Sinoe County, October 1, 2024- GVL is committed to protecting the environment and communities around our operational areas by delivering on our environmental and social policies. We take this responsibility seriously and will investigate allegations that these commitments are not being met.

Recent articles published by The DayLight have called some of our operations into question, often based on incomplete or misleading information. GVL has investigated these claims and responded directly to these media queries. Our responses are summarized below:

Water pollution and environmental impactGVL has always been committed to fulfilling the obligations contained in our Concession Agreement and the Principles and Criteria of the Roundtable on Sustainable Oil Palm (RSPO). This includes protecting water sources and ensuring that communities have access to clean and safe drinking water.

Additionally, GVL’s environmental performance is independently audited every year as a condition of our Environmental Permit granted by the Liberian government. These permits, including for the Tarjuowon mill, have been renewed every year, most recently following the submission GVL’s Environmental Audit Reports (EAR) in May 2024.

These reports may highlight risks and include recommendations to prevent or reduce environmental impact. GVL has reviewed these recommendations and followed up with action plans to remedy issues and reduce risks. These plans have been submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Construction of hand pumps 

GVL’s commitments to the communities are outlined in the Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) agreed with these groups. The MoUs include an agreement to build hand pumps for each population between 25 and 150 people affected by our operations.

GVL has constructed over 40 hand pumps and rehabilitated more than 70 existing hand pumps in six communities in Sinoe County. We believe we have gone beyond our MoU obligations, in some cases building hand pumps for areas below the population threshold outlined in these agreements.

GVL acknowledges feedback from communities that some hand pumps it has constructed are not operating properly and require maintenance. We also recognize more clarity is needed to define who is responsible for maintaining pumps built by GVL and by other parties. This is an ongoing process. GVL is negotiating revised MoUs with communities, which will include improvements to this process.

Education and Use of CDF

GVL works closely with communities through regular community meetings and engagement with local associations including the communities’ chosen Representatives Committees, who are deemed to represent local interests.

GVL contributes to Community Development Funds (CDF), in line with our MoU commitments, and supports communities in administering these funds. The CDF is one of the mechanisms through which infrastructure and other community development initiatives are funded.

GVL and our community partners have recently agreed to construct a modern teachers’ residence and town halls using CDF funds. Work will begin in Q4 2024.

GVL has also constructed an elementary School recently that will benefit more than 200 schoolchildren in Wiah-Doe community, Numopoh, Sinoe County. The three-classroom elementary school was constructed under the company’s educational support (GES) program which is designed to support the educational needs of both GVL employees’ dependents and children from surrounding communities.

Employment

GVL’s MoUs with the community’s state that “preference and priority will be given to citizens in terms of jobs”. Currently, around 90% of roles at all of our estates are held by workers from local communities. This includes key decision-making positions in functions including human resources, agronomy, transport, community affairs, sustainability, finance and health and safety.

All decisions about employment and promotions are based on qualifications and merit. Our MOUs do not allocate specific senior roles to applicants from local communities. We strongly support developing talent from local communities and one GVL estate is fully managed by an all-Liberian team. All employees receive annual performance evaluations that guide their career development.

Compliance with RSPO Complaint Resolution Process 

Some of the concerns raised by The DayLight were previously the subject of a complaint lodged against GVL with the RSPO. GVL has complied with the RSPO’s decisions and recommendations to resolve the complaint, which is currently closed for monitoring.

GVL submits quarterly reports to the RSPO on the progress of its resolution activities and publishes the status of this Sustainability Action Plan on our website.