Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Solar Energy News .




FARM NEWS
Greenpeace slams palm oil giant supplying Oreo, Gillette
by Staff Writers
Jakarta (AFP) Oct 22, 2013


Oreo cookies and Gillette shaving cream are among products driving the destruction of Indonesia's forests, Greenpeace said Tuesday, accusing agri-giant Wilmar International of supplying "dirty palm oil" to make the grocery items.

In its report "Licence to Kill", Greenpeace said that Singapore-based Wilmar, the world's biggest palm oil processor, was sourcing its oil from illegally cleared land and destroying the habitat of critically endangered Sumatran tigers.

"Until Wilmar commits to a no-deforestation policy, their trade of palm oil to big household brands... makes consumers unwitting accomplices in the extinction of Indonesia's 400 remaining Sumatran tigers," said head of Greenpeace's Forest Campaign in Indonesia, Bustar Maitar.

Wilmar supplies more than a third of the world's palm oil, according to the company's website, and Greenpeace said Wilmar's oil can be found in Oreo cookies, Gillette shaving cream and Clearasil face wash, among an array of grocery items in more than 50 countries.

The report accused Wilmar of continuing to source palm fruit from plantations on illegally cleared land within Sumatra island's protected Tesso Nilo National Park, prime tiger habitat.

It also called on Wilmar to take responsibility for a fire that hit the permit area of another of its suppliers in June, when blazes swept through Sumatra's forests for weeks, covering Singapore and Malaysia in a blanket of hazardous smog.

Indonesian officials said most fires, which sent high levels of carbon into the atmosphere, were deliberately lit to clear forested land and grow palm oil. Wilmar denied suggestions its supplier had deliberately lit land-clearing fires, saying in a statement the blaze was on a plantation that was likely ignited by surrounding flames.

"We are currently reviewing our business practices, including our sourcing policy, working with certain international supply chain experts," Wilmar spokesperson Lim Li Chuen told AFP.

The company said it had issued "a stern reminder to all staff" of its policy to only source palm fruit grown legally and that any supplier trying to sell illegally grown fruit would be "dropped altogether".

Greenpeace said that around one million hectares of tiger habitat had already been designated by the government for production purposes, urging Wilmar to protects forest that lies within its permit zones.

A forest area designated to a Wilmar subsidiary for production is a crucial corridor for the tiger and other endangered animals to move from one part of the island to another in order to survive, Greenpeace said.

"The challenge is on for Wilmar and its customers to clean up their act," Maitar said.

Wilmar is the latest company to be targeted by Greenpeace, which has taken aim at several high-profile firms and campaigned for responsible consumer spending.

Nestle and paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper have pledged zero-deforestation policies after Greenpeace exposed their unsustainable practices.

The palm oil sector is the largest driver of deforestation in Indonesia, home to around 10 percent of the world's tropical forest, where illegal logging is rampant.

Deforestation in Sumatra has increased the Sumatran tiger's contact with humans, leading to poaching and more tiger attacks, resulting in both tiger and human deaths, Greenpeace said.

The government has suspended the issuance of new land-clearing permits for certain types of forest for more than two years in a carbon-cutting scheme, backing by $1 billion from Norway under a UN scheme.

Indonesian government figures show that land-use change and forest degradation account for 85 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the country. ad/lv/lm

.


Related Links
Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








FARM NEWS
New soil testing kit for third world countries
Madison WI (SPX) Oct 22, 2013
Researchers at the University of Maryland and Columbia University have developed a new soil testing kit designed to help farmers in third world countries. On-the-spot soil testing could have major impact in improving crop yields due to poor soils. The kit contains battery-operated instruments and safe materials for agricultural extension agents to handle in the field. They can test for the ... read more


FARM NEWS
Scientists Identify Key Genes for Increasing Oil Content in Plant Leaves

Ethanol Safety Seminar Planned in Tacoma

US Biodiesel Production Surpasses Set Target for Second Straight Year

AREVA awarded a contract for the construction of a biomass power plant in the Philippines

FARM NEWS
Robot challenge: unload a spacecraft

Armed ground drones to take over battlefields in five years

Michigan Tech Researchers Developing an Artificial Leg with a Natural Gait

Research aims at prosthetic arms with natural-like touch

FARM NEWS
Spain launches first offshore wind turbine

Key German lawmaker: End renewable energy subsidies by 2020

Installation of the first AREVA turbines at Trianel Windpark Borkum and Global Tech 1

Trump's suit to halt wind farm project to be heard in November

FARM NEWS
Engine technology on the road to meeting emissions standards

Beijing to impose odd-even car ban in heavy pollution

GM to launch dual-fuel car in 2014

Safety of in-car WiFi proposal questioned by researchers

FARM NEWS
UMD Researchers Address Economic Dangers of 'Peak Oil'

Uniformity: the secret of better fusion ignition

China media hail Russia ties after $85 bn oil deal

China heads to South America in global energy 'scramble'

FARM NEWS
EU to examine govt aid for UK nuclear deal

India starts up controversial Russia-backed nuclear plant

British nuclear plant deal seen as spur to more development

UN atomic agency suffers 'malware' attack

FARM NEWS
Russia switches Greenpeace piracy charge to 'hooliganism'

US power plant pollution declines 10 percent from 2010

Firms eye power generation in post-Fukushima Japan

South Korean president calls for global energy cooperation

FARM NEWS
Economic Assessment of Mountain Pine Beetle Timber Salvage

Without plants, Earth would cook under billions of tons of additional carbon

A few tree species dominate Amazon

Field Museum scientists estimate 16,000 tree species in the Amazon




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement