“Ecocide and modern slavery in the land of the Maya: the impact of oil palm cultivation in Guatemala”, 26 Sep 17

It looks clean and exuberantly beautiful, but the lake is contaminated. And the lives of 700 people depend on this lake, all residents of the Manos Unidas (United Hands) Cooperative, a community that is part of the municipality of Sayaxché, in the Petén department, northern Guatemala. Manos Unidas has become the last frontier of resistance to the advance of palm oil production in the region, as the only community that has hung on to its land; and that, say its residents, is because the lands are common property. That does not mean they have escaped the impact of oil palm cultivation. The lake they get their water and fish from is polluted, and their harvests have been affected by the climate change resulting from deforestation: more heat and less rain. They also say they have felt the impact of the agro-chemicals…The only solution to hunger and thirst is the same thing that caused it: palm cultivation. Desperation has led these farmers to accept working conditions reminiscent of the days of slavery. A farmer from San Juan de Acul explains: “They work long hours for little money, with no fixed working hours, and they have to buy their equipment themselves. But there is nothing else. If there were another source of income, they wouldn’t do this, but we have to eat.”…