Category Archives: Palm Oil, Human Rights Abuses & Indigenous Land-grabbing

RSPO member SIAT leaves Nigerian farmers without food. Leases their illegally taken land for €1.23 Euros per hectare, per year

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 farmers were paid only 600 Naira (N600) per hectare annually – the equivalent of €1.23 Euros per year.

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

India’s oil palm goals raise fears of deforestation and extinction

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.

Sumatran elephants: Surrounded by palm oil and nobody knows how many are left alive!

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.

Between 924-1360 individual Sumatran elephants hang on for survival in Sumatra trapped on all sides by #palmoil #deforestation.
“Sustainable” palm oil is a lie. Fight for them and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife

Will palm oil watchdog RSPO rid itself of deforestation or continue to pretend its products are sustainable? – EIA

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.

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.

Amazon Palm: Global brands continue to source palm oil from Amazon destroyers Agropalma & BBF

Major international brands sourcing palm oil from Brazilian plantations linked to violence, torture and land fraud. Global supermarket brands Ferrero, ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Danone, Ferrero, Hershey’s, Kellogg, Mondelez, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever and many others source palm oil from Agropalma and BBF.

These supermarket brands along with Agropalma and BBF claim to use “sustainable” palm oil from the RSPO. A story by Global Witness. #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife

Spoiled Fruit: Land-grabbing, 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 and the climate crisis are strongly linked to palm oil

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.

Eyewitness Story by Dr Setia Budhi: The Last Village

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.

The Washington Post recommends that you boycott palm oil in 2022 and beyond

The original version of this article was published as ‘How to Make More Socially Conscious Halloween Candy Choices in The Washington Post on the 14th of October 2022. Originally written by Allyson Chiu and was republished via syndication by MSN While chocolate is a crowd-pleaser, the ubiquitous candy “has some pretty close associations with twoContinue reading “The Washington Post recommends that you boycott palm oil in 2022 and beyond”

September 21st: International Day of Struggle Against Monoculture Plantations

Today is ‘International Day of Struggle Against Monoculture Tree Plantations. World Rainforest Movement have produced a powerful video to highlight the Ugandan people’s struggle against BIDCO an international company partly owned by global palm oil giant Wilmar, who are taking land by force from locals by making false promises and using coercion and violence. They do so under the greenwashing protection of the RSPO

Palm oil industry lobbying and greenwashing is like Big Tobacco – World Health Organisation (WHO) Bulletin

What does the $60 billion USD palm oil industry have in common with Big Tobacco? A lot according to this report by the World Health Organisation. Palm oil industry lobbying tactics are used to influence research into the health impacts of palm oil and also to influence consumer buying habits. The dire health and environmental impacts of palm oil are hidden from consumers by clever marketing. These lobbying, marketing and greenwashing tactics are reminiscent of tobacco and alcohol health lobbying.

Indigenous and local communities key to successful nature conservation

Indigenous and local communities are key to successful nature conservation and for protecting animals from extinction. Story via Eureka Alert and the University of East Anglia. Indigenous Peoples and local communities provide the best long-term outcomes for conservation, according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and partners in France. Lead author,Continue reading “Indigenous and local communities key to successful nature conservation”

Treespiracy: Forests are being destroyed against a background of corruption, illegality and apathy

The world’s forests are being destroyed against a background of corruption, illegality and apathy. This article was originally published in The Ecologist magazine, 28th March, 2022 A complex web of financial instruments allowing crime, corruption and wrong-doing, hidden behind shell corporations and offshore companies was exposed with the release of the Panama Papers.  This shadow networkContinue reading “Treespiracy: Forests are being destroyed against a background of corruption, illegality and apathy”

10 reasons why ecolabels & commodity certification are not a solution to stop the EU importing tropical deforestation

71 environmental and human rights groups from around the world – wrote to the EU Commission warning that certification schemes and ecolabels were not sufficient to prevent human rights abuses and deforestation from entering the European Union. Meanwhile industry lobbyists are attempting to weaken the proposed EU laws with these ineffective and corrupt certification schemesContinue reading “10 reasons why ecolabels & commodity certification are not a solution to stop the EU importing tropical deforestation”

The people versus Feronia: Fighting palm oil agrocolonialism in the Congo

This incredible comic was created by Didier Kassai with research by Judith Verweijen and Dieudonne Botoko Kendewa of the University of Sussex and the University of Sheffield. The comic was originally posted by Cartoon Movement. The comic is based on field research conducted around the Feronia palm oil plantation in Tshopo province in north-east DR Congo.Continue reading “The people versus Feronia: Fighting palm oil agrocolonialism in the Congo”

Organized crime is a top driver of global deforestation – along with beef, soy, palm oil and wood products

Jennifer Devine, Texas State University Every year the world loses an estimated 25 million acres (10 million hectares) of forest, an area larger than the state of Indiana. Nearly all of it is in the tropics. Tropical forests store enormous quantities of carbon and are home to at least two-thirds of the world’s living species,Continue reading “Organized crime is a top driver of global deforestation – along with beef, soy, palm oil and wood products”

Promise, Divide, Intimidate and Coerce: 12 tactics used by palm oil companies intent on land-grabbing

The booklet “Promise, Divide, Intimidate and Coerce: 12 tactics palm oil companies use to grab community land” was created by World Rainforest Movement, GRAIN and an Alliance of community and local organisations united against industrial oil palm plantations in West and Central Africa, including RADD, SEFE, Synaparcam of Cameroon, Muyissi Environnement of Gabon and ERA/CommunityContinue reading “Promise, Divide, Intimidate and Coerce: 12 tactics used by palm oil companies intent on land-grabbing”

The Pro-Palm Oil Lobby Getting Caught Lying: Illegal Land Grabbing

The Issue For decades, investigative journalists have been exposing that illegal land grabbing from Indigenous peoples as a regular occurrence in West Papua, South and Central America, Africa and Asia. Indigenous people’s land is being forcibly (and often violently) taken from them by predatory palm oil companies. Major supermarket brands and also palm oil producersContinue reading “The Pro-Palm Oil Lobby Getting Caught Lying: Illegal Land Grabbing”

As palm oil production ramps up in Africa, communities work to avoid problems plaguing other regions

For many, palm oil has become synonymous with environmental devastation in Southeast Asia. Can palm oil production in Africa follow a more sustainable path forward? March 26, 2019 — For many consumers, palm oil has become synonymous with environmental devastation in Southeast Asia. The industry has brought mass deforestation to the region, shrunk orangutan habitatContinue reading “As palm oil production ramps up in Africa, communities work to avoid problems plaguing other regions”