RSPO to Dive Into Palm Oil Giant Wilmar Deforestation Link

Sheany Jakarta Globe 28 Jun 18;

Jakarta. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, or RSPO, is investigating claims by environmental advocacy organization Greenpeace that one of the international lobby group's major members is involved in deforestation.

Greenpeace said in a report published on Sunday (24/06) that Singapore-based Wilmar International, the world's largest palm oil trader, had links to a company guilty of deforestation, despite its commitment to sustainable practices.

The allegation is the latest blow to the lobby group's efforts to promote sustainable practices in the industry and polishing the commodity's image as the most efficient vegetable oil.

The report titled "Rogue Trader: Keeping Deforestation in the Family" connects Wilmar with Gama, one of the world's largest palm oil producers, and shows that both companies were not only co-founded by Indonesian businessman Martua Sitorus, but that they are also run by members of his family.

"An area twice the size of Paris has been destroyed by Gama, a palm oil business run by senior Wilmar executives and members of their family," Greenpeace said in a statement.

Kiki Taufik, head of the Indonesia forest campaign at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said Wilmar and Gama have been working together for years, "with Gama doing the dirty work so Wilmar's hands stay clean."

"Wilmar must immediately cut off all palm oil suppliers that are unable to prove that they are not destroying rainforests," he said.

Greenpeace called on the RSPO to enforce its membership rules and require Wilmar and Gama to register as a group. According to the environmental organization, at least one Gama company, S&G Biofuel, is also an RSPO member.

"Under RSPO membership rules, companies that share management or control should be treated as one group. This makes Wilmar responsible for what happens in Gama's concessions," Greenpeace said.

Responding to the Jakarta Globe's request for comment, Tiur Rumondang, RSPO country director for Indonesian operations, said the group is aware of Greenpeace's claims and that is taking the allegations seriously.

"We remain committed to transparency and accountability and take these allegations seriously. We are investigating the accusations brought by Greenpeace," Tiur said.

No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation

In 2013, Wilmar established a no deforestation, no peat, no exploitation (NDPE) policy, which applies to not only its own plantations but also those of its suppliers. The company was reportedly the first palm oil trader to do so. Wilmar made a commitment to protect forests, peatlands and human and community rights.

However, the Greenpeace report, through mapping and satellite analysis, revealed that Gama allegedly destroyed 21,500 hectares of rainforest or peatland since these commitments were made.

The report also includes an analysis of trade data, which shows how Wilmar has continued to trade palm oil produced by Gama, despite being aware that the company was actively violating Wilmar's own NDPE policy.

In addition, Greenpeace said Wilmar has a history of selling off its most controversial concessions to Gama in order to evade responsibility for environmental and human rights abuses.

Wilmar allegedly supplies global brands, such as Procter & Gamble, Nestlé and Unilever, with palm oil produced by Gama's mills, according to Greenpeace.

"Brands cannot let this deception pass unchallenged and have no choice but to suspend all business with Wilmar until it can prove it only trades clean palm oil from responsible producers," Kiki said.

Wilmar issued a statement on Monday saying it has, as of June 20, ceased sourcing palm oil from suppliers associated with Gama.

"Wilmar will not buy from any company that cannot prove to our satisfaction that they do not belong to Gama because of the alleged identified non-compliance with Wilmar's NDPE policy," Wilmar International said in a statement.

The statement also asserted that Wilmar and Gama are two separate corporate entities with independent operations.

"Wilmar has no control, management or otherwise, over Gama. Wilmar executives with familial ties with Gama do not hold any decision-making power or influence on Wilmar's sustainability policy," the company said.

Calls to Gama's offices in Jakarta went unanswered.

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Deluge of electronic waste turning Thailand into 'world's rubbish dump'

Thailand has been swamped by waste from the west after Chinese ban on imports
Hannah Ellis-Petersen The Guardian 28 Jun 18;

At a deserted factory outside Bangkok, skyscrapers made from vast blocks of crushed printers, Xbox components and TVs tower over black rivers of smashed-up computer screens.

This is a tiny fraction of the estimated 50m tonnes of electronic waste created just in the EU every year, a tide of toxic rubbish that is flooding into south-east Asia from the EU, US and Japan.

Thailand, with its lax environmental laws, has become a dumping ground for this e-waste over the past six months, but authorities are clamping down, fearful that the country will become the “rubbish dump of the world”. The global implications could be enormous.

A factory visited by the Guardian in Samut Prakan province, south of Bangkok, which was recently shut down in a raid for operating illegally, illustrated the mammoth scale of the problem. Printers made by Dell and HP, Daewoo TVs and Apple computer drives were stacked sky-high next to precarious piles of compressed keyboards, routers and copy machines. Labels showed the waste had mainly come from abroad.

For locals, it is unclear why Thailand should be taking this waste. The Samut Prakan factory sits in the middle of hundreds of shrimp farms and there were concerns it was poisoning the landscape, with no environmental protections or oversight in place.

Paraton Gumkum, 32, who owns a nearby shrimp farm, described the smell that enveloped the area when the factory was operating. “I wish that Thailand would say no to the e-waste trash. I am worried because it contaminates the air and the water with dangerous chemicals,” he said. “We have been very worried that the chemicals will leak into our shrimp farm.”

Until the beginning of this year, China was a willing recipient of the world’s electronic waste, which it recycled in vast factories. According to the UN, 70% of all electronic waste was ending up in China.

But in January, having calculated that the environmental impact far outweighed the short-term profit, China closed its gates to virtually all foreign rubbish. It has prompted something of a global crisis, not just for e-waste but plastic waste as well.

Asian nations such as Thailand, Laos and Cambodia stepped in. Chinese businessmen have set about attempting to open about 100 plastic and e-waste recycling plants across Thailand since January.

However, after five months in which e-waste imports have increased to 37,000 tonnes so far this year (more is thought to have entered illegally), Thailand has become the first south-east Asian nation to follow China’s example and crack down on the legal and illegal e-waste coming in.

“We already have too much electronic waste here in Thailand. It is not our burden to bring this pollution from the rest of the world to the next generation of Thai people,” said Thailand’s deputy police chief, Wirachai Songmetta.

Songmetta, who has led raids on more than 26 illegal e-waste factories in recent weeks, described some of the recycling set-ups as “frightening”, with primitive and contaminating methods used to extract valuable metals from the electronics while the rest is thrown into vast incinerators that pump out toxic smoke.

“These factories have been polluting the environment because of all the heavy metals in the e-waste like lead and copper, which can poison the soil and the water,” he said. “They also burn the plastic, which brings toxic fumes into the air. So it is very dangerous for the Thai people living near these factories.”

While the word recycling implies doing good for the planet, in fact most of the e-waste recycling plants involve a dirty and toxic process to extract lead and copper that does huge amounts of environmental damage. The plastic in e-waste, such as computer screen casings, also contains high amounts of flame retardants that are poisonous if burned or recycled into cheap food packaging, as is happening in some of the factories.

Thai customs officers are now pushing back 20 containers of e-waste a day that are landing in Thai ports, and in the next two months the government plans to pass legislation to bans foreign e-waste and plastic waste from entering Thailand.

But with countries such as the US and the UK already relying on south-east Asia to pick up the e-waste and plastic waste slack in the wake of China’s ban – in the past four months alone, UK exports of plastic to Thailand have risen fiftyfold – this presents a problem. In Hong Kong and Singapore, where most of the world’s e-waste is sent before it is bounced to less-developed countries, there is already a backlog of e-waste in shipping containers. If south-east Asian countries do not take it, it has nowhere to go.

Jim Puckett, of the Basel Action Network, which works globally to tackle the problem of toxic waste, said that in the short term a ban by Thailand would “inevitably lead to countries resorting to perverse ways to get rid of their e-waste, probably dumping it in terrible places and incinerating it all.” But he emphasised that in the long term a ban on e-waste imports across the region was “extremely necessary”.

“Places like America and Europe need to realise they are going to have to start recycling their own electronic waste and stop sweeping the negative effects from north to south,” he said.

“If a crisis does hit, hopefully this will make these countries think hard about how to be cleaner and more efficient about this waste we are producing on such an enormous scale, and finally take some responsibility.”

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LTA clarifies how it concluded that measures to protect wildlife from tests for Cross Island Line were a success

Audrey Tan Straits Times 28 Jun 18;

SINGAPORE - The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has elaborated on how it had earlier concluded that measures to reduce the negative impact of works for the Cross Island MRT line on the Central Catchment Nature Reserve (CCNR) have been successful.

On Thursday (June 28), in response to Straits Times queries, it gave details of how it had monitored animals in the area and noted that similar animals were found before and after the start of soil tests for the upcoming MRT line.

The tests are done to see if a train tunnel can be built under Singapore's largest nature reserve for the 50km Cross Island Line, the building of which is feared to have a negative impact on the area's wildlife. Nature lovers have been watching developments closely, and asked how LTA had concluded that the measures were successful.

On Thursday, LTA clarified in an e-mail reply that fauna monitoring works using about 90 camera traps started about three to six months before the soil works started. When the works ended, monitoring lasted about four to six months.

The authority said its findings "suggested that similar animals were present in the areas before and after the works, with various animal groups such as mammals, reptiles and birds captured by the camera traps".

Other than the Sunda pangolin and lesser mousedeer, which it mentioned in its earlier June 8 statement, LTA said another animal recorded by the camera traps was the common palm civet.

It did not respond to ST's query on the number of animals of each species spotted before and after the works.

Added the spokesman: "LTA continues to work with the relevant stakeholders to further analyse the data collected to deepen our understanding of the SI works on fauna activities in the CCNR."

In its statement on June 8, LTA said camera traps have picked up the presence of animals such as the critically endangered Sunda pangolin and the lesser mousedeer at the work sites after the completion of the soil tests. This, according to LTA's director of civil design and land, Dr Goh Kok Hun, "validated the mitigation measures developed".

Measures include reducing the number of boreholes required from 72 to 16, locating the boreholes on existing trails and clearings to minimise the impact on existing flora, and requiring the use of enclosures to reduce engine noise, and tanks to collect discharge.

While the measures were initially welcomed by nature groups, they told The Straits Times that more data, and better analysis of the data, was required before a conclusion about the success of mitigation measures is reached.

Nature groups are watching this closely as the debate over the Cross Island Line and whether it will eventually tunnel under the Central Catchment Nature Reserve would set a precedent for where Singapore draws the line between development and conservation.

When the line was first announced by the Government in 2013, preliminary plans showing it cutting through forests in the nature reserve alarmed the nature groups, leading them to propose an alternative alignment skirting the reserve instead.

The authorities are now considering both alignments - a 4km route, half of which would be under the nature reserve near MacRitchie Reservoir, and a skirting alignment that would take a 9km route around it. No decision has been made yet.

Separately, another study is ongoing to assess the environmental impact that would arise from the construction and operation of the MRT line for both routes.

The Straits Times reported in March this year that this study started last year and is expected to be completed later this year.



More clarity needed on how soil works for Cross Island Line affected animals in reserve: Nature groups
Audrey Tan Straits Times 28 Jun 18;

SINGAPORE - Nature groups and experts are calling for more information on how soil investigation works at the Central Catchment Nature Reserve affected native animals.

Without more transparency, it is impossible to tell if or how the animals were impacted, they said in response to a claim made by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) that findings on its measures to reduce the environmental impact of soil works "were encouraging and validated the mitigation measures developed".

The tests, which involved boring holes up to 70m underground to extract soil samples, were done to explore if the train tunnel for the Cross Island Line can be built under Singapore's largest nature reserve.

The LTA had put in place camera traps and done ground surveys to monitor wildlife for the first part of the tests. There is another ongoing environmental study.

The authorities are considering two alignments for the MRT line, a 4km route, half of which would be under the nature reserve near MacRitchie Reservoir, and a skirting alignment that would take a 9km route around it.

Earlier this month, LTA said that camera traps picked up the presence of animals. Its statement also included two camera trap photographs of pangolins.

On Thursday (June 28), an LTA spokesman said about 90 camera traps were deployed about three to six months before the soil works started in February last year (2017). When they ended late last year, monitoring was done for about four to six months. LTA's findings "suggested that similar animals were present in the areas before and after the works, with various animal groups such as mammals, reptiles and birds captured by the camera traps", she added, without elaborating on the number of such animals spotted.

The spokesman said LTA will continue to work with stakeholders "to further analyse the data collected to deepen our understanding of the soil works on fauna activities".

To reduce the impact of the works, LTA had put in place measures including reducing the number of boreholes and requiring the use of enclosures to reduce engine noise, among others.

The measures were welcomed by nature groups, but they told ST that more data, and better data analysis was required.

Ms Chloe Tan, spokesman for the Love Our MacRitchie Forest volunteer group, pointed out that the presence of one Sunda pangolin after the works could not prove anything, if there had been a greater population of pangolins using the area in the first place.

National University of Singapore biology lecturer N. Sivasothi noted that the soil investigation works for the Cross Island Line had been a serious intrusion into Singapore's protected nature reserve, and it was important that any statement arising from the works be substantiated.

"Right now, other than the two photographs of the pangolins, there is no scientific data to verify if the mitigation measures really worked," he said.

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3M launches one of Singapore's largest solar farms

Jose Hong Straits Times 27 Jun 18;

SINGAPORE - One of Singapore's largest solar farms, which can produce enough energy to power 500 four-room Housing Board flats, was officially opened on Wednesday (June 27).

The 14,000 sq m farm lies on the roof of science firm 3M's manufacturing plant in Tuas, and boasts 6,605 solar panels and 55 inverters. It can generate 2,400 megawatt hours of electricity a year.

The firm said the solar farm will help it reach its 2025 goal of using renewable energy to power a quarter of its global operations.

Giving a keynote speech at the event to mark the opening, guest of honour Amy Khor said that the farm would reduce 3M's carbon emissions by 1,139 tonnes per year.

Dr Khor, who is Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources, reiterated green policies in her speech. They include increasing the adoption of solar power in the national system by 2020 to 350 megawatts-peak - about 5 per cent of the country's projected peak electricity demand.

On Wednesday, 3M also launched its 10,000 sq m headquarters in Ang Mo Kio as well as a customer technical centre that displays the company's scientific innovations to the public. Among other things, the firm is known for its Post-it notes.

Since 1966, the global conglomerate has invested more than $1 billion in its Singapore facilities which span business, research and development and manufacturing. It now employs 1,600 in the country.

Speaking at the opening, 3M Singapore's managing director Yuko Nakahira said: "As we expand our presence in Singapore, 3M is looking into ways to foster more collaborations with local and regional partners, and develop Asia-centric solutions that address our customers' sustainability challenges."

The firm's solar efforts join moves by public and private players to make Singapore more reliant on power from the sun.

On Monday, HDB announced that solar panels would be installed and operated by Sembcorp in blocks of public flats managed by the West Coast and Choa Chu Kang town councils.

The project, which begins in the third quarter of the year, will bring HDB closer to its target of having solar panels in 5,500 blocks by 2020.

At the opening of last year's Singapore International Energy Week, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said that without resorting to subsidies, Singapore could generate 2 gigawatts-peak of solar power by 2025, about a quarter of national projected peak electricity demand.

Currently, solar energy accounts for about 2 per cent of the country's power supply.

The Republic already boasts the world's largest floating solar panel test bed at Tengeh Reservoir, and national water agency PUB wants to deploy floating solar photovoltaic systems on more reservoirs.

In March, Microsoft announced that it would buy solar power from the Sunseap Group in Singapore, marking the technology company's first renewable energy deal in Asia.

Under the deal, Microsoft will buy 100 per cent of the electricity generated from Sunseap's 60 megawatt-peak solar power project for 20 years for its Singapore data operations.

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Thailand: Recycling of plastic, e-waste faces ban

Prohibition aimed at discouraging imports
CHAIYOT PUPATTANAPONG & WICHIT CHANTANUSORNSIRI Bangkok Post 27 Jun 18;

The Department of Industrial Works (DIW) has promised to ban local factories from recycling plastic and electronic waste.

Department deputy chief Banjong Sukreeta said the proposed ban will effectively discourage factories from importing waste into Thailand and help authorities deal with the increasing amount of waste in the country.

He said the department is authorised under the 1992 Factory Act to forbid domestic plants to use plastic or electronic waste in their production processes.

The department is preparing to announce the ban, he added.

On a proposal that Section 44 be invoked to ban the import of both plastic and electronic waste, Mr Banjong said a working committee is studying the issue and, in the meantime, the department will delay considering whether to grant import permits.

Earlier, the department suspended the licences of five factories found to have breached the conditions involving the use of plastic and electronic waste for recycling.

The proposed ban was raised during a joint press conference between the DIW and the Customs Department after the inspection of a container suspected of being used to carry illegal waste into the country.

The container in question was found to contain capacitors and the DIW is expected to spend a month running checks on them to determine if they contain hazardous waste as stipulated under the Basel Convention.

Chaiyut Khamkhun, spokesman of the Customs Department, said about 400 containers are suspected of carrying illegally imported waste.

If the owners do not claim them within 30 days, the containers will be opened and the cargo examined, he said.

According to Mr Chaiyut, plastic and electronic waste are imported via two main ports -- in Bangkok and Chon Buri's Laem Chabang.

At Bangkok port, 89 containers have been left unclaimed 30 days after imports while Laem Chabang port has 300 unclaimed containers.

Eco-Manufacturing Ltd in Chon Buri's Si Racha district where they found its operations to be in compliance with the law.
Last year, about 53,000 tonnes of plastic and electronic waste were brought in for recycling.

As of June this year, about 37,000 tonnes of such waste had been imported.

A police team led by deputy national police chief Pol Gen Wirachai Songmetta inspected a warehouse in Chon Buri's Bang Lamung district and seized a container filled with scrap metal on Tuesday.

The inspection followed a tip-off by locals who spotted trucks unloading goods suspected to be toxic waste.

The warehouse operator was charged with the illegal possession of hazardous waste.

The police team also seized another 14 containers near the warehouse after the truck drivers fled upon seeing the officials.

Pol Gen Wirachai said a probe showed the waste was destined for Laem Chabang port for export, but the operators did not obtain proper documents for handling transport and storage.

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One football pitch of forest lost every second in 2017, data reveals

Global deforestation is on an upward trend, jeopardising efforts to tackle climate change and the massive decline in wildlife
Damian Carrington, Niko Kommenda, Pablo Gutiérrez and Cath Levett The Guardian 27 Jun 18;

The world lost more than one football pitch of forest every second in 2017, according to new data from a global satellite survey, adding up to an area equivalent to the whole of Italy over the year.

The scale of tree destruction, much of it done illegally, poses a grave threat to tackling both climate change and the massive global decline in wildlife. The loss in 2017 recorded by Global Forest Watch was 29.4m hectares, the second highest recorded since the monitoring began in 2001.

Global tree cover losses have doubled since 2003, while deforestation in crucial tropical rainforest has doubled since 2008. A falling trend in Brazil has been reversed amid political instability and forest destruction has soared in Colombia.

In other key nations, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s vast forests suffered record losses. However, in Indonesia, deforestation dropped 60% in 2017, helped by fewer forest fires and government action.

Forest losses are a huge contributor to the carbon emissions driving global warming, about the same as total emissions from the US, which is the world’s second biggest polluter. Deforestation destroys wildlife habitat and is a key reason for populations of wildlife having plunged by half in the last 40 years, starting a sixth mass extinction.

“The main reason tropical forests are disappearing is not a mystery – vast areas continue to be cleared for soy, beef, palm oil, timber, and other globally traded commodities,” said Frances Seymour at the World Resources Institute, which produces Global Forest Watch with its partners. “Much of this clearing is illegal and linked to corruption.”

Just 2% of the funding for climate action goes towards forest and land protection, Seymour said, despite the protection of forests having the potential to provide a third of the global emissions cuts needed by 2030. “This is truly an urgent issue that should be getting more attention,” she said. “We are trying to put out a house fire with a teaspoon.”

The new data is based on 30m resolution satellite data and records all forest loss, including that from forest fires. Human destruction causes virtually all deforestation in the tropics, a vast haven of both carbon and wildlife. Fires are dominant at higher latitudes, causing roughly two-thirds of losses in Russia and Canada, and may be becoming more common due to climate change.

New forests are being grown, in China and India for example, but the precise extent to which these offset the destruction of existing ones is not yet known, although it is clear that deforestation significantly exceeds afforestation. It is estimated that only about 15% of the forests likely to have existed before human civilisation remain intact today: a quarter have been razed and the rest fragmented or degraded.

Brazil, with its vast Amazon territory, is vital in fighting deforestation and for a decade from 2005 a government crackdown lead to falling deforestation. But tree felling is now rising fast again, as political strife distracts the authorities. “What we are seeing today is the backlash,” said Carlos Nobre at the University of São Paulo, Brazil.

More than a quarter of Brazil’s tree losses in 2017 were due to fires deliberately set to clear land. “Global warming makes much hotter temperatures, making forests more vulnerable to human-set fires and natural-caused fires,” said Nobre.

Colombia is a global hotspot for biodiversity but losses soared by 46% in 2017. The Farc, its largest rebel group, previously controlled much of Colombia’s Amazon territory, blocking access. But the demobilisation of the Farc has left a power vacuum and illegal clearing for cattle, logging and cocaine production has soared.

Indonesia has seen severe deforestation but this fell sharply in 2017, as a damp year cut fire losses and government protection of peat forests took effect. “One year’s data does not make a trend, that is true,” said Putera Parthama, director general for climate change at Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry. “But we believe we are starting one.”

The destruction of trees does not just harm the environment, said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples: “Along with this violence against the Earth, there is growing violence against the people who defend these forests.” She said half of the 197 environmental defenders killed in 2017 were from indigenous groups.

“Indigenous people have long stewarded the world’s forests that are crucial to the fight against climate change,” said Tauli-Corpuz. “The new data finds the rate of tree cover loss is less than half in community and indigenous lands compared to elsewhere.”

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Best of our wild blogs: 27 Jun 18

7 Jul (Sat): R.U.M. mangroves and coastal cleanup
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'Intense rain' caused flash floods in central, western Singapore: PUB

Channel NewsAsia 26 Jun 18;

SINGAPORE: "Intense rain" caused flash floods in three locations across central and western Singapore on Tuesday (Jun 26) morning, leaving vehicles and pedestrians to wade their way through murky waters as they made their way to work during peak hour.

The flash floods occurred in Lorong Kismis, Toh Tuck Avenue and along PIE towards Tuas after the Eng Neo exit, the Public Utilities Board (PUB) said.

The PUB said that Old Toh Tuck Road saw more rain on Tuesday than the entire monthly average for June. Across four hours, 150mm of rainfall was recorded in the area, compared with the average rainfall of 130.7mm in the entire month of June, PUB said.

One video submitted by a Channel NewsAsia reader showed cars making their way slowly through brown waters at Toh Tuck.

Another video - which was circulating on social media - showed the flood after the PIE exit at Toh Tuck and a motorcycle being pushed by two people in the rain.

PUB said that its officers "were immediately deployed to the flooded locations to investigate and render assistance". By 12.20pm, all flash floods had subsided, it added.

"We urge the public to exercise caution and avoid stepping into or driving into flooded areas. During heavy rain, the public should stay tuned to radio broadcast and check PUB’s Facebook www.facebook.com/PUBsg or PUB's mobile app MyWaters for flood updates," it said.

The Meteorological Service on Jun 14 had said that wetter weather can be expected in Singapore during the second half of the month, compared to the first half.

The Southwest monsoon has set in over Singapore and the surrounding region, and is expected to last till September, it added.

Source: CNA/na(aj)

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Palm oil ‘disastrous’ for wildlife but here to stay, experts warn

The deforestation it causes is decimating species such as orangutans and tigers - but the alternatives could be worse, finds authoritative report
Damian Carrington The Guardian 26 Jun 18;

It is consumed daily by billions of people but palm oil is “disastrous” for wildlife such as orangutans and tigers, according to an authoritative new report. However, the analysis warns that alternatives are likely to drive biodiversity losses elsewhere, rather than halt them.

The analysis, from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), found that rainforest destruction caused by palm oil plantations damages more than 190 threatened species on the IUCN’s red list, particularly in Indonesia and Malaysia. It also found that palm oil certified as “sustainable” is, so far, only marginally better in terms of preventing deforestation.

However, alternative oil crops, such as soy, corn and rapeseed, require up to nine times as much land and switching to them could result in the destruction of wild habitat in other parts of the world, such as Brazil and Argentina, the report warns. It recommends stronger action to ensure new palm oil plantations do not cause forests to be felled.

Palm oil provides a third of the world’s vegetable oil, from 10% of the land used for all oil crops. It is used in a huge range of food products and eaten by half the world’s population, with a quarter of production used in cosmetics, cleaning products and as biofuel.

“When you consider the disastrous impacts of palm oil on biodiversity from a global perspective, there are no simple solutions,” said Inger Andersen, IUCN director general. “If we ban or boycott it, other, more land-hungry oils will likely take its place.”

“Palm oil is here to stay and we urgently need concerted action to make palm oil production more sustainable, ensuring that governments, producers and the supply chain honour their sustainability commitments,” she said. Deforestation for palm oil frequently takes place despite legal bans.

The new report from the IUCN Oil Palm taskforce estimates the total area of industrial scale palm oil plantations at 18.7m hectares, with smallholder plantations taking the total to 25m hectares, equivalent to the area of the UK.

Despite the controversy over palm oil, there are no easy solutions, said Erik Meijaard, the IUCN report’s lead author. “Palm oil is decimating south-east Asia’s rich diversity of species as it eats into swaths of tropical forest,” he said. But, quoting US writer HL Mencken, he added. “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.”

One issue is that it is often easier to cut down virgin forest for new plantations, rather than deal with the complicated ownership issues that come with already degraded land. Another is that while some communities can benefit from plantations, as Indonesian and Malaysian governments argue, other communities can suffer.

Furthermore, plantations are often created in poor locations, meaning yields are low. “A lot of oil palm planting seems to be dumped in places wherever people can get hold of land,” said Meijaard. “There needs to be pressure on countries like Malaysia and Indonesia to start seriously looking at how to optimise this sector.”

Sustainable certification is intended to demonstrate that palm oil has not caused deforestation but is currently poor, according to Meijaard: “Certification is nowhere near as good as it should be. But [we] still think it is needed as the only objective way we can judge whether palm oil adheres to certain principles. The [certification body] needs to step it up and improve.”

A spokeswoman for the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which certifies almost 20% of all palm oil, said: “While we acknowledge that the certification system is not perfect, it has made a real contribution against deforestation.” RSPO said it was currently strengthening its standards.

Arguments over palm oil have been bitter with the most recent flare-up occurring over the European Union’s decision to ban palm oil from use as biofuel, though not until 2030. In the run up to the decision, Malaysian minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong warned of a multi-billion dollar trade war: “Don’t expect us to continue buying European products.”

Malaysia also called a recent academic paper on huge orangutan declines “hyperbolic” and media reports on it “fake news”. “We’ve come to expect nothing less from our opponents in Europe and the environmental minions who do their bidding,” said the Malaysian Palm Oil Council.

Richard George, at Greenpeace UK, said: “Time and time again we’ve caught RSPO members destroying forests for palm oil, including trashing orangutan habitat. If the RSPO wants to have a future, it must adopt ‘no deforestation, no peat, no exploitation’ standards and ensure they are rigorously enforced.”

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Indonesia: Patrol stepped up to prevent Javan leopard from entering settlement

Arya Dipa The Jakarta Post 26 Jun 18;

The Tasikmalaya Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) has set up a communication network connected to people living near the Gunung Sawal Wildlife Reserve in Ciamis regency, West Java, to prevent human-wildlife conflict in the area.

Didin Saripudin, head of BKSDA Tasikmalaya’s conservation division, said agency personnel had taken turns to carry out patrols in the area, following a report that a Javan leopard had entered a settlement near the wildlife reserve.

“Twelve agency personnel participated in the routine patrols,” said Didin in Bandung on Tuesday.

As reported earlier, residents of Cikupa village in Lumbung district, Ciamis, claimed they had seen a leopard enter their settlement and attack their livestock.

“The incident occurred one week before Idul Fitri. As soon as we received the report, we dispatched our team and managed to chase the animal back into the [wildlife reserve] by using fireworks,” said Didin.

Following the incident, the wildlife reserve’s rangers decided to carry out routine patrols around the village.

It is not the first time that a leopard has entered the settlement in Cikupa village. In 2009 and 2015, villagers caught two and last October, a leopard caught by the villagers was handed over to BKSDA West Java last October.

The Gunung Sawal Wildlife Reserve is the natural habitat of the Javan leopard, a predator that is endemic to Java Island. (ebf)

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Indonesia: Dry season estimated to continue until October

Reporter: Martha Herlinawati S Antara 26 Jun 18;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) estimated that the dry season would continue until October 2018 and could cause water shortage problems in various areas of Indonesia.

Head of Public Relations and Information Data Center of BNPB Sutopo Purwo Nugroho stated in a written statement on Monday night that some areas in the provinces of East Java, Central Java and Yogyakarta have been hit by drought.

"Many residents are asking for clean water supply, although the dry season is just entering the early period but in fact, some areas begin to experience drought," he said.

Some areas in Gunung Kidul district, Yogyakarta province have been affected by drought. They were Girisubo sub-district with 4,572 households, Ngelipar sub-district with 1,853 households or 5,637 inhabitants, Paliyan sub-district with 6,014 households or 20,769 people, Panggang sub-district with 1,232 households or 4,677 inhabitants, Purwosari sub-district with 912 households or 3,390 inhabitants, Rongkop sub-districts with 3,820 households or 11,800 people, Tanjungsari sub-districts with 3,100 households or 11,186 residents, Tepus sub-districts with 8,232 households or 32,851 inhabitants, Ponjong sub-districts with 766 households or 2,765 inhabitants, and Gedangsari sub-districts with 1,106 households or 3,448 people.

Due to the occurrence of drought disaster, the Regional Disaster Management Office of Gunung Kidul District has distributed 5,000 liters of clean water.

The office targeted to distribute 3,360 clean water tanks with a daily distribution of 24 clean water tanks, and six units of a 5,000 liter water tank fleet which are completed diesel-fueled water pumps, pipes and hoses.

"Distribution of clean water has started on June 4 until now," he said.
Editor: Otniel Tamindael

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