Greenpeace stops palm oil shipments from leaving Indonesia

Yahoo News 10 Nov 08;

JAKARTA (AFP) – Environmental group Greenpeace said Monday it had stopped several palm oil shipments from leaving Indonesia and called for an end to forests and peatlands being destroyed to make way for plantations.

The ships were about to leave from Dumai, Indonesia's main oil export port, to Europe.

"Greenpeace activists painted the words 'Forest Crime' and 'Climate Crime' on the hull of three palm oil tankers and a barge full of rainforest timber," Greenpeace Southeast Asia Forest Campaigner Bustar Maitar told AFP.

"The government and businesses should stop the rapid conversion of forests and peatlands into palm oil plantation in order to combat climate change," Maitar said.

A Greenpeace activist was also chained onto the anchor chain of a ship carrying palm oil owned by the Wilmar group to stop it leaving for the Netherlands.

"Deforestation will continue without strong commitment," Maitar said, adding that meeting demand for palm oil was possible without further deforestation.

Greenpeace said massive tracts of tropical forests in the easternmost Papua region were being converted for oil palm plantation.

The group has also exposed ongoing forest destruction for timber in Papua and discovered fresh forest clearances in the peatland forests of Riau.

The rapid conversion of forests and peatlands for palm oil and pulp plantations is a major driver of deforestation in the country.

Forest destruction has made Indonesia the world's third biggest greenhouse gas emitter behind the United States and China.

Greenpeace Says Blocks Palm Oil Ships In Indonesia
PlanetArk 11 Nov 08;

JAKARTA - Greenpeace has blocked three tankers due to transport crude palm oil to China and Europe from leaving an Indonesian port in a bid to highlight deforestation caused by the cash crop, the environmental group said on Monday.

The rapidly expanding palm oil industry in Southeast Asia has come under attack by green groups for destroying rainforests and wildlife, as well the emission of greenhouse gases.

The blocked ships included Gran Couve, owned by the world's largest listed palm oil firm Wilmar International Ltd, which had been loading 27,000 tonnes of crude palm oil bound for Rotterdam, said Bustar Maitar, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Forest Campaigner.

The other two ships blocked at the port of Dumai in Sumatra were Smooth Sea, owned by PT Musim Mas, and Victory Prima, owned by Sarana Tempa Perkasa, he said.

Greenpeace has used the tactic of seeking to block palm oil tankers previously in Indonesia, the world's biggest palm oil producer, in a bid to protest environmental concerns.

Maitar said by telephone that Greenpeace was using three rubber boats for the protest and said an activist was climbing onto the anchor of the ship Gran Couve to try and stop it departing.

Port administration officials in Dumai contacted by Reuters could not immediately confirm whether the ships were blocked.

(Reporting by Telly Nathalia; Editing by Ed Davies)