forests

Sinar Mas audit gets lost in the definition of forest

Posted by ianduff — 17 August 2010 at 2:55pm - Comments

This blog first appeared on Ethical Corporation.

Last week saw Sinar Mas, one of the largest conglomerates in Indonesia, come to London for a press conference to try and turn the tables on two years of Greenpeace investigations into their deforestation practices.

The palm oil producer came to explain that they are a responsible company, that they don't destroy rainforests and how the likes of Unilever, Nestlé and Kraft had been mistaken to suspend them from their supply chains.

They claimed a new 'verification exercise' would prove Greenpeace has got it wrong.

Sinar Mas remains a notorious forest destroyer, as its own audit shows

Posted by jamie — 10 August 2010 at 3:48pm - Comments

An important fact about the Sinar Mas group: it is destroying carbon-rich rainforests and peatlands in Indonesia, including endangered wildlife habitat.

If you take away one thing from this post, that's the most important.

Today, the notorious forest destroyer tried to clear its name as it released an audit it commissioned to examine Greenpeace investigations of its oil palm plantations. Ironically, the audit confirms that Sinar Mas has been clearing forests and peatland, but rather than acknowledging this Sinar Mas is trying to hide the audit through a greenwash exercise.

What happened after you left that comment on Nestlé's Facebook page?

Posted by jamie — 10 August 2010 at 10:09am - Comments

Laura from our international office updates on what's been going on since Nestlé's Facebook page went into meltdown.

"Social media: as you can see, we're learning as we go. Thanks for the comments." On 19 March, that was the status message on Nestlé's Facebook fan page - which had already been under siege for three days. The message didn't stay up there for long but it was obviously in recognition of the page administrator's poor handling of the comments and criticisms that had been streaming in since the launch of our KitKat ad spoof.

Those of us following social media/marketing blogs know what happened to Nestlé's online reputation - it quickly became synonomous with words like: "disaster", "kitkatastrophe", "nightmare", "meltdown" and so on. But what did all of those Facebook comments do for Indonesia's rainforests?

Actress Marion Cottilard discovers the problems of the Congo rainforest

Posted by jamie — 6 August 2010 at 11:12am - Comments

In June, Oscar-winning French superstar Marion Cottilard - currently playing in Inception at all good multiplexes - took a trip to the Congo rainforest with Greenpeace campaigners to see for herself the effect that the logging industry is having on the forest and the people who live there.

How Sinar Mas is expanding its empires of destruction

Last edited 29 July 2010 at 10:15am
Publication date: 
29 July, 2010

Sinar Mas group is notorious for its destruction of millions of hectares of Indonesian rainforest, peatland and wildlife habitat. Two divisions within the group lead the destruction: pulp and palm oil. Recently, the group has diversified into coal.

New photographic evidence, aerial monitoring and field analysis details how the Sinar Mas group continues to clear rainforest containing priceless biodiversity - such as orang-utan habitat - and carbon-rich peatlands, despite public promises it has made to clean up its act.

Download the report:

Will notorious forest destroyer Sinar Mas come clean?

Posted by victoria.chan — 29 July 2010 at 9:59am - Comments

Guest blogger Laura Kenyon from our international office reveals the latest evidence we've collected showing how Sinar Mas breaking its own commitments on protecting rainforests and peatlands.

The short answer: not likely.

In fact, not only will they not be likely to come 'clean', but today we are releasing fresh evidence that Sinar Mas's notorious forest-destroying practices continue unabated and in direct violation of the company's own environmental commitments on protecting forests and peatlands.

Amazon soya moratorium renewed for another year

Posted by jamie — 9 July 2010 at 3:23pm - Comments

All is not doom and gloom in Brazil. The soya moratorium, which Greenpeace helped establish in 2006, has been renewed for another 12 months, which means another year of soya traders refusing to do business with farmers growing crops on newly deforested land. In addition, companies like McDonalds, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and the Co-op have reaffirmed their commitment to the moratorium, ensuring that they continue to demand non-Amazon soya at the consumer end too.

There's no denying that the moratorium has been a success. Since it was established four years ago, deforestation rates in the Amazon have decreased while soya yields have increased, showing that (as Paulo Adario from our Brazilian office put it) "production and conservation can go hand in hand".  

With last year's agreement between three of the largest slaughterhouses in Brazil to prevent cattle ranching making further in-roads into the rainforest, we've made great strides in breaking the link between agricultural production and deforestation. But the current attempts to change the forest code could undo much of the success of recent years so there's no rest for the wicked just yet.

'Give APP the boot,' Greenpeace tells PEFC

Last edited 9 July 2010 at 10:56am
9 July, 2010

Greenpeace are asking certification scheme PEFC to stop stalling and drop the under-fire pulp and paper giant APP, who were again exposed earlier this week for pushing orangutans and tigers towards extinction with their destructive logging practices.

PEFC said yesterday that they have asked an auditor to investigate APP, following the publication of a Greenpeace report earlier this week.

HSBC drops shares in forest trashing Sinar Mas

Posted by jamie — 8 July 2010 at 9:21am - Comments

Wahey, you've scored another victory! After receiving nearly 10,000 emails (and seeing some excellent spoof adverts), HSBC has sold its shares in Sinar Mas, one of the worst companies responsible for ripping up the Indonesian rainforest for palm oil and pulp plantations. It's fantastic news (as The Guardian was quick to agree) that has shone a light on the financial side of deforestation. And you made this happen - thanks!

New Amazon forest law comes one step closer

Posted by jamie — 7 July 2010 at 5:27pm - Comments

While the EU has just voted to ban illegal timber, yesterday Brazil came a step closer to severely weakening the forest code which has helped protect the Amazon rainforest for over 70 years. The Brazilian congress approved the plan to amend the legislation, and if it becomes law then the area of the rainforest which can be legally destroyed will dramatically increase.

Paulo Adario and others from our Brazilian office were present and activists protested against a yes vote. There was also plenty of criticism from other concerned parties - environmentalists, rural organisations and legal representatives, for instance - but still the vote passed.

The amended forest code still has to pass several more hurdles before it reaches the statute books, but with each yes vote it becomes more and more likely it will do so. Eventually, it will have to go to the president who can sign it into law or kick it out. Hopefully it won't get that far, but we'll let you know how you can help if and when the time comes.

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