Yahoo News 21 Apr 08;
Greenpeace called for a moratorium Monday on the expansion of palm oil plantations in Indonesia's rainforests and peat-lands, warning that soaring world demand is creating an environmental crisis.
It said a two-year investigation into the health of the country's rainforests and peat-lands showed "wholesale" destruction driven by demand from food, cosmetic and biofuel companies.
"Given the urgent nature of the crisis the only solution for the global climate, the regional environment, the wildlife and the forest-dependent communities ... is a moratorium on oil palm expansion into rainforest and peat-land areas," the environment watchdog said in a statement.
It accused Anglo-Dutch food group Unilever, one of the largest palm oil corporate consumers in the world, of being behind the destruction of forest and peat-land in Central Kalimantan province on Borneo island.
It said Unilever annually consumed 1.3 million tonnes of palm oil or palm oil derivatives with over half coming from Indonesia.
"Unilever has failed to use its power to lead the palm oil sector toward sustainability, either through its own palm oil purchasing or through its role as leader of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil," Greenpeace said.
Satellite data shows Unilever suppliers are behind the rapid expansion of oil palm plantations in Central Kalimantan, where orang-utans are on the brink of extinction, it said.
The destruction of Indonesia's forests is seen as a major contributor to global warming and climate change.
Indonesia is likely to overtake Malaysia as the world's top palm oil producer in 2007, due to the dramatically increased area under plantation.
Malaysia is expected to produce 15.82 million tonnes of crude palm oil in 2007 while Indonesia's production estimate for the same year stands at 16.4 million tonnes.
Malaysia and Indonesia together produce 85 percent of the world's palm oil which is enjoying a boom on the back of strong global demand and tight supply.
Unilever accused over rainforest destruction
Charles Clover, The Telegraph 21 Apr 08;
The company behind brands such as Flora, Persil, Dove, Knorr and Walls has been accused of one of the greatest environmental crimes ever committed by contributing to the destruction of the orang utan's last forest habitat in Borneo.
The campaigning group Greenpeace published a report accusing Unilever, the huge multinational, and its suppliers of spearheading the clearance of forest in Kalimantan, Indonesia, and contributing to global warming.
The group launched simultaneous protests at the company's offices across Europe with 60 volunteers dressed as orang utans disrupting Unilever's factory at Port Sunlight and greeted employees at the company's London HQ with screeching mating calls and orang utans climbing the building.
In Rotterdam, six activists scaled the exterior of Unilever's HQ and hung out a banner in Dutch reading "Unilever don't destroy the forests". In Rome, protesters in orang utan suits dumped a large box reading "stop Dove from destroying rain forests" in front of the main entrance.
Greenpeace's report, Burning up Borneo, says that Unilever uses 1.3 million tons of palm oil or derivative products a year, some three per cent of global production. It says the company gets half of this from Indonesia, now the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet because of deforestation.
The report says there is currently a massive expansion into Kalimantan's peatland forest areas by Unilever's suppliers and accuses the company of derailing international efforts to tackle climate change.
Tim Birch, Greenpeace's International forests campaigner, said: "Unilever, the company behind big brands like Dove, is contributing to one of the greatest environmental crimes ever committed.
"By doing nothing to stop its suppliers destroying rainforests and peatlands to grow palm oil, it is not only killing off the last remaining orang-utans on the planet but also speeding up climate change.
"Unless Unilever cleans up its act then the orang-utan could be extinct within a few years, and our chances of avoiding climate disaster could disappear with it."
Unilever chairs the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an industry body charged with ensuring the sustainability of palm oil. Greenpeace says that despite the RSPO being established in 2002 there is still no certified environmentally sustainable palm oil on the market and forest destruction continues apace.
Greenpeace is calling on Unilever to end the expansion of palm oil into forest and peatland areas and stops trading with suppliers that continue to destroy rainforests.
"Unilever pretends to be a responsible company, but what it's really responsible for is profiting from rainforest destruction. If they invested as much in sorting out their suppliers as they do on greenwashing their brand, they could fix this problem for good."
A spokesman for Unilever said: "We share the same concerns as everyone else about the expansion of palm oil production.
"We do use palm oil in some of our products but we also have a long history of promoting sustainability; for example, in tea and fish. We are the leaders in the search for solutions to achieving sustainable palm oil.
"In November the RSPO agreed on a certification system for sustainable palm oil production. The criteria for this system address many of Greenpeace's concerns.
"The problem is simply that demand of palm oil has exploded. This is due partly to growing demand from India and China and also due to the use of palm oil as a feedstock for biofuels in the energy sector.
"It is essential that all those involved sign up to agreed criteria to make sustainability work on the ground - but this is not an easy process and is taking longer than we would all like. Nevertheless, we remain absolutely committed to finding a solution."
Palm Oil Protests Target Unilever Sites
Avril Ormsby, PlanetArk 22 Apr 08;
LONDON - Environmental demonstrators targeted Unilever on Monday, entering plants and scaling walls, including those of its London headquarters.
About 40 members of Greenpeace entered the multinational's factory in Wirral, Merseyside, while about a dozen dressed in orang-utan outfits demonstrated outside its London headquarters, with some climbing its front walls.
About 20 demonstrated outside the Rotterdam offices of the Anglo-Dutch corporation, while protests also took place at smaller offices in Rome.
They are demonstrating against the source of Unilever's palm oil, an ingredient in foods and soaps as well as a bio-fuel added to diesel for cars.
Greenpeace says the peatland forests of Indonesia, one of the last remaining habitats of the orang-utan, is being damaged to provide palm oil.
Greenpeace Executive Director John Sauven said: "Greenpeace is demanding Unilever publicly calls for an end to the expansion of palm oil into forest and peatland areas and stops trading with suppliers that continue to destroy rainforests."
The group says there are alternative sources of palm oil, which it is urging Unilever to use.
Unilever is a member of the multi-national Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). It owns many household name brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products and buys some 1.3 million tonnes of palm oil a year, making it, according to Greenpeace, the world's single largest buyer of the product.
It uses 800,000 tonnes for food products, such as Flora margarine, and 500,000 tonnes for soap and cosmetics.
Greenpeace is targeting the Dove soap and shampoo brand, using a spoof of its "real beauty" advertising campaign.
A Unilever spokesman said of its palm oil operations: "We are looking to determine what actions need to be taken, if any, and will look at the supply chain."
Unilever said it was unclear whether the demonstrations had affected production on Merseyside.
The protests, which are peaceful, are expected to last much of the day.
Merseyside and City of London police both said they were monitoring the situation.
Additional reporting by Reed Stevenson; Editing by Steve Addison
