“It turns out prevention of #pandemics really is the best medicine. We estimate we could greatly reduce the likelihood of another pandemic occuring by investing as little as 1/20th of the losses incurred so far from COVID into [#wildlife and #rainforest] conservation measures designed to help stop the spread of these viruses from wildlife to humans in the first place.” Professor Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University, who was co-lead author of the study. Fight against extinction every time you shop #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
Category Archives: The Problems with Palm Oil
Transparency International: Corruption of Indonesian Palm Oil
According to a May 2023 report by Transparency International, the top 50 palm oil companies in Indonesia are beset by deep problems: a lack of transparency in company ownership and who are the ultimate beneficiaries of profits, conflicts of interest, revolving-door politics, and politically exposed persons within companies.
All of the above makes the palm oil industry in Indonesia seriously susceptible to corporate capture and corruption. Don’t trust palm oil. Instead #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop
Ultra-processed Foods: Trashing Health and The Planet
Our world is facing a huge challenge: we need to create enough high-quality, diverse and nutritious food to feed a growing population – and do so within the boundaries of our planet. This means significantly reducing the environmental impact of the global food system. Below is information about how you can identify ultra processed foods containing palm oil and other harmful ingredients in order to avoid them – for your own health and the health of the planet. Help the planet, animals and indigenous peoples – #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
Caring for Siamese crocodiles in Cambodia
Researchers travel into the remote wilderness of #Cambodia to study the world’s most endangered #crocodile, the placid, cryptic and little-known Siamese crocodile. Help their survival in the supermarket and be #vegan, boycott crocodile leather and #Boycott4Wildlife
Rights defenders want UK tariffs kept for palm oil ecocide
Last month UK Tory MP Kemi Badenoch announced that a new UK trade deal would cut tariffs on palm oil imports from 12% to zero.
This move will likely grease the way towards the UK importing palm oil deforestation and human rights abuses from Malaysia and Indonesia into the UK.
Environmental groups: CUT Campaign, Palm Oil Detectives, Bruno Manser Fond, Save Rivers, Extinction Rebellion and many others strongly object to this decision by the UK government. Read on below to watch the video, sign the petition and join the #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife movement to take action against palm oil greed and ecocide.
Rainforest loss means lost plant medicines we may never know
About 80% of the world population relies on compounds derived from plants for medicines to treat various ailments, such as malaria and cancer, and to suppress pain. Our future medicines are likely to come from plants, but how effectively are we protecting these plants from extinction? We aren’t doing enough and we must do more!
Nature has the right to exist: A growing movement
The idea that nature — forests , rivers, mountains — could have rights, in the same way that human rights, or corporate rights exist has been building momentum. A historic global agreement has been reached to try to protect the plants and animals of this world from further demise.
NHS Guide: Lower cholesterol by reducing palm oil
The National Health Service (NHS) is the UK government’s public health service. In this factsheet, they recommend people limit palm oil, meat, dairy and other saturated fats in their diets.
For optimal health, the NHS recommends people to adopt a largely palm oil free, plant-based diet rich in diverse plants and wholegrain foods. Adopting this diet along with exercising regularly and limiting alcohol and cigarettes substantially reduces one’s risk of dying of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and obesity, as well as many chronic health conditions.
There are other benefits to adopting a palm oil free and plant-based diet. By doing this, you are refusing to sponsor palm oil related ecocide and human rights atrocities in the developing world. #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
The dawn of the greenwashing era in Asia?
Curtailed press freedom in Asia makes the job of calling out greenwashing increasingly difficult – at a time when corporate accountability is critical in the fight against climate change. Experts think greenwashing is only just beginning as PR firms try to mislead regulators, investors and consumers writes Robin Hicks for Eco Business News.
Mass extinction likely if palm oil expands in north east India
As with the forest kingdoms of Borneo and the Amazon rainforest, the Indian forest kingdom of the Golden Langurs and Pygmy Hogs is under siege by palm oil in the north east of India. The region is home to some of the most endangered wildlife in the world. Situated in the foothills of the Himalayas, the whole area is one of the most fertile and diverse places on the planet. This region is earmarked for destruction for palm oil. Renowned British wildlife photographer Craig Jones went there to photograph pygmy hogs and report on their dwindling home.
Oligarchs weaken Indonesia’s fight against corruption
The system is failing. #Indonesia’s own parliament, backed by big business interests, has succeeded in weakening the very system set up to fight corruption. Resist the corruption! #FightGreenwashing #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🩸⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife
SIAT leaves Nigerian farmers starving, illegally “lease” land
A 5-month investigation by Elfredah Kevin-Alerechi and Kevin Woke of Sahara Reporters reveals how RSPO member SIAT Nigeria Limited is involved in human rights abuses and land-grabbing on host communities’ lands. Journalists Elfredah Kevin-Alerechi and Kevin Woke also discovered that palm oil company SIAT who illegally took their land are leasing it for a mere 600 Naira (N600) per hectare annually – the equivalent of €1.23 Euros per year to lease it.
River pollution by pesticides and restriction by the company to land, where locals can grow food has meant that their food and water supply is contaminated – starvation is now an urgent problem.
All of this occurs under the guise of “sustainable” palm oil pushed by the RSPO to consumers. SIAT’s palm oil is used in consumer products by PZ Cussons (source), Nestle (source) and Danone (source). This is wh you should #Boycottpalmoil
Story via Sahara Reporters. Additional info: Chain Reaction Research
Uncovering The Glasswing Butterfly’s See-through Wings
Most butterflies sport colourful, eye-catching wings. But some species flit about using mostly transparent wings. Researchers have now uncovered the tricks that one of these — the glasswing butterfly (Greta oto) — uses to hide in plain sight. The tricks of their transparency include sparse, spindly scales and a waxy coated membrane. Many thousands of insect species are threatened by large-scale deforestation for agriculture and especially pesticides. Help them to survive and #BoycottPesticides #BoycottPalmOil!
India’s Palm Oil Goals Raise Extinction Fears
A corporate monopoly for control over land and resources for palm oil must be dismantled immediately to give humanity, animals and our natural world a fighting chance for survival and to reverse the climate crisis. In Asia, many indigenous peoples are now joining forces and rising up to resist this corruption and ecocide.
Nicobar Islands Port and Palm Oil: Threatens Giant Turtles
On Great Nicobar Island in the most southerly part of India, big plans are in motion to transform the island into a shipping hub and destroy its native ecosystems including mangroves, reef systems and forests, putting the already endangered leatherback sea turtle (along with 1000’s of other species) perilously close to extinction. Around one million trees are set to be felled to make way for palm oil and other monoculture crops on the islands, writes PhD Candidate Divya Narain for The Conversation. Read on after to discover how to help these beautiful animals.
Indonesia’s Misinformation Favours Obedience, Not Truth
Indonesia’s online space is polluted by fake news. The government’s media literacy program promotes its own interests and greenwashing, boycott palm oil!
Sumatran elephants: Trapped by palm oil and status unknown
Sumatran elephants in Indonesia’s North Aceh district are being increasingly encircled by shrinking patches of forest. Their home is being destroyed primarily for oil palm plantations.
Ongoing attempts of scientists to take a measure of their population have been hampered and oppressed by the Indonesian government, which has also attempted to prevent media coverage of the issue. Help these irreplacable beings every time you shop, #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
Palm Oil: A Recipe for Disaster in India
Given the widespread destruction of rainforests and native biodiversity caused by oil palm plantations in Southeast Asia, environmental experts and politicians are warning that the move to promote palm oil cultivation in India’s northeastern States and in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands could be disastrous, writes Priscilla Jerbaraj in The Hindu.
Indonesia’s misinformation army ready for war
In 2023, Indonesia’s government is set to ratchet up greenwashing and propaganda on social media, fuelled by a well-resourced misinformation machine.
But the biggest propagator of disinformation seems not to be political renegades, but the Widodo administration. Fuelled by a well-resourced propaganda machine, the government is ready to fight dirty to win over public opinion.
Story via 360Info.org.
Written by By Ika Idris, Monash University Indonesia, Laeeq Khan, Ohio University, and Nuurrianti Jalli, Northern State University in Tangerang. January 16 2023 for 360Info.org. Dr Ika Idris is an associate professor at Public Policy & Management, Monash University Indonesia. Her works focus on government communication, misinformation, and the internet’s impacts on society. Republished here with a Creative Commons Licence.
#Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
UN report: 850K animal viruses could be caught by humans
Human damage to biodiversity is leading us into a pandemic era. The virus that causes COVID-19, for example, is linked to similar viruses in bats, which may have been passed to humans via pangolins or another species.
Palm oil watchdog RSPO a farce and a joke
Palm oil produced through the destruction of forestland is still being sold around the world with the blessing of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
On November 30, 2022 EIA and along with 99 other organisations issued a joint statement calling time on the RSPO and its habitual greenwashing – the act of giving the public or investors misleading or false information about the environmental impacts of a company’s products and activities.
Humble Algae: The Solution to Palm Oil Ecocide
Consumers, businesses and researchers have shown growing interest in microalgae in recent years. Use of Arthrospira platensis (spirulina) as a food supplement is one example. Others include how microalgae can be used as crop support tools, bioplastics or biofuels. Take action for your health and be #vegan and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil: 19 years is enough
For nearly two decades now, the RSPO has failed in its mission to make the industrial palm oil sector “sustainable”. Instead, it has been used by the palm oil industry to greenwash environmental destruction, labour and human rights abuses and land grabbing.
Research: Deforestation linked to reduced dietary quality
#Forests 🌳🌿🍃play a critical role in helping #indigenous communities who rely on wild #food to diversify their #diet and meet their nutritional needs. Resist in solidarity for them #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔🧐⛔️#Boycott4Wildlife
Amazon Palm Oil: Top Brands source from Amazon destroyers
Expose the truth about brands like Nestlé, PepsiCo, and Unilever sourcing “sustainable” palm oil from Brazil linked to violence, abuses and fraud. Shame!
Spoiled Fruit: Violence and slavery for “sustainable” palm oil
C4ADS analysis shows that the food conglomerates that feed millions—including giants such as Nestlé, Cargill, Adani Wilmar, IOI, Olenex and more —continue to enable forced labor through their indiscriminate import of tainted palm oil associated with slavery, indigenous land-grabbing, deforestation and human misery in the developing world.
Land-grabbing for palm oil and the climate crisis
Corporate monopolies drive land grabbing for palm oil, worsening the climate crisis. Indigenous peoples in Asia resist. Join the fight. #BoycottPalmOil
1000’s more species at extinction risk than previously thought
New research suggests the #extinction crisis may be even worse than we thought. More than half of species that have so far evaded any official conservation assessment are threatened with extinction. Some species that are not yet classified and are “data deficient” make up around 17% of the nearly 150,000 species currently assessed. according to predictions by researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Help them to survive! #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
Palm oil substitutes offer rainforests a fighting chance
Palm oil is a versatile substance used in a wide range of products from foods to cosmetics. The trouble with it is that the cultivation of oil palm trees has caused massive enviromental harm, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia, which together account for 85% of palm oil production in the world.
But scientists from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the University of Malaya in Malaysia say they have an answer as to how we can wean ourselves off palm oil.
Eyewitness Story: The Last Village by Dr Setia Budhi
A lone Dayak village in Borneo surrounded by palm oil plantations has held out for 14 years and resisted
corporate infiltration by global palm oil giants. My name is Dr Setia Budhi, I am a Dayak ethnographer and human rights advocate. I visited this village recently to see how they were going.