{"id":72244,"date":"2021-06-25T14:15:16","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T14:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadialogue.net\/?p=72244"},"modified":"2021-07-09T13:12:32","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T13:12:32","slug":"san-juan-la-noria-the-community-abandoned-to-palm-oil-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/water\/san-juan-la-noria-the-community-abandoned-to-palm-oil-development\/","title":{"rendered":"San Juan La Noria: the community abandoned to palm oil development"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>There is only one road in and out of San Juan La Noria. This community of 2,600 people, located 150 kilometres southeast of the Guatemalan capital, is almost completely engulfed by rows and rows of oil palms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 1970s, when the village was founded, San Juan La Noria comprised around 20 houses. Its inhabitants worked in agriculture, including livestock and nearby banana farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, in the late 1980s, palm oil came to Guatemala\u2019s Pacific slope, with growers making the switch from banana to oil palm as it was seen as more profitable. San Juan La Noria was chosen for its rich soil, wide open land and abundant water supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/6332274\/embed\" title=\"Interactive or visual content\" class=\"flourish-embed-iframe\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px;\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-scripts allow-downloads allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\"><\/iframe><div style=\"width:100%!;margin-top:4px!important;text-align:right!important;\"><a class=\"flourish-credit\" href=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/visualisation\/6332274\/?utm_source=embed&amp;utm_campaign=visualisation\/6332274\" target=\"_top\" style=\"text-decoration:none!important\" rel=\"noopener\"> <\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The plantations around the village all belong to the HAME Group, the largest palm oil producer in Guatemala. But the expansion of this highly profitable crop, used worldwide in everyday products from soap to ice cream and fuel, has not brought benefit to the inhabitants of the village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-health-problems\">Health problems<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In half a century, San Juan La Noria has hardly developed. There are no drains, most of the houses are made of sheet metal and wood and the roads are unpaved. Many inhabitants still don\u2019t have access to clean drinking water. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.segeplan.gob.gt\/nportal\/\">data from the National Institute of Statistics<\/a>, 29% live in poverty, and 8% in extreme poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Houses without running water depend on two nearby rivers: Madre Vieja and La Noria. Their water is used to irrigate crops and wash clothes. There is no local waste treatment plant and many houses pipe their waste into the rivers. The resulting polluted waters are deemed unfit for human consumption, but many inhabitants of San Juan La Noria have no choice but to drink it as they cannot afford to buy purified water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Community members claim that the oil palm plantations also pollute the river. While there are no local public records of this, nationally there are similar cases. In 2015, more than 150km of La Pasi\u00f3n River in Sayaxch\u00e9, Pet\u00e9n, was affected by an overflow of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usaid.gov\/news-information\/frontlines\/resilience-2015\/new-court-guatemala-tackles-ecocide\">palm oil mill effluent<\/a> at the Palmas del Pet\u00e9n Reforestation Plant (Repsa), causing a mass fish die-off. An investigation by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that Repsa, another company operated by owners of the HAME Group, had dumped its polluted waste into the river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-story-image block--story-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--story-image__column\"><div class=\"block--story-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_DSC_0970.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_DSC_0970-768x541.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_DSC_0970-1024x721.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_DSC_0970-1400x985.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_DSC_0970-1800x1267.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_DSC_0970.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 999px) 1024px, (max-width: 1400px) 1400px, (max-width: 2000px) 2000px, 2560px\" alt=\"Palm oil in Guatemala\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--story-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--story-image__caption\">Local families without running water depend on the nearby rivers, which community members say have been polluted by the oil palm plantations (Image: Marvin del Cid \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_DSC_0970.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2 MB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1802\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2560\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>A separate case of severe water pollution occurred in July 2019 on another local river, the San Rom\u00e1n. As well as significantly compromising one of the communities\u2019 main food sources, the contaminated water <a href=\"https:\/\/actionaid.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ActionAid-Womens-Rights-Violations-in-Dutch-Palm-Oil-Supply-Chains-Guatemala.pdf\">reportedly<\/a> led to an increase in diseases, especially among children and the elderly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The consumption of polluted water often results in gastrointestinal illnesses among the residents. But the village has no hospital or healthcare centre, so those who are sick must travel to the health post in Tiquisate, about 10km away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe mayor of Tiquisate, far from supporting us, mocks us when we go to the municipality to ask for development works \u2013 health, drinking water and asphalt for streets. Sometimes they listen to us, but they never do anything for the village. We are abandoned,\u201d said Carlos Ab\u00e1n, president of San Juan La Noria\u2019s Community Development Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Julia Barrera, spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, said that a temporary health post arrived to give basic consultations once a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere is no health post, since when the services were defined in the community there was little population. Currently there is a temporary position made up of two people [a nursing assistant and <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.msf.org\/blogs\/professions\/health-promoter\">health <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.msf.org\/blogs\/professions\/health-promoter\">promoter<\/a>] who attend once or twice a week,\u201d Barrera said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-community-water-diverted\">Community water diverted<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As well as pollution, another frequent criticism of oil palm and other monoculture plantations is that they deplete water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three times a week, Elicita Guzm\u00e1n washes her clothes in La Noria River, in temperatures sometimes in excess of 35C. Like more than half of the people in the village, she does not have running water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat is why we depend on this river. On several occasions it has dried up, because the little water in this river is going to the palm plantations,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In front of Guzm\u00e1n and her two young daughters, who were bathing with a bucket, stretch the endless rows of oil palms belonging to the HAME Group. The flow of the La Noria River was low and the plantation was being irrigated with river water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-story-image block--story-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--story-image__column\"><div class=\"block--story-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_DSC_0879.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_DSC_0879-768x514.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_DSC_0879-1024x686.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_DSC_0879-1400x937.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_DSC_0879-1800x1205.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_DSC_0879.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 999px) 1024px, (max-width: 1400px) 1400px, (max-width: 2000px) 2000px, 2560px\" alt=\"A separate case of severe water pollution occurred in July 2019 on another local river, the San Rom\u00e1n. As well as significantly compromising one of the communities\u2019 main food sources, the contaminated water reportedly led to an increase in diseases, especially among children and the elderly.   The consumption of polluted water often results in gastrointestinal illnesses among the residents. But the village has no hospital or healthcare centre, so those who are sick must travel to the health post in Tiquisate, about 10km away.  \u201cThe mayor of Tiquisate, far from supporting us, mocks us when we go to the municipality to ask for development works \u2013 health, drinking water and asphalt for streets. Sometimes they listen to us, but they never do anything for the village. We are abandoned,\u201d said Carlos Ab\u00e1n, president of San Juan La Noria\u2019s Community Development Council.  But Julia Barrera, spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, said that a temporary health post arrived to give basic consultations once a week.   \u201cThere is no health post, since when the services were defined in the community there was little population. Currently there is a temporary position made up of two people [a nursing assistant and health promoter] who attend once or twice a week,\u201d Barrera said.  Community water diverted  As well as pollution, another frequent criticism of oil palm and other monoculture plantations is that they deplete water.   Three times a week, Elicita Guzm\u00e1n washes her clothes in La Noria River, in temperatures sometimes in excess of 35C. Like more than half of the people in the village, she does not have running water.  \u201cThat is why we depend on this river. On several occasions it has dried up, because the little water in this river is going to the palm plantations,\u201d she explained.  In front of Guzm\u00e1n and her two young daughters, who were bathing with a bucket, stretch the endless rows of oil palms belonging to the HAME group. The flow of the La Noria River was low and the plantation was being irrigated with river water.\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--story-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--story-image__caption\">Elicita Guzm\u00e1n washes her clothes in La Noria River with her daughters (Image: Marvin del Cid \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_DSC_0879.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2 MB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1714\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2560\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Guzm\u00e1n explained that when the river is not diverted to water the palms, the water reaches her waist. On this day, the flow barely reached her knees. \u201cThe river is dying when you start to water the palms,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same happens with the nearby R\u00edo Madre Vieja, whose waters are also diverted to palm plantations. Women are already disproportionately impacted by oil palm, and having to find clean water to take care of their families places an additional heavy burden on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-supporting-the-community\">Supporting the community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Most men in San Juan La Noria work in the oil palm plantations. Those who do not, work on local banana and sugar cane farms. Ab\u00e1n says that the HAME Group does not have enough projects to support the local population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe palm farms do not support the community with projects. They (the HAME Group) tell us that we should be grateful because they give work to our people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Twenty-year-old Edwin Ju\u00e1rez collects fruit in the palm plantations, receiving around 2,500 quetzals (US$330) a month. \u201cThey pay very little, but out of necessity I have to do it, because there is no other source of employment here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Guatemala, the minimum monthly wage for agricultural activities is 2,992 quetzals, about US$400. This means that palm companies do not comply with the minimum wage established by the Ministry of Labour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-story-image block--story-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--story-image__column\"><div class=\"block--story-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210625_Oil-palm-worker-salary_English-v1.svg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210625_Oil-palm-worker-salary_English-v1.svg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210625_Oil-palm-worker-salary_English-v1.svg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210625_Oil-palm-worker-salary_English-v1.svg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 999px) 1024px, (max-width: 1400px) 1400px, (max-width: 2000px) 2000px, 1202.533px\" alt=\"Oil palm worker salary\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--story-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--story-image__caption\">(Graphic: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catagonzalez.net\/\">Catalina Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a> \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210625_Oil-palm-worker-salary_English-v1.svg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"187 KB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1032.438\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"1202.533\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The priests Jos\u00e9 Luis Paiz and Mario Jol\u00f3n offer mass once a week at the church of San Juan La Noria. Both agree that the village is abandoned and that the nearby farms exploit the workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne of the great problems of the community is that the municipality [of Tiquisate] does not care about development. The mayor\u2019s office and the central government do not ensure that companies pay their neighbours a fair salary,\u201d said Jol\u00f3n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The mayor of Tiquisate, Francisco Carias, did not respond to requests for an interview. His PR team sent data about the community, but it was not possible to ask specific questions about residents\u2019 claims that San Juan La Noria had been abandoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-palm-oil-and-sustainability\">Palm oil and sustainability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Palm oil, along with mining and hydroelectric projects, is among the fastest-growing industries in Guatemala. Its expansion <a href=\"https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2019\/02\/rspo-should-suspend-membership-of-groups-undermining-guatemalas-anti-impunity-commission-commentary\/\">has been linked<\/a> to land grabs that displace indigenous communities, human rights abuses and the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2015\/09\/guatemalan-activist-murdered-after-court-suspends-palm-oil-company-operations\/\">deaths of environmental activists<\/a>. Deforestation to make way for oil palm plantations is making traditional subsistence farming harder, prompting increasing numbers to seek livelihoods elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2018, seven-year-old <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionaidusa.org\/blog\/us-policies-at-border-killed-jakelin-caal\/\">Jakelin Caal<\/a> died of fever in custody after trying to cross the southern border of the United States. Jakelin came from the Guatemalan village of Raxruha, where many farmers had sold their land to palm oil companies only to find that they could not earn enough working on the plantations. This has precipitated migration in search of wages to live off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the last 10 years, palm oil exports have represented about US$3 billion for the Guatemalan economy, according to the <a href=\"http:\/\/banguat.gob.gt\/es\/page\/exportaciones-fob-realizadas-0\">country\u2019s central bank<\/a>. Nearly all of the palm oil production is for export, primarily to Mexico, Spain and the Netherlands. Just 7% is left behind for local consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-story-image block--story-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--story-image__column\"><div class=\"block--story-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210627_Palm-oil-exports_English-v1.svg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210627_Palm-oil-exports_English-v1.svg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210627_Palm-oil-exports_English-v1.svg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210627_Palm-oil-exports_English-v1.svg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 999px) 1024px, (max-width: 1400px) 1400px, (max-width: 2000px) 2000px, 1200.794px\" alt=\"Guatemala Palm oil exports\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--story-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--story-image__caption\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210627_Palm-oil-exports_English-v1.svg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"145 KB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1271.227\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"1200.794\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grepalma.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Estadisticas_socioeconomicas_anio_2019.pdf\">data<\/a> from the Palm Grower Association of Guatemala (Grepalma) shows that, in 2019, 39% of oil palm plantations were certified by the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) and the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), both <a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/11629-how-palm-oil-is-certified-sustainable\/\">global initiatives that certify palm oil<\/a> as sustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rspo.org\/certification\/search-for-certified-growers\">RSPO data<\/a>, there are seven certified growers operating 10 certified palm oil mills nationally, producing 496,376 tonnes of certified palm oil over an area of 64,162 hectares of land. This makes Guatemala the leading producer of RSPO-certified palm oil in Latin America. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Francisco Naranjo, technical director of the RSPO, the HAME Group does not operate any certified plantations in the country. Research shows that the plantations around San Juan La Noria all send their oil palm fruit to the HAME Group\u2019s Santa Rosa palm oil mill, which is certified by the RSPO and appears on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aak.com\/siteassets\/sustainability\/aak-public-mill-list-april-2021.pdf\">public mill lists<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nestle.com\/sites\/default\/files\/2019-08\/supply-chain-disclosure-palm-oil.pdf\">Nestl\u00e9<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pepsico.com\/docs\/album\/esg-topics-policies\/pepsico-mill-list-2019.pdf?sfvrsn=a40f742b_4\">PepsiCo<\/a> and Unilever. This discrepancy, with non-certified plantations sending oil to a certified mill, highlights weaknesses in the certification system, where non-certified oil is mixed with certified oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Palm oil production continues to expand in Guatemala. In the last 17 years, the planted area increased by more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grepalma.org\/en\/home\/\">400%<\/a> to 171,451 hectares and has turned the country into the world\u2019s sixth-largest producer. Oil palm plantations are found in half of Guatemala\u2019s 22 regional entities known as departments, the majority in the north.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-story-image block--story-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--story-image__column\"><div class=\"block--story-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210625_Planted-area_English-v1.svg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210625_Planted-area_English-v1.svg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210625_Planted-area_English-v1.svg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210625_Planted-area_English-v1.svg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 999px) 1024px, (max-width: 1400px) 1400px, (max-width: 2000px) 2000px, 1191.899px\" alt=\"Planted area\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--story-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--story-image__caption\">(Graphic: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catagonzalez.net\/\">Catalina Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a> \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210625_Planted-area_English-v1.svg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"273 KB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1089.906\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"1191.899\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Information from Grepalma indicates that there are 235 producers in the country, but 29 large groups dominate production \u2013 one of them being the HAME Group. The union said the industry generates more than 28,000 direct jobs and contributes 1.09% of the country\u2019s gross domestic product (GDP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-hame-group-defends-itself\">HAME Group defends itself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>HAME stands for Hugo Alberto Molina Espinoza, after the family that founded the firm. The family is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sierraclub.org\/sierra\/palm-plantations-grab-land-mayan-women-organize\">one of the biggest landowners in the country<\/a> and also owns the MEME Group (Milton Enrique Molina Espinoza). It has been involved in agribusiness since the 1950s, first with cotton, then banana and oil palm, and together has more than 45,000 hectares of oil palm planted across the departments of Pet\u00e9n, Escuintla, San Marcos and Quetzaltenango.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As well as the river contamination in 2015, the HAME Group and its associated companies have in recent years been targeted with lawsuits and <a href=\"https:\/\/forestheroes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Behind-the-Global-Curve-A-Scorecard-of-the-Latin-American-Palm-Oil-Sector.pdf\">accused of corruption<\/a>. When asked about the way it treated the community of San Juan La Noria, HAME said it had a team that worked directly with the people there. In recent years various projects have been prioritised in the community, including repairing a bridge, road maintenance and rebuilding the school roof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some 340 people from San Juan La Noria work for companies belonging to the HAME Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-story-image block--story-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--story-image__column\"><div class=\"block--story-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_photo4924758777933179353.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_photo4924758777933179353-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_photo4924758777933179353-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_photo4924758777933179353-1400x1050.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_photo4924758777933179353-1800x1350.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_photo4924758777933179353.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 999px) 1024px, (max-width: 1400px) 1400px, (max-width: 2000px) 2000px, 2560px\" alt=\"Palm oil in Guatemala\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--story-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--story-image__caption\">About 340 people from San Juan La Noria work for companies belonging to the HAME Group, which operates more than 45,000 hectares of oil palm plantation across Guatemala (Image: Marvin del Cid \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_photo4924758777933179353.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2 MB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1920\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2560\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe comply with the provisions of the law and the Labour Code. All of the HAME Group companies guarantee the minimum wage to their collaborators. The Ministry of Labour has carried out inspections in the Group\u2019s companies on several occasions, corroborating the correct payment of the minimum wage to all collaborators,\u201d said Xiomara Lima, HAME\u2019s corporate communication manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn some jobs, a productivity wage is encouraged where workers can earn much more than the minimum. As a company, we comply with the payment of our taxes and within our operating plans we have resources assigned to social projects,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lima dismissed claims that the firm gave little support to residents, saying that it acted responsibly towards Guatemalan families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe seek spaces for dialogue and joint prioritisation in order to establish long-term relationships,\u201d added Lima.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lima also denied that the HAME Group pollutes rivers, and said the company promoted the responsible use of water resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#f3f7f8\">This article is part of our ongoing series on palm oil. <a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/tag\/palm-oil\/\"><strong>Explore the series to date here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The village in Guatemala is surrounded by oil palm plantations but residents feel none of the benefits <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1072,"featured_media":72253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50039903],"tags":[531,576,607],"hashtags":[],"country":[50003622],"class_list":["post-72244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-water","tag-deforestation","tag-palm-oil","tag-water-scarcity","country-guatemala-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>San Juan La Noria: the community abandoned to palm oil development | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The village in Guatemala is surrounded by oil palm plantations but residents feel none of the benefits\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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