Campaign launched to raise awareness of haze and its causes

Organisers aim to get 50,000 pledges of support for companies that go “haze-free”
JORDON SIMPSON Today Online 16 Jul 15;

SINGAPORE — A new campaign was launched today (July 16) to raise awareness of Singapore’s annual haze problem and what can be done to stop it.

The haze, which is largely caused by the unsustainable clearing of land, is fuelled by the growing global demand for pulp/paper and palm oil. Palm oil is the world’s most widely used vegetable oil, and commonly found in about 50 per cent of consumer products, such as lipsticks, toothpaste, pizza and ice-cream. The campaign aims to educate Singaporeans on sustainable practices in the production of palm oil.

The campaign, jointly organised by WWF-Singapore, People’s Movement to Stop Haze (PM.Haze), and the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA), will include educational outreach programmes such as school talks and roadshows. There will also be ads at bus stops, nature walks, exhibitions at malls and social media content driven by social influencers such as Benjamin Kheng and Jasper Lai.

The campaign aims to collect 50,000 pledges from people in Singapore to support companies that go “haze-free”. With public support, WWF-Singapore will engage companies here to work on long-term transformative solutions that will encourage the adoption and use of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO).

European companies are leading the charge internationally, setting the target to achieve 100 per cent Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) by 2020.

WWF communications director Kim Stengert said: “First of all, we want 50,000 pledges, the more the merrier. We have already started to identify the key players in the region and we can then engage with them. We will tell them that their customers demand this, show us what you are doing, and we will be there along the way to help them check their supply chain and to switch to sustainable palm oil as soon as possible.”