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topic: Corporate Role In Conservation
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Will a billionaire bankroll biodiversity? CBD Decision 15/9 as potential ‘goldmine’ (commentary)
- Decision 15/9 established a “multilateral mechanism for benefit-sharing from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources” during COP15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) last year.
- Hundreds of billions of dollars are needed to finance biodiversity conservation, especially in mega-diverse nations, and Decision 15/9 could be a goldmine, but for whom?
- “Decision 15/9 can be either a goldmine for the mega-diverse Parties to the CBD or for select stakeholders, but not for both. Fairness and efficiency require that economic rents be vetted,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
EU law to reduce deforestation is on a knife’s edge, will leaders act? (commentary)
- The landmark law to halt the import of products linked to global deforestation into the European Union is at a crucial stage.
- The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) could stand or fall in the coming days, depending on how the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, acts, and she should listen to the large chorus of corporations — many of whose industries are linked to deforestation — a new op-ed states.
- “It’s not every day that such a broad bench of companies encourages environmental and human rights regulation, and this thousands-strong corporate movement is worth celebrating. Von der Leyen can take heart in knowing she can act courageously for global forest protection, whilst maintaining considerable corporate support.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Traceability is no silver bullet for reducing deforestation (commentary)
- The European Union, UK and US have passed, or are in the process of passing, legislation which places a duty on companies to prove that products they import do not come from recently deforested land.
- Businesses and governments are ramping up efforts to address emissions and deforestation in their supply chains, but the scale at which these initiatives are being implemented limits their effectiveness in tackling deforestation.
- Investments by companies and governments in farm-level traceability must be backed up by landscape approaches that address the systemic drivers of deforestation, climate change and biodiversity loss, a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
How effective are giant funding pledges by major conservation donors?
- Big-name conservation philanthropy is having a moment, but does the news cycle adequately capture the nuances required when huge new pledges of funding by billionaires or foundations are announced?
- On this episode of Mongabay’s podcast, two experts weigh in on what conservationists and environmental journalists should consider when evaluating climate change or biodiversity conservation pledges.
- Holly Jonas, global coordinator at the ICCA Consortium, and Michael Kavate, staff writer at the news outlet Inside Philanthropy, offer expert advice for conservationists, curious readers and journalists who want to know more about the topic.
- “I think what the public really needs is more critical and more in-depth coverage of the ideologies and the approaches behind their kinds of philanthropy, the billionaire pledges and so on, how they’re being rolled out in practice, where the funding’s actually going,” Jonas says.
Toilet paper: Environmentally impactful, but alternatives are rolling out
- While toilet paper use is ubiquitous in China, North America, parts of the EU and Australia, its environmental impact is rarely discussed. Environmentalists recently began urging people to be more aware of the real price paid for each roll — especially for luxury soft, extra-absorbent TP made from virgin tree pulp.
- Though not the global primary source of tissue pulp, large tracts of old-growth forest in Canada and Indonesia are being felled today for paper and tissue products, impacting biodiversity and Indigenous communities. Eucalyptus plantations to provide pulp for TP are mostly ecological deserts, and put a strain on water supplies.
- The environmental impacts of toilet paper occur all along its supply chain. Making TP is an energy- and water-intensive process, and also requires toxic PFAS and other chemicals. Upon disposal, toilet paper can become an insoluble pollutant that resists wastewater treatment and adds bulk and chemicals to sewage sludge.
- Many large tissue makers are investing in improved technologies to lighten this impact. But emerging markets in the developing world, beyond the reach of environmental watchdogs, are raising alarms. Bidets, recycled paper, bamboo, sugarcane and other alternative pulp sources offer more environmentally friendly options.
From exporting coral to restoring reefs, a Madagascar startup rethinks business
- After her father died, Jeimila Donty took over her family’s coral export business and shifted its focus to conservation, creating Koraï.
- Donty is part of a young “pro-climate” generation that’s keen to incorporate the environment into business models.
- Koraï plants corals in Madagascan waters on behalf of other companies as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments.
- The business is ambitious and faces challenges, such as recruiting workers and a lack of political support.
To ease deforestation, natural rubber industry must ‘paddle hard’ (commentary)
- A recent study by the Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh found that natural rubber related forest loss has been substantially underestimated and is at least two or three times higher than suggested by previous figures.
- The same study shows that at least 2 million hectares of forest has been lost for rubber cultivation since 2000, while the supply chain has begun to come together to define and standardize key requirements for environmental benefit and social equity.
- “All eyes in the rubber industry are currently turned towards the EU Deforestation Regulation. There are waves of opportunity that came before the EUDR and there are waves that will come after [but the] organizations that want to set themselves up for long term success will keep this in mind and paddle to good positions to ride all the incoming waves,” a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
New platform offers toolkit for companies to prove their eco claims
- As governments around the world consider new regulations that would require corporations to track their impacts on biodiversity, a new platform called NatureHelm provides companies and individual landowners with a tool to track indicators of ecosystem health.
- The tool analyzes various databases and scientific papers to find relevant local biodiversity targets and automatically pulls in data from remote tools, such as camera traps, to track them.
- NatureHelm also provides consulting to help companies choose the best tools to track biodiversity targets, and produces annual reports that allow companies to show how different metrics change over time and in response to conservation actions.
Logging route cut into Cambodia’s Prey Lang from Think Biotech’s concession
- A road carved from a reforestation concession into the heart of Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary in Cambodia appears to be facilitating the illegal logging and trafficking of valuable timber, a Mongabay investigation has revealed.
- The road originates in the concession of Think Biotech, a company previously implicated in forestry crimes, but its director denies being involved in the new road.
- The road had advanced 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) into the ostensibly protected Prey Lang before authorities ordered a crackdown — one that activists say was just for show and targeted only small-time loggers.
- Community groups and activists say Prey Lang’s forests are being decimated at alarming rates, with satellite data showing nearly the same amount of forest cover loss in the past five years as in the previous 18.
‘In business to save the planet,’ Patagonia says people & planet should be the priority of corporations
- In the words of its founder, outdoor gear company Patagonia exists to “force government and corporations to take action in solving our environmental problems.”
- In 2022, the company made headlines when founder Yvon Chouinard announced the transfer of company ownership ($3 billion in assets and $100 million in annual profits) to a nonprofit and a trust, the dividends of which would go to environmental advocacy organizations, making “Earth the only shareholder.”
- Joining our podcast to discuss Patagonia’s 50-year legacy is environmental action and initiatives director Beth Thoren, who shares the company’s theory of change, discusses how traditional capitalism is no longer working for people or the planet, and its poignant “Not Mars” campaign.
- “If we continue to live in the world where shareholder value is the only thing that is valued, we will burn up and die,” she says.
Macron touts forest conservation while promoting gas project on PNG visit
- During a recent visit to Papua New Guinea, French President Emmanuel Macron spent time with both fossil fuel executives and conservationists.
- Macron attended a presentation on the Managalas Conservation Area, which is supported by France as well as other European countries, and praised Indigenous peoples’ protection of the forest.
- During Macron’s visit, French firm TotalEnergies voted to undertake construction of a $10 billion liquefied natural gas project that will release an estimated 220 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.
As Shell, Eni quit Niger Delta, state-backed report describes legacy of carnage
- A new report commissioned by the governor of Bayelsa state in Nigeria said that over the course of 50 years, oil companies spilled 10-15 times as much oil as the Exxon Valdez disaster in the small riverine state.
- Researchers also took blood and tissue samples from 1,600 people across Bayelsa and found that in some areas the concentration of lead and cadmium was as much as six times higher than the safe limit.
- Ninety percent of the oil spills in Bayelsa took place at facilities owned by just five oil companies: Shell, Eni, Chevron, Total and ExxonMobil.
- The report is the first to be produced with local government backing in Nigeria, and called for oil companies to create a $12 billion fund for cleanup and health services in Bayelsa.
For weary Niger Delta residents, shocking oil pollution report offers little hope
- A new report commissioned by the Bayelsa state government in Nigeria holds international oil companies like Shell, TotalEnergies, and ExxonMobil responsible for spilling at least 110,000 barrels of oil there over the past 50 years.
- Researchers found alarming levels of toxic chemicals in soil, water, and in the air. Blood and tissue samples taken from residents found elevated levels of heavy metals including lead, nickel and cadmium.
- The report calls for extensive cleanup and recovery efforts, as well as sweeping changes to oil industry regulations and the setup of a $12 billion fund for remediation, paid for by the oil companies.
- Activists and residents say they’re largely skeptical of any meaningful changes arising from the report, including the prospect of compelling oil majors to pay into a remediation fund.
Report links financial giants to deforestation of Paraguay’s Gran Chaco
- Major banks and financial institutions including BlackRock, BNP Paribas, HSBC and Santander continue to hold substantial shares in – or provide financial services to – beef companies linked to illegal deforestation in the Gran Chaco region of Paraguay.
- A report by rights group Global Witness released last month says these financiers knowingly bankroll beef traders accused of having links to deforestation, despite warnings in 2020 by U.K.-based NGO Earthsight about the beef industry’s impact on the Gran Chaco.
- Almost all of the banks, investment managers and pension funds named in the new report are members of voluntary initiatives to eliminate and reverse commodity-driven deforestation from their portfolios.
- Paraguay has one of the highest rates of tropical deforestation in the world, having lost a quarter of its net forest cover between 2000 and 2020 — an area almost twice the size of Belgium.
Companies eye ‘carbon insetting’ as winning climate solution, but critics are wary
- A tool that wields the techniques of carbon offsets is surging among companies claiming that it reduces their carbon footprints. The tool, known by some as “insetting,” had simmered for more than a decade on the fringes of climate action among brands that rely on agriculture, but is now expanding to other sectors.
- Insetting is defined as company projects to reduce or remove emissions within their own internal supply chains. Proponents say it is valuable for agriculture-based firms struggling to address indirect emissions from land that has already been deforested. Like offsets, insetting can bring social and economic benefits to communities.
- Some oppose the tool outright, saying it is subject to the same problems as offsets (including lack of permanence and enforceable standards), but can also be worse as it can lead to double-counting climate benefits and can have weaker oversight.
- Having now become popular with major corporations such as Nestlé and PepsiCo, insetting as a climate tool is poised to see increased scrutiny as companies and researchers figure out its place in corporate action and reckon with the urgency to reduce emissions from agriculture.
FSC-certified paper plantation faces farmer backlash in Colombia
- Smurfit Kappa Cartón de Colombia (SKCC), a paper company with multiple plantations certified by the FSC ethical wood label, is facing backlash from Indigenous and local farmers over land disputes and environmental impacts.
- Mongabay was able to confirm three cases of plantations violating Colombia’s legal forest code. Communities living close to the company’s paper plantations say they are to blame for water shortages and a decrease in biodiversity and soil fertility.
- There is little agreement over the effects of these plantations on water availability, but many activists and academics say agroforestry or silvopasture systems can be alternative solutions to increase biodiversity and contribute to farmers’ livelihoods.
- A SKCC forestry division manager said SKCC carries out rigorous legal and background analyzes of the properties to operate according to the law and practices respect for the environment.
Deforestation-neutral mining? Madagascar study shows it can be done, but it’s complicated
- The Ambatovy mine in Madagascar achieved no net forest loss by curbing deforestation in its biodiversity offsets, an analysis in the journal Nature Sustainability concluded.
- Project developers create biodiversity offsets, sites where they undertake conservation work, to make up for environmental destruction caused by their extractive operations.
- Ambatovy, which operates an open-pit nickel mine in Madagascar, carved out four biodiversity offsets to make up for biodiversity loss in its mining site, located in the species-rich eastern rainforest of the island nation.
- By slowing deforestation in these four offsets, the mine made up for forest loss in its mining concession; however, there isn’t enough data to ascertain how the measures impacted biodiversity, and previous research indicates that the mine’s offsets reduced impoverished communities’ access to forest resources.
Coalition against online wildlife trafficking shares little evidence of success (analysis)
- Officials from the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online say progress is being made, but the evidence is minimal, a new analysis shows.
- The Coalition’s three NGO partners – TRAFFIC, IFAW and WWF – divide up primary “point of contact” duties with big online platforms like eBay where wildlife and illegal animal products can be found for sale.
- Critics call the Coalition “a black box” from which little light emerges, allowing member companies like Facebook to say they’re part of the solution by pointing to their Coalition membership.
- This post is an independent analysis by the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Mongabay.
At a plantation in Central Africa, Big Oil tries to go net-zero
- In March 2021, French oil giant TotalEnergies announced that it would be developing a 40,000-hectare (99.000-acre) forest in the Republic of Congo that will sequester 500,000 tons of carbon per year.
- The project is part of a renewed global push for governments and corporations to hit their emissions targets partially by the use of carbon credits, also known as offsets.
- But advocates say what TotalEnergies describes as a “forest” is a commercial acacia plantation that will produce timber for sale, with little detail on who stands to profit or lose access to land.
Brazil’s Suzano boasts its pulpwood plantations are green; critics disagree
- Suzano, the world’s largest pulp exporter, is strongly promoting a new green agenda. Its plantations, now being grown in association with native forests, could help curb the global climate crisis, the company says.
- Some conservation groups agree, and are working with the firm to ensure it gets greener.
- But other environmentalists say that the expansion of eucalyptus monoculture is causing widespread environmental damage in Brazil. Plantation carbon sequestration is minimal, they argue, while pulpwood factories are highly polluting and eucalyptus forests lack the biodiversity of rainforests.
- Moreover, they say, eucalyptus plantation expansion is resulting in the usurpation of natural lands and the expulsion of traditional and Indigenous communities who have much more to offer in the fight against climate change and efforts to protect intact forests.
Mongabay Explains: Do carbon offset markets really work?
- Companies with high carbon footprints around the world have made pledges to reduce carbon emissions, aiming to become carbon neutral and even carbon negative.
- The solution they are turning to is ‘carbon offset trading,’ which allows them to invest in environmental projects as a counterweight to their carbon-emitting industrial activities.
- But carbon offset markets’ increasing popularity has met with controversy about corporations absolving themselves without contributing to an overall reduction in emissions, and questions about how they can ensure the schemes’ success without physically visiting the projects.
- In this video, Mongabay explains if carbon offset markets really do work.
$1.5 billion Congo Basin pledge a good start but not enough, experts say
- At last month’s COP26 climate summit, a group of 12 international donors pledged at least $1.5 billion over the next four years to support protection and sustainable management of the Congo Basin forests.
- The pledge is part of a broader $12 billion commitment to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation worldwide by 2030.
- The 200 million hectares (500 million acres) of forests in the Congo Basin may be the last significant land-based tropical carbon sink in the world, making the forests vitally important in the global fight against climate change.
- So far, detail of the pledge remain limited, and reaction from regional experts has been mixed; but all agree that $1.5 billion is far from enough to resolve the region’s issues.
Banking on deforestation: Top lenders make $1.7b from agribusiness deals
- Some of the world’s leading banks — JPMorgan, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Rabobank and Bank of China — allegedly made $1.74 billion in five years from funding businesses implicated in deforestation and human rights abuses, a new report says.
- Lenders in the U.S. alone made $538 million by doing business with companies accused of clearing forests, according to the investigation by the UK-based NGO Global Witness.
- Lenders in the U.S. alone made $538 million by doing business with companies accused of clearing forests, according to the investigation by the UK-based NGO Global Witness.
- Voluntary commitments are falling short, the report’s authors argued, and called on countries to pass laws against bankrolling forest destruction and human rights abuses.
Amazon, meet Amazon: Tech giant rolls out rainforest carbon offset project
- Tech giant Amazon has announced a nature-based carbon removal project in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC).
- The project will help small farmers produce sustainable agricultural produce through reforestation and regenerative agroforestry programs, in exchange for carbon credits that will go to the internet company.
- Called the Agroforestry and Restoration Accelerator, the initiative is expected to support 3,000 small farmers in Pará state and restore an area the size of Seattle in the first three years, and in the process remove up to 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through 2050.
- In addition to addressing climate and social issues, the partners say the project intends to address the shortcomings of the carbon credit market by creating new standards for the industry.
New artificial intelligence tool helps forecast Amazon deforestation
- A new tool co-developed by Microsoft using artificial intelligence to predict deforestation hotspots has identified nearly 10,000 square kilometers of the Brazilian Amazon that’s in imminent danger.
- Called PrevisIA, it uses artificial intelligence to analyze satellite imagery from the European Space Agency, and an algorithm developed by the Brazilian conservation nonprofit Imazon to find the areas most prone to deforestation.
- The tool, which the developers say could potentially be applied to any forested area on Earth, will be used for preventive actions, in partnerships with local governments, corporations and nonprofits.
- The next step of the project is to build partnerships with local governments and institutions to act on preventing deforestation, which is the most challenging phase of the project, according to Imazon researcher Carlos Souza Jr.
Corporate sustainability shouldn’t be an unknown entity (commentary)
- Aida Greenbury, the former Managing Director of Sustainability at APP Group and currently a board member and advisor to several organizations including Mongabay, argues that companies need to truly embrace principles of sustainability in how they operate.
- Using the plantation sector as an example, Greenbury says companies shouldn’t view the environment and local communities well-being as “us versus them” issues, but instead opportunities for transforming how they do business.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Norwegian poultry producer bars Brazilian soy due to deforestation risk
- Norwegian poultry producer Gårdsand has developed a new feed recipe that excludes Brazilian soy due to concerns about deforestation risk.
- According to Rainforest Foundation Norway, Gårdsand reformulated its poultry feed as a response to rising deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Gårdsand’s move follows a decision last year by Bremnes Seashore, a salmon producer, to exclude Brazilian soy from its fish feed, while the soy suppliers to the Norwegian aquaculture companies Caramuru, Imcopa and CJ Selecta have indicated they will do the same.
- Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has been climbing steadily since the mid-2010s, with the sharpest acceleration occurring since Jair Bolsonaro assumed the presidency in January 2019.
98% of Bunge shareholders back proposal to reduce deforestation
- The proposal by activist investment funds Green Century Capital Management and Storebrand Asset Management was approved with 98% of the votes.
- Bunge’s decision follows those recently made by other big companies such as Procter & Gamble’s, Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, and JPMorgan Chase.
- According to Green Century, the measure would help the Brazilian Cerrado, a savanna ecosystem known as “reverse forest” due to its extensive root system that stores large amounts of carbon.
The Nature Conservancy’s Jennifer Morris is an ‘impatient optimist’
- Jennifer Morris started her storied career in conservation working with communities in rural Namibia, before going on to eventually helm some of the leading international conservation NGOs.
- In that time, Morris, now the CEO of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), has seen things change — though “not fast enough” — in terms of achieving equity and diversity in the conservation space.
- “For decades, protecting nature has come at the expense of the original stewards of land and waters — or prioritized over addressing environmental impacts that disproportionately hurt underserved communities,” she says.
- In an interview with Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler, Morris talks about the conservation sector’s long-overdue reckoning, the way the pandemic has shifted thinking about humanity’s relationship with the environment, and being an “impatient optimist.”
Podcast: What are the tropical forest storylines to watch in 2021?
- Happy new year to all of our faithful Mongabay Newscast listeners! For our first episode of the year, we take stock of how the world’s rainforests fared in 2020 and look ahead to the major stories to watch in 2021.
- We’re joined by Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler, who discusses the impacts of the Covid pandemic on tropical forest conservation efforts, the most important issues likely to impact rainforests in 2021, and why he remains hopeful despite setbacks in recent years.
- We also speak with Joe Eisen, executive director of Rainforest Foundation UK, who helps us dig deeper into the major issues and events that will affect Africa’s rainforests in the coming year.
How to turn climate ambitions into reality: Q&A with Nigel Topping
- 2020 was supposed to be a landmark year for taking stock on climate and biodiversity commitments and determining how societies move forward to address the world’s most pressing problems. Instead, the COVID-19 pandemic intervened, leading to the postponement or cancellation of many events, including the 26th United Nations climate conference (COP26).
- But while COP26’s delay may have stalled government to government negotiations at national levels, it didn’t prevent the parties from advancing efforts to address climate change, including the push to connect government targets with initiatives by sub-national governments, cities, companies, and civil society groups.
- To lead on this latter front, Gonzalo Munoz and Nigel Topping were appointed as High Level Climate Action Champions for the upcoming conference: “Our role is quite literally to champion the ambition and actions taken by non-state actors in addressing climate change. This means that Gonzalo and I work with partners across the world – cities, states and regions, businesses, investors, and civil society groups – to raise the awareness of, ambition for, and levels of action being taken to address climate change.”
- Topping spoke about these issues and more during a January 2021 conversation with Mongabay Founder Rhett A. Butler.
How to transform systems: Q&A with WRI’s Andrew Steer
- Between the pandemic, rising food insecurity and poverty, and catastrophic disasters like wildfires, storms and droughts, 2020 was a year of challenges that prompted widespread calls for systemic change in how we interact with one another, with other species, and with the environment. Bringing about such changes will require transforming how we produce food and energy, how we move from one place to another, and how we define economic growth.
- But it’s a lot easier to talk about transforming systems than to actually do it. Because real change is hard, we’re more likely to slip back into old habits and return to business as usual than embrace paradigm shifts.
- Recognizing this limitation, World Resources Institute (WRI), a Washington, D.C.-based organization that operates in 60 countries, works across sectors by creating tools that increase transparency, create a common understanding, and provide data and analysis that enable action.
- WRI’s development of these platforms and tools has grown by leaps and bounds since the early 2010s when Andrew Steer joined the organization as president and CEO from the World Bank. Steer spoke with Mongabay during a December 2020 interview.
Companies must account for quality, not just quantity, when it comes to forests (commentary)
- With the explosion of net-zero commitments as a part of corporate sustainability plans, forests are having a moment in the spotlight. More and more companies are beginning to recognize the value of intact forests in reaching net-zero emissions.
- However, new research shows that despite these commitments, forests are still dwindling, with devastating effects on the climate, ecosystem services, and biodiversity.
- In the opinion piece, the authors Dr. Julie Nash at Ceres and Dr. Jamison Ervin at UNDP, make the business case for preserving intact forests. They outline the importance of forests beyond their use as carbon offsets, and call for investors to assess the quantity and quality of forest commitments in corporate sustainability plans.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Soy moratorium averted New Jersey-size loss of Amazon rainforest: Study
- A new study sought to quantify the impact of the Amazon soy moratorium, signed in 2006 by companies accounting for around 90% of the soy sourced from the Brazilian Amazon.
- The companies agreed that they would not purchase soy grown on plots that were recently deforested.
- The research demonstrates that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon between 2006 and 2016 was 35% lower than it would have been without the moratorium, likely keeping 18,000 square kilometers (6,950 square miles) of the Amazon standing.
- Despite the success, observers question whether the ban on soy from deforested areas of the Amazon will prevent the loss of rainforest over the long term.
For sustainable business, ‘planetary boundaries’ define the new rules
- The Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), an initiative of the Global Commons Alliance (GCA), recently launched a corporate engagement program to help companies, consultancies and industry coalitions set science-based targets that could help protect all aspects of nature, including biodiversity, land, ocean, water, as well as climate.
- The SBTN uses the concept of planetary boundaries, which refers to nine Earth system processes that contain thresholds for safe operating limits, to inform its work.
- The SBTN is still in a formational stage and will not finalize its methodologies until 2022, but will actively engage with companies over the next two years.
Esri co-founder Jack Dangermond: ‘People and planet are inextricably linked’
- The digital mapping platforms developed by Esri, including ArcGIS, have revolutionized conservation and environmental planning, management and policymaking.
- Esri co-founder Jack Dangermond calls geographic information systems (GIS) “a sort of intelligent nervous system for our planet at a time when humanity desperately needs one to address the environmental and humanitarian crises at hand.”
- He credits Esri’s success to a sustainable trajectory of heavy investment in R&D, not being beholden to outside investors, and providing discounted and free use of its software to environmental nonprofits.
- In this interview with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett A. Butler, Dangermond says that technology, amid the current fractured political climate, should be employed to encourage understanding rather than dwell on divisions.
P&G shareholders vote in landslide to address supply-chain deforestation
- A shareholder proposal filed in September 2020 by Green Century Funds was approved by a 67% affirmative vote in the annual Proctor & Gamble (P&G) shareholder meeting in mid-October.
- The vote was brought as a call for the international corporation to cull forest degradation and deforestation from the company’s supply chain.
- Such corporate commitments are not uncommon, but the P&G vote signals a shift in shareholder awareness of the long-term implications of a supply chain that’s potentially destructive to forests.
Paper giant APRIL linked to Borneo forest clearing despite zero-deforestation vow
- One of the world’s biggest pulp and paper producers, APRIL, is alleged to have violated its own zero-deforestation commitment by sourcing wood from a company clearing rainforest in Indonesian Borneo, a new report says.
- APRIL denies the allegation and insists it sourced zero-deforestation wood from AHL; the NGOs say the company’s claim is premised on an exceedingly narrow definition of what constitutes deforestation.
- APRIL denies the allegation and insists it sourced zero-deforestation wood from AHL; the NGOs say the company’s claim is premised on an exceedingly narrow definition of what constitutes deforestation.
Putting sustainability at the center of business strategy: An interview with Paul Polman
- Over the past decade perhaps no major diversified consumer products company has done more to burnish its sustainability credentials than Unilever, the 91-year-old conglomerate that owns brands ranging from Dove soap to Lipton tea to Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. A driving force behind this shift was Paul Polman, who took the helm of the British-Dutch company in 2009 and led it to declare a goal of decoupling its environmental impact from its growth.
- Early in his tenure at Unilever, he make bold and unconventional moves that seemed heretical to some investors accustomed to a focus on short-term profits. Polman stopped issuing quarterly guidance, warned that climate change was costing Unilever hundreds of millions of dollars annually, began requiring suppliers develop plans to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains, and acquired companies known for their eco-friendly branding.
- Polman is now working to drive this mindset among a wider range of companies via IMAGINE, a social venture whose mission is “unleashing business to achieve our Global Goals” including addressing the climate crisis and widening inequality.
- During an October 2020 conversation with Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler, Polman talked about his career at Unilever, IMAGINE, and the need for transformative change to tackle critical challenges facing the planet.
Just half of major timber and pulp suppliers committed to zero deforestation: Report
- The world’s 100 most significant timber and pulp companies score just 22.6%, on average, when assessed across 175 environmental, social, and governance indicators, according to the latest assessment by the Zoological Society of London using its Sustainability Policy Transparency Toolkit (SPOTT).
- 2020 is the first way-point towards the 2014 New York Declaration on Forests’ goal of eliminating natural forest loss by 2030, but 44% of companies still don’t have a robust commitment to halting the conversion of natural ecosystems.
- Climate change risk assessments, which are not a requirement of current forest management certification programs, are often viewed by companies as an “optional extra,” and only 4% of firms provided an assessment of their future climate risk.
- More than half of companies are committed to respecting the rights of local communities, but only 9% have published procedures for obtaining free, prior informed consent from local communities on all new developments. Just 11 firms provided evidence they’re paying all workers minimum wage.
Brazil bows to pressure from business, decrees 120-day Amazon fire ban
- 38 transnational companies in the agricultural, industrial, mining and service sectors, along with four major business associations, sent a letter Monday to Brazil VP Hamilton Mourão, president of the Amazon Council, asking him to address “environmental irregularities and crime in the Amazon and other Brazilian biomes.”
- The letter — backed by Amaggi, Suzano, Vale, Bradesco, Alcoa, Bayer, Shell, Siemens, among others — comes just weeks before this year’s Amazon fire season begins, and as criticism of rapid Amazon deforestation under Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro intensifies in the European Union and threatens the EU-Mercusor trade agreement.
- The administration — long resistant to all efforts to redirect its Amazon development and environmental policies — responded today announcing a decree for a 120-day ban on fires in the Amazon. The Army has also been deployed to the region to guard against a replay of last year’s wildfires. Analysts say this is not near enough to curb rampant deforestation.
- The business letter came just weeks after 32 international financial institutions that manage US$4.5 trillion in assets told Brazil that if it didn’t curb deforestation they would stop investing in Brazil. The problem, say critics, is Bolsonaro has set new policies that greatly undermine past socio-environmental safeguards, policies which need to be reversed.
For investors concerned about deforestation, there’s a guide for that
- The sustainability nonprofit Ceres has released a new Investor Guide to Deforestation and Climate Change intended for institutional investors who want to engage with the companies in their portfolios to address deforestation.
- Agricultural commodities such as palm oil, soy, beef, and pulp and paper are major drivers of deforestation. Identifying investments in these sectors is a first step for investors looking to address deforestation risks in their investment portfolios.
- The guide outlines key expectations for investors to look for in companies’ deforestation and climate commitments, provides investors with example questions for companies and gives action items to address deforestation risks.
New bill could legalize ‘land banking’ by Indonesian plantation firms
- Under Indonesian law, plantation permit holders must plant all of their land within six years, or risk having the land deemed “abandoned,” seized by the state and given to someone else to develop.
- Plantation companies have cited the rule as hindering their ability to set aside lands within their concessions for conservation, because the government could simply repossess the lands if they do.
- Under a bill being deliberated by parliament, the rule could be scrapped — but watchdogs warn that, if anything, this will open up the potential for land banking, where speculators stockpile huge tracts of land they have no intent to immediately put to use.
Feed your neighbor, solve big problems (commentary)
- Rich countries must quickly invest in tropical forest nations if they expect them to keep their forests standing in the name of fighting climate change, argues Darrel Webber, managing director of global forest strategies for the nonprofit Earth Innovation Institute.
- Market actors too have a role to play.
- Attempts to “flatten the curve” during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak may hold lessons in this regard.
- This post is a commentary and does not necessarily reflect the views of Mongabay.
Companies use COVID-19 to weaken standards, secure subsidies: Report
- A report from the U.S.-based NGO Mighty Earth identifies major corporations representing industries ranging from logging in Indonesia to automakers in the U.S. and outlines their attempts — successful in many cases — to garner subsidies, loosen restrictions, and walk back commitments to climate-related targets amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.
- In Indonesia, regulators have relaxed requirements for legality verification of timber.
- U.S. lawmakers have awarded grants and loans to agricultural companies accused of promoting deforestation in the Amazon.
- Officials in the U.S. have also relaxed fuel mileage requirements and regulation enforcement, bowing to pressure from the auto, airline and oil and gas industries.
Audio: Celebrating the 50th Earth Day amidst a global pandemic
- On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast we discuss what it means to be celebrating the 50th Earth Day amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
- How have Earth Day celebrations changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic? How do we keep attention focused on environmental issues during such a widespread health crisis — a health crisis born of our mistreatment of the environment? How do we push back on attempts to use the crisis as cover for pushing through environmentally damaging projects and policies?
- To help answer these questions, we’re bringing two guests onto the show today. Trammell Crow is a Dallas, Texas-based businessman and the founder of EarthX, which is billed as the largest Earth Day event in the world. We also welcome to the program Ginger Cassady, executive director of the Rainforest Action Network, an environmental advocacy group that targets the companies driving deforestation and the climate crisis.
Complaint alleges oil company left Peru communities’ environment in ruins
- Indigenous communities and human rights NGOs contend that Pluspetrol violated a set of business standards issued by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
- The complaint, delivered March 11 in the Netherlands, says the company has avoided paying taxes and has failed to address damage to the environment in the Peruvian Amazon caused by its oil-drilling activities through 2015.
- The groups allege that the release of toxic heavy metals into the water supply have caused numerous health problems for community members.
Raze here, save there: Do biodiversity offsets work for people or ecosystems?
- The Bemangidy-Ivohibe biodiversity offset was created in southeastern Madagascar by QMM, a subsidiary of mining giant Rio Tinto, to make up for the destruction of highly threatened littoral forests as a result of mining activity.
- While the rights of people directly displaced by development projects like mines are recognized to some degree, those of communities affected by biodiversity offsets, of which there are more than 13,000 worldwide, remain unclear.
- Critics say QMM fortified the forest and restricted villagers’ access to essential resources, pushing them toward starvation. The company says it has saved the forest from certain destruction at the hands of local people.
- The justification for offsets — biodiversity gains — are also hard to document, especially in the case of Bemangidy-Ivohibe which is a lowland humid forest, a different landscape from the littoral forest being razed by QMM.
Brazilian meat giant JBS expands its reach in China
- Brazilian meatpacker JBS has agreed to supply WH Group, a Hong Kong-based meat processor with access to retail outlets across China, with beef, pork and poultry products worth around $687 million a year beginning in 2020.
- Investigations have shown that JBS sources some of its beef from producers who have been fined for illegal deforestation in the Amazon.
- The push for cattle pasture drives most of the deforestation in the Amazon, while soybean plantations to supply pig and chicken feed have replaced large tracts of the wooded savannas of the Cerrado.
A new dawn: The story of deforestation in the next decade must be different to the last (commentary)
- 2020 was to be the year when the bold commitment made by hundreds of companies to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains was met. Instead, the failure to achieve this goal can be measured by the sharp rise in deforestation since 2014.
- Yet despite this bleak picture – and the need to act being more urgent than ever – there’s another story to tell about the last decade.
- It’s the story of how the pledge to eliminate deforestation from supply chains by 2020 was doomed to fail. It’s also – perhaps surprisingly – about the immense journey some companies, NGOs, and institutions have made in that time and how the path to remove the stain of deforestation from the products we consume is now clearer than ever.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Saving a Philippine tree last seen a century ago
- In 1915, a taxonomist formally described a species of tropical hardwood tree, known locally as kaladis narig (Vatica elliptica), which was even then considered nearly extinct.
- More than a hundred years later, a corporate social responsibility initiative of the Energy Development Corporation (EDC), the largest producer of geothermal energy in the Philippines, successfully tracked down the fabled species in Zamboanga Sibugay, a province in the main island of Mindanao.
- The lack of scientific literature on kaladis narig has made it notoriously challenging to grow the tree from cuttings taken from the wild. In 2018, after almost a decade of trying to save the elusive tree, the EDC team was able to grow a single cutting at its nursery in Antipolo, a city east of the capital Manila.
- The company also found 10 other kaladis narig trees in the same area with the help of the community, which passed a local ordinance to recognize and protect the few remaining kaladis narig trees in the world.
Madagascar regulator under scrutiny in breach at Rio Tinto-controlled mine
- A breach at an ilmenite mine in Madagascar that came to light earlier this year is drawing attention to possible lapses on the part of the country’s environmental regulator.
- A group of civil society organizations has asked the Malagasy government to intervene in the matter and to hold consultations to strengthen regulatory oversight of the extractive industries.
- In response, the Malagasy government said it will look into the actions of the National Office for the Environment (ONE), the agency responsible for overseeing the mine, which is owned by London-based mining giant Rio Tinto.
- However, two months on, the government has shared no updates about its inquiry with the civil society groups that requested its intervention.
Companies’ solutions to global plastic crisis miss the mark: Report
- A new report from Greenpeace contends that multinational consumer goods companies are addressing the global plastics crisis with “false solutions.”
- Some of those solutions, the group says, harm the environment, such as the replacement of plastic straws with paper ones.
- Others, such as bioplastics, amount to little more than greenwashing, the report’s author writes, as they don’t provide the purported benefits compared to conventional plastics.
- Greenpeace argues for the phaseout of single-use packaging and investments in developing reusable containers that would substantially cut down on plastic waste.
Experts warn: As G-20 tariffs drop, carbon emissions skyrocket
- A study published by researchers in Japan shows that tariff reductions by G-20 countries will sharply increase global carbon dioxide emissions.
- In some countries, cheaper imports would lead to “embodied carbon emissions” rising by more than 100%.
- Experts say the findings demonstrate that trade arrangements have a heavy impact on emissions that outweighs the effect of national climate policies.
Cargill pledges to stop forest to farmland conversions, but no results yet for the Cerrado
- Cargill has announced new and updated policies to achieve deforestation-free supply chains by 2030, including more transparency in supply chains for soy – a crop that is a major cause of large-scale deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado.
- The announcement came just days after the Soft Commodities Forum announced a new framework for transparency and traceability in “high-risk” soy supply chains in Brazil, and two years after an investigation shed light on large-scale forest-clearing by Bolivian and Brazilian soy farmers selling to Cargill.
- A newly released report shows that not a single company will achieve their 2020 deforestation-free pledges, and recent research questions the effectiveness of such commitments.
Hard news from the Soft Commodities Forum (commentary)
- Something very significant for conservation happened recently, but only a few media outlets picked up on it. You can kind of understand why: a commitment by a group of soy traders to “a common framework for reporting, monitoring and progress on transparent and traceable supply chains for soy in Brazil’s Cerrado region” doesn’t exactly set pulses racing.
- Somebody needs to have a word with the communications staff at the companies involved: they would have been better advised to frame it as “Major global soy traders go beyond deforestation commitments to cover all ecosystems for the first time, in a place that actually matters to their business.”
- The commitment in the Cerrado is a big deal, but there is still a lot to be done. Knowing how much a trader is sourcing from the Cerrado is only a first step. The next and more important step is knowing how much of that sourcing is conversion-free and driving that percentage up over time.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Without indigenous leadership, zero-deforestation policies will fail (commentary)
- Importing countries and companies (such as traders, food processors, and retailers) committing to deforestation-free agriculture often assume that those commitments alone, if successfully realized, will protect forests and indigenous lands against illegal activities.
- But a new science-policy report supported by the Luc Hoffmann Institute argues that, for deforestation-free commitments to be successful at achieving their goal, indigenous groups, farmers, and other relevant stakeholders need to have a greater say throughout the process.
- Only a more inclusive deforestation-free policy can safeguard Brazil’s ecosystems.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Palm oil companies continue to criminalize farmers in Sumatra (commentary)
- Nearly five years after Friends of the Earth U.S. reported about escalating conflict between farmers in the village of Lunjuk on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and palm oil company PT Sandabi Indah Lestari — or PT SIL — those communities remain in conflict with PT SIL, which supplies Wilmar International, the world’s largest palm oil trader.
- “Criminalization is now the strategy being used by the company. Sometimes when villagers are harvesting their own palm oil, the company calls the police and accuses them of stealing. They then say that they will only release them if they hand over their lands to the company,” said Osian Pakpahan, head of the farmers’ union.
- The entrenched conflict poses significant risks to PT SIL, its partner Wilmar, their investors, and the consumer brands sourcing palm oil grown on PT SIL’s plantations.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Audio: Rhett Butler on how sound can save forests and top rainforest storylines to watch in 2019
- On today’s episode, we welcome Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler to discuss the biggest rainforest news stories of 2018 and what storylines to watch in 2019. He also discusses a new peer-reviewed paper he co-authored that looks at how bioacoustics can help us monitor forests and the wildlife that call forests home.
- This year marks the 20th anniversary since Rhett Butler founded Mongabay. Subscribers to our new Insider Content Program already know the story of how he founded Mongabay.com two decades ago in his pajamas. At first, Mongabay was a labor of love that Rhett pursued in his spare time, after coming home from his day job.
- Mongabay has come a long way since then, with more than 350 contributors covering 50 countries and bureaus now open in India, Indonesia, and Latin America. Overseeing this global environmental news empire provides Rhett with a wealth of insight into the science and trends that are shaping conservation.
Christmas ad conundrum: Is a palm oil boycott the way to save apes?
- British supermarket chain Iceland attempted to run a television advertisement highlighting the link between palm oil and the destruction of the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.
- Deemed too political to air due to its links with campaigning group Greenpeace, the advertisement has been viewed online more than 70 million times, reigniting a debate on whether consumers should boycott products containing palm oil.
- Many wildlife NGOs argue that calling for a blanket ban on palm oil could do more harm than good. Instead, they urge concerned consumers to pressure the industry to clean up its practices.
- However, critics of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the industry’s leading standards council, say RSPO-certification has so far failed to stamp out deforestation and other harmful practices among member companies.
RSPO walks back suspension of Nestlé
- The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil announced this week it would reinstate the membership of Nestlé.
- Nestlé was suspended from the RSPO last month after failing to pay dues and submit progress reports.
- “Nestlé has pledged to step up their efforts in working actively on solutions within the RSPO system, via active participation,” RSPO chief Darrel Webber said in a statement announcing the decision.
Solution to ocean’s plastic waste problem ‘starts with product design’
- Solutions aimed at tackling the problem of plastic in the ocean need to focus on the design of plastic products, a group of researchers said at the ESOF18 conference in Toulouse, France.
- Some of the proposed solutions, such as those aimed at gathering plastic rubbish at sea with nets, are “concerning,” chemist Alexandra Ter Halle said, as they could also harm marine life.
- Though plastics themselves do pose significant dangers to marine life, plastic products can also help to limit our environmental footprint, marine biologist Richard Thompson said, so we should find ways to make them reusable and easily recyclable.
Rhino poop gives villagers in India a conservation incentive
- Elrhino company uses the fiber from rhino dung, along with other locally available products, to produce high-end paper products.
- The founders of the company aim to help preserve India’s greater one-horned rhinos by giving villagers a financial incentive to help protect the species.
- The company employs local residents to collect rhino waste, to work in the paper factory, and to produce decorations for its paper products.
Palm oil firms using ‘shadow companies’ to hide their links to deforestation: report
- A new report highlights the use of opaque corporate structures by some of the world’s largest palm oil firms, allegedly to conceal their ties to destructive practices such as rainforest and peatland clearance.
- The report focuses on Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. The firms it flags include Sawit Sumbermas Sarana, Gama, Bintang Harapan Desa, and the Fangiono, Tee, and Salim family business groups.
- Also last week, Martua Sitorus, co-founder of palm oil giant Wilmar International, resigned from the firm after he was shown to be running a second firm, Gama, with his brother that has cleared an area of rainforest twice the size of Paris since 2013. Wilmar promised to stop deforesting that same year.
- “We are particularly concerned about this ‘shadow company’ issue as it really threatens NDPE policies, by allowing growers to continue to deforest, and allowing them to still find a market with companies with [zero-deforestation] policies,” said a researcher who worked on the report.
A most unlikely hope: How the companies that destroyed the world’s forests can save them (commentary)
- In the age of Trump, lamenting the lassitude of governments may be satisfying, but it does little to solve our planet’s foremost existential crisis. It is for this reason that the hopes of billions of people now depend on the very companies most responsible for environmental destruction.
- We’ve come to a pretty sorry pass if we’re depending in significant measure on these corporations to get us out of this mess. But it’s the pass we’re at, and there’s actually reason to hope that the same companies that got us into this mess can get us out.
- In this commentary, Mighty Earth CEO Glenn Hurowitz writes that he feels confident these companies can make a difference because they’ve done it before.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Commercial values are a key driver of Zero Deforestation policies (commentary)
- Zero Deforestation Policies (ZDPs) are mostly developed in response to campaigns and motivated by risk management and protection of commercial values, a new enquiry finds, although personal and company values do factor in.
- ZDP implementation often focuses on integrating commercial values, reflecting a “quick-fix” approach.
- Personal and company values have high potential to influence ZDP implementation, especially when people are genuinely committed to the purpose. People can be genuinely committed when they relate the ZDP to their own personal values or to company values, which they identify with and feel empowered to act on.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Private sector leaders seek to ramp up investment in sustainable landscapes with help of public partners
- At the Global Landscapes Forum’s third investment case symposium, held at the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, top investors, business leaders, and policymakers gathered to present their efforts and advice on how to build a critical mass of work that will lead to a stronger investment case for sustainable landscapes and restoration.
- Over 200 people attended the symposium to discuss ways to speed up the pace of financial investments aimed at creating more resilient, fair, profitable, and climate-friendly landscapes. Conversations, disagreements, and challenges arose over how to combine efforts that will lead to lasting change.
- Accounting for natural capital, putting a price on carbon, and processes to secure land tenure rights emerged as key issues.
Certified weaknesses: The RSPO’s Liberian fiasco (commentary)
- On February 13, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, the industry certification system for production of conflict-free palm oil, confirmed what many in Liberia’s rural Sinoe County have been saying all along: Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL), a palm oil company operating since 2010, did not properly receive the consent of local communities to acquire their traditional lands.
- The charges against GVL are not new. The first complaint filed against GVL with the RSPO came in 2012. Over the years, multiple civil society reports have documented GVL’s land grabbing, human rights violations, and environmental degradation. In 2015, a riot erupted on GVL’s plantation. Six years and various investigations by the RSPO later, the situation for these communities is largely the same.
- It’s striking that, given the resources and responsibilities of both the company and the certification body, neither GVL nor the RSPO had chosen to communicate with these communities about the remedies GVL was directed to pursue by the RSPO. This begs the question: What is the value of corporate commitments and industry standards if those messages never reach the people they intend to benefit, let alone are translated into tangible actions?
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Do environmental advocacy campaigns drive successful forest conservation?
- How effective are advocacy campaigns at driving permanent policy changes that lead to forest conservation results? We suspected this might be a difficult question to answer scientifically, but nevertheless we gamely set out to see what researchers had discovered when they attempted to do so as part of a special Mongabay series on “Conservation Effectiveness.”
- We ultimately reviewed 34 studies and papers, and found that the scientific evidence is fairly weak for any claims about the effectiveness of advocacy campaigns. So we also spoke with several experts in forest conservation and advocacy campaigns to supplement our understanding of some of the broader trends and to fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge.
- We found no evidence that advocacy campaigns on their own drive long-term forest conservation, though they do appear to be valuable in terms of raising awareness of environmental issues and driving people to take action. But it’s important to note that, of all the conservation interventions we examined for the Conservation Effectiveness series, advocacy campaigns appear to have the weakest evidence base in scientific literature.
How deforestation risks for investors can become opportunities for conservation (commentary)
- Deforestation can damage a company’s reputation and business performance, presenting a real risk for investors.
- Recent research showcases examples of how companies have suffered from failing to properly manage deforestation-related issues. Impacts include multi-million dollar fines, loss of key customers, falling share prices, and even liquidation.
- Investors and companies can reduce these risks by adopting, implementing, and transparently reporting on credible zero-deforestation policies, and joining partnerships to improve production in key landscapes.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Red Cloud’s Revolution: Oglalla Sioux freeing themselves from fossil fuel
- Henry Red Cloud, like so many Oglalla Sioux young men, left the reservation to work in construction. When he returned home in 2002, he needed a job, and also wanted to make a difference. He attended a solar energy workshop and saw the future.
- Today, Red Cloud runs Lakota Solar and the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center, which have become catalysts for an innovative new economic network – one that employs locals and connects tribes, while building greater energy independence among First Nations.
- The company is building and installing alternative energy systems, and training others to do the same, throughout remote areas of U.S. reservations, thus allowing the Sioux and others to leap past outdated fossil fuel technology altogether.
- Henry Red Cloud’s company has another more radical purpose: it helps provide energy to remote Water Protector camps, like the one at Standing Rock protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Solar power and other alternative energy sources are vital at such remote sites, as they power up cellphones, connecting resistors to the media and outside world.
Bridgestone aims for full sustainability by 2050
- Bridgestone is the world’s largest tire and rubber manufacturer.
- The company joins Pirelli and Michelin in committing itself and its suppliers to a sustainable supply chain by 2050.
- The move could be particularly beneficial in places like Cambodia, where deforestation has closely tracked the global price for rubber.
Zero-deforestation pledges need help, support to meet targets, new study finds
- The study’s authors reviewed previous research to understand the impact that zero-deforestation commitments are having on reducing the loss of forests.
- Nearly 450 companies made 760 such commitments by early 2017.
- These pledges can reduce deforestation in some cases, but in others, they weren’t effective or had unintended effects, according to the study.
- The authors advocate for increased public-private communication, more support for smallholders, and complementary laws that support these pledges.
Companies still not doing enough to cut deforestation from commodities supply chains: report
- The latest “Forest 500” rankings are out from the Global Canopy Programme (GCP), and the main takeaway is that the global companies with the most influence over forests still aren’t doing enough to cut tropical deforestation out of their supply chains.
- Just five companies improved their policies enough over the last year to score a perfect five out of five in the 2017 rankings. Commitments to root deforestation out of timber and palm oil supply chains did increase, according to the report, but less than one-fourth of the Forest 500 companies have adopted policies to cover all of the commodities in their supply chains.
- Progress among financial institutions also continues to be sluggish, the GCP’s researchers found, with just 13 financial institutions scoring four out of five and 65 scoring zero. No financial institutions have received the maximum possible score.
Can the Solomon Islands’ Gold Ridge Mine serve as a new model for resource extraction in the South Pacific?
- After 17 years of foreign ownership and a checkered environmental history, the Solomon Islands’ Gold Ridge mine is now being led by a local landowner-driven joint venture.
- The company saw its first major test in April 2016, when rainfall triggered a spillover from the mine’s tailing dam. However, independent tests found the water quality downstream remained safe.
- Though concerns still remain, the new ownership structure could be a model for mining operations elsewhere in the region.
Major global companies commit to halting destruction of Brazilian Cerrado
- Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon remains historically low. But much of the agricultural development that didn’t occur in the Amazon, it turns out, was simply shifted over to the Cerrado, a vast and highly biodiverse tropical savannah that is the second-largest ecoregion in Brazil.
- In response to the enormous scale of destruction in the Cerrado, more than 40 Brazilian environmental organizations co-signed the Cerrado Manifesto this past September to “call for immediate action in defense of the Cerrado by companies that purchase soy and meat from within the biome.”
- Twenty-three global companies, including Carrefour, Marks and Spencer, McDonald’s, Nestle, Unilever, and Wal-Mart, responded to that call to action on Wednesday by issuing a statement saying that they “support the objectives defined in the Cerrado Manifesto and commit to working with local and international stakeholders to halt deforestation and native vegetation loss in the Cerrado.”
CETA: environmentally friendly trade treaty or corporate Trojan horse?
- As early as September 21st, the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) could come into provisional effect, linking international commerce between Canada and all of the nations in the European Union (EU).
- Supporters claim CETA includes new mechanisms that make it a blueprint for future trade treaties, chief among them the replacement of the controversial Investor State Dispute System (ISDS), with the new investor court system (ICS).
- Opponents argue CETA’s rules guarantee numerous benefits for foreign investors and transnational corporations, while the agreement includes no enforceable rules to guarantee labor rights, environmental protection or food safety. “Profit comes before people and the planet,” argues one expert.
- Though it could come into provisional effect as early as this week, big roadblocks remain before CETA is fully approved, with resistance possible from the public, NGOs and government.
Greater collaboration between companies and governments necessary to enhance climate action, report finds
- A new report released by the NGOs Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Forest Trends (FT) last week consists of case studies on how companies are working with the governments of Brazil and Indonesia, which together accounted for nearly 40 percent of total tropical deforestation in 2014, to achieve their shared goals around forests and the climate.
- The authors of the report write that greater collaboration between corporations, governments, and other stakeholders is crucial to actually meeting climate change mitigation goals: “Considering the common goals of companies, governments, and multi-stakeholder initiatives, it is imperative to identify opportunities for collaboration to harness synergies between initiatives and catalyze action.”
- In Brazil, for instance, several companies that have adopted Zero Deforestation Commitments are also collaborating with the government and NGOs in initiatives like Mato Grosso state’s Produce, Conserve, Include (PCI) program, which aims to decrease deforestation levels, boost reforestation efforts, and push for more sustainable agricultural and livestock production.
Charcoal and cattle ranching tearing apart the Gran Chaco
- The year-long probe of Paraguay’s charcoal exports by the NGO Earthsight revealed that much of the product was coming from the Chaco, the world’s fastest-disappearing tropical forest.
- Suppliers appear to have reassured international supermarket chains that it was sustainable and that they had certification from international groups such as FSC and PEFC.
- But further digging by Earthsight revealed that the charcoal production methods used may not fit with the intent of certification.
- Several grocery store chains mentioned in the report have said they’ll take a closer look at their supply chains, and the certification body PEFC is reexamining how its own standards are applied.
Transforming business as usual in Indonesia: an interview with Aida Greenbury
- Aida Greenbury is the former Chief Sustainability Officer at Asia Pulp & Paper, a forestry giant with extensive operations in Indonesia.
- Greenbury was the lead internal architect for APP’s 2013 forest conservation policy, which is today one of the most ambitious zero deforestation commitments in the plantation sector.
- Greenbury left APP in May and is today working on collaborative initiatives to protect and restore ecosystems.
Industry-NGO coalition releases toolkit for making ‘No Deforestation’ commitments a reality on the ground
- Numerous companies involved in the global palm oil supply chain, from producers and traders to consumer companies that use the commodity in their products, have adopted Zero Deforestation commitments — but pledging to address the deforestation and human rights abuses associated with palm oil supply chains is one thing, while making those commitments a reality on the ground is another.
- Companies have said they need more support from governments of tropical forest nations to make their Zero Deforestation commitments a reality, citing a maze of administrative and regulatory frameworks across palm oil producing countries as hampering their efforts.
- The new HCS Approach Toolkit might help address this very issue, however, as it is intended to standardize the methodology for protecting tropical forests and identifying suitable landscapes for the sustainable production of palm oil.
- The revised HCS Approach Toolkit lays out the fundamental elements of a methodology for protecting high carbon stock (HCS) forests and other high conservation value (HCV) areas such as peatlands. Simply achieving “no deforestation” is not the only goal of the revised HCS Approach, though.
Conserving Congo’s wild places on a shoestring
- The park operates on a budget so small they can hardly afford to patrol the 76,000 hectares (188,000 acres) of mangroves, waterways, beach and ocean.
- Though the beach and savannah portions of the park are partially protected areas, a handful of communities have continuously lived there since long before the park’s creation.
- Park officials and rangers face the difficult task of protecting the vast area with just a handful of rangers and are up against generations of ingrained practices by residents, such as poaching turtles and their eggs.
Governments must do more to help companies end deforestation in commodities supply chains, companies say
- Fern conducted interviews with and policy reviews of 15 companies, from major consumer-facing companies like IKEA, Nestlé, and Unilever, to producers and traders such as APP (Asia Pulp and Paper), Cargill, Golden Agri-Resources, and Sime Darby.
- One overriding message emerged, Fern reports: companies see government policies and actions — or lack thereof — as one of the main obstacles to cleaning up their supply chains.
- Many companies view the governments of countries where commodities production occurs as having a crucial role to play in “creating an enabling framework of rules, regulations and effective administration without which private sector commitments to tackle deforestation can only have limited impact,” the report states.
World Bank exits controversial Angostura goldmine project in Colombian moorland
- The IFC (International Finance Corporation) is the lending arm of the World Bank and had long backed the Eco Oro project in the Santurbán moorlands.
- Colombia has 34 moorlands, including Santurbán, that provide the vast majority of freshwater to the country’s residents.
- A new Colombian law that prohibits mining in moorlands, followed by an independent audit, led to the IFC’s divestment.
Clothing giant VF Corporation adopts sustainable forestry policy
- The policy, announced late last month, lays out purchasing guidelines for materials that go into the company’s clothing and packaging, especially wood pulp, paper, and wood-based fabrics like rayon and viscose.
- It also commits VF Corp to using products made with recycled fiber whenever possible, and to promoting the use of Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper and fiber when sourcing virgin materials.
- VF Corp owns such brands as The North Face, Timberland, Vans, and Wrangler, and is said to be the largest clothing conglomerate in the United States, with 2016 revenues topping $12 billion.
HSBC to stop financing deforestation-linked palm oil firms
- A recent Greenpeace report accused the bank of marshalling $16.3 billion in financing for six firms since 2012 that have illegally cleared forests, planted oil palm on carbon-rich peat soil and grabbed community lands.
- The investigation prompted scores of people to join a campaign to change the bank’s policies, including thousands of HSBC’s own customers.
- The bank’s new policy requires HSBC customers to commit to protecting natural forest and peatland by June 30, and provide independent verification of their own NDPE commitments by Dec. 31, 2018.
Environmental costs, benefits and possibilities: Q&A with anthropologist Eben Kirksey
- The environmental humanities pull together the tools of the anthropologist and the biologist.
- Anthropologist Eben Kirksey has studied the impact of mining, logging and infrastructure development on the Mee people of West Papua, Indonesia, revealing the inequalities that often underpins who benefits and who suffers as a result of natural resource extraction.
- Kirksey reports that West Papuans are nurturing a new form of nationalism that might help bring some equality to environmental change.
Proposed Trump policy threatens Critically Endangered Grauer’s gorilla
- The largest great ape, Grauer’s gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) has nearly disappeared in the past two decades. Numbers have plummeted by 77 percent; perhaps 3,800 remain. This animal, dubbed “the forgotten gorilla” because it was so little studied and was absent from most zoos, is in serious danger of extinction.
- Their slaughter was precipitated by the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s bloody civil war and by mining for coltan and tin ore, “conflict minerals” used in cell phones, laptops and other electronics. Gorillas are heavily poached by armed militias, miners, and less often, by refugees: the animals are being eaten nearly to extinction.
- The gorillas could suffer greater harm from warlords and miners if President Trump signs a proposed presidential memorandum leaked to Reuters. It would allow US companies to buy conflict minerals freely without public disclosure, likely increasing mining in the Congo basin — and poaching.
- Trump’s plan would nullify the current US Conflict Mineral Rule, passed with bipartisan support in 2010 and enacted as part of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Dodd Frank Act. Meanwhile, conservationists are hopeful that the Grauer’s gorilla can be saved — but only with a DRC and planet-wide response.
Deforestation-free commodities represent a major investment opportunity: Report
- Agricultural commodities — especially beef, palm oil, soy, and pulp and paper — have become an increasingly important driver of deforestation over the past couple decades, particularly in the tropics.
- While there’s a lot of work left to be done, WEF and TFA 2020 see momentum building toward a sea change in the global supply chain for these much-in-demand commodities.
- Overcoming the barriers to sustainable production of the big four commodities and supporting the transition to deforestation-free supply chains represents an investment opportunity that will “roughly total US$ 200 billion annually” by 2020, per the report.
Norway starts $400-million fund to halt deforestation, help farmers
- Norway contributed $100 million, and other donors are expected to contribute the balance of the $400-million commitment by 2020.
- The World Economic Forum figures that the financing will help protect 5 million hectares of peatland and forest.
- Small-scale farmers should receive support through the fund to increase their yields while avoiding further deforestation and degradation.
Want to be a responsible palm oil firm? Follow these reporting guidelines
- Ceres, Oxfam, Rainforest Alliance and WWF are among the groups behind the guidelines.
- Some of the guidelines describe how companies should map and name their suppliers, disclosing the locations of their own operations as well as those of the firms they buy from.
- How companies can ensure they aren’t grabbing community lands are another focus of the guidelines.
Study finds that carbon finance is not a one-size-fits-all solution to deforestation
- Ashwin Ravikumar, an environmental social scientist at The Field Museum in Chicago and the study’s lead author, led a team of researchers that looked at the the potential of eight landscapes in four countries around the world to generate carbon revenues.
- The results varied widely: Potential revenue from carbon storage or emissions reductions were significant in some landscapes, such as the peat forests of Kalimantan, Indonesia, but much less significant in other areas, like the low-carbon forests of Zanzibar and the interior of Tanzania.
- In other words, the team found that carbon-based payments for conservation, whether they’re delivered through markets or other mechanisms, are appropriate in some places but not in others — which calls into question the practicality of many conservation programs that rely on expectations of future revenue from carbon finance.
Private capital investments in conservation have taken off since 2013
- Conservation investing has undergone a period of dramatic growth over the past two years, the NGO Forest Trends found, as the total amount of private capital committed to conservation efforts since 2004 climbed 62 percent after 2013, from $5.1 billion to $8.2 billion.
- Investments in sustainable food and fiber account for the vast majority of total funds committed, some $6.5 billion. Meanwhile, $1.3 billion went to habitat conservation initiatives, and investments in efforts to improve water quality or quantity totaled another $400 million.
- Among for-profit investors, half expect returns of 10 percent or more, according to Forest Trends’ report, meaning that conservation investments are apparently performing well compared to traditional investment strategies.
HSBC financing tied to deforestation, rights violations for palm oil in Indonesia
- HSBC has helped several palm oil companies accused of community rights violations and illegal deforestation pull together billions in credit and bonds, according to research by Greenpeace.
- The bank has policies that require its customers to achieve RSPO certification by 2018 and prohibiting the bank from ‘knowingly’ engaging with companies that don’t respect sustainability laws and regulations.
- Greenpeace contends that HSBC, as one of the world’s largest banks, should commit to a ‘No deforestation, no peat, no exploitation’ policy and should hold its customers accountable to the same standard.
‘Racing against time’ to save the taguá and its vanishing Chaco home
- Taguá are one of three peccary species living in the Americas and are the only ones found nowhere else but the Gran Chaco.
- Scientists say that the Chaco is disappearing at an alarming rate – with nearly a million hectares of tree cover loss as recently as 2008 – due in large part to soy cultivation and cattle ranching.
- The destruction of the taguá’s habitat, along with hunting, have caused its numbers to drop, say scientists, far below the estimated 5,000 alive during the 1990s.
Consumer pressure to ditch deforestation begins to reach Indonesia’s oil palm plantation giants
- Four of Indonesia’s top 10 oil palm growers have improved sustainability practices due to pressure from buyers since June 2015.
- But not all have changed their ways. At least one grower has found new customers that haven’t promised to eliminate practices like deforestation from their supply chains.
- Several major palm oil users with strong sustainability policies continue to buy from the worst of these 10 growers.
Study looks at positive and negative impacts of biodiversity offsets on local communities
- Biodiversity offsets enjoy a wide range of support. In 2010, the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) agreed to promote biodiversity offsets as a means for businesses to effectively manage biodiversity issues associated with their development projects, and the IUCN approved a biodiversity offset policy at its World Conservation Congress earlier this year.
- The efficacy of biodiversity offsets in achieving “no net loss” or even “net positive increase” in wild fauna and flora populations has been the subject of much scrutiny, but the same cannot be said of the impacts of biodiversity offsets on local communities.
- New research shows that local people might actually be suffering negative consequences from these offsets, however.
Palm oil giant defends its deforestation in Gabon, points to country’s ‘right to develop’
- Singapore-headquartered Olam International is the subject of a new report by NGOs Mighty and Brainforest that alleges forest destruction by the company in Gabon.
- Olam counters that it is only expanding into Gabon’s least valuable forested lands and that the clearance is necessary for Gabon to pull itself out of poverty.
- The debate raises questions about what it means for a country to develop sustainably, and whether deforestation should be seen as a means to that end.
- Olam has also released a list of its palm oil suppliers in response to the NGOs’ allegations that the firm is a “black box” that buys and sells palm oil linked to deforestation and human rights abuses.
Companies are underestimating the risks of deforestation in their commodities supply chains
- London-based non-profit CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, released a report earlier this month, produced on behalf of 365 investors representing $22 trillion in funds, that analyzes data disclosures by 187 companies regarding their deforestation risk management strategies.
- Despite the significant share of their income that is dependent on cattle products, palm oil, soy, and timber products, just 42 percent of the companies surveyed by CDP have evaluated their supply chains in order to determine how their growth strategies for the next five years will be impacted by the availability or quality of those raw materials.
- In its third annual ranking of what it calls the “Forest 500,” the UK-based think tank Global Canopy Programme (GCP) determined that, given the current rate of progress, ambitious deforestation targets for 2020 and 2030 such as those committed to by the Consumer Goods Forum and signatories to the New York Declaration on Forests, aren’t likely to be met.
American retirement funds contribute to deforestation and climate change
- Last July, two US-based NGOs, Friends of the Earth and As You Sow, launched a “transparency tool,” called Deforestation Free Funds, to help investors find information on which global mutual funds have holdings in palm oil producers with links to deforestation.
- As of June 2016, Friends of the Earth and As You Sow said in a statement, U.S. mutual funds had a net investment of more than $5 billion dollars in palm oil producers.
- A focus of the groups’ campaign is one of the largest investment firms in the U.S., TIAA (formerly known as TIAA-CREF), which manages retirement funds for many academic and cultural institutions, from museums and universities to nonprofits and unions.
If you’re in the U.S., your ramen noodles might become a lot safer for forests
- Scott Paul, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Forest Heroes Campaign, says that instant ramen noodles contain more palm oil by weight than any other product on the market. That means that ramen noodles are having a major impact on rainforests.
- But it looks like that’s about to change, at least when it comes to ramen in the U.S. In September, AAK, a producer of “value added vegetable oils” headquartered in Sweden, acquired California Oils, a major supplier of palm oil in the United States.
- AAK subsequently announced that its No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation (NDPE) palm oil sustainability policy will be applied to its new subsidiary — which supplies palm oil to the manufacturers of as much as 84 percent of the ramen noodles sold in the U.S.
Seven African countries pledge to protect their tropical forests from unsustainable oil palm development
- Together, those seven countries comprise more than 250 million hectares (about 618 million acres) of tropical forest, 70 percent of the tropical forests in Africa and 13 percent of the world’s total.
- Global demand for palm oil has skyrocketed over the past several years, and Africa is expected to be the next big expansion opportunity for the industry.
- Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, co-chair of the International Indigenous People’s Forum on Climate Change, the indigenous peoples’ caucus to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said the declaration would protect the livelihoods of local and indigenous communities.
Are global commodities producers living up to their climate promises?
- A new report by Amsterdam-based research think tank Climate Focus and a coalition of 12 other research organizations and civil society groups examines the progress made so far on implementing supply chain commitments to meet the second of ten goals laid out in the 2014 New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF).
- Goal two of the NYDF calls on companies to end deforestation associated with the production of key agricultural commodities. Halting deforestation is one of the key tactics embedded in the Paris Climate Agreement for drawing down the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
- The Climate Focus report analyzes 600 companies involved in the production of the “big four” globally traded commodities — cattle, palm oil, soy, and wood — and finds that progress is being made, but calls the pace of progress too gradual.
Nearly $1 billion in forest carbon finance committed in 2015
- Those funds will remove the equivalent of 87.9 million metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, roughly equal to the annual emissions of Chile, according to the Washington, D.C.-based NGO Forest Trends.
- Some $173 million in new forest finance flowed through the world’s carbon markets in 2015, a new Forest Trends report states, including $88 million on the international voluntary market as well as $10 million and $63 million brought in by the compliance markets in New Zealand and California, respectively.
- Governments and multilateral institutions committed another $126 million in non-market payments contingent on verifiable results through another approach known as “payments for performance” — but forest carbon finance is still falling short of what’s needed.
Airbus to marshal its satellites against deforestation
- Starling is a new service developed by Airbus, The Forest Trust and SarVision.
- Palm oil suppliers can use it to verify their compliance with their customers’ zero-deforestation policies.
- Starling, which will be sold to companies, is meant as a compliment to Global Forest Watch, a publicly available platform that anyone can use to track deforestation in near-real time.
- Starling is more powerful than Global Forest Watch, with the ability to see through clouds and zoom in close enough to count the trees.
How to use the Bloomberg Terminal for advocacy work: advanced tools
- The Bloomberg Terminal offers users real-time access to global news, financial data, and analytics tools.
- Historically, only for-profit financial organizations have used the Bloomberg Terminal, but the advocacy community could be leveraging its vast resources to enact change.
- Part 3 of a three-part series on using the Bloomberg Terminal in advocacy work explains some of the terminal’s advanced tools.
Failure of Indonesia’s palm oil commitment ‘not bad news’ [commentary]
- The Indonesian Palm Oil Pledge (IPOP) was a sustainability commitment signed by Indonesia’s biggest palm oil exporters in 2014.
- Scott Poynton, the founder of The Forest Trust (TFT), argues that the disbandment of IPOP is no big loss to conservation.
- He says companies are pressing forward with their own sustainability initiatives.
- This post is a commentary — the views expressed are those of the author.
Some global brands are getting creative to lower their carbon footprints
- According to a new report by the NGO Forest Trends, 314 companies — nearly 20 percent of the 1,896 companies that publicly disclosed their 2014 emissions data to CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) last year — were engaged in the purchase or sale of carbon credits to manage their emissions.
- The majority of them — some 248 companies — purchased offsets, defined as a metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent.
- Another 79 companies are offset originators, meaning they create carbon credits by reducing the emissions from their own operations or supply chains in order to meet voluntary or compliance emissions reduction targets, or simply because they wanted to sell those offsets to other companies.
Cargill suspends new purchase agreements with Malaysian palm oil giant IOI
- Cargill is the latest palm oil user to take action against IOI Group after its sustainability certification was suspended by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil earlier this year.
- Three of IOI’s subsidiaries in Indonesian Borneo are alleged to have cleared rainforest without the proper government permits, operated on carbon-rich deep peat soil, and used fire to clear land cheaply — practices not uncommon in an industry rife with illegality.
- Until its suspension, IOI was one of the biggest suppliers of RSPO-brand “Certified Sustainable Palm Oil.”
Bunge joins ranks of palm oil users to sanction Malaysia’s IOI
- In March, IOI lost its sustainability certification from the world’s largest association for ethical palm oil production over allegations of environmental destruction in its Indonesian operations.
- Since then, a number of IOI’s customers have moved to disengage with the supplier.
- Among Bunge’s demands is for IOI to issue a more detailed sourcing policy.
Can public-private partnerships preserve the dwindling biodiversity of Lagos?
- In the absence of publicly owned protected areas in Lagos state, a private initiative of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation — the Lekki Conservation Centre — has stepped in to fill the gap.
- As pressures mount on the former federal capital’s biodiversity, there are calls to replicate this effective model.
Under gov’t pressure, palm oil giants disband green pledge
- The members of the Indonesia Palm Oil Pledge, a pact between six palm oil refiners to purge their supply chains of environmental destruction and human rights abuses, announced on Friday they were disbanding the agreement.
- The companies — Wilmar International, Cargill, Golden Agri-Resources, Asian Agri, Musim Mas and Astra Agro Lestari — feared being investigated by Indonesia’s anti-monopoly agency, according to the leaked transcript of a recent meeting between the firms.
- NGOs condemned the decision as a setback for the movement to clean up the palm oil industry, whose rapid expansion is eating away at Indonesia’s rainforests and dispossessing indigenous peoples.
Did mining company drive 3 species to extinction?
- Limestone hills often harbor species that are found nowhere else in the world.
- By quarrying limestone hills for raw materials, cement companies are invariably destroying the only habitat of many snails, wiping out entire species at one go, conservationists allege.
- Conservationists are fairly confident that at least three species of snails on Gunung Tenggek and Gunung Sagu are now extinct due to quarrying activities by YTL Cement and other cement companies.
What are South Sumatrans doing to prevent another haze crisis?
- Residents are still digging canals to drain peatlands, which dries out the soil and makes it prone to burning in the dry season.
- Villagers near pulp and paper supplier PT Bumi Mekar Hijau’s concession, much of which burned last year, say they are upset with the company.
- A small number of residents have been enlisted to serve as part of a Fire Care Community Group to patrol the area, but a local official says it needs to be expanded.
Malaysian palm oil giant IOI under pressure after Cargill ultimatum
- Cargill said that unless IOI issues a new sourcing policy and sustainability plan by July 15, it will stay away from new contracts with the company.
- Environmental advocates called Cargill’s declaration “disappointing and essentially meaningless” because IOI has already committed to zero deforestation.
- Other multinational palm oil users have already cut supplies from IOI.
Cathay Pacific bans shark fin shipments
- Airline Cathay Pacific joined a growing number of air carriers to ban shipments of shark fin.
- More than 30 passenger airlines ranging from American Airlines to Emirates have banned shark fin cargo.
- Tens of millions of sharks are killed each year for their fins.
In unprecedented move, Michelin adopts zero deforestation for rubber sourcing
- Michelin Group, one of the world’s three largest tire companies, has just adopted a zero deforestation policy for its rubber sourcing.
- The move is significant because rubber is a major driver of tropical forest destruction through the conversion of natural forests for plantations.
- Forests in West Africa and Southeast Asia have been particularly hard hit by the commodity’s production.
- Activist groups had been slow to target rubber relative to other commodities like soy, palm oil oil, timber, and wood-fiber.
Tracking assets for environmental advocacy work with Bloomberg
- Historically, only for-profit financial organizations have used the Bloomberg Terminal, but the advocacy community could be leveraging its vast resources to enact change.
- Part 2 of a three-part series on using the Bloomberg Terminal in advocacy work explains how to track companies’ assets, such as palm oil and other commodities.
- Tracking assets could enable advocacy groups to expose companies that fail to meet pledges to improve the sustainability of the products they source, among other tactics.
Can conservationists overcome their differences to save life on Earth?
- Conservation, Divided is an in-depth series investigating how the field of conservation has changed over the last 30 years — and the challenges it faces moving into an uncertain future.
- The series explores how the world’s biggest conservation groups have embraced a human-centric approach known as “new conservation” that has split the field over how best to save life on Earth.
- It also investigates the role of big money in pushing conservation agendas, and the field’s changing relationship with people living in areas targeted for conservation.
- Jeremy Hance reported the Conservation, Divided series over the course of eight months. Stories ran weekly in April and May, generating intense interest from readers.
Epilogue: Conservation still divided, looking for a way forward
- Ideas promoted under a new philosophy in conservation that focuses on nature’s service to humanity merit continued trial and a fair hearing, Hance writes, but they also require ongoing scrutiny.
- Likewise, Hance writes that the world’s biggest conservation groups, which have embraced the new philosophy, have made major achievements in recent years. But widespread dissatisfaction with their methods within the conservation community means they, too, deserve questioning.
- Conservation, Divided is an in-depth four-part series investigating how the field of conservation has changed over the last 30 years — and the challenges it faces moving into an uncertain future. Hance completed the series over the course of eight months. Stories ran weekly between April 26 and May 17.
Conservation today, the old-fashioned way
- There used to be one way to do good conservation: save a species and protect some land or water. But as the human population has exploded, the atmosphere warmed, the oceans acidified, and the economy globalized, conservation has, not surprisingly, shifted.
- In Part 3 of Conservation, Divided, veteran Mongabay reporter Jeremy Hance explores how some conservationists are continuing to focus on traditional methods, even as the field shifts around them.
- Conservation, Divided is an in-depth four-part series investigating how the field of conservation has changed over the last 30 years — and the challenges it faces moving into an uncertain future. Hance completed the series over the course of eight months. Stories are running weekly between April 26 and May 17.
How important is corporate social responsibility to building a green economy?
- A new study published in Sustainable Development found that governments and civil society have a large role to play, to be sure, but building a green economy relies in many ways on the core business philosophies of the relevant private sector players.
- Researchers surveyed more than three hundred firms in five different Caribbean countries that are pursuing green economy initiatives: Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and Trinidad & Tobago.
- They found a clear trend emerging, regardless of country or economic sector — namely, that firms that embrace sustainability as a core business philosophy are, perhaps unsurprisingly, the most dependable partners in building a truly sustainable economy.
How to use the Bloomberg Terminal for advocacy work: the basics
- The Bloomberg Terminal offers users real-time access to global news, financial data, and analytics tools.
- Historically, only for-profit financial organizations have used the Bloomberg Terminal, but the advocacy community could be leveraging its vast resources to enact change.
- Part 1 of a three-part series on using the Bloomberg Terminal in advocacy work explains the basics.
Malaysian palm oil companies say their concession maps are state secrets
- In the name of transparency, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil agreed in 2013 to release the concession maps of its grower members.
- Companies in Indonesia and Malaysia, the largest palm oil-producing countries, have resisted the dictum for various reasons, and the maps remain unpublished.
- NGOs want the maps so they can better monitor companies’ operations, which are often linked to deforestation, social conflict and wildfires in tropical countries.
How big donors and corporations shape conservation goals
- In Part 2 of Conservation, Divided, veteran Mongabay reporter Jeremy Hance explores how major donors at foundations, governments, and corporations are pushing conservation groups to adopt a human-centric approach known as “new conservation” that some critics say leaves wildlife and wild lands out in the cold.
- Meanwhile, cozy relationships with environmentally destructive corporations have prompted long-running arguments that some of the world’s biggest conservation groups have lost sight of their environmental missions. Yet big conservation and corporations are closer than ever.
- Conservation, Divided is an in-depth four-part series investigating how the field of conservation has changed over the last 30 years — and the challenges it faces moving into an uncertain future. Hance completed the series over the course of eight months. Stories are running weekly between April 26 and May 17.
Has big conservation gone astray?
- In Part 1 of Conservation, Divided, veteran Mongabay reporter Jeremy Hance explores how the world’s biggest conservation groups have embraced a human-centric approach known as “new conservation” that has split the field over how best to save life on Earth.
- Neither side of the debate disagrees that conservation today is failing to adequately halt mass extinction. But how to proceed is where talks break down, especially when it comes to the importance of protected areas and the efficacy of the biggest, most recognizable groups.
- Conservation, Divided is an in-depth four-part series investigating how the field of conservation has changed over the last 30 years — and the challenges it faces moving into an uncertain future. Hance completed the series over the course of eight months. Stories will run weekly through May 17.
Grim forecast for paper giant’s wood supply raises deforestation fears
- Asia Pulp & Paper spent decades eating through Indonesia’s vast rainforests. Then in 2013, it promised to stop logging natural forests and rely on plantation timber exclusively.
- The company’s huge new mill in Sumatra, though, will require vast quantities of wood when it starts operating this year.
- A new NGO report suggests the company will have to resume deforestation or risk shattering financial losses. APP has dismissed those concerns, promising to import wood chips if needed.
Conservation, Divided: in-depth series starts Tuesday
- Conservation, Divided is an in-depth four-part series investigating how the field of conservation has changed over the last 30 years — and the challenges it faces moving into an uncertain future.
- Veteran Mongabay reporter Jeremy Hance completed the series over the course of eight months.
- Conservation, Divided launches next Tuesday, April 26. Stories will run weekly through May 17.
NGOs and oil-palm growers team up to help orangutans, but progress is slow
- Rescuing orangutans from plantations and moving them to protected lands has long been the conservation approach in response to rapid deforestation and plantation development in Borneo.
- Increasingly, conservationists insist that commercial interests should share the burden of conserving orangutans by creating “high conservation value” forest enclaves on their properties.
- Industry, through the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, is starting to make progress on this issue. But some NGOs, grown impatient, have started working directly with companies to protect orangutans on oil-palm plantations in Borneo.
- Even there, however, progress remains slow.
Study finds link between RSPO certification and profitability for palm oil companies
- Certification by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil was found to increase a palm oil company’s profitability, according to a study commissioned by the RSPO.
- The findings are a boost for the RSPO, which has continuously grappled with industry claims that its certification schemes burden oil palm growers while providing few tangible benefits.
- Jan Willem van Gelder, director of the consultancy Profundo, was positive about the findings, saying they show that sustainability has an impact on profitability.
Malaysian palm oil giant loses 7 more customers over RSPO suspension
- IOI Group was suspended recently from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil over allegations of deforestation, peatland conversion and rights abuses in its supply chain.
- As a result, IOI’s customers are beginning to look elsewhere for palm oil, which is used in everything from snack food to soap and cosmetics.
- Greenpeace wants IOI to “introduce an immediate moratorium on all plantation development across its supply chain.”
Companies asked to pitch in to Indonesia’s peat restoration drive as early fires flare in Sumatra
- Twenty-two hotspots were spotted in Riau province on Thursday, with rain expected to quell them in mid-April.
- Central Kalimantan province, the worst-hit of last year’s fire and haze crisis, continues to suffer an urgent shortage of doctors, a local politician said.
- A prominent NGO official called on Jakarta to establish a dedicated agency to see through the all-important One Map initiative.
Unilever, Kellogg, Mars drop palm oil giant IOI over RSPO suspension
- Malaysia’s IOI was suspended from the RSPO over violations of the roundtable’s sustainability standards in Borneo.
- Since then, IOI’s customers have moved to cancel contracts with the conglomerate, to date one of the major suppliers of RSPO-brand “Certified Sustainable Palm Oil.”
- IOI has submitted an action plan for RSPO reinstatement.
Malaysian palm oil giant IOI suspended from RSPO
- IOI Group’s membership was frozen on Friday over three of its operations in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province.
- Some say the move could affect the company’s bottom line.
- IOI has generally denied the allegations against it, which include operating without the required permits, using fire to clear land, clearing rainforest and deep peat, and more.
Indonesia’s oil palm maps remain hidden from public view. Why?
- In 2013, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil promised to publish its growers’ concession maps.
- That hasn’t happened, but the RSPO has pledged to make good on its commitment this year.
- Not everyone is on board with the initiative, however, and some doubt it will come to fruition. The public’s ability to monitor the industry hangs in the balance.
15 Bornean rhinos discovered in Kalimantan?
- For decades, the Sumatran rhino was thought to be extinct in Indonesian Borneo, or Kalimantan.
- Then in 2013, scientists there found traces of the critically endangered species.
- Now, the Indonesian government has pledged to convert the area, a former mining site, into a rhino sanctuary.
Greenpeace rates consumer goods giants’ no-deforestation progress
- Greenpeace released a scorecard on 14 companies’ progress eliminating deforestation from their supply chains.
- Nestle and Ferrero scored the highest; Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson & Johnson and PepsiCo scored the lowest.
- Most of the companies don’t plan to be deforestation-free until 2020, which betrays a lack of urgency, the NGO contends.
Market-based conservation programs slow deforestation in Chile, study finds
- In recent years, eco-certification, moratoria, and other so-called non-state, market-driven governance regimes have become a common approach to reducing deforestation.
- However, data on the effectiveness of these programs has been limited.
- A new study analyzing three such programs in Chile finds that the more collaboration between industry and environmental groups a program entails, the more successful it may be.
Indonesia’s peat peninsula being drained into oblivion, study finds
- The practices of agribusiness are causing the Kampar Peninsula to sink below flooding levels, according to a new report by the consultancy Deltares.
- 43.4% of the peatlands on the carbon-rich peninsula have been drained and converted to acacia plantations, mainly by APRIL, and also by Asia Pulp & Paper.
- APRIL disputes the notion that its practices aren’t sustainable, arguing that it has worked hard to protect the remaining forest there.
Indonesia could collaborate with RSPO, official study finds
- A new study reveals how the government’s sustainable palm oil scheme, ISPO, might work with the industry-led Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.
- The study, sanctioned by the government and the RSPO. identifies similarities and differences between the two certification schemes.
- The RSPO has higher environmental standards than ISPO, but ISPO is mandatory for all Indonesian growers.
Is this Malaysian palm oil firm still destroying forest in Borneo — and selling to Wilmar?
- A Greenomics report finds deforestation in the supply chain of Genting Plantations, a supplier of Wilmar International.
- Wilmar, the world’s largest palm oil trader, has promised to eliminate deforestation from its supply chain.
- The allegations raise questions about the kind of monitoring Wilmar is doing to enforce its commitment.
How can banks spur the palm oil industry toward sustainability?
- Banks are starting to come up with ways to encourage sustainability in the palm oil sector, whose unbridled expansion is fueling deforestation and rights abuses across the world.
- Still, the nascent green finance industry faces a number of obstacles as it seeks to expand its influence.
- These include a lack of transparency with regard to company ownership, misguided valuations of palm oil enterprises, and more.
The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund just announced a groundbreaking human rights policy
- Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) manages the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global, which has funds invested in some 9,000 companies in 75 countries.
- As far as NBIM is concerned, the responsibility to respect human rights applies to all companies.
- NBIM outlined its expectation that companies not only integrate their human rights policies into their operations, but that they also report on their human rights performance on a regular basis and establish grievance mechanisms for individuals and communities impacted by their operations.
How are NGOs innovating to reach palm oil financiers and companies?
- NGOs are increasingly engaging in dialogue with palm oil companies.
- To get through to financiers, some NGOs present their arguments in terms of material risk.
- However, some still some feel that there still exists a gap between activists and the finance world.
Do poor environmental practices affect palm oil firms’ bottom lines on a scale meaningful for investors and financiers?
- Big companies generally don’t see environmental noncompliance as a major economic risk.
- That’s because they tend to think about their business in the short term, rather than in the long term, where most environmental issues come into play.
- The material impacts of environmentally unsustainable practices can also be hard to quanify.
What’s preventing palm oil investors from going green?
- Green investment could make the palm oil industry more sustainable, but a variety of obstacles are preventing it from becoming more prevalent.
- A lack of expertise, the structural issue of short-termism, and a lack of proven materiality all keep funds from flowing toward sustainable operations.
- Additional issues specific to palm oil exist as well.
Do palm oil financiers care about sustainability?
- Sustainable finance has been touted as a solution to the palm oil industry’s links with forest destruction and rights abuses.
- The movement’s progress, however, has been hampered by the difficulty of measuring the environmental impact of things like green loans and bonds.
- Mongabay spoke to experts in the field to investigate how much investors and financiers in the palm oil sector care about their clients’ sustainability.
Companies Pledge $140 Billion Toward Resolving Climate Change
More than a dozen leading U.S. companies have committed to investing a total of $140 billion in new funds to combat climate change in a White House-organized effort.
Corporations rush to make zero-deforestation commitments, but is it working?
Tropical rainforests are being destroyed at an alarming rate as they’re converted into palm oil plantations and other commodity forests. It’s hoped that corporate zero-deforestation pledges are helping reverse that trend. Photo credit: Jeremy Hance. Every year, more companies pledge to stop using ingredients whose production cause tropical deforestation. Retailers and brands making voluntary commitments […]
Do we need to move ‘beyond certification’ to save forests?
Over the past two years dozens of companies have established “zero-deforestation” or “deforestation-free” policies for the commodities they source, trade, and produce. The pace of adoption has been staggeringly fast for a business that have been historically slow-moving relative to other industries. Some sectors, like the Indonesian palm oil industry and the Brazilian soy industry, […]
Palm oil giants to investigate company found razing Papuan rainforest
Global Forest Watch image showing the region in West Papua where the clearing took place Agribusiness giants Cargill and Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) are pledging to investigate a palm oil supplier after an Indonesian environmental group presented evidence of rainforest clearing in New Guinea. On Thursday, Greenomics-Indonesia released a report documenting destruction of forests in South […]
PepsiCo, Walmart, investors call for stronger palm oil standard
Forest cleared for an oil palm plantation in Sarawak, Malaysia. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Major global brands and a network of activist investors have joined together to call on the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to adopt stronger criteria to eliminate deforestation from palm oil supply chains. The call, put out Monday in […]
South African Airways bans all wildlife trophies from flights
Wildlife trophy room. Photo by: Fabio Venni/Creative Commons 2.0. Trophy hunters may need to find another flight home, as South African Airlines (SAA) has announced a new ban on any wildlife trophies from their flights. “Hunting of endangered species has become a major problem in Africa and elsewhere with the depletion to near extinction of […]
Indonesian forestry giant calls for stronger forest moratorium
Peat forest canopy in Riau, Indonesia. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), an Indonesian forestry giant that was once one of the biggest targets for environmentalists for its logging practices, has joined a growing chorus of voices calling for a stronger moratorium on deforestation and policies that enable companies to support […]
Archer Daniels Midland to demand suppliers stop chopping down forests
While deforestation for soy production in the Brazilian Amazon has slowed since the establishment of a deforestation moratorium in 2006, clearing for soy has increased sharply in recent years in the Bolivian Amazon; Paraguay’s Chaco, a dry forest ecosystem; and Brazil’s cerrado, a savanna woodland. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland […]
Forestry giant’s zero deforestation commitment put to test
First of its kind audit of world’s largest pulp and paper producer yields mixed results Arara Abadi acacia plantation near Pekanbaru, Riau, Sumatra. All photos by Rhett A. Butler. An independent audit of the world’s largest pulp and paper producer found that the company had achieved a wide range of results in meeting promises to […]
Brazil’s soy moratorium dramatically reduced Amazon deforestation
Deforestation for soy in the Brazilian Amazon and cerrado. Data from Gibbs et al 2015, photo by Rhett A. Butler. Click image to enlarge. The moratorium on forest conversion established by Brazilian soy giants in 2006 dramatically reduce deforestation for soy expansion in the Amazon, and have been more effective in cutting forest destruction than […]
A landmark year for forests (commentary)
About one year ago today, I was pretty down. It was Thanksgiving night, and the Forest Heroes campaign, which I chair, had been running a big global campaign to persuade Wilmar International, Asia’s largest agribusiness company, to eliminate deforestation and human rights abuse throughout its enormous supply chain. After four trips to Singapore in the […]
Fashion industry making progress in cutting deforestation from clothing
Pulp and paper plantation in Sumatra. Photo by Rhett Butler. Several more clothing companies have committed to eliminate fiber produced via destruction of endangered forests, adding momentum to a zero deforestation movement within the fashion sector, argues a new report published by Canopy, an environmental non-profit. This week Canopy announced Levi Strauss & Co., Marks […]
Despite high deforestation, Indonesia making progress on forests, says Norwegian official
Norwegian ambassador to Indonesia Stig Traavik commutes to the office by bike every day. Jakarta’s poor air quality pushes many residents to wear face masks on a daily basis. Despite having a deforestation rate that now outpaces that of the Brazilian Amazon, Indonesia is beginning to undertake critical reforms necessary to curb destruction of its […]
Cargill commits to zero deforestation across entire global supply chain: all commodities
Destruction of rainforest in Malaysia for palm oil production. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Cargill, one of the world’s largest agricultural companies, has extended its zero deforestation commitment for palm oil to all commodities it produces. The commitment, announced Tuesday at the United Nations Climate Summit in New York, is the most far-reaching zero deforestation […]
Krispy Kreme, Dunkin’ Donuts to cut palm oil linked to deforestation
Fire burning on an oil palm plantation in Malaysia Two of the world’s largest doughnut brands this week committed to sourcing safeguards that move them toward eliminating deforestation from their palm oil supply chains. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (NYSE:KKD) and Dunkin’ Brands (NASDAQ:DNKN) — the owner of Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, both announced policies that go […]
Plantation companies agree to process to define zero deforestation commitments
Deforestation for oil palm in Sumatra A group of palm oil and timber companies that have pledged to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains have agreed to establish a standard for determining what constitutes “forest” in terms of carbon storage. Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), Cargill, Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), Golden Veroleum Liberia, Wilmar, Agropalma and […]
Scientists name new endangered species after the company that will decide its fate
Aerial view of cement quarry and limestone hill home to a number of species found nowhere else including a new snail. Photo by: Ong Poh Teck/Basteria. Scientists have discovered a new snail species on a limestone hill near a cement quarry in Malaysia, which as far as they know lives nowhere else in the world. […]
ConAgra adopts greener palm oil policy
Forest conversion for an oil palm plantation in Sumatra, Indonesia. Photos by Rhett Butler. U.S. food giant ConAgra has adopted a new sourcing policy that will exclude palm oil produced at the expense of rainforests and peatlands. The policy, signed last week, comes in response to a shareholder activism campaign led by Green Century Capital […]
Cargill to cut off suppliers who don’t provide deforestation-free palm oil
Most palm oil is produced from a species of African palm that is now grown widely across Southeast Asia. The crop’s high productivity makes it the most profitable form of agricultural land use in the tropics. Agricultural giant Cargill, America’s largest palm oil importer, will no longer buy palm oil from sources associated with deforestation, […]
New palm oil sustainability manifesto met with criticism from environmentalists
Oil palm fresh fruit bunches in Aceh, Indonesia. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. This week several palm oil giants — Sime Darby Plantation, Musim Mas Group, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad (KLK), IOI Group Corporation Bhd, Cargill and Asian Agri/APICAL — announced new environmental criteria for palm oil production. The companies, which have long been targeted […]
APP won’t acquire companies that continue to destroy forests
APP supplier concession in Riau Province Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) will not acquire companies that continue to destroy forests, according to a new procedure for association introduced by the Indonesian forestry giant. The procedure, developed after months of consultations with NGOs, effectively closes a loophole some environmentalists feared would allow APP to sidestep its […]
APP: Indonesia needs a new business model
Aida Greenbury, Asia Pulp & Paper’s Managing Director Sustainability, says Indonesia needs to work toward a model that encourages forest protection. An APP acacia timber plantation in Riau. In response to news that Indonesia has now surpassed Brazil as the world’s top deforester, the head of sustainability at one of Indonesia’s biggest forestry companies is […]
Greenpeace rates companies’ zero deforestation commitments
Greenpeace has released a basic rating system to gauge the strength of companies’ zero deforestation commitments related to palm oil sourcing. The rating system, dubbed the Tiger Challenge, incorporates five metrics: a zero deforestation commitment, supply chain traceability, timelines for achieving palm oil sustainability goals, transparency, and implementation. The activist group says it reached out […]
Singapore: companies must accept responsibility in addressing haze crisis
Thick smog blankets Singapore’s skyline on 06/18/2013 when the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI), Singapore’s main index for air pollution, hit record levels. © Ferina Natasya / Greenpeace. Corporations will have to step up as better stewards of the environment if Southeast Asia’s haze crisis is to be addressed, said Singaporean officials during a meeting held […]
Oxfam: Despite zero deforestation pledges, big food companies remain weak on climate commitments
Oxfam notes that the combined emissions from the Big 10 are greater than those from Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway) and would rank as “the 25th most polluting country in the world.” Despite several high profile pledges to phase deforestation out of their supply chains, big food and drink companies still aren’t doing […]
Zero-deforestation commitments pose acute challenges for commercial giants in the palm oil industry
Nothing can ruin the intensely enjoyable experience of digging into a spoonful of the delectable hazelnut spread, Nutella, than turning over the can to examine its ingredient list. Right there, front and center, is palm oil: its production directly imperils Critically Endangered orangutans, among thousands of other species. But attempts to regulate palm oil production […]
Ag giant ADM boosts greener palm oil
Oil palm plantation in Riau on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Photos by Rhett Butler. Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) will join a growing list of companies committing to stricter standards for palm oil production as part of an effort to reduce environmental damage and social conflict associated with the crop. In a statement released yesterday, […]
APP commits to conserve, restore 1M ha of Indonesian forest; WWF pledges support
- Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), Indonesia’s largest pulp and paper company and a long-time target of environmental campaigners, has committed to protect and restore a million hectares of forest across Indonesia.
- The pledge, which represents an area equivalent to the total plantation area from which it sourced pulp in 2013, was immediately welcomed by WWF, which until today has remained one of APP’s staunchest critics.
Cargill commits to zero deforestation, but environmentalists have questions
Oil palm fruit. All photos by Rhett Butler. After years of criticism from environmental groups, Cargill says it will establish policies to eliminate deforestation, peatlands conversion, and social conflict from its palm oil supply chain. But activists aren’t yet sure what to make of the agribusiness giant’s pledge. On Tuesday Cargill released a letter it […]
Procter & Gamble, Cargill pledge to cut deforestation linked to palm oil
Deforestation for oil palm in Riau, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Photo by Rhett Butler. Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Cargill today announced new measures to cut deforestation from their palm oil supply chains. P&G (NYSE:PG), a consumer products giant that owns brands like Head & Shoulders and Oil of Olay, pledged to establish […]
Grocery giant commits to zero-deforestation policy for palm oil sourcing
Chopping down rainforests and orangutan habitat for palm oil production in Malaysia Safeway has become the latest company to establish a policy that excludes deforestation-linked palm oil from its products. Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY), the second biggest U.S. grocery chain, made the commitment in response to a shareholder proposal by the New York State Common […]
General Mills, Colgate-Palmolive announce deforestation-free policies for palm oil sourcing
Environmentalists say greener palm oil is better for orangutans, whose habitat in Malaysia and Indonesia is being rapidly destroyed for oil palm plantation. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Two consumer products giants have joined the wave of companies committing to deforestation-free palm oil. On Monday General Mills and Colgate-Palmolive both announced palm oil policies that […]
Indian food giant to source deforestation-free palm oil
Rainforest destruction for palm oil production in Malaysia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Orkla, a Nordic conglomerate that owns MTR Foods, one of India’s major food companies, has established a zero deforestation policy for the palm oil it sources, reports Greenpeace. Orkla’s policy commits it to full traceability and bars palm oil produced via forest […]
Will zero deforestation commitments save Indonesia’s forests?
This is an expanded version of A New Leaf in the Rainforest: Longtime Villain Vows Reform, which ran on Yale e360 last week. This story was originally developed in January and finalized in February. Fragment of peat forest amid a landscape of land cleared for plantations in Riau, Indonesia in February 2014. All photos by […]
Progressive palm oil group opens door to companies, NGO’s adopting zero deforestation policies
Clearing for oil palm in Riau Province, Indonesia. The Palm Oil Innovation Group (POIG), an alliance formed last year, has opened its doors to new members who commit to social and environmental safeguards that go beyond the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) eco-certification standard. Founding members of POIG include three palm oil producers — […]
Snickers, Twix to be deforestation-free
Concession owned by PT Multi Persada Gatramegah (PT MPG), a subsidiary of Musim Mas company, a palm oil supplier to Procter and Gamble in Muara Teweh, North Barito, Central Kalimantan. Mars, Inc., the maker of M&M’s, Snickers, Twix, and a variety of other food products, has committed to a zero deforestation policy for the palm […]
After GAR expands policy, over 50% of world’s palm oil bound by zero deforestation commitments
Oil palm plantation in Borneo. Over half the world’s palm oil traded internationally is now bound by zero deforestation commitments after Singapore-based Golden-Agri Resources (GAR) extended its forest conservation policy across all palm oil it produces, sources and trades. In a filing posted Friday Singapore Stock Exchange, GAR announced its breakthrough forest conservation policy — […]
APP, environmentalists talk future of Indonesia’s forests
Indonesian pulp and paper giant talks forest conservation policy with critics Lafcadio Cortesi, Rainforest Action Network (RAN); Scott Poynton, The Forest Trust (TFT); Bustar Maitar, Greenpeace; Rhett Butler, Mongabay; Aida Greenbury, APP; Aditya Bayunanda, WWF-Indonesia; and Neville Kemp, Ekologika. Photo by Aji Wihardandi of Mongabay-Indonesia. In February 2013, one of the world’s most notorious forestry […]
In Girl Scouts vs. Kellogg’s over palm oil, rainforests and orangutans win
Deforestation in Riau, Sumatra. After a campaign waged by two charismatic Girl Scouts over questionably-sourced palm oil used in Girl Scout Cookies, Kellogg Company today announced a policy that will move it toward deforestation-free palm oil. Under the commitment, Kellogg’s suppliers will have to meet specific sourcing criteria by the end of 2015. “Kellogg will […]
Rainforest news review for 2013
- 2013 was full of major developments in efforts to understand and protect the world’s tropical rainforests.
- The following is a review of some of the major tropical forest-related news stories for the year.
- As a review, this post will not cover everything that transpired during 2013 in the world of tropical forests. Please feel free to highlight anything this post missed via the comments section at the bottom.
Hershey commits to zero deforestation for palm oil
In an effort to avoid palm oil linked to deforestation, candy giant Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) will source 100 percent of its palm oil from traceable sources by the end of 2014. The commitment, announced Tuesday, comes on the heels of a similar pledge from Unilever, the world’s largest corporate consumer of palm oil, and a […]
Ongoing deforestation reported in Borneo concession held by APP supplier
Up to 1,400 hectares of forest have been cleared in a concession belonging to an Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) supplier in Borneo, potentially putting the company in breach of the forestry giant’s zero deforestation commitment, reports a coalition of local NGO’s. In a report released Tuesday, Relawan Pemantau Hutan Kalimantan (RPHK), a coalition of […]
Big data shows tropical mammals on the decline
Harnessing big data for conservation. The world’s largest remote camera trap initiative—monitoring 275 species in 17 protected areas—is getting some big data assistance from Hewlett-Packard (HP). To date, the monitoring program known as the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) Network has taken over 1.5 million photos of animals in 14 tropical countries, but conservationists […]
World’s biggest palm oil company makes zero deforestation commitment
- Wilmar, the world’s largest palm oil trader and a long-time target of environmentalists, has signed a landmark policy that commits the company to eliminate deforestation from its supply chain.
- The deal, if fully implemented, has the potential to transform the palm oil industry, which has emerged over the past decade as one of the world’s most important drivers of tropical forest destruction.
Green investors urge companies to clean up palm oil industry
Deforestation for an oil palm plantation in Malaysian Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. A coalition of investors and asset managers is urging stakeholders in the palm oil industry to adopt policies that exclude deforestation and human rights violations from their supply chains. The call, coordinated by Green Century Capital Management, was issued in the […]
Greener palm oil on the horizon?
Deforestation for palm oil production in Malaysia A group of environmental activists, conservation groups, and palm oil producers officially announced a new initiative that aims to showcase best practices in the palm oil industry, demonstrating that palm oil can be produced without social conflict, conversion of peatlands, or destruction of wildlife-rich forests. The Palm Oil […]
Aiming to avoid deforestation, Unilever to trace all palm oil it sources
In a move that represents a significant development for efforts to reduce the environmental impact of palm oil, consumer products giant Unilever today announced it will be able to trace all of the palm oil it sources by the end of 2014. The policy is notable because at present few major companies know where the […]
World’s biggest companies lay out path toward zero-deforestation commodities
With a backdrop of fires raging across oil palm and timber plantations in Sumatra, business and political leaders convened in Indonesia to discuss a path forward for producing deforestation-free commodities by 2020. The gathering in Jakarta was the first meeting of the Tropical Forest Alliance 2020, a public-private push to implement the zero deforestation target […]
U.S. govt has role to play in stopping commodity-driven deforestation
The U.S. government could play a key role in breaking the link between commodity production and greenhouse gas emissions associated with tropical deforestation, argues a new report released by seven environmental groups. The report, titled Breaking the Link between Commodities and Climate Change, looks at the opportunity to address deforestation by targeting four commodities that […]
Microsoft puts price on carbon, buys credits from forest conservation project
Microsoft is “offsetting” some of its greenhouse gas emissions by buying credits generated by a forest conservation project in Kenya. According to TJ DiCaprio, Microsoft’s Senior Director of Environmental Sustainability, the technology giant’s carbon neutrality program is supporting the Kasigau REDD+ Project, an initiative that protects 200,000 hectares of dry forest that forms a wildlife […]
International Paper commits to working with longtime foe to protect endangered forests
In another sign that the global paper industry may be steering toward more sustainable practices following years of bruising activist campaigns and pressure from buyers, International Paper (IP) has committed to identifying and protecting endangered forests and high conservation value areas in the southern U.S. The company, which is the world’s largest paper maker, will […]
Nordic energy giant launches ‘no deforestation’ policy
Neste Oil, a Finnish energy giant, has announced a new “no deforestation” policy [PDF] for sourcing palm oil. The company, which is one of the world’s largest buyers of palm oil, had faced criticism from environmentalists for purchasing palm oil potentially linked to rainforest and peatland destruction in southeast Asia. Under the new policy, Neste […]
Can we meet rising food demand and save forests?
Mongabay.com is partnering with the Skoll Foundation ahead of the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship to bring a series of perspectives that aim to answer the question: how do we feed the world and still address the drivers of deforestation? HOW DO WE FEED THE WORLD AND STILL ADDRESS THE DRIVERS OF DEFORESTATION? Soy, […]
U.S. book industry using 24 percent recycled paper on average
Deforested peat forest in Indonesian Borneo. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. From 2004 to 2010, book publishers increased their use of recycled fiber by nearly five times, from 5 percent to 24 percent on average, according to a new report by the Book Industry Environmental Council (BIEC) and Green Press Initiative. The report, which depends […]
APP conservation policy came after it pulped most of its forests
Asia Pulp & Paper’s widely heralded forest conservation policy came after the forestry giant had already cleared nearly all of the legally protected forests within its concessions in Sumatra, alleges a new report published by Greenomics, an Indonesian environmental group. The report, published Monday, is based on analysis of Ministry of Forestry data and satellite […]
Indonesian palm oil giant launches conservation pilot project
Oil palm plantation and forest in Borneo Golden Agri-Resources, one of the largest palm oil producers in Indonesia, is launching a pilot program designed to protect forests within its concession areas that have high carbon stock and those most important for conservation. Greenpeace Indonesia, which has long urged the company to adopt more sustainable practices, […]
Norway’s wealth fund dumps 23 palm oil companies under new deforestation policy
Norway’s $700 billion pension fund continues to divest from companies linked to tropical deforestation, selling stakes in 23 palm oil producers last year, reports Rainforest Foundation Norway, an activist group that has led the campaign for divestment. The move by the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) — the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund — […]
Gucci launches ‘zero-deforestation’ handbag
Green Gucci handbags. Courtesy of Gucci Gucci has rolled out a collection of ‘zero-deforestation’ handbags. Each handbag comes with a “passport” that provides the history of the product’s supply chain going back to the ranch that produced the leather. The line emerged out of concerns that leather in the fashion industry is contributing to deforestation […]
The corporate conservation revolution
Mongabay.com is partnering with the Skoll Foundation ahead of the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship to bring a series of perspectives that aim to answer the question: how do we feed the world and still address the drivers of deforestation? HOW DO WE FEED THE WORLD AND STILL ADDRESS THE DRIVERS OF DEFORESTATION? Soy, […]
Is APP deal a sign of a changing forestry sector?
Asia Pulp & Paper’s Anti-Deforestation Pledge: Sign Of A Changing Industry? Indonesian Dipterocarp rainforest. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), one of the world’s largest paper companies, announced earlier this month that it will no longer cut down natural forests in Indonesia and will demand similar commitments from its suppliers. The […]
100 companies disclose their forest impact
Rainforest in Borneo 100 companies have reported on the impact of their operations on the world’s forests. The Forest Footprint Disclosure Project released its fourth annual report this week. The report includes 100 companies that have voluntarily disclosed their “forest footprint”, up from 87 last year. First time reporters include Colgate-Palmolive Co., Groupe Danone, Gucci […]
Norway’s $650B pension fund to require deforestation disclosure among portfolio companies
Borneo rainforest. Photo by Rhett Butler. Norway’s $650 billion sovereign wealth fund will ask companies in which it invests to disclose their impacts on tropical forests, as part of its effort to reduce deforestation, reports Reuters. The move could usher in broader reporting on the forest footprint of operations and boost eco-certification initiatives. In a […]
Disney drops paper suppliers linked to deforestation
Deforestation in Sumatra. Photo courtesy of RAN. Disney this week announced sweeping changes to its paper-sourcing policy that will exclude fiber produced via the destruction of tropical rainforests. The policy comes in response to a campaign by the Rainforest Action Network, an environmental activist group that had targeted Disney for its lack of safeguards to […]
New contest seeks for-profit efforts to save rainforests
Rainforest in the Malaysian state of Sabah, Borneo. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Switzerland has kick-started a new contest to award innovative ideas devoted to protecting tropical forests. Focusing on for-profit enterprises, the Tropical Forest Challenge will reward the best idea, startup, and company as nominated by the public […]
KFC-Indonesia suspends purchases from Asia Pulp & Paper due to deforestation, says Greenpeace
The Indonesian arm of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has suspended purchases from Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) due to concerns over deforestation, says Greenpeace, which is campaigning to reform the paper giant’s forestry practices and fiber sourcing policy. “Following a first meeting between KFC Indonesia and Greenpeace, KFC Indonesia has issued a statement to address […]
IKEA logging old-growth forest for low-price furniture in Russia
Destroyed old-growth forest with piles of timber on land leased by IKEA/Swedwood in Russian Karelia. Photo © Robert Svensson, Protect the Forest 2011. A new campaign is targeting IKEA, the world’s biggest furniture retailer, for logging old-growth forests in the Karelia region of Russia. An alliance of groups, headed by the Swedish NGO Protect the […]
Palm oil giant to produce 100% segregated, RSPO-certified palm oil
100 percent of New Britain Palm Oil Limited’s palm oil will be eco-certified, segregated, and fully traceable by the end of the year, reports the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The move is the first such commitment for a palm oil major. It positions the company for sales in premium markets where consumers are […]
Cambodia suspends economic land concessions
A portion of Virachey National Park as viewed by Google Earth in Cambodia. Last year Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, approved a 9,000 hectare (22,200 acre) rubber plantation inside the park as apart of the government’s economic land concessions. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced today that Cambodia would be temporarily suspending new economic land […]
Featured video: How to save the Amazon
The past ten years have seen unprecedented progress in fighting deforestation in the Amazon. Indigenous rights, payments for ecosystem services, government enforcement, satellite imagery, and a spirit of cooperation amongst old foes has resulted in a decline of 80 percent in Brazil’s deforestation rates. A new video Hanging in the Balance by the Skoll Foundation […]
For Earth Day, 17 celebrated scientists on how to make a better world
Observations of planet Earth from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on July 11, 2005. Photo by: NASA. Seventeen top scientists and four acclaimed conservation organizations have called for radical action to create a better world for this and future generations. Compiled by 21 past winners of the prestigious Blue Planet Prize, a new paper […]
Whole Foods bans ‘red’ fish from its stores
Octopus will no longer be available at Whole Foods as the fishery has several sustainability problems. Photo by: Bigstock. Whole Foods has announced it will be the first grocery chain in the U.S. to no longer sell any seafood in the “red.” Based on sustainability ratings by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Blue Ocean Institute, […]
Asia Pulp & Paper loses another customer: Danone
Batang River and rainforest in Sumatra. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. French food company, Danone, has suspended all purchases from Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) following a Greenpeace investigation that linked APP to illegal logging of ramin, a protected tree species, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Danone is only the most recent company to […]
Our success in transforming commodity markets will determine nature’s fate
Soy in the Brazilian Amazon The success of governments and big corporations in eliminating environmental degradation from the products we consume will play a critical role in determining the fate of the world’s remaining wild places, said a group of experts speaking at a panel during the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship [related posts]. […]
As world bodies dally, private sector, local governments forge ahead on valuing nature
Shifts in the carbon market, according to Forest Trends. Click image to enlarge Despite slow progress via the U.N. process and other intergovernmental bodies, national governments, municipalities, and the private sector are moving ahead with initiatives to measure and compensate the value of services afforded by ecosystems, said a leading forestry expert speaking on the […]
‘Where’s my mama?’: campaign targets cruel slow loris pet trade [warning: graphic photo]
Slow lorises like this Sunda Slow Loris juvenile (Nycticebus coucang) have their teeth forcibly removed by animal traffickers in the open-air bird markets of Indonesia. The practice is done to either convince buyers that the animal is suitable as a child’s pet or to make people think the animal is an infant. This photo was […]
Surging demand for vegetable oil drives rainforest destruction
Clearing for soy in the Brazilian Amazon Surging demand for vegetable oil has emerged as an important driver of tropical deforestation over the past two decades and is threatening biodiversity, carbon stocks, and other ecosystem functions in some of the world’s most critical forest areas, warns a report published last week by the Union of […]
More big companies disclosing impacts on forests
Largescale clearing of Amazon rainforest for soy fields in Brazil. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. More companies are reporting on the impact of their operations on global forests, finds a new report. Eighty-seven global corporations disclosed their “forest footprint” in 2011, according to the third Forest Footprint Disclosure (FFD), which asks companies to report on […]
Pangolins imperiled by internet trade–are companies responding quickly enough?
You can buy pretty much anything on the internet: from Rugby team garden gnomes to Mickey Mouse lingerie. In some places, consumers have even been able to purchase illegal wildlife parts, such as ivory and rhino horn. In fact, the internet has opened up the black market wildlife trade contributing to the destruction of biodiversity […]
Levi’s new forest policy excludes fiber from suppliers linked to deforestation
Editor’s note: this story has been corrected since originally posted. See the box below for details. Rainforest in Sumatra Levi Strauss & Company had issued a new policy that will exclude fiber from controversial sources from its products. The move will effectively bar Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) as a supplier, according to the Rainforest […]
As Amazon deforestation falls, food production rises
New study associates sharp decline in Amazon deforestation with increase in food production. Soy and forest in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. A sharp drop in deforestation has been accompanied by an increase in food production in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, reports a new study published in the journal Proceedings […]
Palm oil, pulp companies commit to zero-tolerance policy for orangutan killing
Adult male Bornean orangutan. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Two Indonesian plantation companies have signed an agreement to train workers not to kill or injure orangutans and other protected species. The agreement was brokered by the Indonesian government between Orangutan Foundation International (OFI), a non-profit with operations in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, and two major […]
War of words between Greenpeace, Asia Pulp & Paper over deforestation allegations
Forest clearing in the Bukit Tigapuluh Forest Landscape in central Sumatra. Earlier this year Greenpeace launched a report targeting toy-makers for packaging fiber sourced from APP. The centerpiece of the campaign was a spoof of Mattel’s Barbie character. Greenpeace and Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), a giant global paper supplier, are locked in a heated […]
Toymaker Hasbro cuts deforestation from its supply chain
Hasbro, the second largest American toy company, today announced a new packaging policy that excludes the use of fiber produced via destruction of rainforests, reports Greenpeace. The policy requires suppliers of forest products to “demonstrate compliance with all applicable international and national legal requirements for forest management, harvest, manufacturing and trade.” It mandates third party […]
Soy moratorium in Amazon maintaining its effectiveness
The moratorium on clearing Amazon rainforest for soy farms in Brazil appears to be maintaining its effectiveness for a fifth straight year, reports the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (ABIOVE). Forest monitoring undertaken by ABIOVE found soy on 11,698 hectares of forest land deforested after July 2006, the cut-off date for the moratorium. By […]
Toy giant Mattel drops paper from APP and other ‘controversial sources’
The world’s biggest toy-maker Mattel has pledged to overhaul its paper sourcing policies after a hard-hitting campaign from Greenpeace linked the toy giant to rainforest destruction in Indonesia by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP). Today, Mattel pledged to increase the use of recycled paper and sustainably-certified fiber to 70 percent by the year’s end, and […]
Expanding ethanol threatens last remnants of Atlantic Forest
A typical scenario in the Atlantic Forest at the Northeastern Biodiversity Corridor, where forest remants are surrounded by sugarcane plantations. Most of the remaining forest fragments are, on average, smaller than 100 ha. Photo credit: Adriano Gambarini. Aggressively expanding sugarcane ethanol is putting Brazil’s nearly-vanished Atlantic Forest at risk, according to an opinion piece in […]
The glass is half-full: conservation has made a difference
Focused conservation efforts, including reintroduction of captive individuals into the wild, have saved the golden lion tamarin from extinction. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Don’t despair: that’s the message of a new paper in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, which argues that decades of conservation actions at multiple scales have had a positive impact for […]
Taking corporate sustainability seriously means changing business culture
Clare Raybould at the Auckland Zoo where she volunteers. Photo courtesy of Clare Raybould. As more and more people demand companies to become sustainable and environmentally conscious, many corporations are at a loss of how to begin making the changes necessary. If they attempt to make changes—but fall short or focus poorly—they risk their actions […]
Fuji Xerox Australia dumps paper supplier accused of rainforest destruction
Fuji Xerox Australia have severed ties with Asia Pacific Resources International (APRIL), an paper products giant accused of illegally clearing rainforests in Sumatra for pulp and paper production, reports Nine News. Fuji Xerox’s move comes after an exposé aired Tuesday by ABC News, which highlighted a two-year-old investigation into APRIL’s logging practices. That investigation was […]
Ironic conservation: APP touts tiger relocation after allegedly destroying tiger’s home
A female Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) has been relocated from her threatened rainforest home to Sembilang National Park. According to Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) and the Sumatran Tiger Conservation Foundation (YPHS), the tiger had become an issue in its home region due to human and wildlife conflict. The group touted saving the tiger […]
WWF partnering with companies that destroy rainforests, threaten endangered species
A new report finds that conservation giant WWF may demand too little when working with logging companies. Screenshot of WWF website. Arguably the globe’s most well-known conservation organization, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), has been facilitating illegal logging, vast deforestation, and human rights abuses by pairing up with notorious logging companies in a […]
Lego banishes Asia Pulp & Paper due to deforestation link
In response to a campaign by Greenpeace asserting that packaging used for its iconic toy building blocks is contributing to deforestation in Indonesia, the LEGO Group on Thursday announced it is taking steps to reduce the environmental impact of its packaging materials and paper. Denmark-based LEGO said its new policy includes three initiatives: reducing the […]
Apakah Indonesia kehilangan asetnya yang paling berharga?
Berikut ini adalah versi asli satu editorial, berjudul Will Indonesia lose the next oil palm?, yang muncul hari ini di the Jakarta Post. Hutan hujan Indonesia di Kalimantan. Foto oleh Rhett Butler, Maret 2011 Jauh di hutan hujan Kalimantan Malaysia di akhir tahun 1980-an, para peneliti mendapat penemuan luar biasa: kulit dari sejenis pohon rawa […]
Profit, not poverty, increasingly the cause of deforestation
Small-holder deforestation, like this seen in Suriname (left), is being replaced by large-scale deforestation for commercial commodity production, like cattle (right). A new report highlights the increasing role commodity production and trade play in driving tropical deforestation. The report, published by the Union of Concerned Scientists, notes that export-driven industries are driving a bigger share […]
Dutch buy first ‘responsible’ soy sourced from the Amazon
The Dutch food and feed industry has bought the first soy produced under the principles of the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS), a body that aims to bring more socially and environmentally sustainable soy to market. The first 85,000 tons of RTRS certified soy originated from Grupo André Maggi, a Brazilian producer with operations […]
Dengan Moratorium Indonesia menuju pertumbuhan ekonomi rendah karbon
Artikel ini adalah versi asli editorial Tempo. Kalimantan Barat Pada akhir 1980 di pedalaman hutan Malaysia, peneliti menemukan sejenis tanaman yang hidup dirawa gambut yang mengandung serum anti HIV. Selang setahun kemudian, ketika para peneliti itu kembali untuk mengambil contohnya, tanaman tersebut telah raib. Raibnya tanaman tersebut menimbulkan kepanikan untuk segera menyimpan spesimen yang ada […]
Is Indonesia losing its most valuable assets?
- Deep in the rainforests of Malaysian Borneo in the late 1980s, researchers made an incredible discovery: the bark of a species of peat swamp tree yielded an extract with potent anti-HIV activity.
- An anti-HIV drug made from the compound is now nearing clinical trials. It could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year and help improve the lives of millions of people.
- This story is significant for Indonesia because its forests house a similar species. In fact, Indonesia’s forests probably contain many other potentially valuable species, although our understanding of these is poor.
- Given Indonesia’s biological richness — Indonesia has the highest number of plant and animal species of any country on the planet — shouldn’t policymakers and businesses be giving priority to protecting and understanding rainforests, peatlands, mountains, coral reefs, and mangrove ecosystems, rather than destroying them for commodities?
Beaver dam lessens impact of massive oil spill in Canada
Google Earth view of location of Little Buffalo, Alberta near site of oil spill. Yellow line is the Canadian border with the US. The Canadian province of Alberta has suffered its worst oil spill in 35 years with 28,000 barrels of oil (over a million gallons) spilling from a ruptured pipeline operated by Plains Midstream […]
Avon commits to greener palm oil
Destruction of rainforest for oil palm plantations in Sarawak, Malaysia. Courtesy of Google Earth. The beauty products giant Avon will purchase enough GreenPalm certificates to meet 100 percent of its palm oil use. The move means that Avon can claim all of the palm oil it is purchasing is going to support the Roundtable on […]
Pro-deforestation group criticizes palm oil giant for sustainability pact
World Growth International, a group that advocates on behalf of industrial forestry interests, has criticized Golden Agri Resources (GAR), Indonesia’s largest palm oil producer, for signing a forest policy that aims to protect high conservation value and high carbon stock forest and requires free, prior informed consent (FPIC) in working with communities potentially affected by […]
McDonald’s launches new sourcing policy for palm oil, paper, beef to reduce global environmental impact
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) announced a far-reaching sourcing policy that could significantly reduce the fast-food giant’s impact on the environment, including global forests. Yesterday McDonald’s unveiled its Sustainable Land Management Commitment (SLMC), a policy that requires its suppliers to use “agricultural raw materials for the company’s food and packaging that originate from sustainably-managed land”. The commitment will […]
Kellogg switches to ‘greener’ palm oil
Kellogg Company will support greener palm oil production through the purchase of ‘sustainable’ palm oil certificates until it can obtain a segregated, sustainable supply, said the food giant in a statement. The maker of Frosted Flakes® and PopTarts® will offset all of its palm oil consumption through the purchase of GreenPalm certificates, which represent physical […]
Green jeans: big companies start sustainable clothing initiative
Ever wonder how ‘green’ one pair of shoes was over another? Or how much energy, water, and chemicals went into making your pair of jeans? A new effort by over 32 companies, environmental organizations, and social watchdogs may soon allow shoppers to compare not only price and appeal, but sustainability too. Dubbed the Sustainable Apparel […]
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