The Money Behind the Big Business of Burning

Tropical forests do not burn by themselves — Big Agribusiness is setting the fires intentionally, as it’s the cheapest way to clear new land for palm oil, pulp and paper, soy, and beef. But they need the cash from the world’s mega banks and investors like fire needs oxygen — to defend our forests we need to defund the fires.

Who’s Funding Forest Destruction?

Half the people in the world have bank accounts — but what are the banks doing with all that cash? Banks have been financing fossil fuels for decades, but most people don’t realize that they’re also bankrolling forest destruction. Their dollars are literally fueling the clear cutting of the world’s rainforests for palm oil, pulp and paper, soy and beef. That’s why we must stop the funding of forest destruction.

Rigged Games

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics and its corruption scandals are directly tied to rainforest destruction: The Games’ timber supplier Korindo was “allegedly engaged in questionable deals” as they bought up rainforests in Indonesia to harvest timber and develop palm oil plantations. But to date, the Tokyo 2020 organizers have failed to disclose how much Korindo wood they used, rejected six complaints we brought against them over their use of Korindo wood, and only partially disclosed where the wood was sourced from.

Will Nestlé and Mars intervene to protect Indonesia’s peatlands?

Within Indonesia’s notoriously corrupt, exploitative and destructive palm oil plantation industry, it takes a high degree of well documented bad behavior to stand out among the worst of the worst. But PT. Kallista Alam (PT KA), a palm oil company operating in the Aceh Province of Sumatra, is such a bad actor…

Yoooooouuuuuu DID IT:
Good news from Kellogg 🎉

Breaking News: Kellogg announces stronger Palm Oil and Deforestation Policies including precedent-setting protections for human rights defenders and a commitment to forest restoration!

Community Struggles for Land Rights and Livelihoods in Singkil-Bengkung region

Tens of thousands of people depend on the intact forests of the Leuser Ecosystem and the area is rife with looming threats and unresolved conflicts between local communities and rogue palm oil plantation operators. The expansion of palm oil plantation companies has harmed community livelihoods by damaging local resources, including agricultural land such as rice fields, and has brought terror, intimidation and criminalization into the lives of local community members.

Gizmodo: Your Favorite Snacks May Be Driving Deforestation in Ancient Indonesian Peatlands

“The fact that it takes an NGO-conducted investigation to expose that these major global brands are still actively sourcing Conflict Palm Oil from illegal sources, years after each of them has issued public policies explicitly committing them to stop sourcing from suppliers destroying rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands, signals a major failure of the implementation efforts conducted to date by these companies. Consumer trust is understandably undermined when…”

15 Stunning Photos from The Last Place on Earth [UPDATED]

The Leuser Ecosystem, one of the most important rainforests in Southeast Asia, is being destroyed for massive industrial development including the expansion of palm oil plantations.

Countdown to the Olympics

Nissin Foods, the inventor of instant noodles, is a major sponsor of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. And Nissin uses palm oil, a major driver of deforestation, in its popular Cup Noodles and Top Ramen products. We’re calling on Nissin to cut Conflict Palm Oil from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Nissin Olympic torch - make 2020 a deforestation-free Olympics