An excellent presentation of our paper by Dr Delima Azahari yesterday.
Read more here.
Category: blog
Gatti’s use of Google’s ‘pretty earth’ confirmed
Challenge a liar often enough, and he’ll get tangled in his own lies. This is what just happened to @robertocgatti on Twitter:
The time series posted by @BartWvanAssen show nothing else than the replacement of forest by palm oil plantations! Sorry, I will no longer discuss complex scientific issues to disprove ridiculous allegations with 280 Twitter’s characters! This an habit of people from the industry
The time series posted by @BartWvanAssen show nothing else than the replacement of forest by palm oil plantations! Sorry, I will no longer discuss complex scientific issues to disprove ridiculous allegations with 280 Twitter's characters! This an habit of people from the industry
— Roberto C. Gatti (@robertocgatti) August 12, 2020
The thing is, Google Earth’s ‘pretty earth’ and its ‘historical images’ aren’t ‘complex scientific issues! Talk to anyone with basic training in remote sensing and Google Earth (Pro) and (s)he’ll explain to you in 5 minutes why they have no scientific confidence in these ‘historical images’ and why they may show much, much older information.
As for the particular time series shown, it’s 1984 image shows that the area clearly is not “almost intact tropical forests”. Gatti allowed us a glance inside his mind, and showed the prejudice within.
EB | Banks responsible for continuing deforestation in Southeast Asia
In Southeast Asia — the region that drives the world’s deforestation problem, alongside Central Africa and the Amazon — only 9 percent of banks have adopted No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation (NDPE) policies in varying forms, according to a study by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Even then, the implementation of these policies has been slow and patchy.
Read more here.
FAO | Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020
This publication contains the main findings of the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 (FRA 2020). The data in FRA 2020 have been obtained through a transparent, traceable, reporting process and a well- established network of officially nominated national correspondents. The information provided by FRA presents a comprehensive picture of the world’s forests and the ways the resource is changing. Such a clear global picture supports the development of sound policies, practices and investments affecting forests and forestry.
Read more here.
MSI Integrity | Not Fit for Purpose
[Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives] are not designed or equipped to be effective tools for protecting rights holders against human rights violations, holding corporations accountable for abuse, or providing survivors and victims with access to remedy.
Read more here.
Social Europe | Pushing Europe’s economic levers for a greener world
The EU should, therefore, shift from an inefficient blanket ban, which is potentially counterproductive and self-defeating even from an environmental perspective, to a targeted, inclusive approach.
Read more here.
UoCS | Ending Tropical Deforestation: Have We Got Our Priorities Backwards?
Here are the percentage of active companies that have made pledges concerning each of these four drivers:
- Palm Oil – 59%
- Wood Products – 53%
- Soy – 21%
- Beef – 12%
Read more here.
AAAS | Claim that coconut oil is worse for biodiversity than palm oil sparks furious debate
But Sheherazade says she worries the paper will be used to undermine environmental activism against unsustainable oil palm practice in Indonesia, especially now that new plantations are springing up in pristine forests in Papua. “Oil palm is still a huge threat to biodiversity,” she says. “The palm debate is very polarized, extra care is needed to avoid creating new myths,” Van Noordwijk adds.
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LT | Borneo Indigenous Peoples Rights Under Threat
The coalition of NGOs – all of whom work with indigenous communities across Kalimantan’s borderlands – have found the government of Indonesia’s failure to take corrective action since the 2007 submission has caused the situation to deteriorate, whereby the State is supporting the imminent taking of massive areas of indigenous lands for additional plantations and concessions along the borderlands.
Read more here.
SciTotEnv | Certified “sustainable” palm oil took the place of endangered Bornean and Sumatran large mammals habitat and tropical forests in the last 30 years
- This study adopted an unprecedented historical perspective over a 30-year time series.
- Remotely sensed imagery (1984–2020) of Sumatra and Borneo were analysed.
- Deforestation showed a strong relation to the development of certified “sustainable” palm oil.
- Currently certified oil palm plantations are also located in the 1990s large mammals habitat.
Read more here.