Warning: General Mills Destroys Rainforests
My alarm went off at 6:15am this morning and the excitement of butterflies in my stomach reminded me that the launch date had finally arrived! After four hours of sleep…
Unilever, world’s largest palm oil buyer, shows leadership. Will Cargill?
Today Unilever, the consumer goods giant that purchases 4% of the world’s palm oil, has finally lived up to the commitments they made almost two years ago to remove rainforest…
Wild Money: Massive corruption in Indonesia’s forestry sector
Human Rights Watch has just released the report: Wild Money: The human rights consequences of illegal logging and corruption in Indonesia’s forestry sector. Talking to allies in Riau, Sumatra, where…
Malaysian Palm Oil Council CEO continues misinformation campaign
Dr Yusof Basiron is the CEO of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), a lobbying group that supports the oil palm industry in both Malaysia and Indonesia. Dr. Basiron is…
New research questions value of REDD project in Sumatra
David Gaveau et al. have released an innovate paper that takes a critical look at the widely touted Reduced Emissions through avoided Deforestation and Degredation (REDD) project in the Ulu…
Oil Palm: An illegal threat too
Reuters ran a story this week on illegal palm oil development in Aceh, Indonesia. The story takes an interesting angle, completely ignoring the massive scale of legal oil palm development…
President Director of APRIL subsidiary responds to Rainforest Action Network
On August 28th I posted APRIL the pulp and paper giant violates Indonesian laws and community rights. This post was based on two sources, a letter from the community of…
Standing forests have value too
There is a nice summary of Indonesia’s forest woes in this week’s Economist. The article includes a comment from Sinar Mas, Indonesia’s single largest rainforest destroyer, reiterating Sinar Mas’ sole…
Letter from Indonesian community threatened by pulp-and-paper
TELUK MERANTI COMMUNITY LETTER OF REJECTION TOWARDS RAPP COMPANY (APRIL) Regarding: UPHOLDING TELUK MERANTI COMMUNITY RIGHTS To the Honourable, President Director of RAPP company (April) With this, the community of…
Indonesia’s deforestation: no mystery here
A new report published in Environmental Research Letters uses precise satellite imaging to show that the pace of forest clearing in Indonesia steadily increased from 2000-2005. At the end of…