Rubbed out

Global Witness analysis indicates that industrial rubber plantations in West and Central Africa caused nearly 520km2 of deforestation between 2000 and 2020. The report highlights that the EU imports over 30% of rubber from six key African producers, yet rubber was excluded from proposed EU anti-deforestation laws following tyre industry lobbying. The study links this deforestation to three multinational companies—Olam, Halcyon Agri, and Socfin—which are financed by major European banks. Additionally, the report documents severe impacts on local and indigenous communities, including land loss, lack of water, and violent repression in countries like Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria.

• Industrial rubber cultivation in West and Central Africa resulted in the loss of nearly 520km2 of forest from 2000 to 2020, an area described as 16 times the size of Brussels.
• Rubber is identified as a greater export-driven threat to tropical forests in West and Central Africa than palm oil, with EU imports of rubber from the region valued at more than 12 times the value of palm oil imports.
• The European Commission excluded rubber from its proposed anti-deforestation regulation following lobbying by the European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers Association (ETRMA), which argued the rules were not feasible for the natural rubber value chain.
• Deforestation linked to rubber is primarily associated with three multinational firms: Olam, Halcyon Agri, and Socfin.
• European financial institutions provide significant funding to the rubber sector; Olam alone secured over $1 billion from Rabobank, $768 million from BNP Paribas, and over $3 billion from UK banks including HSBC and Barclays between 2016 and 2020.
• Rubber expansion has led to severe social conflicts, including the displacement of Baka indigenous 'pygmy' groups in Cameroon and violent police repression of protesters in Cote d’Ivoire, where four people died.
• The EU is a major destination for African rubber, importing nearly 32% of all rubber exported by Cameroon, Gabon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Liberia in 2020.

APA

Global Witness (2022). Rubbed out. https://globalwitness.org/documents/174/Rubbed_out_-_European_rubber_imports_drive_destruction_of_African_forests.pdf

Chicago

Global Witness. Rubbed out. 2022. https://globalwitness.org/documents/174/Rubbed_out_-_European_rubber_imports_drive_destruction_of_African_forests.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Witness |title=Rubbed out |date=June 2022 |url=https://globalwitness.org/documents/174/Rubbed_out_-_European_rubber_imports_drive_destruction_of_African_forests.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalwitness2022rubbed, author = {{Global Witness}}, title = {{Rubbed out}}, institution = {Global Witness}, year = {2022}, month = jun, url = {https://globalwitness.org/documents/174/Rubbed_out_-_European_rubber_imports_drive_destruction_of_African_forests.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }