearing the conventional ballgown.
Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci in Goodfellas in 1990. Pic: Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock
Armani collaborated with Goodfellas director Martin Scorsese to create suits for Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci in the 1990 classic film.
Actress Jodie Foster at the 1992 Oscars. Pic: AP
Jodie Foster wore an Armani suit at the 1992 Academy Awards, where she won Best Actress for The Silence Of The Lambs.
Armani designed Katie Holmes’ wedding dress when she married Tom Cruise in 2006. Pic: Reuters
When Tom Cruise tied the knot with actress Katie Holmes in 2006, it was Armani who was tasked with creating her wedding dress.
Beyonce at the American Music Awards in 2008 wearing custom Armani. Pic: AP
Performing her hit song All The Single Ladies at the 2008 American Music Awards, Beyonce wore a custom Armani bodysuit.
David and Victoria Beckham wearing Giorgio Armani at the 2008 Met Gala. Pic: AP
David and Victoria Beckham wore Armani at the 2008 Met Gala in New York. The theme was superheroes: fashion and fantasy and Armani co-chaired the gala that year.
Lady Gaga at the Grammys in 2010. Pic: AP
Lady Gaga wore a galactic-inspired dress at the 2010 Grammy Awards, which was part of Giorgio Armani Prive – the designer’s haute couture collection. The outfit turned heads as it was unlike Armani’s typical styles.
Demi Moore at the 2025 Golden Globes. Pic: Reuters
Demi Moore wore a sculpted gold gown at this year’s Golden Globes, where she won Best Performance by a Female Actor for her role in The Substance.
World
Taliban reports sharp rise in death toll following earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, as aid agencies issue warning
The number of people killed following a deadly earthquake in eastern Afghanistan has risen sharply to 2,205, according to the Taliban government.
The increase, from more than 1,400 deaths reported on Tuesday, coincides with rescuers being hampered by harsh weather and rugged terrain, while aid agencies warned of dwindling resources.
The 6.0 magnitude quake struck several provinces in a mountainous and remote area of the country near the Pakistan border, at around 11.47pm (8.17pm UK time) on Sunday.
Afghanistan’s deadliest earthquake in years levelled villages, destroying thousands of homes, and trapping people under rubble. At least 3,640 people have been injured.
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Afghans search for survivors after earthquake
The majority of casualties have been in Kunar, where many live in steep river valleys separated by high mountains.
Taliban spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said rescue and search efforts were continuing: “Tents have been set up for people, and the delivery of first aid and emergency supplies is ongoing.”
More than 6,700 homes have been destroyed, authorities have said.
But while officials have deployed helicopters and airdropped army commandos to help survivors, the rough terrain is hindering relief efforts.
Tough terrain is hindering relief efforts. Pic: Reuters
Aid workers have reported walking for hours to reach villages cut off by landslides and rockfall.
Afghanistan was already struggling with the impact of climate change, particularly drought, a weak economy and the return of some two million Afghans from neighbouring countries.
Sunday’s earthquake is the third to devastate the country since the Taliban seized power in 2021.
Livestock are left to shelter inside a damaged house. Pic: Reuters
On Wednesday, the defence ministry said the Afghan air force moved more than 1,900 people in 155 flights over two days, and delivered 10,000kg of supplies across the region.
The UK has pledged £1m in emergency funding to be split between humanitarian agencies instead of the Taliban government, which the UK does not recognise.
Injured Afghans have been evacuated to a hospital in Jalalabad. Pic: AP
Read more from Sky News:
Women more at risk after quake
6.1-magnitude quake hits Turkey
Relocating Afghans to cost over £2bn
Humanitarian needs are “vast and growing rapidly”, said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies.
“Up to 84,000 people are directly and indirectly affected, with thousands displaced,” it added.
In some of the worst-affected villages in Kunar province, two in three people had been killed or injured, while 98% of buildings were either destroyed or damaged by the tremors, according to an assessment by British-based charity Islamic Relief Worldwide.
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The Norwegian Refugee Council said it had fewer than 450 staff in Afghanistan, no emergency stock and an urgent need for funds.
“We have only $100,000 (£74,500) available to support emergency response efforts. This leaves an immediate funding gap of $1.9 million (£1.42m),” said Maisam Shafiey, from the humanitarian organisation.
China put on a show of military strength and diplomatic pulling power in Beijing this week that should worry us all.
At the heart of it was one all-powerful man.
Xi Jinping is emerging as the emperor of a rising China bent on reshaping the world in its image.
He wears the garb of his communist forebears, but he is much more than just another heir to Chairman Mao.
Xi increasingly has more in common with China’s imperial past.
He has disposed of rivals and term-limit rules, making him potentially ruler for life.
Xi believes it is China’s destiny to return to its rightful place as the centre of the world. A new world order dominated by China is approaching he believes, hastened by the Trump administration’s willingness to dismantle the current Pax Americana and western disarray over Ukraine.
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The Chinese weapons that will worry America
China has a right to assert itself more robustly on the world stage, of course, but it’s the manner of that assertion and the risks of collision with the West that should give cause for concern.
Xi has ruthlessly crushed dissent at home with quasi genocidal repression in Xinjiang, a cultural holocaust in Tibet and brutal suppression of human rights in Hong Kong.
Next in his sights is Taiwan. It is claimed by the Chinese communists as part of their One China project.
That opens up one fault line between Xi’s rising China and Western nations.
China’s more and more open support of Putin’s war in Ukraine is of course another.
Western impotence and failure to bring enough pressure on Russia to end the conflict has allowed it to metastasize into a much bigger one.
Read more from Sky News:
Xi presents his vision of the future
Who is Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong
The three autocrat amigos in Beijing on Wednesday. Pic: Reuters
On one side in the East, authoritarian governments lining up to support Russia. And on the other, democratic countries supporting Ukraine.
This week’s jamboree of autocrats in Beijing seems to have tipped things more in their favour. Good news for regimes using Orwellian surveillance, censorship, and repression to control their people and keep a grip on power.
Bad news for the rest of us who prefer a future organised around democracy, freedom, and the rule of law.
Dictators rejoice. Democrats beware.
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