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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.