{"id":18485,"date":"2018-09-19T00:01:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-19T00:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=18485"},"modified":"2021-12-01T13:51:26","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T12:51:26","slug":"greenpeace-investigation-wilmar-brands-palm-oil-deforestation-indonesia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/press-release\/18485\/greenpeace-investigation-wilmar-brands-palm-oil-deforestation-indonesia\/","title":{"rendered":"World\u2019s biggest brands still linked to rainforest destruction in Indonesia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jakarta, Indonesia &#8211;<b><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Palm oil suppliers to the world\u2019s largest brands, including Unilever, Nestl\u00e9, Colgate-Palmolive and Mondelez, have destroyed an area of rainforest almost twice the size of Singapore in less than three years, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2018\/10\/6d4a29ea-greenpeace_finalcountdown_lowres.pdf\">according to a new investigation by Greenpeace International.<\/a>[1]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Greenpeace International assessed deforestation by 25 major palm oil producers and found that:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">25 palm oil groups had cleared over 130,000ha of rainforest since the end of 2015<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">40% of deforestation (51,600ha) was in Papua, Indonesia &#8211; one of the most biodiverse regions on earth and until recently untouched by the palm oil industry <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">12 brands were sourcing from at least 20 of the palm oil groups: Colgate-Palmolive, General Mills, Hershey, Kellogg\u2019s, Kraft Heinz, L\u2019Oreal, Mars, Mondelez, Nestl\u00e9, PepsiCo, Reckitt Benckiser and Unilever<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wilmar, the world\u2019s largest palm oil trader, was buying from 18 of the palm oil groups<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The investigation exposes the total failure of Wilmar International, the world\u2019s largest palm oil trader, to break its links to rainforest destruction. In 2013, Greenpeace International revealed that Wilmar and its suppliers were <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/archive-international\/en\/publications\/Campaign-reports\/Forests-Reports\/Licence-to-kill\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">responsible for deforestation, illegal clearance, fires on peatland and extensive clearance of tiger habitat<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Later that year, Wilmar announced a groundbreaking \u2018<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wilmar-international.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/No-Deforestation-No-Peat-No-Exploitation-Policy.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">no deforestation, no peat, no exploitation\u2019 policy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Yet Greenpeace\u2019s analysis found that Wilmar still gets its palm oil from groups that are destroying rainforests and stealing land from local communities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPalm oil can be produced without destroying rainforests. But our investigation shows that the palm oil Wilmar trades is still utterly contaminated with rainforest destruction. Household brands like Unilever, Nestl\u00e9, Colgate-Palmolive and Mondelez promised their customers they\u2019d only use clean palm oil but they haven\u2019t kept that promise. Brands must fix this problem once and for all by cutting Wilmar off until it can prove its palm oil is clean,\u201d <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">said Kiki Taufik, head of Greenpeace\u2019s global Indonesia forests campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition to deforestation, the 25 individual cases in the report include evidence of exploitation and social conflicts, illegal deforestation, development without permits, plantation development in areas zoned for protection and forest fires linked to land clearance. It is also the most comprehensive assessment of deforestation in Papua, Indonesia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPapua is one of the most biodiverse places on earth, and its pristine forests had until recently been spared the destruction happening elsewhere in Indonesia. But now the palm oil industry is moving in and clearing forest at an alarming rate. If we don\u2019t stop them then Papua\u2019s beautiful forests will be destroyed for palm oil just like Sumatra and Kalimantan,\u201d <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">said Taufik. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Palm oil impacts on environment, people and climate:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cell.com\/current-biology\/fulltext\/S0960-9822(18)30086-1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Half of the Bornean orangutan population has been wiped out in just 16 years<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with habitat destruction by the palm oil industry a leading driver. More than three-quarters of Tesso Nilo national park, home to tigers, orangutans and elephants, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/wwf.panda.org\/wwf_news\/?264971\/Eyes-on-the-Forest-report-Global-supply-chains-still-tainted-with-illegal-palm-oil\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has been converted into illegal palm oil plantations<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Globally, 193 species classified as Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable, are <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iucn.org\/resources\/issues-briefs\/palm-oil-and-biodiversity\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">threatened by palm oil production<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The plantation sector &#8211; palm oil and pulp &#8211; is the single largest driver of deforestation in Indonesia. Around 24 million hectares of rainforest was destroyed in Indonesia between 1990 and 2015, according to official figures released by the Indonesian government [2]. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deforestation and peatland destruction are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to climate change. This has pushed Indonesia into the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wri.org\/blog\/2017\/04\/interactive-chart-explains-worlds-top-10-emitters-and-how-theyve-changed\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">top tier of global emitters, alongside the United States of America and China<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plantation development is a root cause of Indonesia\u2019s forest and peatland fires. In July 2015, devastating blazes spread in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua. These fires produced a haze that affected millions of people across Southeast Asia. Researchers at Harvard and Columbia Universities estimate that the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.seas.harvard.edu\/news\/2016\/09\/smoke-from-2015-indonesian-fires-may-have-caused-100000-premature-deaths\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">smoke from 2015 Indonesian fires may have caused 100,000 premature deaths<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/documents.worldbank.org\/curated\/en\/776101467990969768\/The-cost-of-fire-an-economic-analysis-of-Indonesia-s-2015-fire-crisis\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The World Bank calculated the cost of the disaster at US$16bn<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wilmar International and other palm oil companies are regularly <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2016\/11\/palm-oil-global-brands-profiting-from-child-and-forced-labour\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">accused of exploiting workers, children and local communities<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>ENDS<\/p>\n<p><b>Photos and video are available <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/media.greenpeace.org\/CS.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;ALID=27MZIFJWPRPRP&amp;PN=1\"><b>here<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>NOTES <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[1] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2018\/10\/6d4a29ea-greenpeace_finalcountdown_lowres.pdf\">Final Countdown: Now or never to reform the palm oil industry\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[2] Figures cover loss of natural forest. Sources:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">1990\u20132012: MoEF (2016b) Table Annex 5.1, pp90\u20131 \u2013 gross deforestation 21,339,301ha<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">2012\u20132013: MoEF (2014) Lampiran 1, Tabel 1.1 \u2013 gross deforestation 953,977ha<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">2013\u20132014: MoEF (2015) Lampiran 1, Tabel 1.1 \u2013 gross deforestation 567,997ha<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">2014\u20132015: MoEF (2016a) Lampiran 1, Tabel 1.1 \u2013 gross deforestation 1,223,553ha<\/p>\n<p><strong>Contacts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sol Gosetti, International <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Communications Coordinator, Indonesia Forest campaign, <\/span><a href=\"mailto:sol.gosetti@greenpeace.org\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sol.gosetti@greenpeace.org<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, +44 (0) 7380845754<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"EmptyMessage\">Block content is empty. Check the block&#8217;s settings or remove it.<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Our investigation shows that the palm oil Wilmar trades is still utterly contaminated with rainforest destruction.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":16196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[84,101],"p4-page-type":[98],"class_list":["post-18485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature","tag-forests","tag-fires","p4-page-type-press-release"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18485"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51288,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18485\/revisions\/51288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18485"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=18485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}