[Oz-envirolink] Australia Palm Oil Campaign Letter Seeks Signatories

[Rainforest Information Centre]

Dear Friends,

We are seeking your support of the Australian Palm Oil Campaign which 
we are in the preliminary stages of launching.The campaign aims to 
stem the flow of importation of palm oil that has been sourced at the 
expense of the forests of Borneo and Sumatra leaving the orangutans 
and other forest dwellers perched on the edge of extinction.

Please find below a letter that we recently sent out to food 
companies across Australia on behalf of the Australia Palm Oil Action 
Group which currently consists of Rainforest Information Centre, 
Friends of the Earth Australia, Borneo Orangutan Society, Australian 
Orangutan Project, Humane Society Interrnational and GRASP 
Australasia.

If you would like to add your NGO as a Campaign Supporter please 
email ruthr at ozemail.com.au with a Contact and NGO Name. This would 
add strength to our campaign for purposes of media and communication 
with food companies etc and requires no effort on the part of the 
supporting organisation.

Thanks much.

peace
for the Earth

Ruth
Rainforest Information Centre
Box 368, Lismore 2480 NSW
(02) 66897519

http://www.rainforestinfo.org.au/ 

ruthr at ozemail.com.au

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of Southern India.


Australian Palm Oil Action Group
PO Box 301, Clunes, NSW 2480.
Email:  jeff at grasp.org.au  Ph:  02 66291449
21.11.06

Dear Sir or Madam,

The Australian Palm Oil Action Group is a group of Australian NGOs 
who are working together to address the impacts that palm oil 
plantations are having in the Asia Pacific region and the direct 
threat they pose to the survival of the orangutan.

While we appreciate that palm oil and other oil palm derivatives are 
useful components in many of your products, it is clear that palm oil 
is largely produced using unsustainable destructive practices that 
involve the devastation of rainforests and wildlife, local 
communities and waterways. Research has provided irrefutable evidence 
of the huge socio and environmental impacts of the current widespread 
practice of clear-felling rainforest for oil-palm cultivation (Ellie 
Brown, Ph.D., and Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., 2005; Wakker E. 2005).

This industry is devastating the unique flora and fauna in the Asia 
Pacific region as well as exploiting local communities who are being 
forced off their land. If palm oil concessions continue to replace 
forest at the current rate, a viable future for the Orangutan in the 
wild will be impossible as well as for the Sumatran tiger, Sumatran 
rhino, Asian elephant and other species that are on the brink of 
extinction (World Bank 2001). Moreover, the Australian Heart 
Foundation and the World Health Organisation have both stated quite 
categorically that consumption of palm oil increases the risk of 
heart disease and should be avoided (National Heart, Lung, and Blood 
Institute, National Institutes of Health (NHLBI) 1997; World Health 
Organization 2003; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and 
Kidney Diseases, 2003).

Within a global context, with climate change now threatening all 
ecosystems on the planet,  the palm oil industry is making a 
significant contribution to global warming see Agence France-Presse 
article at (http://au.news.yahoo.com/061026/19/1129i.html).  The 
standard practice of palm oil plantations is to log the valuable 
trees, and use fire to clear the remaining forest.  This releases 
massive quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane into the 
atmosphere adding significantly to the problem of global warming. 

Something urgently needs to be done.  We are very keen to work with 
food companies such as yours to assist in the transition to usage of 
ecologically and socially benign, non-genetically engineered 
vegetable oils.  In theory, this need not exclude palm oil.  We 
acknowledge that some food companies are members of the Roundtable on 
Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).  However, at this point in time, while 
the RSPO has developed Principles and Criteria for sustainable palm 
oil, there are no monitoring mechanisms in place and it remains to be 
seen whether RSPO standards will be sufficient to ensure a 
sustainable supply.

In addition, RSPO Principles and Criteria are currently insufficient. 
For example, they do not address the issue of a palm oil exporter 
operating "sustainably" on Peninsular Malaysia while at the same time 
developing plantations in Borneo on forested land in direct breach of 
the RSPO guidelines.

We understand that this puts you, the purchaser of palm oil, in a 
difficult position. We suggest, if your company has not already done 
so, that it develops a policy regarding palm oil that includes the 
phasing out of any palm oil whose source cannot be traced to a 
non-destructive origin and whose production is not provably 
ecologically sustainable and socially responsible, at a minimum 
following the RSPO standards.

In the meantime, we urge your company to begin immediately increasing 
the use of other vegetable oils that are ecologically and socially 
benign (ie. non-genetically engineered, no rainforest destruction, 
non-polluting to waterways, community-friendly, etc.)

If your company has already developed such a policy, we look forward 
to receiving a copy. If a policy does not already exist, please tell 
us what steps you will be taking to ensure that consumers can 
purchase your company's products safe in the knowledge that they are 
not contributing to rainforest destruction, extinction of the 
orangutan and other endangered species, global warming, violations of 
community rights and pollution of rivers and land.

Furthermore, until the use of palm oil is phased out, we are urging 
all Australian food companies to immediately clearly label those 
products which include palm oil and its derivatives so that consumers 
can make an informed choice. Please send us a list of products your 
company produces that use either palm oil or palm oil derivatives.

Your company has the opportunity now to set a precedent by showing 
its commitment to corporate responsibility, and in so doing, set in 
motion a change that will have profound benefits to ecology, wildlife 
and human communities.

We look forward to hearing from you shortly concerning this important 
matter. You can reach us either through email at jeff at grasp.org.au or 
telephone on 02 6629 1449. We would be pleased to discuss this matter 
further and to offer you further information on the environmental, 
social and health risks surrounding palm oil.

Yours sincerely,


Jeffrey Canin

On behalf of
Grasp Australasia
Rainforest Information Centre
Borneo Orangutan Society (Australia)
Friends of the Earth (Australia)
Humane Society International
Australian Orangutan Project



For further background information please see
http://www.safepalmoil.org/
http://www.eng.walhi.or.id/kampanye/hutan/konversi/060412_palmoilplantation_/
http://www.orangutans.com.au/
http://www.orangutan.org.au/
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-71102.html
http://www.grasp.org.au

REFERENCES:
Ellie Brown, Ph.D., and Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D. Cruel Oil.  2005. 
Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Eric Wakker.Greasy palms.  The social and ecological impacts of 
large-scale oil palm
plantation development in Southeast Asia.  2005.    Friends of the Earth

World Bank.  Indonesia: Environment and Natural Resource Management 
in a Time of Transition. 2001.. Washington, DC..

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of 
Health (NHLBI). Be
Heart Smart! Eat Foods Lower in Saturated Fats and Cholesterol. NIH 
Publication No. 97- 4064. 1997. 
www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/other/chdblack/smart.pdf.

World Health Organization. Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of 
Chronic Diseases. WHO Tech. Rep. Series 916. Geneva. 2003. P. 88.

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 
National Institutes of Health. Prevent Diabetes Problems: Keep Your 
Heart and Blood Vessels Healthy. NIH Publication No. 03-4283. 2003. 
http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/
complications_heart/heart.pdf.

Yahoo News. Thursday October 26, 12:30 PM Indonesian forest fires may 
fuel global warming: experts.  SINGAPORE (AFP)