On the way to the #Docsfair #Film #Festival, tomorrow in Amsterdam (docsfairfilmfestival.nl), and then straight to Ketapang (Kalimantan, Indonesia) for an audit. Quite a trip but good friends deserve support.
Category: Blog
TG | Scientist who takes on firms causing wildfires wins John Maddox prize
Bambang Hero Saharjo, a fire forensics specialist at Bogor Agricultural University, gathers evidence for criminal trials against firms that are accused of using illegal slash-and-burn methods to clear peatland for cash crops such as palm oil, pulpwood and rubber trees.
Read more here.
EB | FSC report on palm giant Korindo lists litany of violations
The FSC’s complaints panel, which conducted the investigation, recommended that “Korindo should be disassociated from the FSC due to the clear and convincing evidence of violations of traditional and human rights (as well as of significant conversion).”
Read more here.
Human in Oil (DOCSFAIR 2019)
It was very satisfying to support Andhika Rutten, Belgin Inal and their team during the making of ‘Human in Oil’. Looking forward to its premiere at the DOCSFAIR International Film Festival on 22 November 2019.
SciDevNet | Greener palm oil possible without sacrificing profit
Speed Read:
- Palm oil is the world’s most widely used vegetable oil
- But oil palm plantations are seen as environmentally destructive
- Farms can reduce fertilisers and do away with herbicides with no loss in profits
Read more here.
AJ | Indonesia: Police arrest businessman over journalists’ murder
“The suspects asked the victims why they had come to the plantation before a quarrel broke out, which ended in murder,” said the North Sumatra police chief, Agus Andrianto, according to the local paper Jakarta Post.
Read more here.
IF | Deforestation: five years of corporate progress?
According to Global Forest Watch, 18m hectares of tree cover were lost in the tropics alone in 2018, including 3.1m hectares of primary forest. The Consumer Goods Forum says that at least 40% of this forest loss is the direct result of expanding production of agriculture to produce commodities such as soy, cattle, palm oil, rubber and cocoa.
Read more here.
Eco-Business | Palm oil: the pros and cons of a controversial commodity
To say that palm oil is divisive is an understatement. To its advocates, it is a cornerstone of economic development, making efficient use of land and supporting millions of smallholders through profitable international trade. To its detractors, it is a cause of deforestation and social conflict, a direct threat to endangered species and a contributor to climate change.
Read more here.
Changing Times | Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is ‘greenwashing’ labelled products, environmental protection agency says
Trustee of the Indonesian Auditor Network Bart W. van Assen said that the authors of the new report are failing to grasp the fundamentally different roles of the RSPO, the High Conservation Value Resource Network (HCVRN)¹, Assurance Services International (ASI), and the numerous conformity assessment bodies.
“Hence, they also fail to identify many of the practical actions taken by these organisations,” Van Assen said.
Van Assen is scathing about the new report, calling it “a shallow attempt to act as judge, jury, and executioner based on incomplete records and inadequate due diligence”.
He said the report “merely polarises public debate about sustainable palm oil, alienates the actors of change within the RSPO, the HCVRN and ASI, and drives a wedge between complainant and complainee”.
This is unfortunate, Van Assen says. “Valid criticism has been, and no doubt will be, addressed by the organisations involved,” he added.
Read more here.
Updated: Who Watches the Watchmen?
Siobhan Pearce, Forests Campaigner, said: “If the RSPO is not upholding any of its own rules and if its palm oil isn’t what it says it is on the tin, then that’s a major problem for the industry.”
Read more here.