Indonesia

As our activists stop rainforest destruction, we want the UK government to take a lead

Posted by ianduff — 13 November 2009 at 5:28pm - Comments

Greenpeace activists shut down an APRIL logging concession yesterday.

Ian is the member of our forests campaigning team dealing with Indonesia.

Yesterday, as Greenpeace activists were preparing to close down the pulp and paper operations of one of Indonesia's biggest forest criminals APRIL, (or 'Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings'), back here in the UK I was just starting a meeting with UK climate minister Joan Ruddock.

What's the connection between our activists in the field, and me in a meeting room in London? Well it certainly wasn't our choice of outfits - they probably wouldn't let me into DECC with a red boiler suit on, and a suit and tie isn't particularly suitable for the Indonesian rainforest.

Article tagged as: DECC, forests, indonesia, joan ruddock, lobbying, REDD

From forests to ashes: fires in Indonesia

Posted by jamie — 24 February 2009 at 10:57am - Comments

Some rather grim images were sent out from our picture desk yesterday. Taken on Sunday by Ardiles Rante, they show the devastation caused by fire in the peatland forests outside Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province in Sumatra. So that's another few thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide sent up into the atmosphere, and seeing photos like these make me realise our ongoing campaign to protect these forests from the ever-expanding palm oil industry is even more essential.

Fire burns through peatland forest in Sumatra, Indonesia

Article tagged as: forest fires, forests, images, indonesia, peatlands, photos, riau, sumatra

Less peatlands, more palm oil, says Indonesian government

Posted by jamie — 20 February 2009 at 1:12pm - Comments

Greenpeace supporters remind Hillary Clinton during her visit to Jakarta to 'cut emissions now'

Volunteers in Jakarta get the climate message to Hillary Clinton's convoy (not pictured) © Greenpeace

Our colleagues in Indonesia have been very busy this week - with visiting foreign dignitaries and an outrageous decree from their own government following in quick succession.

Article tagged as: forests, hillary clinton, indonesia, palm oil, rspo, south east asia

Palm oil tanker gets another visit from Greenpeace

Posted by jamie — 30 December 2008 at 10:27am - Comments

Greenpeace activists paint 'Forest Crime' on the hull of a palm oil tankerRemember the palm oil tanker which the Esperanza prevented from docking in Indonesia last month? That same tanker - the Isola Corallo - arrived in European waters on Christmas Eve en route to Rotterdam, and was met by a group of Greenpeace activists who painted 'Forest Crime' along its hull.

I was on board the Esperanza during that first Indonesian action against the Corallo and it's brilliant to see this tanker - which is carrying 29,000 tonnes of palm oil belonging to Sinar Mas, Indonesia's largest producer - becoming the centre of attention once more here in Europe. It draws a thick line across the globe between the causes of deforestation in Indonesia and demand for products like palm oil on this side of the world.

Read the full story on the Greenpeace South East Asia website and find out more about the Indonesian end of the story in our latest podcast.

Article tagged as: forests, indonesia, netherlands, palm oil, sinar mas

Palm oil companies talk while the rainforests burn

Posted by jamie — 23 December 2008 at 11:23am - Comments

Fire burns through forest in Sumatra, clearing the area for plantations © Greenpeace/Novis

Fire burns through forest in Sumatra, clearing the area for plantations © Greenpeace/Novis

It's been a few weeks since the Esperanza's tour of Indonesia wrapped up with an exhausting but thrilling week of direct action focused on various palm oil tankers, and I've since left those humid equatorial climes to return to a chilly British winter. But even though the ship has moved on to other countries and campaigns, the palm oil campaign continues and in the past few weeks there have been some developments.

The most obvious has been annual meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in Bali - this could have been the moment the industry got its act together and did something other than spin the usual load of greenwash over its involvement in the destruction of south east Asia's rainforests. Sadly, it was not to be. Although our ship painting/blockading actions drew a lot of attention, as did our earlier revelations about United Plantations and their 'sustainable' palm oil, no real progress was made.

Article tagged as: forests, indonesia, palm oil, rspo, sinar mas, south east asia, unilever, wilmar
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