Gabon, November 2024THE MOUILA DECLARATION of the Informal Alliance against the Expansion of Industrial MonoculturesWe, members of the Informal Alliance against the expansion of Industrial Monoculture Plantations, gathered at the 6th General Assembly, in Mouila, Gabon, from November 19 to 22, 2024, representing communities and organizations of Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Congo Brazzaville, Liberia, Ghana, Congo Kinshasa, Ivory Coast and Uganda, are deeply committed to the fight against land grabbing, particularly by tree plantation companies. LET US ADOPTE this Declaration which marks our conviction in the vital importance of the recognition and return to ancestral community land ownership in Africa, for the well-being of the first occupants.WE RECOGNIZE THAT:Ancestral lands are home to communities of people with traditional culture and knowledge of nature;Women play a critical role in the defense of their ancestral lands and forests;Community ancestral land in Africa has intrinsic worth and warrants respect regardless of its usefulness to inhabitants and humanity as a whole;The natural wealth, rights and freedom to their land are being eroded this day at a frantic and unprecedented manner and rate because of deliberate harmful development policies clade in colonial legacy;Ancestral community territories illegally occupied during colonial and post-colonial government regimes as concessions to corporations for business development violate the rights of the people and therefore, constitute serious crimes against humans, an illegality is an illegality regardless of the time they were committed.WE FURTHER ACKNOWLEADGE THAT:Post-colonial governments have failed in their responsibilities by giving true independence to the communities by prioritizing colonial interests through foreign agents by enacting neo-community laws to dislodge and rob communities of their ancestral land using various opaque notions of national land and/or government land ownership;The threats caused by the senseless acts of grabbing ancestral land and awarding them as concessions to business have brought untold hardship, violence, and irreparable damage such as loss of lives and biodiversity, entrenched poverty due to loss of livelihoods and community property, early child pregnancy, and gender-based violence, etc.African countries that got independence in the 1960s and 70s today consider communities as belonging to the state and governments and sit in the comfort of their armchairs in faraway lands to grant concessions to corporations without Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of the true ancestral landowners.WE ARE COMMITED TO:Promote and defend agroecological practices and food sovereignty as a form of resistance;Facilitate the establishment of an effective and efficient network of communities, activists, and NGOs cooperating at local and international levels to understand the strategies and tactics used by corporations to steal communities’ ancestral land and to develop further strategies and tactics to guide communities to stop land grabbing and recover previously illegally occupied land according to the Alliance’s objectives;Develop mechanisms that permit all sectors of society, especially the longstanding local populations, to nonviolently start the journey to assert their ancestral rights to land fondly referred to by some governments as national land and/or state-owned land, and be partners in planning, and establishment of initiatives that add value to the ancestral land;Strengthen nonviolent resistance education and provide training that will improve their ability to confront governments and corporations that want to take over their territories.Strengthen education for nonviolent resistance and provide training that will improve their ability to confront governments and corporations that want to take over their territories.Plead for the authorities to provide young people with access to land in rural areas, facilitate their training and support.RECOGNIZING that action to protect the living riches and beauty of ancestral land depends on the full commitment of the affected local people, WE PLEDGE OURSELVES to work wholeheartedly to implement the provisions of this Declaration.EMPHASIZING that the recognition of ancestral land is essential to sustaining human society and conserving our planet, WE INVITE THE MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF THE ALLIANCE to convey this Declaration far and wide with the purpose of ensuring that the conclusions are incorporated in daily activities.Signed by:Community members from GabonMusiru Divag de Fougamou GabonInstitute of sustainable Agriculture, Grand Bassa county, Jogba clan, LiberiaWomen’s Network Against Rural Plantations Injustice (WoNARPI), Sierra LeoneAlliance Uganda ChapterWitness Radio, UgandaNature CameroonSynaparcam, CameroonCOPACO, DRCRADD, CameroonStruggle to Economize Future Environment (SEFE), Mundemba, CameroonCPPH, Cote d’IvoireCollectif des Ressortissants et Écologistes des Plateaux Bateke, GabonREFEB, Cote d’IvoireYVE GhanaJVE Côte d’IvoireAssociation Gulusenu du village Doubou, GabonMuyissi Environnement, GabonKomolo Agro Farmers Association Kiryandongo, UgandaNdagize julius, East African, UgandaLOOK GREEN, CARE FOUNDATION, NigeriaAssociation les Rassembleurs du Village Mboukou, GabonJoegba United Women Empowerment and Development Organization (JUWEDO), LiberiaCOLLECTIF ADIAKE. Cote d’IvoireCNOP, CongoMaloa, Sierra LeoneWorld Rainforest MovementGRAINBanner image: Transnational Palm Oil Labour Solidarity