"Green Resources Human Rights Impact Assessment", October 2009

Green Resources Tanzania operations are centered in the Southern Highlands, a low-population area characterized by rolling hills and infertile grasslands. Farmers in this area were initially pleased to have the opportunity for employment at the Norwegian-owned tree farms. Enthusiasm has turned to resentment over the years, as pay remained unsustainably low and promised benefits – including schools and health facilities – had not been delivered. The combination of poor labor treatment, poor healthcare for workers, and the rising prevalence of HIV in the area made this eco-friendly project a dubious boon to its human subjects. Upon receipt of Nomogaia’s HRIA, the Company implemented significant policy and practical changes, including increasing wage rates, supplying water to dormitories, providing workers with a mid-day meal, and improving (though not yet sufficiently) worker transportation. Issues with overcrowding persist in dorms, and HIV remains unaddressed, but the Uchindile plantation has gone from an rights-negative project to an increasingly positive one…