How banks and investors are bankrolling extinction and ecocide

This article highlights the significant role that banks and investors play in fuelling a global biodiversity crisis – particularly in relation to palm oil, meat, soy and timber deforestation.

By financially supporting corporations that exploit natural resources, banks and investment firms are bankrolling palm oil and meat production ecocide. These activities contribute to the destruction of rainforests, leading to massive losses in biodiversity and impacting wildlife habitats. Key commodities like palm oil and beef are primary drivers of deforestation and environmental degradation.

As consumers we can take action and use our wallets as weapons when we boycott meat and palm oil in the supermarket, help animals and be

DYK fund industries harming animal beings? Protecting in and on farms starts with our choices. Embrace kindness for animals and forests — be 🌱❤️🐾 @palmoildetect Learn more: https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7N6

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and funds are bankrolling the and of giants: JBS, Sinar Mas and Cargill. They destroy rainforests for & , killing all in their path 🌍✊ 🌴🛢️🩸🚜🔥❌ https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7N6

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This article was produced by Earth • Food • Life for Wiki Observatory. How Banks and Investors Are Fueling a Global Biodiversity Crisis” by Laurel Sutherlin is licensed by the Observatory under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

2023 Analysis has revealed banks have poor safeguards against funding deforestation

In a global context where tropical rainforests play a critical role in biodiversity conservation and climate regulation, these ecosystems are severely threatened by expanding agribusiness and logging activities. This poses significant risks to the environment, wildlife, and communities dependent on rainforests.

Against the backdrop of escalating climate change impacts, urgent action is needed to prevent the collapse of these vital ecosystems and address the injustices faced by Indigenous and local communities and workers within the agricultural sector.

The ratification of the UN Global Biodiversity Framework in December 2022 marked a pivotal moment, signaling a collective commitment by 196 countries to reverse the decline in global biodiversity. However, financial institutions have historically failed to address their role in exacerbating the biodiversity crisis.

A 2023 report by Forests and Finance—a coalition of campaign, grassroots and research organizations that includes TuK Indonesia, Profundo, Amazon Watch, Repórter Brasil, BankTrack, Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Friends of the Earth U.S., and my organization, Rainforest Action Network—sheds light on the extensive financial support provided to sectors responsible for tropical deforestation, including beef, palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber, soy, and timber. “From January 2016 to September 2023, banks provided at least $307 billion in credit to these operations,” states the report, while institutional investors held approximately $38 billion in related shares and bonds.

How banks and investors are bankrolling extinction and ecocide

Forests and Finance tracks six forest-risk commodity sectors that are responsible for driving tropical deforestation. These sector summaries show the credits (loans, revolving credit facilities, bond issuances, and share issuances) provided to these sectors from January 2016 to September 2023 and the investments (bond holdings and shareholdings) outstanding as of September 2023. (Image: Forests and Finance, Rainforest Action Network)

Despite fluctuations in financial flows, there has been no discernible downward trend in financing forest-risk commodity production. Alarmingly, the analysis of more than 100 financial institutionsʼ policies in 2023 revealed grossly inadequate safeguards against deforestation and its associated social and environmental impacts. The average policy score was just 17 percent, according to the report.

Banks fund serial bad actors: JBS, Cargill, Sinar Mas Group and Royal Golden Eagle

Entities like JBS, Cargill, Royal Golden Eagle, and Sinar Mas Group exemplify the egregious behaviours tolerated and enabled by banks and investors.

Demands to Correct a Systemic Issue

The report by Forests and Finance urged governments and financial institutions to adopt and enact five principles:

Halt and reverse biodiversity loss

Uphold and prioritise the rights of Indigenous peoples, women, and local communities

Facilitate a just transition

Safeguard ecosystem integrity

Harmonise institutional objectives across sectors, issues, and instruments


Immediate action is crucial to combat the climate and biodiversity crises. The report urges financial institutions to align their activities with sustainability goals, enact robust environmental and social policies, and ensure transparency and accountability. By holding the financial sector accountable for its role in enabling social and environmental harm, we can work toward preserving biodiversity and mitigating the impacts of climate change for current and future generations.Forest-Risk Credit Trends

The report revealed that at least $307 billion in credit had been directed to forest-risk sectors from 2016 to September 2023. The beef sector dominated South America, while palm oil led in Southeast Asia and rubber in Central and West Africa. Primary beneficiaries included agro-commodity traders and companies with significant environmental and social violations.

While progress has been made, heightened attention and enhanced due diligence procedures are needed to address associated ESG risks and promote sustainable financial practices to combat deforestation and environmental degradation.

Big corporations launched the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) in June 2021 to guide businesses in reporting nature-related dependencies. However, civil society organizations have repeatedly raised concerns about the task force’s development, composition, approach, and potential for greenwashing.

illegal deforestation for beef, cattle ranching in the Amazon rainforest

Credit Flows Where Ecocide Goes

The analysis of regional credit flow and investment trends in forest-risk commodity sectors across South America, Southeast Asia, and Central and West Africa revealed significant financial flows and investments contributing to deforestation and environmental degradation.

In South America, the beef sector dominated forest-risk credit flows, followed by soy, and pulp and paper, with Banco do Brasil emerging as a significant creditor. Infamous beneficiaries included companies like Suzano and Marfrig.

In Southeast Asia, palm oil was the dominant recipient of forest-risk credit, followed by pulp, paper, and rubber. Indonesian banks played a significant role as financiers, with recipients including tycoon-owned conglomerates Sinar Mas Group (SME) and Royal Golden Eagle (RGE). Concerns over governance risks and greenwashing practices persisted despite reductions in primary forest loss.

Central and West Africa saw the rubber sector attracting the majority of forest-risk credit, with Chinese companies emerging as primary financiers. The Chinese Sinochem Group was the largest recipient of the credit, followed by China Forestry Group and Wilmar.

Despite fluctuations in credit flows, challenges remain in corporate structures and accountability. For instance, companies like “SMG [and] RGE… have established complex corporate structures that mask ownership relations. This poses serious governance risks and facilitates leakage and greenwashing. They have all been linked to egregious social and environmental harms for decades,” states the report.

Forest-Risk Investments

Investments in activities likely to damage forests globally amounted to more than $38 billion, with palm oil receiving the most significant share, followed by pulp and paper. Major institutional investors like BlackRock and Vanguard increased their stakes in forest-risk commodity companies, while others maintained or reduced their investments.

In South America, investments were predominantly allocated to the pulp and paper sector, with Suzano being the highest recipient. Southeast Asia saw the most investment in palm oil companies, with Sime Darby Plantations and IOI Group among the leading recipients.

In Central and West Africa, palm oil companies also received the majority of investments, with Sumitomo Forestry and Itochu being prominent recipients.

Policies by Sector

Regarding sectoral policies, financial institutions exhibit the most robust policies for palm oil, followed closely by timber, and pulp and paper. However, the average scores for these sectors remain relatively low, indicating room for improvement despite sustained civil society campaigns and certification schemesʼ existence.

The assessment of forest-risk bank policies reveals that, on average, the largest 30 forest-risk banks have higher overall policy scores than the largest forest-risk investors. However, the scores across the board are still low, reflecting minimal policy coverage across ESG criteria.

While some banks like CIMB and BNP Paribas scored relatively higher, others like Banco do Brasil and ICBC had notably low scores, indicating inadequate policies to address harmful activities.

Four Corporations Are Leading The Destruction

The report highlights four corporations—Cargill, JBS, Royal Golden Eagle, and Sinar Mas Group—that continue to receive significant credit and investment from financial institutions despite having egregious environmental and social track records. Cargill, in particular, has received substantial credit for its soy operations in tropical forest regions despite having a legacy of human rights abuses and environmental degradation.

Cargill

Cargillʼs expansion into the Brazilian Amazon and the Cerrado savanna has raised concerns due to decades of deforestation, violations of Indigenous peoples’ rights, and failures to meet deforestation commitments. Civil society campaigns, such as Burning Legacy, have aimed to hold Cargill accountable for its practices, documenting evidence of human rights abuses and deforestation in its supply chain.

Despite making commitments to ensure zero deforestation by 2020, Cargill has failed to meet its goals and has faced allegations of land grabbing and violations of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) rights.

The report also discusses the implications of the financialization of land and the role of the financial sector in exacerbating soy-driven deforestation through land speculation. It evaluates the policies of banks financing Cargill, revealing low scores and loopholes that weaken their effectiveness in preventing harm in forest-risk sectors.

Protest by Rainforest Action Network against Cargill's palm oil ecocide despite them using so-called "sustainable" palm oil
Protest by Rainforest Action Network against Cargill’s palm oil ecocide despite them using so-called “sustainable” palm oil

JBS

The report delves into the multifaceted issues surrounding JBS, the Brazilian meat giant, and its impact on the Amazon rainforest, climate change, and local communities. Financed by major banks from Brazil, the United States, Europe, and Japan, JBS has received substantial credit and investment despite its documented history of harmful business practices. Since 2019, banks have provided more than $718 million in forest-risk beef credit to JBS, while investors held $667 million in bonds and shares as of September 2023.

JBSʼs operations in the Brazilian Amazon have devastating consequences for forests, biodiversity, and Indigenous and traditional communities. The company’s practices include bribery, corruption, price fixing, forced labor and labor abuses, forest destruction, land grabbing, and contribution to climate change. Despite JBS’s high-profile pledge to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040, independent research suggests that the company lacks a credible decarbonization plan, leading to allegations of greenwashing.

The exploitation of people and forests in the Amazon is a systemic issue linked to JBS. Between 2008 and 2020, the company’s involvement in deforestation extended to approximately 200,000 hectares in its direct supply chain and 1.5 million hectares indirectly. Despite agreements to clean up its supply chain, JBS has failed to ensure its products are free from deforestation and forced labor, as evidenced by ongoing violations.

The assessment of JBS policies reveals concerning scores, indicating inadequate measures to prevent environmental harm and protect human rights. While some banks like Barclays scored relatively higher, others like Bradesco and BTG Pactual had alarmingly low scores, raising questions about their commitment to addressing crucial issues like deforestation and climate change.

The communities affected by these actions are now holding financial institutions supporting companies like JBS responsible for the environmental damage. In April 2024, the Parakanã people met with the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) to ask for reparation for the devastation of their territory, including by JBS suppliers. The Brazilian bank holds 20 percent of the shares of JBS and is therefore considered co-responsible for the impacts.

Royal Golden Eagle Group

The report also reveals mounting evidence that the multibillion-dollar Royal Golden Eagle Group (RGE), which says on its website “manages a group of world-class companies specializing in resource-based manufacturing,” operates numerous “shadow companies” and complex offshore ownership schemes to hide their destruction of forests across Indonesia. Banks have poured more than $4.5 billion into forest-risk pulp and paper-attributable loans and underwriting services for RGEʼs operations between 2019 and 2023.

However, none of the financial institutions assessed have adequate policies to mitigate the negative impacts. Scores for RGEʼs top creditors range from 1 percent to 24 percent, indicating a lack of comprehensive policy coverage regarding forest-risk commodity sectors.

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Indigenous Batak communities in North Sumatra hold a giant banner in protest of unresolved land conflicts and deforestation on Indigenous lands by PT. Toba Pulp Lestari. Photo by KSPPM, October 2022.
Indigenous Batak communities in North Sumatra hold a giant banner in protest of unresolved land conflicts and deforestation on Indigenous lands by PT. Toba Pulp Lestari. Photo by KSPPM, October 2022.

Sinar Mas Group

Sinar Mas Group (SMG), Indonesiaʼs largest conglomerate, has attracted substantial financing, receiving more than $20.3 billion in credit since 2019. Its palm oil division alone obtained $3.7 billion, primarily from Indonesian and Malaysian banks, between 2019 and September 2023. Despite this financial backing, SMG faces accusations of human rights abuses, massive greenhouse gas emissions, and large-scale deforestation, mainly through its pulp and paper division, Asia Pulp and Paper (APP).

The destruction of the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve by illegal palm oil plantations linked to SMGʼs operations poses a significant concern, threatening biodiversity and local communitiesʼ well-being within the Leuser Ecosystem. Despite documented evidence, SMG and its subsidiaries have failed to address these issues adequately, raising questions about their commitment to sustainability.

The report evaluates the policies of banks and investors financing SMG, revealing a spectrum of approaches. Malaysian banks CIMB and Maybank and Dutch bank Rabobank exhibit more robust policies, scoring highest for the palm oil sector. However, Indonesian banks such as Bank Panin, BRI, and Japanese bank MUFG have notably weaker policies, indicating insufficient measures to address environmental and social risks.

What Governments and Financial Institutions Can Do

The report underscores the urgent need for financial institutions to adopt robust policies and due diligence measures to address environmental and social risks associated with companies like JBS and RGE. Failure to do so perpetuates ecological destruction and human rights abuses and exposes banks and investors to significant financial and reputational risks.

Critically, the report also advocates for governments to step in and mandate financial sector regulation necessary to safeguard society and the ecosystems we depend on, consistent with international public policy goals. This is a problem that ultimately demands stronger, more systemic interventions. These could include, for example, prohibiting the allocation of capital to certain sectors or corporations driving ecosystem destruction and legislating for meaningful sanctions against financial institutions that fail to align their lending and investment accordingly.

How banks and investors are bankrolling extinction 4

This article was produced by Earth • Food • Life for Wiki Observatory. How Banks and Investors Are Fueling a Global Biodiversity Crisis” by Laurel Sutherlin is licensed by the Observatory under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

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1. Join the on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags .

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2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

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If You Love Moo Deng, Help to Save Her Home!

Moo Deng, the chubby, moody and adorable baby pygmy hippo has highlighted the plight of these elusive large mammals living in Africa’s rainforest and mangrove environments. The message to animal lovers is clear, if you love Moo Deng then take action for her home and boycott products coming from African deforestation like palm oil, cocoa and meat.

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If chubby and cute pygmy 🦛named could talk, she’d tell us all to stop staring at her online and instead to take action to save her home! Sign the , be and🍓🌱 🌴🪔🚫 @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-97b

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The playful and pudgy mammal that went viral from its Thai zoo enclosure has a sad story to tell about her fellows hippos. Moo Deng is the two-month-old pygmy hippo who flicks her ears in joy and likes splashing in water. She lives the life of a superstar at Khao Kheow Open Zoo, where huge crowds have massed – but the chances of spotting her relatives in the wild are slim.

Pygmy hippos Choeropsis liberiensis are endangered and estimated to number fewer than 2,500. Their decline has been drastic: a long-term survey in a national park in Ivory Coast found 12,000 pygmy hippos in 1982; 5,000 in 1997 and 2,000 in 2011. Today, these hippos are scarce across their native west Africa.

Perhaps it’s not surprising that pygmy hippos feel most comfortable deep in the forest. Early European explorers to Liberia wrote in their diaries that this hippo chooses to forage at night and conceal itself in the water or in dense vegetation during the day.

So secretive is this species that 19th-century explorers observed:

if someone walks across one of their paths or tunnels (used to navigate through thick vegetation), they will abandon that route for a while.

Sensitive souls

Widespread deforestation and constant disturbance have made it difficult for pygmy hippos to survive, requiring as they do a combination of dense forests and swamps which already restricted them to a small area. West African forests have lost over 80% of their original area, which confines wild pygmy hippos to small spots in Gola National Forest (Sierra Leone) and Sapo National Park (Liberia).

A map of West Africa with the range of pygmy hippos highlighted.
The world once had several pygmy hippo species. Only one remains, in West Africa. IUCN, CC BY-SA

With their forests rapidly disappearing, there simply isn’t enough space for pygmy hippos to find food, thrive and reproduce. A survey in the Gola rainforest and its surroundings revealed that many were hiding on former cropland outside the protected area.

Cocoa production is probably the biggest cause of forest loss, then gold mining and unsustainable logging. These activities now encroach on forest reserves and other supposedly protected areas.

Previous forest conservation efforts have failed. Conservationists argue for a system to financially reward farmers and authorise local forestry communities to safeguard the forests and sustainably manage what remains, as opposed to a top-down model of state management and enforcement.

A world treasure

West Africa’s forest loss is particularly heartbreaking as research shows that a remaining patch may be the most productive on Earth, surpassing even the Amazon rainforest.

Particularly productive forests harness more of the sun’s energy and turn it into lots of palatable herbs and juicy fruits – more food to support animals like pygmy hippos, and so foster rich biodiversity.

Before extensive fieldwork beginning in 2016, researchers had underestimated the value of west African forests, particularly their capacity to store carbon and thereby offset global warming. This oversight was partly the result of these forests being hidden by clouds, which makes satellite observation difficult, and their relative neglect by western researchers compared with other ecosystems elsewhere.

It’s not just Moo Deng’s wider family that is at risk. West African forests are home to more than 900 bird species and nearly 400 mammals – more than a quarter of all mammal species in Africa. Their future is highly threatened by extensive deforestation.

Underestimating the value of west African forests has kept them off the priority list for global forest restoration. It’s sadly not surprising that deforestation continues. In 2022 alone Ghana lost 44,500 acres of forest (twice the size of Manchester), close to a 70% increase from 2021.

Each tropical forest contributes irreplaceable biodiversity. From the elusive mammals of west Africa to the vibrant birds of south-east Asia, these ecosystems are equally important. Comprehensive plans are needed to restore them which involve empowering local communities to manage their long-term health.

A global initiative to designate 30% of Earth’s land and ocean as protected by 2030 (known as 30×30) should not conserve a vast area in one or two places, ignoring Earth’s other biodiversity hotspots. The lesson of Moo Deng’s disappearing home should be to value ecosystems equally – and plan their preservation with equal care.

Written by Huanyuan Zhang-Zheng, College Lecturer at Worcester College, and Postdoctoral Researcher at School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford and Sulemana Bawa, PhD Candidate in Conservation Biology, University of OxfordThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture

Global
South America
S.E. Asia
India
Africa
West Papua & PNG

Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing

Read more about RSPO greenwashing

Lying
Fake labels
Indigenous Land-grabbing
Human rights abuses
Deforestation
Human health hazards

A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

Read more
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Air Pollution and Health

Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags .

Join 3,176 other subscribers

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

Large herbivores such as elephants contribute to tree diversity

A recent study using satellite data has highlighted the critical role that large herbivores play in promoting tree diversity in forest ecosystems. The research showed that areas with abundant large herbivores like elephants had more varied tree cover and more tree diversity. This finding underscores the importance of large herbivores in many ecosystems and that they should have primary importance in conservation strategies, particularly in the context of global efforts to combat climate change and extinction. Help big herbivores every time you shop and #Boycottpalmoil and #Boycott4Wildlife in the supermarket!

Recent finds that lots of large like 🦏🐘help plant in rainforests! Help big plant eaters and to survive! 🐘🩶#Boycottpalmoil 🧐🪔⛔️ @palmoildetect.bsky.social https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7dB

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Soulful 🐘💗 are not only intelligent, they add more tree cover and diversity, finds this landmark . All species are threatened by and for ivory. 🌴🔥⛔ @palmoildetect.bsky.social https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7dB

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Cover image credit: A Sumatran elephant enjoys a playful river dip, by Craig Jones Wildlife Photography

Lanhui Wang, Joris P.G.M. Cromsigt, Robert Buitenwerf, Erick J. Lundgren, Wang Li, Elisabeth S. Bakker, Jens-Christian Svenning. Tree cover and its heterogeneity in natural ecosystems is linked to large herbivore biomass globally. One Earth, 2023; DOI: 10.1016/j.oneear.2023.10.007 Media release from Lund University. “Large herbivores such as elephants, bison and moose contribute to tree diversity.” ScienceDaily, 3 November 2023.

Maintaining species-rich and resilient ecosystems is key to preserving biodiversity and mitigating climate change. Here, megafauna — the part of the animal population in an area that is made up of the largest animals — plays an important role. In a new study published in the scientific journal One Earth, an international research team, of which Lund University is a part, has investigated the intricate interplay between the number of voracious herbivores like elephants and the diversity of trees in the world’s protected areas.

A Sumatran elephant enjoys a playful river dip, by Craig Jones Wildlife Photography
Winnie Cheche: Wildlife and Environmental Advocate in Her Own Words
African Forest Elephant Loxodonta cyclotis
Malayan Tapir Tapirus indicus
Baird's Tapir Tapirus bairdii
Malayan Tapir Tapirus indicus
Baby tapir south america
Indian Rhino (Greater One-horned Rhino) Rhinoceros unicornis India Asia in an area where fires and deforestation threaten their existence
Sambar deer Rusa unicolor - India Asia - young deer #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Indian Rhino (Greater One-horned Rhino) Rhinoceros unicornis India Asia close up of face. Credit: Craig Jones Photography
Sambar deer Rusa unicolor - India Asia - young deer swimming in the river #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife

“Our findings reveal a fascinating and complex story of how large herbivorous animals shape the world’s natural landscapes. The tree cover in these areas is sparser, but the diversity of the tree cover is much higher than in areas without large herbivores,” says Lanhui Wang, a researcher in physical geography and ecosystem science at Lund University.

“In our global analysis, we find a substantial association between the biomass of large herbivores and varied tree cover in protected areas, notably for browsers and mixed-feeders such as elephants, bison and moose and in non-extreme climates,” explains the study’s senior author, Jens-Christian Svenning, professor at Aarhus University.

Hereby, the study supports that large wild herbivores promote a diverse vegetation structure, creating a rich habitat for many other species. This is due to the animals’ consumption of vegetation as well as physical disturbances.

According to Lanhui Wang, these new research findings highlight the need to integrate large herbivores into restoration and conservation strategies. Not only for the sake of the animals themselves but also for the vital role they play in shaping landscapes and influencing biodiversity. The researchers argue that this aspect is not sufficiently considered within the framework of sustainable land management and ecosystem restoration.

“At a time when global initiatives are intensely focused on combating climate change and biodiversity loss, our findings highlight the need for a broader and more nuanced discussion about ecosystem management and conservation measures. It is of utmost importance to integrate understanding of the ecological impact of megafauna into this,” says Lanhui Wang.

The UN has declared the 2020s as the decade of ecosystem restoration. In total, 115 countries have agreed to restore up to 100,000 square kilometres of nature in total. To achieve this, more wild-living large herbivores are needed worldwide, says Lanhui Wang.

“I believe that we will need to protect and conserve large herbivores to achieve the UN goals. Megafauna are crucial for tree cover, which in turn promotes carbon sequestration and a diversity of habitats,” says Lanhui Wang.

Lanhui Wang, Joris P.G.M. Cromsigt, Robert Buitenwerf, Erick J. Lundgren, Wang Li, Elisabeth S. Bakker, Jens-Christian Svenning. Tree cover and its heterogeneity in natural ecosystems is linked to large herbivore biomass globally. One Earth, 2023; DOI: 10.1016/j.oneear.2023.10.007 Media release from Lund University. “Large herbivores such as elephants, bison and moose contribute to tree diversity.” ScienceDaily, 3 November 2023.

ENDS

Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture

Global
South America
S.E. Asia
India
Africa
West Papua & PNG

Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing

Read more about RSPO greenwashing

Lying
Fake labels
Indigenous Land-grabbing
Human rights abuses
Deforestation
Human health hazards

A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

Read more
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Air Pollution and Health

Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags .

Join 3,176 other subscribers

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

Deforestation-driven Climate Change and Natural Disasters



Deforestation in Indonesia is worsening the impact of severe weather events such as floods and landslides, as seen in West Sumatra in March 2024. Environmental groups cite deforestation and environmental degradation as key factors in intensifying natural disasters. Indonesia’s rainforests, crucial for biodiversity and indigenous livelihoods, have been heavily logged for palm oil, paper, and mining. Despite government efforts to slow deforestation, including a palm oil permit freeze, illegal logging and large-scale developments continue to threaten forest areas. Experts warn that more equable land planning is needed to mitigate future disasters. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife

🌴 🧺 and 📰 in 🇮🇩 has accelerated the frequency and severity of extreme weather: and as seen in . Fight back and 🌴🔥⛔️ @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2024/11/27/deforestation-driven-climate-change-intensifies-natural-disasters-in-indonesia/

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⛈️ and 🔥🔥 in 🇮🇩 is being driven to a point of no return say experts, citing massive loss for 🌴⛔️ and . Take action when you @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2024/11/27/deforestation-driven-climate-change-intensifies-natural-disasters-in-indonesia/

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Written by Victoria Milko. Originally published by Associated Press, 30 March, 2024. Original title: ‘In Indonesia, deforestation is intensifying disasters from severe weather and climate change’. Excerpt published, read the original article.

The shelves in supermarkets and stores are full of certified products. The packaging displays different labels indicating products were made with “sustainable” paper or wood, food or cosmetic products made with “sustainable” palm oil, “responsible” soybeans and so on and so forth.

In Jakarta Indonesia, roads turned to murky brown rivers, homes were swept away by strong currents and bodies were pulled from mud during deadly flash floods and landslides after torrential rains hit West Sumatra in early March, marking one of the latest deadly natural disasters in Indonesia.

Government officials blamed the floods on heavy rainfall, but environmental groups have cited the disaster as the latest example of deforestation and environmental degradation intensifying the effects of severe weather across Indonesia.

“This disaster occurred not only because of extreme weather factors, but because of the ecological crisis,” Indonesian environmental rights group Indonesian Forum for the Environment wrote in a statement. “If the environment continues to be ignored, then we will continue to reap ecological disasters.”

Deforestation-driven Climate Change Intensifies Natural Disasters in Indonesia, flood

A vast tropical archipelago stretching across the equator, Indonesia is home to the world’s third-largest rainforest, with a variety of endangered wildlife and plants, including orangutans, elephants, giant and blooming forest flowers. Some live nowhere else.

For generations the forests have also provided livelihoods, food, and medicine while playing a central role in cultural practices for millions of Indigenous residents in Indonesia.

Since 1950, more than 74 million hectares (285,715 square miles) of Indonesian rainforest — an area twice the size of Germany — have been logged, burned or degraded for development of palm oil, paper and rubber plantations, mining and other commodities according to Global Forest Watch.

Indonesia is the biggest producer of palm oil, one of the largest exporters of coal and a top producer of pulp for paper. It also exports oil and gas, rubber, tin and other resources. And it also has the world’s largest reserves of nickel — a critical material for electric vehicles, solar panels and other goods needed for the green energy transition.

Deforestation-driven Climate Change Intensifies Natural Disasters in Indonesia, flood, palm oil

Indonesia has consistently ranked as one of the largest global emitters of plant-warming greenhouse gases, with its emissions stemming from the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and peatland fires, according to the Global Carbon Project.

Read the remainder of the article on AP

Written by Victoria Milko. Originally published by Associated Press, 30 March, 2024. Original title: ‘In Indonesia, deforestation is intensifying disasters from severe weather and climate change’. Excerpt published, read the original article.

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Read more about human rights abuses and child slavery in the palm oil industry

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3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

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Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus

Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus

Vulnerable

Extant (resident)

India; Nepal; Sri Lanka

Extinct

Bangladesh

The sloth bear (Melursus ursinus), with their distinctive “Y” or “V” shaped chest patch and shaggy fur, are unique bears native to the Indian subcontinent. Once exploited as ‘dancing bears’ by the Kalandar tribe, this phase of history is thankfully now over. They now roam across tropical forests and savannahs while snuffling through termite mounds and sucking up ants and honey. Tragically, these bears face severe threats from palm oil deforestation, human-wildlife conflict, and illegal poaching. You can fight for their survival by saying no to palm oil. Use your wallet as a weapon to make a difference!

Sloth 🐻 are nurturing parents 💗😘 with shaggy fur and unique chest markings. Living throughout they’re now from and 🌴⛔🙈 Help them survive each time you shop @palmoildetect.bsky.social https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7PU

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Once exploited as ‘dancing bears’ 😭 Sloth of 🐻🐻 are now vulnerable from , poaching and human persecution. You can fight for them by using your wallet 🌴🛢️👎🚫 @palmoildetect.bsky.social https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7PU

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Appearance & Behaviour


The Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus is native to the Indian subcontinent. They are distinctive for their long, shaggy fur which gives them a dishevelled appearance; along with unique “Y” or “V” shaped chest patches that are akin to fingerprints. They have large, sickle-shaped claws and a protruding lower lip, perfectly adapted for their termite-hunting lifestyle. They are medium-sized bears with males averaging between 80-145 kg and females between 55-105 kg. Known for their slow, shambling walk and loud snuffling sounds, they are often encountered in pairs, with males being gentle with their cubs.

  • Specialised for eating insects: Their long lower lip and palate help them efficiently suck up insects.
  • A keen nose for sweets: Exceptionally fond of honey and jackfruit, they regurgitate these and other delicacies for their cubs.
  • Tragic ‘Dancing Bear’ legacy now thankfully over: Once used as dancing bears by the Kalandar tribe, this horrific practice has been largely eradicated through concerted rescue efforts by Wildlife SOS, International Animal Rescue, and Free the Bears .

Support the conservation and protection of these bears by refusing to buy products sourced from illegal wildlife trade or deforested areas. Fight for their future with mindful shopping practices and help them by being vegan and in the supermarket!

Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus
Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus
Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus
Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus
Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus
Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus
Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus
Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus

Threats

  • Habitat Degradation and Deforestation: Human activity, including logging and agriculture, severely reduces their habitat.
  • Human Encroachment: Growing populations of these bears lead to increased conflict with humans, as they search for food in human settlements.
  • Illegal Wildlife Trade: Despite being protected by law, poaching continues for their body parts.

Conservation groups work to protect their future by safeguarding forests and offering alternative livelihoods to those who once exploited these animals. You can help them! Use your wallet as a weapon, ensure you do not buy bear or animal related wildlife products and boycott palm oil in the supermarket

Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus
Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus

Habitat

Their primary habitats include tropical forests, savannahs, and grasslands across India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. They prefer lowland areas below 1,500 m in India and 300 m in Sri Lanka. Sadly, they are extinct in Bangladesh.

Diet

Sloth bears have a highly specialised diet focused on ants, termites, and honey. They also consume a variety of fruits, particularly jackfruit and the petals of mowha trees. They use their long sickle-shaped claws to break open termite mounds and then suck up the insects.

Mating and breeding

Sloth bears breed during the spring and early summer, giving birth in caves or under boulders at the start of winter. Cubs are born blind and ride on their mother’s back until they reach a third of her size. Litters typically include 1-2 cubs, sometimes up to three.

Support Indian Sloth Bears by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the

Support the conservation of this species

This animal has no protections in place. Read about other forgotten species here. Create art to support this forgotten animal or raise awareness about them by sharing this post and using the #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.

Further Information

Free the Bears. (n.d.). India’s Sloth Bears. https://freethebears.org/pages/indian-sloth-bears

IUCN. (n.d.). Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/13143/166519315#threats

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Sloth bear. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloth_bear

Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus
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How can I help the ?

Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags .

Join 3,176 other subscribers

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture

Global
South America
S.E. Asia
India
Africa
West Papua & PNG

Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing

Read more about RSPO greenwashing

Lying
Fake labels
Indigenous Land-grabbing
Human rights abuses
Deforestation
Human health hazards

A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

Read more
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Air Pollution and Health

Seven practical ways to stop a species wipeout

1 million 🌾🌽🎍🍅 and 🦏🦒🐅 are threatened. and are at a crossroads of . Here’s 7 practical ways to stop wipeout. Help them survive! 🌴☠️🚫

1 million 🌾🌽🎍🍅 and 🦏🦒🐅 are threatened. and are at a crossroads of . Here’s 7 practical ways to stop wipeout. Help them survive! 🌴☠️🚫 @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2024/11/17/seven-practical-ways-to-stop-a-species-wipeout/

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Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™, written by Charis Palmer and Chris Bartlett Read the original article here.

There is mounting evidence the world is experiencing its largest loss of life since the dinosaurs. One million plant and animal species are now threatened with extinction.

“We’ve already degraded 75 per cent of the Earth’s surface and more than 60 per cent of the marine environment,” the UN’s biodiversity chief Elizabeth Maruma Mrema told the BBC.

Corey Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders professor of global ecology at Flinders University, says if the current rate of extinction continues we could lose most species by 2200. The implication for human health and wellbeing is dire, but not inevitable.

Preserving biodiversity is crucial to keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees, say the architects of the Paris climate agreement.

A healthy planet also ensures resilient economies. More than half of global GDP – equal to US$41.7 trillion – is reliant on healthy ecosystems.

Researchers and scientists have explored what’s already working to protect biodiversity. Evidence in these seven areas shows there are simple measures that work, and others that will require global collaboration.

Consider what we eat and waste less

Expanding agricultural land is pushing biodiversity past a safe limit, says Quentin Read, data scientist and ecologist at North Carolina State University.

“Some species may already be ‘walking dead’, doomed to extinction because they no longer have a habitat large enough to avoid a population crash.”

An important part of the solution is helping consumers better understand how their diets and food waste behaviours influence global biodiversity.

“Animal products need large amounts of land to grow feed and pasture livestock.

“A smart plant-based diet is a major way to reduce land demand and biodiversity impact relative to a diet high in meat and dairy.”

But even for those unwilling or unable to change their diet, Read says reducing pre-consumer and consumer food waste by 50 percent has almost as much positive impact on reducing land demand in high-biodiversity areas.

Make cities more wildlife friendly

Seven ways to stop species wipeout

Cities can be hostile places for plants and animals, say Sarah Bekessy, sustainability and urban planning teacher at RMIT University and Georgia Garrard, senior lecturer in sustainability at the University of Melbourne.

But with “policy rethink and clever designs, cities could be safe havens for species to thrive and recover”.

“New solutions, like biodiverse green roofs, habitat boxes and insect hotels can also provide food and shelter for a range of animals in cities.

“Stormwater runoff which can negatively impact native plants and animals such as frogs can be mitigated by vegetated swales and rain gardens.”

Control feral and domestic cats to stop them killing wildlife

Seven ways to stop species wipeout

Worldwide, domestic cats are responsible for over a quarter of modern mammal, bird and reptile extinctions, says Sarah Legge, ecologist and invasive species expert at the Australian National University.

The urgency has forced scientists to innovate.

“Fenced enclosures, smart fire and grazing management are just some of the tools keeping native species from extinction.

“Reducing the impacts of pet cats is much simpler than controlling feral cats – just keep them contained, as almost a third of cat owners already do.”

Spend more to protect forests and habitats on land and in water

Seven ways to stop species wipeout

Investing in people to carry out conservation would have far reaching benefits, says Euan Ritchie, professor in wildlife ecology and conservation at Deakin University.

Ritchie says it would cost around A$1.7 billion a year to bring all the species on Australia’s threatened list back to health.

Australia currently spends around A$120 million a year on targeted threatened species conservation and recovery.

“Australian governments and society seemingly don’t see the environment as a priority investment. The question we must confront is why?”

Keep working to conserve endangered species

Seven ways to stop species wipeout

Early action to prevent decline and critical endangerment would be a more cost-effective approach to prevent species loss than captive breeding programs and reintroduction, says Philip McGowan, professor of conservation science and policy at Newcastle University.

“The strategies to save species are available and … effective. What remains lacking is the widespread support for and adoption of these and emerging approaches.

“Extinction is not inevitable.”

Learn from Indigenous people

Seven ways to stop species wipeout

Learning from previous and current management by local and Indigenous people and fostering shared fire management are invaluable steps in promoting fires that benefit people and biodiversity, say wildfire researchers.

Research in New Zealand, for example, has identified low-flammable vegetable crops, pastures and traditional Māori food and medicine species, such as the kawakawa tree, that could moderate fire while enhancing biodiversity.

Abolish our goal of perpetual economic growth

Seven ways to stop species wipeout

Most of the damage to the Earth’s life-support system has happened over the last century, says Corey Bradshaw.

“The global human population has tripled since 1950, and there are now approximately one million species threatened with imminent extinction due to massive population declines. To reverse that we could abolish the goal of perpetual economic growth, and force companies to restore the environment using established mechanisms such as carbon pricing.

“We could limit undue corporate influence on political decision-making, and end corporate lobbying of politicians. Educating and empowering women, including providing greater self-determination in family planning, would help stem environmental destruction.”

360info is a newswire with a difference: we source content from the research community offering solutions to the world’s biggest problems. To request access to our news feed so you can republish our articles visit newshub.360info.org

This article has been republished for World Wildlife Day 2023. It was first published on December 16, 2022.

Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.

The UK's hunger for palm oil, soy and beef (2)

Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™, written by Charis Palmer and Chris Bartlett Read the original article here.

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Read more about deforestation and ecocide in the palm oil industry

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Join 3,176 other subscribers

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

Guaranteeing Ecocide: The Green Lie of Palm Oil Certification

For decades, the palm oil industry, backed by the RSPO, has misled consumers with the false promise of “sustainable” palm oil. Behind this green façade lies a brutal reality of deforestation, human rights abuses, and the destruction of endangered species’ habitats. Dozens of investigations from many different industry watchdogs have exposes the RSPO’s certification as a sham, enabling continued environmental devastation under the guise of sustainability.

However it’s not only the palm oil industry that is an environmental liability, gold mining and meat deforestation also deserves to be strongly condemned for its ongoing ecocide. Read on to discover the examples of greenwashing deception from these industries, so that you don’t fall for their corporate greenwashing. Protect our planet and all human and non-human beings by refusing to support these lies—#Boycottpalmoil and every time you shop.

For 30 yrs, have promised free from , abuses. This has proven to be a multi-stakeholder lie Don’t buy the the instead @palmoildetect 🪔🌴🚫 https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7Sp

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Behind ’s certified “sustainable” lies a harsh reality of and abuses 🔥🌳🌴 ⛔️connected to all members. “Sustainable” palm oil is a lie, make sure you https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7Sp

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What You Can Do About Corporate Deception and Greenwashing Hypocrisy

Corporate hypocrisy is a masterclass in deceit, where companies promote their so-called social responsibility, while their actions tell a completely different story. This chasm between sparkling company promises and grim reality erodes the trust of citizens and shatters the ethical foundations of our communities.

Take JBS, a meat processing giant that pledged to fight deforestation but was caught sourcing cattle from illegally deforested Amazon land. Or Cartier, a luxury brand that prides itself on ethical sourcing yet was found using conflict gold and advertising their products using indigenous Amazonian peoples they violently dispossessed. Then there’s IOI, a palm oil producer boasting about their “sustainability” while contributing to massive environmental destruction. Such brazen acts of deception ignite public outrage, often sparking more public discontent that the original acts of deception.

The Anatomy of Corporate Deception

Corporate hypocrisy involves making grand moral claims, failing to meet those claims, deceiving stakeholders, and profiting from this deceit. Industries like tobacco and palm oil are notorious for such behaviour. Despite pledging not to target young people, tobacco companies continued to do so. Similarly, palm oil producer IOI violated the zero-burning policy they helped establish, leading to significant public backlash and lost business from major companies like Unilever (7).

Unmasking Corporate Hypocrisy: An Experiment

An 2020 experiment by German researchers tested whether people view corporate hypocrisy as harshly as individual hypocrisy. Participants read scenarios involving private individuals, managers, and firms, all behaving hypocritically. Results showed that both corporate and individual hypocrisies are condemned strongly, with corporations judged more harshly due to perceived greed and lack of empathy (7).

Palm Oil Industry: Repeated Greenwashing and Hypocrisy

Greenwashing is a deceptive practice where companies falsely portray their products as environmentally friendly. The palm oil industry has been notorious for this, particularly under the guise of “sustainable” palm oil certified by the RSPO. Every global supermarket brand has been implicated in this greenwashing. They claim adherence to “sustainable” practices, while concurrently engaging in environmentally destructive activities that result in violent land-grabbing, human rights abuses, ecocide and putting at-risk species closer to extinction .

In Guatemala, despite RSPO certification, palm oil deforestation continues at alarming rates, harming local ecosystems and communities. A 2023 research paper from the University of Michigan highlighted that certifying products as sustainable does not necessarily prevent environmental destruction (5, 9).

IOI: A Tale of Broken Promises

In 2004, IOI, a major Malaysian palm oil producer, co-founded the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to champion sustainable palm oil production. A key aspect of their commitment was a “zero-burning policy” aimed at preventing deforestation. However, IOI’s actions starkly contradicted their pledges. NGOs like Milieudefensie and Friends of the Earth Europe accused IOI of clearing rainforests in Indonesia, with aerial images and local reports providing irrefutable evidence (7).

In 2015, the sustainability advisor Aidenvironment filed a formal complaint, leading to IOI’s suspension from the RSPO in 2016. This suspension was a significant blow, resulting in financial losses as major companies like Unilever, Kellogg, and Mars severed ties. Despite eventually meeting the RSPO’s conditions and being reinstated, IOI deserved the resulting damage to their reputation. Their blatant disregard for the zero-burning policy they helped establish highlighted their hypocrisy and undermined their credibility as a promoter of sustainable practices (7).

Guaranteeing Ecocide: The Green Lie of Palm Oil Certification
Guaranteeing Ecocide: The Green Lie of Palm Oil Certification

More Greenwashing in the Palm Oil Industry

Unilever and RSPO Certification: Unilever, a major player in the palm oil market, has faced criticism for promoting its use of RSPO-certified palm oil as sustainable. Investigations revealed that despite these claims, Unilever sourced palm oil from suppliers involved in deforestation and habitat destruction. The RSPO certification itself has been criticised for weak enforcement and allowing members to continue harmful practices under the “sustainable” label, (6).

Nestlé and “No Deforestation” Pledge: Nestlé made a high-profile pledge to achieve zero deforestation by 2020, claiming its palm oil would no longer contribute to forest loss. However, reports surfaced showing that Nestlé’s suppliers were still involved in deforestation, particularly in Indonesia and Malaysia. This discrepancy between Nestlé’s public commitments and actual practices highlights the extent of greenwashing in the palm oil industry, (6).

PepsiCo and Supplier Controversies: PepsiCo has also been implicated in greenwashing. While the company advertises its commitment to sourcing “sustainable” RSPO palm oil, it has been linked to suppliers violating human rights and environmental laws over many years. Investigations found that these suppliers were involved in illegal land clearing and exploitation of indigenous communities, (6).

JBS: The Beef Industry’s Hypocritical Greenwashing

JBS, the world’s largest beef producer, has been sued by Attorney General Letitia James for misrepresenting their products as sustainable. The lawsuit, filed in early 2024, highlights how JBS falsely marketed their beef as eco-friendly while engaging in practices harmful to the environment. This case mirrors the deceptive tactics seen in the palm oil industry, underscoring the widespread nature of corporate greenwashing, (2).

Cartier and the Gold Mining Scandal: A Glittering Facade

The luxury brand Cartier has also been implicated in corporate hypocrisy and greenwashing. Cartier used images of the Amazon Yanomami tribe, which has been devastated by illegal gold mining, in their marketing campaigns to promote their gold jewelry as ethically sourced, (4). Activist Barbara Crane Navarro highlighted the hypocrisy of this act, exposing how Cartier’s practices contribute to environmental destruction and the exploitation of indigenous communities, (4).

Boycotts: A Powerful Weapon Against Corporate Hypocrisy

Boycotts are a significant and powerful lever in calling corporate greed and hypocrisy to account. Research shows that boycotts can effectively influence corporate behaviour by impacting their profits and public image (3). For example, Nestlé faced a successful boycott campaign against deforestation for palm oil in its supply chain, leading to policy changes. Continuous public pressure through boycotts holds corporations accountable and drives them towards more transparent practices (8).

Studies indicate that boycotts can drive significant changes. For instance, according to John and Klein (2003), boycotts are effective in signaling consumer dissatisfaction and can lead to substantial financial impacts (8).

Participate in Creative and Collective Action Against Corporate Hypocrisy

Companies must align their actions with their public statements to maintain trust and avoid the severe public backlash that accompanies perceived deception. Consumers play a critical role by participating in boycotts and demanding transparency and accountability from corporations, (1, 8).

Collective action is not limited to boycotts. Creating art, writing, and music to expose corporate hypocrisy are powerful forms activism in themselves. This can amplify messages and mobilise public sentiment. These creative expressions resonate deeply with people, inspiring them to take action. The work of activist-artist Barbara Crane Navarro’s work in exposing Cartier’s hypocrisy through art and advocacy is a testament to the impact of combining creativity with activism, (1).

To further harness the power of collective action, individuals and organisations can participate in various forms of activism as described on the Palm Oil Detectives website. By engaging in creative forms of activism both online and in-person and by participating in consumer boycotts, we can all hold corporations accountable and drive meaningful change towards a more ethical world.

References

  1. Creatives and Conservationists for Cool Creatures (2021). Palm Oil Detectives. Retrieved from Palm Oil Detectives
  2. Attorney General James Sues World’s Largest Beef Producer for Misrepresenting Products as Sustainable. (2024). Retrieved from Attorney General NY Press Release
  3. Boycotts: Do They Work and Why Participate in Them? (2021). Palm Oil Detectives. Retrieved from Palm Oil Detectives
  4. Cartier uses images of Amazon tribe devastated by illegal gold mining; critics call that hypocrisy. (2023). Retrieved from CTV News
  5. Friedrich, M. (2023). Greenwashing in the palm oil industry: Lies, deception, and the fight for sustainability. Journal of Environmental Management, 336, 117–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.01.2938
  6. Greenwashing Tactic 7: Lying. (2021). Palm Oil Detectives. Retrieved from Palm Oil Detectives
  7. Jauernig, J., Uhl, M., & Valentinov, V. (2021). The ethics of corporate hypocrisy: An experimental approach. Futures, 102757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2021.102757
  8. John, A., & Klein, J. (2003). The Boycott Puzzle: Consumer Motivations for Purchase Sacrifice. Management Science, 49(9), 1196-1209. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4134035
  9. Palm Oil Deforestation in Guatemala: Certifying Products as Sustainable is No Panacea. (2023). Palm Oil Detectives. Retrieved from Palm Oil Detectives

Read more about deforestation and ecocide in the palm oil industry

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2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis umbrosa

Vulnerable

Extant (resident)

India (Nicobar and Andaman Islands)

Discover the intriguing world of the Nicobar long-tailed macaque, a true survivor of India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands. These intelligent, adaptable, and highly social creatures navigate a variety of habitats with remarkable resilience. With their broad, chubby faces , deep-set and inquisitive eyes and wiry fur, they differ in appearance from their mainland counterparts. Nicobar long-tailed macaques now face threats including palm oil deforestation and human persecution in their island home. Help them to survive and safeguard their future every time you shop, #Boycottpalmoil and #Boycott4Wildlife.

The long-tailed , is a gem of ’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands. With charming chubby faces and curious eyes, they’re easy to love. Yet danger looms from . Help them and @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7rM

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Resilient tool-using Nicobar long-tailed are now from and human persecution in India’s Nicobar and islands. Take a stand for them with your consumer choices! , and @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7rM

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Appearance & Behaviour

Tool-using, intelligent and charming Nicobar Long-tailed Macaques are survivors of the far-flung Indian Nicobar and Andaman islands.

In the sun-drenched Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Nicobar long-tailed macaque flourishes, showcasing their intelligence, adaptability, and social nature. Amidst the rich biodiversity of Great Nicobar Island, these robust, grey monkeys begin their day with grooming rituals and foraging, favoring the native screw pine before venturing into nearby farms in search of coconuts and areca nuts.

Distinct from their mainland counterparts, the Nicobar long-tailed macaques have broader faces, deep-set eyes, and long tails that aid their balance on the coastal trees—a necessary skill in the gusty sea breezes. Their fur, a wiry brown in the sunlight, is adapted to the islands’ humid climate, allowing them to stay dry and warm. They make their homes in a variety of environments, from mangrove forests and dense rainforests to human settlements, demonstrating their versatility and resilience across Great Nicobar, Katchal, and Little Nicobar.

This species is a master of social living and survival, defending territories and using intricate social behaviours like grooming and group foraging to maintain bonds and communication within troops. They’re inventive, using tools for flossing, foraging, and communication, and have adapted their foraging tactics to include raids on village gardens during rainstorms, showcasing their creativity and intelligence.

Extant (resident) India
Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis umbrosa
Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis umbrosa
Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis umbrosa
Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis umbrosa
Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis umbrosa
Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis umbrosa
Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis umbrosa
Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis umbrosa
Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis umbrosa
Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis umbrosa

Threats

  • Natural disasters: The long-tailed macaque population suffered due to a major tsunami event but showed signs of recovery later.
  • Competition with humans over coconuts: Conflict over coconuts between human Nicobar islanders and long-tailed macaques, especially in Great Nicobar and Katchal islands is occurring. This is due to the monkeys’ reliance on coconuts, a valuable commercial resource. These monkeys are increasingly vilified as pests, ignoring their long evolutionary relationship with coconuts.
  • Human persecution and killing: Recent migrants and the indigenous Nicobarese tribe both view monkeys as pests and engage in acts of cruelty, including poisoning, to eliminate them.
  • Development of the island for tourism and deforestation for palm oil: Large-scale tourism development projects on Great Nicobar Island threaten the macaque’s habitat. Also deforestation for palm oil and other agriculture. Such development, covering 18% of the island, not only affects wildlife but also indigenous peoples on the islands.

Habitat

On the Nicobar Islands of India—Little Nicobar, Great Nicobar, and Katchall—this unique subspecies of crab-eating macaque umbrosa or Nicobar thrives, found at elevations up to 600 meters. A study from 2003 discovered around 788 groups living across these islands, with groups averaging 36 members, though some were as large as 56. Each group typically includes multiple adult males and females, along with their offspring. Interestingly, adult females usually outnumber males by a ratio of 4:1, with a nearly equal number of young monkeys to adult females, suggesting a strong, healthy population. There’s also talk and some early findings suggesting they might be living on a fourth island, Kondul, but more investigation is needed to confirm their presence there.

Diet

The Nicobar long-tailed macaque, a discerning frugivore, feasts mainly on fruits and nuts. Like their crab-eating kin, they diversify their diet in leaner seasons or when preferred fruits are scarce, opting for young leaves, insects, flowers, seeds, and bark. When exploring shorelines and mangroves, they also snack on small crabs, frogs, and other creatures. Living near human settlements, these macaques frequently venture into croplands in search of food and may even enter homes if not deterred by human activity.

Mating and breeding

The study of Nicobar long-tailed macaques’ mating and reproduction is still in its nascent stages. Only recently research has begun in this area, but was hampered by the 2004 tsunami. More needs to be discovered about these macaques’ mating habits, including how they form relationships, choose mates, and time their births, against the backdrop of their rapidly changing environments.

https://twitter.com/Partha_Marcus/status/1257411314986573824

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Support the conservation of this species

This animal has no protections in place. Read about other forgotten species here. Create art to support this forgotten animal or raise awareness about them by sharing this post and using the #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.

Further Information

Ramakrishna, I., Mishra, P., Mazumder, J. & Pal, A. 2022. Macaca fascicularis ssp. umbrosa. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T39791A215086130. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T39791A215086130.en. Accessed on 08 April 2024.

Nicobar long-tailed macaque Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicobar_long-tailed_macaque

Nicobar long-tailed macaque on Animalia.bio website:  https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/39791/10257717

Partha Sarathi Mishra – research

Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis umbrosa
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Read more about RSPO greenwashing

Lying
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A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

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WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Air Pollution and Health

Lax Laws in Indonesia Turn Blind Eye To Animal Trafficking

When Indonesian prosecutors went after the leader of an illegal wildlife syndicate operating near the Malacca Strait, they relied on the country’s then relatively new 2019 Quarantine Act to seek a prison sentence.

After being connected to the illegal smuggling of four lion cubs, a leopard, and 58 species of Indian Star tortoises from Malaysia to Indonesia, Irawan Shia received a four-year prison sentence and fine of IDR 1 billion (USD$65,468). If the fine is not paid, the replacement is three months imprisonment.

The sentence was the biggest ever handed out, but falls far short of what it could have been had Indonesia brought its laws in line with global conventions.

Illegal is rampant in , from to , to coral. online is worth $852.6mil USD per year. Indonesia is weak in response. @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2024/11/03/indonesias-lax-laws-fail-to-crack-down-on-rampant-animal-trafficking/

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Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™, written by Anugerah Rizki Akbari. Read the original article here.

Illegal trading of wildlife is rampant in Indonesia, from bird species and orangutans, to coral specimens. Wildlife traffickers using online platforms have found a new marketplace.

Environmental crime is the world’s third largest illegal trade, according to INTERPOL. It’s worth more than USD$20 billion a year but remains overlooked and under-prosecuted. In Indonesia, illegal trade of wildlife costs the economy an estimated USD$852,4 million every year, and according to INTERPOL it’s growing at between 5-7 percent per year.

Despite the numbers, Indonesia is falling short in its response to wildlife trafficking. Observers have called for better criminal investigations and more suitable punishments for the offenders as well as an upgrade to the legislative frameworks tackling these criminal activities.

Due to its lucrative nature and extensive markets, it is almost impossible for criminals to act individually when trafficking wildlife. Similar to drugs and human trafficking, illegal trade of wildlife requires a multitude of criminal networks with individuals holding various duties in committing the crime. Poachers, brokers, intermediaries, exporters-importers, wholesale traders, and retailers are all present in the chain of criminal enterprises.

Indonesias lax laws animal trafficking

The involvement of organised crime actors, other crime groups, officials, authorities, and militias in the different stages of wildlife trafficking complicates the state’s intervention to tackle an offence considered a nested complex crime. Because of this, the illegal trade of wildlife is generally considered to be transnational organised crime, requiring a matched response.

For example, the United Nations Conventions against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), in tackling transnational organised crime enables governments to criminalise participation, introduce liability for legal persons, undertake special investigation techniques and cooperate internationally. There are programmes for law enforcement agencies to effectively collaborate in combating these crimes, such as collecting, exchange and analysis of information on the nature of organised crime and training and technical assistance.

But Indonesia has yet to adopt these initiatives in its own regulations. Despite ratifying UNTOC in 2009, the primary foundation of Indonesia’s response to illegal trade of wildlife lies in its Conservation of Biological Natural Resources and their Ecosystems Law. This more than 30-year old law is not suited to combating today’s rampant wildlife trafficking.

For instance, the maximum criminal sentence of five years’ imprisonment and fines of up to IDR 100 million (USD$6,548) are far too lenient compared to the harm caused by the illegal wildlife trade. Indonesian law fails to regulate the involvement of corporations in the illicit trade of protected floras and faunas as it only criminalises individual offenders. Subsequently, it does not equip law enforcement agencies with the necessary powers to investigate and prosecute if such crimes have cross-border characteristics and involve syndicates.

The possibility of using technology to stop wildlife trafficking is yet to be regulated. Even though the government’s claims that Indonesia has succeeded in replenishing and restoring endangered species, the law remains insufficient to comprehensively react to the evolving nature of wildlife trafficking.

Despite being recorded as the biggest verdict of a wildlife-smuggling case, Shia’s prison time does not even reach the maximum term under the 1990 Conservation Law, which various observers considered too lenient. The Quarantine Act is not specifically designed to combat wildlife trafficking as it demands the complete documents for fauna coming to Indonesia. If the offenders could provide such paperwork, the possibility of prosecuting traffickers using this law would be off the table.

Being unable to consider it an organised crime, law enforcement agencies rarely proceed with wildlife trafficking cases until the very top of its business chain. Even though the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommends a complete analysis on the potential money laundering risks relating to the illegal wildlife trade, convictions haven’t gone beyond the leaders and their couriers.

The fact that money laundering and other high-ranking corrupt officers were never present in Shia’s trial reiterates the fragmented strategy of pursuing wildlife trafficking syndicates.

Indonesia’s approach to legislating against wildlife trafficking is threatening its ambition to remain a biodiversity hotspot in Southeast Asia as more endangered species come closer to extinction.

Indonesias lax laws animal trafficking

Anugerah Rizki Akbari is a PhD Candidate at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance, and Society, Leiden Law School, Universiteit Leiden. He also holds a non-permanent position as lecturer at Department of Criminology, Faculty of Social and Political Science, University of Indonesia. His research interests are crime, criminal law, and criminal justice. He can be found on Twitter @anugerahrizki. A.R. Akbari declares no conflict of interest and did not receive special funding in any form.

Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.

Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™, written by Anugerah Rizki Akbari. Read the original article here.

ENDS

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Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei

Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei

Endangered

Extant (resident)

Bangladesh, India (Assam, Mizoram, Tripura), Myanmar

Phayre’s leaf monkey, also known as Phayre’s langur, are remarkable Old World monkeys distinguished by large, white-rimmed eyes that lend them a “spectacled” appearance. Known locally as ‘Chasma bandar’ they live mostly in the lush forests of India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Major threats to their survival include habitat destruction from palm oil and rubber plantations, illegal hunting for traditional medicine, and habitat encroachment depleting their natural food sources. An emerging threat is interbreeding with other threatened monkey species. Join the fight to protect this unique species: #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife in the supermarket! If you care about animals, consider going to protect their habitat and lives.

Known as ‘Chasma Bandar’ for their beautiful spectacled eyes 👓🐵🐒 Phayre’s leaf monkeys are a distinctive in 🇮🇳 🇧🇩, by 🌴🔥🚫 Fight for them! @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-95q

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With white-rimmed eyes and purple hair, Phayre’s Leaf 🐒 barely survive in forests in , , and . A major threat is . Help them survive! 🌴🔥⛔️#Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-95q

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Appearance & Behaviour

• Known locally as Chasma bandar in Bengali due to their “spectacled” appearance.

• Spend the majority of their time feeding, resting, and grooming.

• Often adapt their diet to available resources, including invasive species in rubber plantations.

The Phayre’s leaf monkey has a striking species with soft, bluish-brown fur that contrasts with white patches around their eyes and mouth, giving them a bespectacled look. These monkeys move gracefully through the forest canopy, often leaping from tree to tree with agility. Living in small social groups, they demonstrate close bonds through grooming and playing. Their social hierarchy typically includes an alpha male, and they communicate with distinctive vocalisations such as loud calls for alarms and softer sounds for group cohesion. Watching these langurs traverse the trees with calm, measured movements is an awe-inspiring sight, underscoring their crucial role in the forest ecosystem.

Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei
Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei
Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei
Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei
Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei
Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei
Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei
Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei
Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei
Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei
Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei

Threats

Habitat destruction and fragmentation

Vast areas of their habitat are lost due to commercial logging, agriculture, and monoculture plantations, especially for palm oil and rubber. This reduction in forest cover isolates populations and limits their food sources, further endangering their survival.

Hunting and Traditional Medicine

Phayre’s leaf monkeys are hunted for their gallstones, which are falsely believed to have medicinal properties. Additionally, they are hunted for meat in certain regions, severely impacting their population numbers.

Rubber Monoculture Deforestation

In areas like Tripura, large-scale rubber plantations have replaced natural forests, pushing the Phayre’s leaf monkey to adapt their diet to rubber leaves, which may not meet their full nutritional needs. This dependency compromises their health and survival in the wild.

Roadkill and Electrocution

Increasing roads and power lines within their forest habitat put Phayre’s leaf monkeys at risk of fatal encounters with vehicles and electrocution, both common threats as development encroaches further into their territory.

Palm Oil Monoculture Deforestation

The relentless expansion of palm oil plantations destroys primary forests, forcing Phayre’s leaf monkeys into limited spaces with reduced food availability, directly contributing to their population decline.

Interbreeding with other endangered monkey species

Species hybridisation with other endangered monkey species such as Capped Langurs in Bangladesh is occuring due to increased pressure on food sources through habitat destruction.

Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei
Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei

Habitat

This monkey occupies dense tropical, evergreen, and deciduous forests of Northeast India, Bangladesh, and parts of Myanmar. They prefer habitats with dense canopies for protection and ease of movement, where they share resources with other arboreal species but tend to avoid direct competition.

Diet

Phayre’s leaf monkeys are primarily folivorous, feeding on young leaves, shoots, and occasionally fruits, seeds, and flowers. In rubber plantation areas, they consume rubber leaves due to the scarcity of other natural foods, though their natural diet consists of a wide variety of native plants.

Mating and breeding

Phayre’s leaf monkeys exhibit complex social structures and mating behaviours. Females reach reproductive maturity at around five years, with a gestation period of approximately 205 days. These langurs practice polygynous mating, where dominant males mate with several females and play a protective role in the group. Young are cared for by their mothers, with weaning occurring at about 19-21 months.

Support Phayre’s Leaf Monkeys by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the

Local and international conservation measures are in place for Phayre’s leaf monkey, including protection under CITES Appendix II and national wildlife laws in India and Bangladesh. Local NGOs and conservation groups are actively working to safeguard their habitats. Indigenous-led conservation efforts, focusing on traditional ecological knowledge, are crucial for their survival. Learn more about indigenous conservation approaches here and here.

Support the conservation of this species

This animal has no protections in place. Read about other forgotten species here. Create art to support this forgotten animal or raise awareness about them by sharing this post and using the #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.

Further Information

Bose, J., & Bhattacharjee, A. (2021, February). Perils of the Phayre’s leaf monkey. Mongabay India.

Chetry, D., & Ahmed, T. (2021). Trachypithecus phayrei. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021 https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/175862145/175862149

Nelaballi, S. (2023, September 23). Phayre’s Langur: A future denied. RoundGlass Sustain.

Wikipedia contributors. (2024, October 30). Phayre’s leaf monkey. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei
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Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture

Global
South America
S.E. Asia
India
Africa
West Papua & PNG

Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing

Read more about RSPO greenwashing

Lying
Fake labels
Indigenous Land-grabbing
Human rights abuses
Deforestation
Human health hazards

A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

Read more
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Air Pollution and Health

Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea

Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea

Endangered

Extant (resident)

Cameroon; Central African Republic; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Côte d’Ivoire; Equatorial Guinea (Equatorial Guinea (mainland)); Gabon; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Liberia; Nigeria; Rwanda; Senegal; Sierra Leone; South Sudan; Tanzania, United Republic of; Uganda

Presence Uncertain

Benin; Burkina Faso; Kenya; Niger

The Giant is are the largest and heaviest of the pangolin species weighing up to 33 kilos. Males can be up to 1.8 metres long. These majestic creature are cloaked in keratin armour and embark on nightly quests through Central and ’s lush landscapes. By the light of the moon, they use their keen sense of smell to hunt down ants and termites. As they navigate a world fraught with dangers from habitat destruction, and illegal hunting, the survival of these enigmatic beings hangs in balance, urging us to reflect on our impact on their dwindling world. Help them to survive every single time you shop and , be and .

The largest and heaviest in the world is the Giant Pangolin of 🇺🇬 🇨🇩 . Endangered by and and Help them survive when u @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7jM

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Help the Giant Ground 🙏🌿 of and boycott medicine using them. Spoiler alert: their scales DO NOT CURE ANYTHING! Another threat is @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7jM

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Giant pangolins have several quirky traits: they consume up to 70 million insects annually, primarily through nocturnal feasts, and lack teeth, instead swallowing stones to aid digestion. They walk on the sides of their wrists to protect their claws and have a keen sense of smell to compensate for their poor vision.

Appearance & Behaviour

Unique among mammals, their scales are made of keratin, the same material as human hair and nails. These account for around 20% of their body weight. These characteristics underscore their unique ecological niche and fascinating adaptations.

The Giant Pangolin is the largest of all pangolin species. With males measuring around 1.8 meters in length and females reaching up to 1.36 meters in length.

Their bodies are adorned with thick, keratin scales that serve as armour against predators. These scales, combined with their significant size, set them apart as majestic creatures of the west African jungle.

Giant Pangolins are nocturnal and rely upon their exceptional sense of smell to locate the 19 specific species of ants and termites that comprise their diet. Despite their poor eyesight, they are adept at navigating their diverse habitats, from forested swamps to moist tropical forests across Central and West Africa. Their methodical consumption of insects, aided by ingesting small stones for digestion, highlights their crucial ecological role as pest controllers.

Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea - Africa
Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea - Africa
Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea - Africa
Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea - Africa
Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea - Africa
Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea - Africa
Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea - Africa
Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea - Africa

Threats

  • Hunting and Poaching: The primary threat to Giant Pangolins comes from hunting and poaching for bushmeat and traditional medicine. This significantly impacts their populations across Africa.
  • Bushmeat: These animals are desirable on the illegal bushmeat markets, contributing to an increased pressure on their numbers.
  • Illegal International Trade: Despite protections, a substantial illegal trade persists, with significant quantities of scales trafficked internationally, posing a major threat to their survival.
  • Habitat Loss: Deforestation and habitat degradation for palm oil, meat and cocoa along with mining especially in West Africa, pose severe threats to their habitats, impacting their area of occupancy and survival rates.
Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea - Africa
Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea - Africa

Habitat

The Giant Pangolin inhabits a diverse range of environments across Africa, from primary and secondary rainforests to gallery and swamp forests, as well as forest-savannah mosaics and wooded savannahs. Their presence extends from sea level in Gabon to high altitudes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, indicating a versatile adaptation to various ecosystems. This species is thought to rely on access to permanent water sources. Their wide geographic range underscores the importance of varied habitats for their survival, from Uganda’s savannah woodlands to Tanzania’s miombo woodlands.

Diet

The Giant Pangolin’s diet is highly specialised and focuses almost exclusively on ants and termites. They are capable of consuming around 70 million insects per year. They are therefore known as the forest ecosystem’s natural pest controllers. Their eating habits are unique, involving up to 90 meals in a single night, with each meal lasting about a minute. This efficient feeding strategy is facilitated by their long, sticky tongues, adept at extracting insects from nests, despite the pangolins’ lack of teeth, requiring them to ingest small stones to aid in grinding their food.

Mating and breeding

Giant pangolins have a unique reproductive cycle, with little known about their breeding habits. They usually give birth once, following a gestation of around 140 days, to a single young that is born with open eyes and soft scales. These newborns, weighing about 500g, initially move on their bellies and display a defense mechanism by secreting a yellow substance from their anal glands. The mother’s care extends to nursing for 3-4 months and includes carrying the young on her tail during foraging. This intimate parenting underscores the species’ complex social behaviors within their habitats, spanning from rainforests to savannah woodlands, indicating a reliance on diverse ecosystems and possibly on permanent water sources.

Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea - Africa

Support Giant Pangolins by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the

Gorongosa National Park: Pangolin rehabilitation programme

Further Information

Nixon, S., Pietersen, D., Challender, D., Hoffmann, M., Godwill Ichu, I., Bruce, T., Ingram, D.J., Matthews, N. & Shirley, M.H. 2019. Smutsia gigantea. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T12762A123584478. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T12762A123584478.en. Accessed on 29 February 2024.

Quaglia, Sofia; Endangered giant pangolin spotted in Senegal after nearly 24 years. Nature.

Giant Pangolin Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_pangolin

Giant Pangolin Animalia.bio: https://animalia.bio/giant-pangolin

Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea - Africa
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3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20
https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20
https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

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Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture

Global
South America
S.E. Asia
India
Africa
West Papua & PNG

Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing

Read more about RSPO greenwashing

Lying
Fake labels
Indigenous Land-grabbing
Human rights abuses
Deforestation
Human health hazards

A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

Read more
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Air Pollution and Health

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Amazon Clarion Call: Pandemics Emerging in the Rainforest

The Amazon’s diverse ecosystem is under threat from rampant deforestation, degradation, a biodiversity crisis, and the climate crisis – jeopardising its ability to act as a carbon sink. This degradation increases the likelihood of zoonotic diseases emerging and spreading, posing a significant public health risk for Brazil and the world.

The is threatened by rampant 🔥🔥 and 🥵. This makes zoonotic diseases more likely to emerge – a huge health risk in 🇧🇷 Story by @MAPICC2021 @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-91G

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#Amazonia🌳🥀 is the lungs 🫁 of the world 🌎 Massive and loss puts zoonotic diseases 🦟🤒 closer to humans. We must stop the damage right now! Story: @MAPICC2021 Fight extinction 🙏@palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-91G

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Article written by Monica Piccinini. Originally published by The Canary, February 12, 2024. Republished with permission. Monica Piccinini is a freelance writer, focused on environmental, health and human rights issues. She has contributed articles for an independent British newspaper, Byline Times along with the Canary and the Ecologist. She has covered the pandemic, the use of pesticides, indigenous rights and the destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Read original article. Follow Monica on X/Twitter and on her website.

Preserving the Amazon rainforest isn’t just an environmental concern; it’s a matter of survival. It’s the most biodiverse place on the planet, a reservoir of life-saving medicines, and a critical regulator of our planet’s climate. Our health, our survival, and the balance of our world rely on its protection.

However, the Amazon’s diverse ecosystem is under threat from rampant deforestation, degradation, a biodiversity crisis, and the climate crisis – jeopardising its ability to act as a carbon sink. This degradation increases the likelihood of zoonotic diseases emerging and spreading, posing a significant public health risk for Brazil and the world.

Brazil: infectious diseases rising at a shocking rate

Climate change, deforestation, alterations in land use, agricultural expansion, livestock farming, mining activities, biodiversity loss, urbanisation, oil and gas extraction, and large-scale infrastructure developments such as road and dam construction in the Amazon rainforest, have all been associated with the rise and spread of infectious diseases. These include dengue, yellow fever, malaria, Zika virus, Chikungunya fever, Candida auris, leishmaniasis, Oropouche virus, hantavirus, and numerous others – with the possibility of also introducing novel pathogens.

In 2023, Brazil recorded 1,079 deaths from dengue fever, a 20.9% increase compared to the previous year. However, according to the Ministry of Health, between 1-30 January this year alone the country reported over 217,000 cases, marking a significant 233% increase from the same period in 2023, when there were just over 65,000 cases.

Overall, in 2024 so far Brazil has recorded approximately 408,351 potential cases of dengue, as per data from the Ministry of Health’s Arbovirus Monitoring Panel.

According to a report published by the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2023 the country experienced around 2.9m suspected cases of dengue. This significant rise in dengue cases may be attributed to factors such as the El Niño phenomenon, deforestation, and the impact of climate change which can lead to more frequent and severe weather events.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is the vector for transmitting diseases such as the dengue virus, yellow fever, Zika, and chikungunya viruses.

Brazil’s Health Surveillance Foundation (FVS) has recently reported that a new strain of the Oropouche virus has been responsible for outbreaks in the Brazilian Amazon region over the past two years. In the state of Amazonas alone, there were 1,066 recorded cases of the virus between 2023 and 2024.

Oropouche fever is caused by an arbovirus transmitted through the bite of a mosquito called Culicoides paraense, commonly known as maruim.

The largest biodiversity reservoir on the planet

The Amazon rainforest is recognised as one of the largest reservoirs for zoonotic diseases, which can be transmitted from animals to humans. Numerous scientists have consistently warned about the environmental imbalances linked to the escalating prevalence of infectious diseases and have drawn attention to the imminent risk of a deadly pathogen emerging from the Amazon rainforest.

The interaction between humans and wild species, along with their pathogens, creates opportunities for the emergence of zoonotic diseases, facilitating the transmission of new pathogens across various host species – a phenomenon known as “spillover” – leading to the introduction of novel infections into the human population.

For spillover events to happen, there must be interaction among different species and favourable conditions for pathogens to spread among humans. One example is the transmission of bat-borne diseases, such as rabies, in the Amazon rainforest. This is often associated with factors like deforestation, agricultural expansion, and the presence of livestock which increase contact between these animals and humans and facilitate the transmission of infections.

Various types of animals, including monkeys, bats, and mosquitoes, can serve as carriers or vectors of infectious diseases to humans, as they carry pathogens like viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, and prions. Transmission of these pathogens to humans can occur through direct contact with these animals or via water, food, or the surrounding environment.

Sars, Ebola, Hendra, and Nipah are examples of pathogens from bats that have triggered outbreaks in the human population.

The climate crisis

The Canary spoke to Joel Henrique Ellwanger, biologist and researcher at the department of genetics at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). He said:

Climate change will trigger important ecological changes in the Amazon, many of them with the potential to reduce its biodiversity, facilitating the spread of known disease vectors and increasing the chances of new diseases emerging.

The impact of climate change and deforestation is causing a surge in extreme weather events and rising temperatures. These conditions are impacting the quantity of vectors, transmission patterns, and interspecies interactions – driving the spread of infectious diseases across the Amazon region and throughout Brazil.

Severe droughts in the Amazon rainforest can create conditions to the spread of various diseases, such as dengue. During periods of limited rainfall, residents often resort to storing water in tanks, consequently creating breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Ellwanger noted that:

For instance, as temperatures rise, mosquitoes become more active and reproduce at a higher rate. Furthermore, changes in climate may cause animals carrying pathogens to migrate to areas where humans reside.

The increase in cases of Candida auris, a fungus resistant to multiple drugs associated with hospital-acquired infections, may be caused by higher temperatures resulting from climate change. This pathogen affects severely ill patients, including both adults and children, who are receiving intensive care in hospitals across the globe.

Ellwanger explained how climate change may have played a role in the surge of Candida auris:

Climate change can influence the evolution of pathogens. Certain microorganisms, once unable to infect humans because they were accustomed to lower temperatures, are now adapting to warmer conditions that mimic the human body’s warmth.

This adaptation creates the potential for these microorganisms, typically present in soil and similar settings, to infect humans and cause illnesses. This phenomenon is believed to have happened with Candida auris.

Deforestation and urbanisation

Studies suggest that deforestation, biodiversity loss, and habitat degradation create pathways for disease agents to transition from the diverse reservoir of various coronaviruses and pathogens in the region into the human population. The Amazon’s vulnerable healthcare system additionally complicates the detection and containment of any emerging pandemic from this area.

When exploring the emergence of epidemics, urbanisation becomes another critical factor to consider. It contributes to the depletion of forested areas, consequently increasing the risk of infectious diseases in regions like the Amazon rainforest. The outbreak of Zika virus infection in Brazil has been associated with urbanization and the loss of forested lands.

deforestation and pandemics the connection
deforestation and pandemics the connection

Infrastructure projects: the BR-319

The construction of roads in the Amazon rainforest contributes to deforestation, forest fires, biodiversity decline, increased hunting activities, and human migration – directly impacting the dynamics of infectious diseases.

Between 1970 and 1973, the building of the Trans-Amazonian highway – known as BR-230 – led to the influx of around 22,000 individuals to the area. These individuals encountered disease vectors, exposing them to various illnesses such as malaria, leptospirosis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, Mayaro fever, yellow fever, and numerous others.

A study published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities warns that the reconstruction of the Amazon’s BR-319 highway could result in devastating environmental effects, including an increased risk of zoonotic spillovers, potentially leading to new pandemics.

The Amazon’s BR-319 highway extends 885.9km and connects the central Amazonian capital Manaus to the southern boundary of the forest in Porto Velho, crossing through one of the most preserved sections of the forest. Deforestation along the central portion of the BR-319 has already resulted in a 400% increase in malaria cases.

The Belo Monte dam

A recent study published in Nature alerts that the initiatives of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration to construct roads and pursue oil exploration in the Amazon area may potentially trigger a new worldwide pandemic.

The construction of hydroelectric dams in the Amazon rainforest also raises significant concern. One example is the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam complex in Brazil, located in the northern region of the Xingu River within the state of Pará. This project has significantly changed the landscape of the Brazilian Amazon, inundating an area of approximately 516km2.

Flooding dry regions within the rainforest leads to loss of biodiversity and creates habitats suitable for disease vectors like mosquitoes, thereby intensifying the proliferation of viral and parasitic illnesses.

Dams can lead to the displacement of communities and the migration of populations drawn to forested regions, potentially increasing human-wildlife interactions and the transmission of infectious diseases.

The implementation of proposed projects in the Amazon rainforest, including the reconstruction of BR-319 highway and the exploration of oil, could result in catastrophic and irreversible consequences – including an increase and spread of infectious diseases due to environmental degradation in the region.

Agriculture and livestock

Ellwanger told the Canary:

Meat connects different points involving the degradation of the Amazon and emerging diseases. Cattle farming is one of the main factors in the degradation of the Amazon biome, thus facilitating the spread of pathogens in the region.

Hunting and the consumption of wild animal meat is a problem both for the conservation of species and for public health, as it reduces animal biodiversity and increases the chances of spillover events. Regrettably, this issue remains largely overlooked and is often deemed taboo in Brazil.

Oil palm fields growing at the edges of the national park in Honduras. Photography: Fritz Pinnow.
Oil palm fields growing at the edges of the national park in Honduras. Photography: Fritz Pinnow.

Studies suggest that intensified agriculture and forest conversion for farming and pasture for cattle increases human-pathogen interaction – which in turn is promoting the emergence of viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections.

Professionals in the meat industry regularly interact with livestock animals and may lack adequate working conditions to reduce the risk of zoonotic pathogen transmission. Additionally, they may have limited knowledge about the health risks associated with their work activities.

Slaughterhouses within the Amazon region are implicated in the processing of animals sourced from deforested areas and may be operating without any form of health inspection.

Antimicrobial resistance

Another concern is the excessive use of antimicrobial drugs in veterinary practice. The main drivers of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) include the overuse of antibiotics in livestock for growth promotion and prevent diseases, particularly in intensified livestock farming.

The WHO describes AMR as the ‘overlooked pandemic’. Some of the latest figures suggest that AMR will cause 10 million deaths by 2050 – more than from cancer, diabetes, and pneumococcal diseases combined.

According to Cóilín Nunan, scientific adviser to the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, certain types of antibiotics used in animal farming have led to the rise and spread of livestock associated strains of MRSA and Clostidrium difficile.

Oxford University scientists published a study revealing Escherichia coli bacteria that have developed resistance to colistin in animal agriculture. Nunan highlights this as a significant concern, suggesting it might pose a greater threat than AMR by potentially increasing the likelihood of infections in humans.

Bushmeat

The hunting and consumption of bushmeat from wild animals can also lead to spillover events, as humans come into close contact with fresh meat, blood, and organs from infected animals.

Approximately 473 tonnes of wild animal meat are sold annually in the Amazon rainforest and across Colombia, Peru, and Brazil.

However, it’s essential to recognise that a complete ban on bushmeat consumption in certain regions could impact the livelihoods of thousands who depend on this activity.

Crucial measures

Ellwanger noted there are some essential measures required to prevent the emergence and spread of infectious diseases in the Amazon rainforest and avert the onset of a new pandemic in the region:

Certain crucial measures must be undertaken, including:

  • Improving livestock sanitary measures.
  • Increasing pathogen surveillance.
  • Upgrading environmental sanitation systems.
  • Discouraging human settlement in forested regions.
  • Boosting investments in human training and specialised labs for pathogen identification.
  • Creating new vaccines.
  • Examining biological and social factors affecting infection susceptibility.

The loss of biodiversity in the Amazon is mainly caused by livestock farming, mining activities and monoculture cultivation, especially soy. Combating these activities is the responsibility of the Brazilian Government by strengthening environmental protection bodies, preserving, and expanding indigenous territories, and committing to a serious environmental agenda.

Furthermore, urgent action is needed to prioritise reducing greenhouse gas emissions globally, alongside combating deforestation and protecting indigenous territories.

It’s crucial to reassess infrastructure projects and manage human activities in the region carefully. Suspending oil and gas exploration in the Amazon is vital, as is regulating the expansion of intensive agriculture, cattle farming, and mining projects.

Protecting the Amazon will safeguard everyone’s health

Ellwanger explained that preserving the Amazon rainforest should be in everyone’s interest:

The preservation of the Amazon isn’t just about protecting nature – it’s about safeguarding our own health. Let’s commit to conserving this vital ecosystem to ensure that the threats of potential pathogens stay confined to the wild, far from endangering human lives. After all, the health of the Amazon means the health of us all.

Article written by Monica Piccinini. Originally published by The Canary, February 12, 2024. Republished with permission. Monica Piccinini is a freelance writer, focused on environmental, health and human rights issues. She has contributed articles for an independent British newspaper, Byline Times along with the Canary and the Ecologist. She has covered the pandemic, the use of pesticides, indigenous rights and the destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Read original article. Follow Monica on X/Twitter and on her website.

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Read more about human rights abuses and child slavery in the palm oil industry

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How We End Gold Mining’s Ecocide For Good

Gold mining is unparalleled in its environmental destruction and human rights toll. Frustratingly, 93% of gold is used for non-essential purposes like jewellery and investments.

A recent study suggests that transitioning to a fully circular gold economy, relying entirely on recycled gold, is achievable. Recycling gold eliminates mercury use, reduces carbon and water footprints, and still supports industries like technology and jewellery. Human rights groups have long called for the end of this destructive industry. To end gold mining, investors should focus on existing reserves. Governments must ensure justice and ‘land back’ for displaced indigenous peoples; along with a just transition for miners. Make sure you #BoycottGold4Yanomami and demand the end to gold mining right now!

New finds that recycling would eliminate the mercury pollution and of . It would also mean an end to violent landgrabbing for in @BarbaraNavarro @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-90d

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🥇🚫 is a controversial commodity because it is unmatched in destruction to peoples and . A new study shows how we can end the of gold for good! @BarbaraNavarro @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-90d

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Written by Stephen Lezak, Research Manager at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Two trucks transport gold ore from Barrick Cowal Gold Mine in New South Wales, Australia. Jason Benz Bennee/Shutterstock
Two trucks transport gold ore from Barrick Cowal Gold Mine in New South Wales, Australia. Jason Benz Bennee/Shutterstock

The 16th-century King Ferdinand of Spain sent his subjects abroad with the command: “Get gold, humanely if possible, but at all hazards, get gold.” His statement rings true today. Gold remains one of the world’s most expensive substances, but mining it is one of the most environmentally and socially destructive processes on the planet.

Around 7% of the gold purchased globally each year is used for industry, technology or medicine. The rest winds up in bank vaults and jewellery shops.

Beautiful objects and stable investments are worthwhile things to create and own, and often have significant cultural value. But neither can justify gold mining’s staggering human and ecological toll. In a recent study, my colleagues and I showed how it might be possible to end mining and instead rely entirely on recycled gold.

Despite improvements in gold mining practices over the past century and new regulations designed to limit mining’s impacts, this industry continues to wreak havoc upon landscapes across every continent except Antarctica.

In a given year, gold mines emit more greenhouse gases than all passenger flights between European nations combined. Gold mining also accounts for 38% of annual global mercury emissions, which cause millions of small-scale miners to suffer from chronic mercury poisoning, which can cause debilitating illness, especially in children.

Our research involved modelling hypothetical scenarios in which gold consumption could decline to more sustainable levels. Using current recycling rates, we examined a fully circular gold economy in which the world’s entire supply of gold came from recycled sources.

Even today, nearly one-quarter of annual gold demand is supplied through recycling, making it one of the world’s most recycled materials. The recycling process uses no mercury and has less than 1% of the water and carbon footprint of mined gold.

We found that a global decline in gold mining would not necessarily derail any of gold’s three central functions in jewellery, technology or as an investment.

Towards circularity

Gold stocks and three scenarios of gold flows. Lezak et al. (2022), CC BY-NC-ND
Gold stocks and three scenarios of gold flows. Lezak et al. (2022), CC BY-NC-ND

Our model showed that the gold used for industrial purposes (mainly in dentistry and smartphones) could be supplied for centuries even if all gold mining stopped tomorrow.

We also found that jewellery could still be produced with recycled gold in a fully circular gold industry. There would just be about 55% less to go around, which would still leave more than enough for essential uses.

In order to make this future a reality, investors would have to limit their trading to existing reserves, without adding newly mined gold to their coffers.

A world with a shrinking supply of gold would likely mean that consumers would pay more for the same 24-karat pure gold ring. But more likely, jewellery purchases would shift to cheaper (and more durable) alloys of gold that are already popular. And in the future, demand for gold may decline as consumers become more concerned with making sustainable choices.

The role that invested gold plays in the global economy would likely continue to function regardless of extraction. Like Renaissance art, gold is valuable precisely because it is scarce. Ending gold mining would not put an end to the buying and selling of gold for bank vaults. Instead, it would make existing stocks of gold more valuable.

Irrespective of whether the world needs gold, our research suggests that the world does not need gold mining.

Private investors and central banks may balk at this idea. The US government, for example, is the world’s single largest owner of gold, holding US$11 (9.1) billion in reserves. But transitions to sustainability are always hard-won and the gold industry is no exception.

Inspired by other transitions

Like gold, the extraction of fossil fuels is also environmentally damaging. But unlike gold, fossil fuels provide warmth and electricity to homes and businesses, power to vehicles and fertiliser to farms. Transitioning away from this resource required decades of research and investment into clean energy technologies.

By contrast, finding substitutes for gold does not require any research. Jewellery can be made more sustainable by blending gold with other metals. Investors can rely on existing gold stocks and diversify to other stable assets. And technology can continue to use recycled gold when appropriate.

Closing gold mines is the first step. But many regions have grown dependent on gold mining, and artisanal mining alone supports as many as 19 million miners and their families worldwide, mostly in developing economies.

These miners deserve a just transition that ensures they do not become collateral damage in the shift to sustainability. Governments must provide a robust safety net for former gold miners and their families. That includes offering low-cost training and reskilling to ensure that miners can find employment in more sustainable industries.

Steps toward sustainability

Responsibly drawing down gold extraction will take time. But several measures are available to begin the transition today.

On the demand side of the industry, major jewellery brands, including Pandora, have already committed to using only recycled gold by 2025. Global technology firm Apple has also recently set a goal to use exclusively recycled materials by 2030.

On the supply side, mining companies should begin retiring mines that extract only gold. Many copper mines produce gold as a byproduct, which will likely continue into the future.

Meanwhile, institutional investors should stop investing in new gold mines. That includes groups like the World Bank, which has invested US$800 (£660) million in gold mines in Africa, Asia, South America and the Pacific Islands since 2010.

Justice-minded fund managers, such as those overseeing endowments, should add gold mining firms alongside coal producers to their divestment lists. And central banks should redirect their future investments toward other stable stores of value, or at least source exclusively recycled gold.

The world is filled with difficult sustainability trade-offs. Gold mining is not one of them. Drawing down this industry stands out as a relatively easy way to reduce humanity’s footprint on a fragile planet.

Written by Stephen Lezak, Research Manager at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

ENDS

Gold mining in the Amazon devastates the Yanomami Boycott Gold

Read more about human rights abuses and greenwashing in the gold mining industry. Make sure that you !

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How Brands Exploit “Green” Certification

Brands and businesses may be tempted to exploit “green” certifications to garner a larger market share at the expense of integrity.

Around 400 🏆 claim to provide with choice ⁉️ Yet they’re unreliable in holding to account for widespread and abuses and 🌴🪔🔥 ⛔️#Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-8Y6

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and giants of may be tempted to exploit “green” certifications like , MSC and to reassure consumers. Yet ecolabels have deep flaws in enforcement of standards. @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-8Y6

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Written by Dr Arne Nygaard, professor at the School of Communication, Leadership and Marketing at Kristiania University College, Norway. His primary research interests include sustainable supply chains, greenwashing, geopolitical risk and strategic uncertainty, economic contracts and incentives, sustainability and green marketing, technology, and entrepreneurship. Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™, read the original.

Analyses conducted in the study indicate that while certifications can help prevent greenwashing, they can also contribute to eco-opportunism […] the theory of eco-opportunism warns that this can lead to free riding and greenwashing, where products are falsely advertised as sustainable but fail to meet certified standards.

Nygaard, A. (2023). Is sustainable certification’s ability to combat greenwashing trustworthy? Frontiers in Sustainability, 4, Article 1188069. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2023.1188069

As the global fight against climate change intensifies, certifications have become crucial tools for industries to address environmental, business and social challenges. Sustainability certifications promote eco-friendly practices, protect human rights and boost the credibility of environmentally responsible brands.

But although certifications often enhance the perceived value of sustainable products and services, challenges remain.

There are concerns about greenwashing and free riding plus the inability of certification systems to adapt to changes and failing to incentivise the adoption of newer, more sustainable technologies.

Understanding why companies greenwash can help certification bodies design better processes and criteria. : Image by Kelvin Zyteng available at https://tinyurl.com/2u6hrsea Unsplash License

At the supermarket, a shopper carefully studies a label, thinking, “This product has a certification. Must be environmentally friendly. I’ll buy it.” And like that shopper, millions around the world make that same decision every day.

Greenwashing, where companies falsely claim eco-friendly credentials without meeting required standards, is a significant issue. Similarly, free riding allows businesses to benefit from the positive image of certifications without genuinely implementing sustainable practices.

The number of sustainability certifications has surged globally in recent years. The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) reports that more than 400 certifications now cover sectors such as food, agriculture, energy, environment, health and social responsibility.

Consumer awareness

This growth reflects increasing consumer awareness of sustainability and the desire of companies to showcase their commitment to eco-friendly practices.

Certifications serve as essential market signals, enabling businesses to distinguish themselves by adhering to recognised environmental and social standards.

Some of the internationally recognised certifications include the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for green buildings, the Forest Stewardship Council for sustainable forestry and the Fair Trade certification, which ensures that products meet strict social, environmental and labour criteria.

Another key example is the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certification, which promotes the production of palm oil in a way that minimises environmental harm, protects biodiversity and ensures fair treatment of workers and local communities.

Certifications typically involve third-party evaluations to assess compliance with criteria such as environmental and economic impact or fair labour practices.

Despite widespread adoption, certifications face growing scrutiny.

For instance, consumer demand for eco-friendly products has led to companies charging higher prices for green products. While many consumers are willing to pay this premium, it can create perverse incentives for companies to engage in greenwashing.

Certifications, intended to assure consumers of a product’s environmental and social standards, can paradoxically encourage companies to exploit these authentications for profit.

When businesses realise they can charge a premium for eco-labelled goods, the temptation to stretch the truth or manipulate the certification increases.

Erosion of trust

Greenwashing erodes consumer trust and devalues the certifications of genuinely sustainable products.

As more companies exploit these eco-friendly claims without verification, it becomes harder for consumers to differentiate between authentic and deceptive environmental practices, potentially undermining the credibility of certification systems.

This highlights the urgent need for stronger mechanisms to mitigate these risks, ensuring that certification systems are not only effective but also resilient against exploitation.

Certification bodies can tighten standards, increase transparency and implement stronger verification processes to reflect evolving sustainability standards and prevent misuse. Additionally, independent audits and greater rigour throughout the supply chain would hold companies accountable for their claims.

Investigation into the root causes of greenwashing is necessary to understand how and why companies manipulate sustainable claims.

One key issue is that certification processes often focus on specific criteria and may not capture the broader environmental or social impacts of a product.

Selective compliance

A company may meet the minimum requirements for certification in one area, such as reducing carbon emissions, while ignoring other important sustainability factors such as labour conditions or biodiversity conservation.

This selective compliance allows companies to appear more sustainable than they truly are, feeding into the cycle of greenwashing.

Consumers can be educated on how to critically evaluate certification labels to avoid falling prey to greenwashing tactics.

By reinforcing certification systems with robust monitoring and compliance mechanisms, the credibility of sustainable products can be preserved, and the integrity of genuine sustainability efforts can be upheld.

Non-governmental organisations and activist groups play a critical role in developing and implementing certification systems. These organisations provide valuable input during the creation of sustainability standards and help monitor compliance, ensuring that certification systems remain credible.

For example, the Forest Stewardship Council certification system for responsible forestry was developed in 1993 with input from environmental NGOs such as Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund.

NGOs advocate for higher sustainability standards, while certifications give them leverage to hold businesses accountable. By working together, NGOs and certification bodies can drive meaningful change toward a more sustainable future.

The interaction between state institutions, laws, and certification systems is also vital to ensuring the credibility and effectiveness of sustainability efforts.

Governments often set baseline sustainability requirements, while certification systems provide an additional layer of accountability. A clear example is the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certification now used in 21 countries.

Resistance to change

One challenge facing certification bodies is internal structural inertia. This refers to resistance to change, preventing the adoption of innovative green technologies.

This occurs when certification bodies become too rigid in their processes, policies, or standards, making it difficult for them to quickly adapt to new environmental paradigms.

For example, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design initially focused on energy efficiency in buildings but was slow to incorporate newer technologies like green roofs or biophilic design which enhance sustainability.

Similarly, in the agricultural sector, government certification systems such as the United States Department of Agriculture Organic can be slow to recognise advancements in vertical farming or aeroponics, even though these methods significantly reduce land use, water consumption, and pesticide reliance.

This type of institutional resistance can delay the transition to more sustainable practices, as certification bodies may cling to outdated standards that fail to incentivise the latest green technologies.

To stay relevant and support ongoing environmental progress, certification organisations can work to overcome structural inertia and actively seek ways to update their standards in response to new innovations.

By updating their standards to reflect these disruptive technologies, certification systems can stay relevant and effective, driving sustainability across industries and supporting innovation while addressing evolving environmental challenges.

However, certifications, while essential tools for promoting sustainable practices, face limitations. Greenwashing, free-riding, and institutional inertia can undermine their value, posing challenges for businesses and consumers alike.

As markets evolve, certifications risk becoming obsolete unless they adapt to new environmental and technological challenges.

Nygaard, A. (2023). Is sustainable certification’s ability to combat greenwashing trustworthy? Frontiers in Sustainability, 4, Article 1188069. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2023.1188069

Dr Arne Nygaard is a professor at the School of Communication, Leadership and Marketing at Kristiania University College, Norway. His primary research interests include sustainable supply chains, greenwashing, geopolitical risk and strategic uncertainty, economic contracts and incentives, sustainability and green marketing, technology, and entrepreneurship. Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™, read the original.

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Read more about greenwashing associated with certified “sustainable” palm oil and other commodities

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Solomon Islands skink Corucia zebrata

Solomon Islands skink Corucia zebrata

Near Threatened

Extant (resident)

Solomon Islands archipelago, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia.

Imagine a creature straight out of a fantastical computer game – this could be the Solomon Islands skink Corucia zebrata, also affectionately known as the monkey-tailed skink. Their silhouette dances between shadows of the jungle in the Solomon Islands archipelago, to the north east of Australia. They are the largest species of skink alive and boast a long, slender body poised elegantly on short, yet robust legs. Their head forms a perfect triangle, housing small, beady and curious looking eyes. This magnificent reptile is now classified as Near Threatened due to rainforest destruction of their home for palm oil, timber and mining. Help them to survive every time you shop – #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife

Solomon Island Skinks of 🇸🇧 are striking looking green 🦎🐍 They have prehensile tails like and are threatened by and other . Help them and when you shop @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7jc

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The world’s largest 🌍🦎 is the Solomon Islands Skink, a endemic to 🇸🇧 They are ‘Near Threatened’ from and other threats, help them to survive 🌴☠️⛔️ @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7jc

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Appearance & Behaviour

The true acrobatic power of the Solomon Islands Skink becomes evident when you see their prehensile tail in action. This enables them to have the grace normally afforded to a small mammals like monkeys or possums as they navigate the forest branches. The males, with their broader heads and sleek bodies, carry a unique V-shaped scale pattern, which is absent in the females. Their dark green, light brown and black scales shimmer in the sunlight, while their underbelly features yellow and green hues. Their sharp nails are curved like a crescent moon and their small teeth are surprisingly sharp. As the largest of the skink species in existence, they are undisputed climbers of their leafy realms, making homes in the verdant domain of strangler figs in the Solomon Islands archipelago.

Solomon Islands Skink - Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands Skink - Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands Skink - Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands Skink - Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands Skink - Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands Skink - Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands Skink - Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands Skink - Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands Skink - Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands Skink - Papua New Guinea

Threats

The Solomon Islands skinks face several significant threats that challenge their survival:

  • Extensive and unrestricted deforestation for mining, palm oil and timber: The destruction of their forest habitat for mining, palm oil and timber logging is ongoing. Unlike in other countries this is not well-regulated and is therefore a major threat to this reptile.
  • Consumption for Food: These lizards are hunted by local populations for consumption, impacting their numbers.
  • Pet trade: The international pet trade puts pressure on their populations due to high demand for these unique creatures, which takes them away from opportunities to mate and reproduce in the wild.
Solomon Islands Skink - Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands Skink - Papua New Guinea

Habitat

The Solomon Islands skink is strictly arboreal, making their home in the upper canopy of the forests in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. These lizards establish territories within the canopy, favouring areas where their food sources, particularly the strangler fig tree, are abundant. Their preference for living in trees extends to semi-cleared areas and cultivated food gardens, provided their dietary needs are met, illustrating their adaptability to varied arboreal environments.

Diet

As herbivores, Solomon Islands skinks have a diet that includes leaves, flowers, fruit, and growing shoots from a variety of plant species. Remarkably, they can consume the Epipremnum pinnatum plant without any ill effects, despite its high concentrations of calcium oxalate, which is toxic to many animals. Juvenile skinks often eat faeces from adults to acquire essential microflora needed for digesting their plant-based diet. This diet reflects their ecological niche as primary consumers within their habitat, playing a vital role in the ecosystem by contributing to the cycle of plant matter decomposition and nutrient recycling.

Mating and breeding

Solomon Islands skinks exhibit remarkable reproductive strategies, living in communal groups known as circuli. They are one of the few reptile species that practice viviparous matrotrophy, where the female provides a placenta to nourish the young inside her.

Solomon Islands Skink - Papua New Guinea

The gestation period lasts six to eight months, culminating in the birth of relatively large offspring. These newborns receive protection not only from their parents but also from other group members. This communal approach to raising young is extremely rare among reptiles.

This system allows for a supportive environment where the young can grow and eventually, around the age of one, set off to establish new groups or remain within their natal group for extended periods.

Support the Solomon Islands Skink by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the

Support the conservation of this species

This animal has no protections in place. Read about other forgotten species here. Create art to support this forgotten animal or raise awareness about them by sharing this post and using the #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.

Further Information

Hagen, I.J., Harlow, P., Allison, A., Hamilton, A. & Tallowin, O. 2021. Corucia zebrata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T196593A2463961. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T196593A2463961.en. Accessed on 28 February 2024.

Solomon Islands skink Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Islands_skink

Solomon Islands Skink on Animalia.bio: https://animalia.bio/solomon-islands-skink

Solomon Islands Skink - Papua New Guinea
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2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

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Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture

Global
South America
S.E. Asia
India
Africa
West Papua & PNG

Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing

Read more about RSPO greenwashing

Lying
Fake labels
Indigenous Land-grabbing
Human rights abuses
Deforestation
Human health hazards

A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

Read more
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Air Pollution and Health

Deforestation comes ‘roaring back’ despite 140-country vow to end destruction

A new report has found that demand for , , and nickel is hindering efforts to halt by 2030, a global report finds. The destruction of global forests increased in 2023, and is higher than when 140 countries promised three years ago to halt deforestation by the end of the decade.

The rising destruction of the forests puts ambitions to halt and stem the huge worldwide even further from reach, the researchers warn. They found that voluntary certification of commodities alone could not stop deforestation and that strong legislation was needed to stop the ecocide and destruction.

Global 🌳🔥has increased for 🌴🪔 and finds new report. Meanwhile industry lobbyists have delayed EU ban 👎 To save forests now we need strong laws! @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-8Ze

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Global for increased in 2023, despite promises to stop it 3 years ago. New report finds voluntary certification DOES NOT WORK and strong regulation is needed @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-8Ze

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Originally published by The Guardian, Tuesday 8 October, 2024, written by Damian Carrington, Environment editor. Republished under the open publishing agreement, read original.

The destruction of global forests increased in 2023, and is higher than when 140 countries promised three years ago to halt deforestation by the end of the decade, a new analysis shows.

The rising destruction of the forests puts ambitions to halt the climate crisis and stem the huge worldwide losses of wildlife even further from reach, the researchers warn.

Almost 6.4m hectares (16m acres) of forest were razed in 2023, according to the report. Even more forest – 62.6m ha – was degraded as road building, logging and forest fires took their toll. There were spikes in deforestation in Indonesia and Bolivia, driven by political changes and continued demand for commodities including beef, soy, palm oil, paper and nickel in rich countries.

The researchers said attempts at voluntary cuts on deforestation were not working and strong regulation and more funding for forest protection were needed.

The report highlighted a bright spot in the Brazilian Amazon, where President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s new government cut deforestation by 62% in its first year.

“The bottom line is that, globally, deforestation has gotten worse, not better, since the beginning of the decade,” said Ivan Palmegiani, a consultant at the research group Climate Focus and lead author of the report.

“We’re only six years away from a critical global deadline to end deforestation, and forests continue to be chopped down, degraded, and set ablaze at alarming rates,” he said. “Righting the course is possible if all countries make it a priority, and especially if industrialised countries seriously reconsider their excessive consumption levels and support forest countries.”

Erin D Matson, a senior consultant at Climate Focus and co-author of the report, said: “When the right conditions are in place, countries see major progress. The next year, if economic or political conditions change, forest loss can come roaring back. We’re seeing this effect in the spiking deforestation in Indonesia and Bolivia. Ultimately, to meet global forest protection targets, we must make forest protection immune to political and economic whims.”

Most countries backed the 2030 zero deforestation pledge at the UN Cop26 climate summit in 2021. The 2024 forest declaration assessment, produced by a coalition of research and civil society organisations, assessed progress towards the goal using a baseline of the average deforestation between 2018 and 2020. It found progress was significantly off track, with the level of deforestation in 2023 almost 50% higher than steady progress towards zero would require.

Matson said: “Indonesia’s deforestation alone spiked by 57% in one year. This was in large part attributable to surging global demand for things like paper and mined metals like nickel.

“But it’s also clear that the Indonesian government took its foot off the gas. It experienced the steepest drop in deforestation of any tropical country from 2015-17 and 2020-22, so we have to hope that this setback is only temporary.” In 2023, Indonesia produced half the world’s nickel, a metal used in many green technologies.

“Brazil gives us an example of positive progress [in the Amazon] but deforestation in the Cerrado [tropical savanna] increased 68% year over year,” she said.

The country has also been ravaged by forest fires that are being made more likely and intense by the climate crisis. The report found that about 45m ha have burned in the past five years.

Other countries that made progress towards the 2030 deforestation target included Australia, Colombia, Paraguay, Venezuela and Vietnam. Outside the tropics, temperate forests in North America and Latin America recorded the greatest absolute levels of deforestation.

The researchers said funding for forest protection, strengthening the land rights of Indigenous people and reducing demand for commodities produced via deforestation were needed.

The EU has proposed ambitious regulations that would ban the sales of products linked to deforestation, such as coffee, chocolate, leather and furniture. However, on 3 October, the European Commission proposed a one-year delay “to phase in the system” after protests from countries including Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and Ivory Coast.

Matson said: “This pushback is largely driven by political pressures, and it’s a shame. We can’t rely on voluntary efforts – they have made very little progress over the last decade.”

Originally published by The Guardian, Tuesday 8 October, 2024, written by Damian Carrington, Environment editor. Republished under the open publishing agreement, read original.

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Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags .

Join 3,176 other subscribers

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

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India’s Palm Oil Plans Wreak Havoc On The Ground

’s aggressive push for plantations in , and is wreaking havoc on both the environment and local communities. The government plans to ramp up oil palm cultivation in the northeast, locking away land that could be used for diverse food production for decades. Palm oil monoculture threatens soil health, drains precious water resources, and marginalises indigenous communities. Farmers in the north east of India are facing dire challenges, from delayed subsidies to inadequate payments for their crops, leaving them questioning the viability of oil palm farming. A rethink is necessary to protect India’s ecosystems, animals and people. To help raise awareness and empower change, make sure that you every time you shop.

In and , 🇮🇳 an ongoing battle is raging for ’ rights to feed their families and not suffer penniless for in a barren wasteland 🌴🪔🚫 @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2024/10/06/indias-palm-oil-plans-wreak-havoc-on-the-ground/

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In lush North East 🇮🇳🪷 a battle is being waged, between sowing native seeds versus industrial 🌴🔥 that threatens rare and an ancient way of life. @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2024/10/06/indias-palm-oil-plans-wreak-havoc-on-the-ground/

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Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info on August 12, 2024. Written by Dr Ravi Chellam is a wildlife biologist and conservation scientist based in Bengaluru along with senior journalist Rupa Chinai and Robert Solo is a member of the Naga civil society organisation, Kezekevi Thehou Ba (KTB) which works with communities, the government and the civil society in Nagaland. Read the original article.

The push for large-scale monoculture plantations like palm oil in India is taking a heavy toll on the environment and on people’s economic and social security.

Oil palm plantations lock in precious land resources for a long time, from a 4-5 year gestation period to 25 years for production, a problem in a densely populated country like India.

In late July, an unusual newspaper headline did the rounds: “If India gives land, we will work together to produce palm oil here, says visiting Malaysian Minister.”

Foreign politicians do not often ask the country they are visiting to give land, in particular for cultivating a plant which produces oil seeds.

In this case, the seeds refer to the oil palm, a species native to West Africa and now widely cultivated, especially in Southeast Asia. Oil palm is seen as the world’s most important oil crop, supplying approximately 40 percent of global demand for vegetable oil.

Clearly, the pressure is building on big palm oil-producing countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia to clean up their act.

The European Union has taken a strong stance on cleaning up supply chains to prevent deforestation, environmental degradation and negative impacts on local communities.

India is the world’s largest importer of edible oils but this was not always the case.

Indians have traditionally used a wide variety of edible oils, a reflection of India’s rich agro-ecological heritage and cultural diversity. In the early 1990s, India was self-sufficient in edible oils but thanks to changes in government policies, that situation has reversed.

Palm oil now dominates India’s edible oil imports, representing more than half of all edible oil imports. In 2021, palm oil import was valued at approximately $US8.63 billion.

Rhino in Assam India by Craig Jones Wildlife Photography
Indian Rhino in Assam, India by Craig Jones Wildlife Photography

Due to this significant dependence on imports, there has been a strong push by the Indian government to rapidly increase the cultivation of oil palm, especially in India’s northeast, through the National Mission on Edible Oils — Oil Palm.

It has set ambitious goals to increase the area of oil palm cultivation in India to one million hectares by 2025-26 from 350,000ha in 2019-20.

However, the government’s efforts in promoting oil palm plantations in the northeast, which are strengthened by substantial subsidies, are playing havoc with tribal society.

Land is a scarce resource in the northeast and existing land, often community-owned and managed, has traditionally been used for subsistence farming with an eye on food security. This is changing and creating social disruption.

India's Palm Oil Plans Wreak Havoc on the Ground

Challenges of growing oil palm

More than 50 percent of the proposed increase in the area of cultivation, 328,000ha, is planned in the northeastern states, as identified in an assessment by the Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research in 2020.

The plan is also to increase the production of crude palm oil from 27,000 tonnes in 2019-20 to 1.12 million tonnes by 2025-26.

While the ambition and goals of the oil palm mission are lofty, the on-the-ground situation in the northeast tells a completely different story.

Mizoram was the first state to start planting oil palm in the northeast. Plantations were established in seven districts of the state and at least some of these date back to 2005.

Over the last two decades, oil palm plantations have invariably resulted in setbacks and failures for everyone involved.

Given their intrinsically high requirements of water and nutrients, oil palm plantations have devastated soil health and the quality and availability of groundwater in the state.

Animals and Ecosystems at Risk in India

Lion-tailed Macaque Macaca silenus

Lion-tailed macaques hold the title of one of the smallest macaque species in the world and sport a majestic lion-esque mane of hair. They exclusively call the Western Ghats in India their home. This area has been decimated in recent years for palm oil. Prior to palm oil’s arrival in the Western Ghats, populations of…

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Green Dragontails could arguably be called the most exquisite and beautiful butterflies alive.

They flutter through sunlit patches of leaves near to streams and rivers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, and northeastern India.

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Another issue is the long gestation period of the crop. The oil palm takes at least four to five years before it starts producing fruit, followed by a productive period of 20 to 25 years.

This adds up to 25 to 30 years, a long time to lock in precious land resources, especially in a densely populated country such as India.

The challenges with environmental sustainability, productivity, transport, failings of the government and corporate behaviour have meant that both farmers and the companies have had to deal with large-scale failures and heavy losses.

The rugged terrain and remote location of the plantations, coupled with the relatively poor road network and the absence of oil mills close to many of the plantations poses severe challenges to the farmers.

The nuts have to be processed within 48 hours, which currently is a logistical nightmare, especially for many small-scale farmers.

Many companies haven’t honoured their commitments to farmers be it on purchase price or timely payments. Government subsidies have also been often delayed.

The land question

Land is the central issue for the palm oil enterprise.

Be it terrain, with hilly terrain not being suitable for oil palm plantations; rapidly depleting soil fertility or reduced access to land owned by small landholders because of the three decade lock-in period.

In several cases, people have had to sell their land due to the extensive financial losses they’ve suffered while cultivating oil palm.

The capture of common lands for planting oil palm by the elite of the society is a large-scale problem, especially in Arunachal Pradesh, another northeastern state.

The fear is that more and more of community land will get converted into at least de facto private property when planted with oil palm due to the decades-long lock-in period.

This dispossession is likely to result in further marginalisation of the poorer sections of society and could potentially lead to social turmoil and conflict.

The problems are many and widespread.

India's Palm Oil Plans Wreak Havoc on the Ground (4)

Farmers across the northeast are not readily taking up planting of oil palm as they have started to realise the environmental costs, the meagre and very often delayed economic returns and the three-decade-long lock-in period of their land.

Sikkim and Meghalaya have decided to stay away from planting oil palm.

A recent report seems to indicate that at least some farmers in Arunachal Pradesh are starting to gain benefits from their oil palm plantations. These are still very early days to reach any definite conclusion about the situation in Arunachal, unlike the much longer Mizoram experience.

Since January 2023, researchers have engaged with tribal elders and civil society members in Nagaland which has provided them a close view of how things are playing out for oil palm in the state.

Nagaland seems to be following a similar path to Arunachal Pradesh, with the wealthy consolidating landholdings to establish plantations, resulting in small landholders losing out.

It is clear that oil palm is a capital-intensive and very long-term crop. Deep pockets are required to survive and succeed.

Almost everyone researchers interacted with expressed their disappointment at the delays, reduction or even complete stoppage of payment of the committed government subsidies.

Farmer frustrations

Farmers’ experiences in dealing with private companies that had committed to buy oil palm fruit has been an even greater disappointment.

The purchase price for these bunches is much lower than what was initially indicated and payments are unduly delayed.

Even the picking up of fresh fruit bunches, a perishable commodity which has to be processed within 24 to 48 hours post-harvesting, is poorly coordinated and there is a lack of reliable information and guidance for farmers.

The environmental and social issues associated with oil palm plantations are also playing out in Nagaland, including depleting soils, water shortages, the increasing use of hazardous agro-chemicals, rapidly increasing labour costs, women losing out on employment opportunities and shifts in land tenure and ownership.

Recent fieldwork in Nagaland through meetings and conversations with farmers presents a mixed picture.

Several farmers confirmed their fresh fruit bunches have not been picked up by companies. They believe it might have something to do with the company’s assessment of the quality of the fruit.

This is not in line with the commitment that was made to these farmers and is resulting in tremendous losses for them.

A few others are receiving the government subsidies and their fresh fruit bunches have also been picked up by the companies and they have been paid Rs13 a kilogram, approximately $USD 0.16.

Course correction

The longer-term experience with oil palm hasn’t been good for farmers in India’s northeast both from financial and social perspectives.

When also considering the environmental impacts, it is clear that the push for large-scale cultivation of oil palm in the region is taking a toll on the environment as well on people’s economic and social security.

Government policy would benefit from encouraging local and ecologically-appropriate oil-bearing crops rather than massively supporting oil palm.

Even the government’s own estimates do not predict India gaining self-sufficiency in edible oil by cultivating oil palm in India.

Rethinking this policy may be required so that India can regain self-sufficiency in edible oils, a position we enjoyed not so long ago.

Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info on August 12, 2024. Written by Dr Ravi Chellam is a wildlife biologist and conservation scientist based in Bengaluru along with senior journalist Rupa Chinai and Robert Solo is a member of the Naga civil society organisation, Kezekevi Thehou Ba (KTB) which works with communities, the government and the civil society in Nagaland. Read the original article.

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India's Palm Oil Plans Wreak Havoc on the Ground

Read more about deforestation and ecocide in the palm oil industry

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Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags .

Join 3,176 other subscribers

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita

Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita

Red List classification: Endangered

Extant (resident): Argentina; Bolivia; Chile; Peru


Known affectionately as ‘huana titi’ which translates to ‘the cat from dry places’ by locals, the Andean mountain cat captivates with their mystery and elegance. This cat boasts an exceptional sense of hearing, attributed to their well-developed eardrums. These allow them to detect prey with precision. They skillfully use their long tail, which makes up 70% of their body length, for balance during the swift and unpredictable chases of their prey.

Unlike their larger feline counterparts, Andean mountain cats cannot roar due to the close and hardened structure of the bones in their throats, opting instead for mewls, growls, and screams. Remarkably, they can purr continuously, breathing in and out, showcasing a unique aspect of their vocal repertoire. Together we can protect these magnificent cats and their precious rainforest world. Use your wallet as a weapon and , #BoycottPalmOil, and #Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop!

Andean 🇵🇪 Mountain 🐱🐈 are elusive of . They are unique as they can purr continuously 🎶 They face from . Help them to survive, be @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7iL

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The ultra fluffy and elusive Andean Mountain 🐱 hunts by the light of the full moon 🌕🌙 They’re from multiple threats including and . Fight for them every time you shop @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7iL

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Appearance & Behaviour

Perched high in the Andes, where the earth touches the sky, the Andean Cat roams with a silent grace.

Cloaked in ash grey fur, adorned with subtle stripes and a bushy tail ringed in mystery, they embody the spirit of their stark, majestic surroundings. This feline is not just an animal; they are whispers of the wild, navigating the rugged terrain with a poise that belies the harshness of their environment. They lead mostly solitary lives except for the times when they come together during mating seasons or when nurturing their young. These elusive felines are most active during the quieter hours of dusk, night, and dawn, aligning their movements with the shadows of the Andean nights and lunar cycles.

Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita - South America
Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita - South America
Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita - South America
Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita - South America
Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita - South America
Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita - South America
Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita - South America

Threats

  • Hunting Practices: Initially seen as the primary threat, hunting is now secondary to habitat concerns but remains significant.
  • Agricultural expansion: Expansion of palm oil, meat and soy agriculture, poor livestock management, and water extraction for industry drive the Andean Cat into much smaller range and threaten their ongoing survival.
  • Climate and Fracking: Climate change and fracking in Patagonia pose new, serious risks by shrinking their habitat.
  • Local Conflicts: Andean Cats are killed by locals and their dogs in Argentina, Chile, and Peru to protect livestock.
  • Cultural Hunting: Sacred in some cultures, Andean Cats are still hunted for traditional ceremonies, posing a unique threat.
  • Prey Decline: The loss of major prey species like the Short-tailed Chinchilla and the Mountain Vizcacha impacts their diet and survival.
  • Food Competition: They face competition from similar predators for limited food sources, stressing their population.

To safeguard the Andean Cat and their environment from further harm, take a stand against the primary drivers of their decline. By choosing to #BoycottMeat and , you are resisting the agricultural expansion that threatens their habitat. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife movement and become part of a global community committed to making dietary and consumer choices that protect the Andean Cat and all other animals in their ecosystem.

To safeguard the Andean Cat and their environment from further harm, take a stand against the primary drivers of their decline.

Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita - South America
Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita - South America

Habitat

Living high above the world in the Andean foothills and the Patagonian steppe, the Andean Cat finds solace in the steep, arid, and sparsely vegetated expanses. These areas, marked by extreme weather conditions and minimal rainfall, support a unique ecosystem of adapted plants and crucial wetlands that provide for both wildlife and local communities. It’s within these challenging conditions that they have carved out a niche for themselves, demonstrating remarkable resilience.

Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita - South America

Diet

The Andean Cat’s diet is highly specialised and is primarily made up of mountain vizcacha. This particular prey is crucial due to their large size and the substantial amount of energy they provide.

Aside from the mountain vizcacha, these cats diversify their diet with a variety of smaller prey mammals like the tuco-tuco, reptiles, rodents and birds to supplement their nutritional needs.

Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita - South America

Mating and breeding

The mating behavior of the Andean Cat is observed primarily between July and August, although there is evidence to suggest that this period could extend into later months, possibly through November or December. This extension is inferred from sightings of kittens and couples outside the expected mating season, indicating a broader reproductive window. Typically, the Andean Cat produces one to two kittens per litter, with births timed to coincide with spring and summer. This timing aligns with increased food availability, enhancing the survival prospects of the offspring. The reproductive habits of the Andean Cat, including their seasonal mating patterns and the care provided to their young, are adapted to the environmental conditions of their high-altitude habitats, ensuring the continuity of the species.

Support the Andean Mountain Cat by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the

Alliance Gato Andino: a conservation organisation that protects and monitors the Andean Mountain Cat.

Further Information

Villalba, L., Lucherini, M., Walker, S., Lagos, N., Cossios, D., Bennett, M. & Huaranca, J. 2016. Leopardus jacobita. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T15452A50657407. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T15452A50657407.en. Accessed on 28 February 2024.

Andean Mountain Cat Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andean_mountain_cat

Andean Mountain Cat on Animalia.bio: https://animalia.bio/andean-mountain-cat

(2017, February). Field notes: Finding Jacobo, an Andean cat captivates conservationists. Mongabay. https://news.mongabay.com/2017/02/field-notes-finding-jacobo-an-andean-cat-captivates-conservationists/

Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita - South America
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3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

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Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture

Global
South America
S.E. Asia
India
Africa
West Papua & PNG

Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing

Read more about RSPO greenwashing

Lying
Fake labels
Indigenous Land-grabbing
Human rights abuses
Deforestation
Human health hazards

A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

Read more
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Air Pollution and Health

Ecosystems Sell Dirt Cheap for Palm Oil Filled Snickers and KitKat

A recent report highlighted by Mongabay uncovers that deforestation-linked palm oil may still be in popular snacks like Snickers and Kit Kat, despite pledges from brands like Mars, Nestlé, and Mondelēz to use only deforestation-free palm oil. The issue lies in the palm oil-based animal feed used for dairy production, which these companies are not being transparent about. Thirteen out of the fourteen largest U.S. dairy processors, including Mars, Nestlé, and Mondelēz, fail to disclose how much palm oil-based animal feed is in their supply chains, raising concerns over hidden deforestation. If you are wanting to be kind to farmed and wild animals and ecosystems, make sure that you be #vegan

and makers , , Mars lace snacks with by way of animal feed for cows. may be buying unaware! Fight back, be 🥕🥦#Boycottpalmoil 🌴🚫 @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2024/09/26/ecosystems-sell-dirt-cheap-for-palm-oil-filled-snickers-and-kitkat/

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Mondelez, and Mars show flagrant disregard for . A new finds they purchase to use in dairy animal feed. Take a strong stance! Don’t buy and and 🌴🚫🔥 @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2024/09/26/ecosystems-sell-dirt-cheap-for-palm-oil-filled-snickers-and-kitkat/

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Written by Hans Nicholas Jong, for Mongabay. Published 24th of September, 2024. Republished under the Creative Commons attribution licence. Read original article.

  • Makers of iconic snacks like Snickers and Kit Kat have pledged to only use deforestation-free palm oil, but a new report says deforestation-linked palm oil may still be finding its way into their products.
  • That’s because much of the dairy that goes into these foods comes from cattle raised on palm oil-based animal feed, whose import into the U.S. doesn’t account for whether it derives from deforested land.
  • The report found 13 of the 14 biggest dairy processors in the U.S. — including Mars, Nestlé and Mondelēz — don’t provide information about how much palm oil-based animal feed they use in their supply chains.
  • It calls on the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), of which many of these companies are members, to include this so-called embedded palm oil in their deforestation-free policies, similar to how the CGF has a policy for accounting for embedded soy.

Consumers in the U.S. might be unknowingly exposed to palm oil products that come from deforestation, despite major consumer goods producers there adopting zero-deforestation pledges. That’s because these companies, which include the makers of iconic foods like Snickers, Kit Kat and Nutella, don’t account for the significant role that palm oil-based animal feed plays in their supply chains, according to a new report.

Its relatively low price and extremely versatility mean palm oil has become the most widely used vegetable oil in the world. In the U.S. itself, palm oil can be found in roughly half of all packaged goods in the average grocery store, from shampoo to cookies and crackers.

Ecosystems Sell Dirt Cheap for Palm Oil Filled Snickers and KitKat
Ecosystems Sell Dirt Cheap for Palm Oil Filled Snickers and KitKat
Ecosystems Sell Dirt Cheap for Palm Oil Filled Snickers and KitKat
Ecosystems Sell Dirt Cheap for Palm Oil Filled Snickers and KitKat

Palm oil is also increasingly being used as an additive in livestock feed, particularly for dairy cows. As such, it has become “embedded” in consumer goods products deriving from dairy, such as milk, cheese, ice cream and chocolate.

This indirect use of palm oil is often overlooked in the zero-deforestation accounting process, despite its growing use, according to a report by U.S.-based advocacy group Rainforest Action Network (RAN). The report found that palm oil-based animal feed is now the single largest palm oil product category imported by the U.S., accounting for 36% of all palm oil imports into the country by weight.

This dairy — “embedded” with palm oil, some of which may be associated with deforestation — then enters the supply chains of major food producers. And these producers, despite their public pledges to avoid deforestation-linked products, are largely ignoring this source of palm oil in their accounting, according to the report.

The report analyzed 14 of the largest dairy-processing and consumer goods companies operating in the U.S.: Arla, Dairy Farmers of America, Danone, Ferrero, Frontera, FrieslandCampina, Lactalis, Mars, Mengniu, Mondelēz, Nestlé, Saputo, Unilever and Yili.

The report found that 13 of them don’t provide information about how much palm oil-based animal feed is used in their supply chains.

The only company that provides such information is Unilever, which says that embedded palm oil in its dairy supply chain in 2022 accounted for just 3%, or 30,0000 metric tons, of its overall palm oil consumption.

Thirteen of the 14 assessed companies also don’t mention embedded palm oil in their “No Deforestation, No Peatland, No Exploitation” (NDPE) policies, and as such have no commitments to sourcing only deforestation-free embedded palm oil. Only Danish-Swedish dairy giant Arla’s NDPE policy explicitly states that it applies to palm oil-based feed used in its milk supply chain.

“When companies have adopted palm oil policies, they completely refuse or haven’t considered palm oil use in their dairy supply chain,” RAN forest policy director Gemma Tillack told Mongabay. “Lack of attention to this issue means that it hasn’t [been] accounted for in companies’ NDPE policies, or if it’s included, it’s not adequately enforced.”

Import-export oversight

This oversight extends to both importers and exporters of palm oil-based livestock feed into the U.S. The report assessed 24 exporters based in Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s top two producers of palm oil, and 17 U.S. companies that import palm oil-based animal feed.

It found that 15 of the 24 exporters companies and 15 of the 17 importers companies don’t have public NDPE policies. These 15 exporting companies account for two-thirds of exports to the U.S. by weight.

The report also found that 28% of U.S. imports of feed-grade palm oil products came from Indonesia, the country with the highest deforestation rates associated with palm oil. That makes it likely that such problematic palm oil has found its way into dairy products like milk and confectionaries regularly consumed by Americans, according to the report.

Why the EU must stand firm on its plan to help protect the world’s forests
Cattle in Colombia. Image by Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay.

Deforestation-free claims

Without adequately accounting for embedded palm oil in their NDPE policies and supply chains, consumer goods brands can’t guarantee that their products are deforestation free, even if they claim that’s the case, RAN said.

Nestlé, for instance, says 96.0% of its “primary supply chain” of palm oil in 2023 was deforestation-free, but makes no reference to embedded palm oil in that claim.

If embedded palm oil were accounted for, then Nestlé’s deforestation-free claim would fall to about 72%, according to RAN’s analysis. It based this on the assumption that 10% of the milk the company sources was linked to palm oil-based animal feed.

This large variance means deforestation-free claims by the likes of Nestlé and others might be inaccurate or misleading, the report said.

Responding to the findings, Nestlé said the figures used by RAN and the corresponding assumptions are incorrect, but didn’t provide details about its concerns.

The failure to account for embedded palm oil in supply chains could have broader implications for these brands, as most of them also do business in the European Union. The EU market will, from the end of this year, be subject to a deforestation-free regulation known as the EUDR, which will ban the import of commodities like palm oil and its derived products if they’re associated with deforestation.

To prove that the products they bring into the EU aren’t linked to deforestation, companies have to be able to trace the products all the way back to the production units and ensure no deforestation has taken place there after a cutoff date of Dec. 31, 2020.

The RAN report’s revelations suggest it’s unlikely that companies like Danone and Ferrero — which are headquartered in the EU and source much of their milk from there — as well as Nestlé and Unilever — which have significant operations within the EU that process dairy products — can guarantee the deforestation-free status of their animal feed imports.

As a result, the EUDR should be of particular concern to these companies, the report said.

Bulldozers are being used by palm oil plantation PT Sawit Panen Terus to destroy significant areas of lowland rainforest in the Leuser Ecosystem, in February 2024. Image courtesy of RAN.

Call for action

The failure to account for embedded palm oil in their supply chains and NDPE policies is an “industry-wide problem that needs an industrywide solution,” the report said. It called on the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), a network of the world’s largest consumer goods brands, to encourage its members, including Danone, Ferrero, FrieslandCampina, Nestlé, Mars, Mengniu, Mondelēz and Unilever, to include embedded palm oil in their NDPE policies.

So far, the CGF has failed to do so, RAN noted.

It has also failed to include embedded palm oil in its road map that sets the expectations for how members of its so-called forest-positive coalition should implement NDPE policy commitments in the palm oil sector. The coalition aims to accelerate efforts to eliminate deforestation from the supply chains of each member.

This is in contrast to the CGF’s initiative for the soy industry, which has its own road map that details the types of “embedded soy” products that need to be accounted for — such as soy used in feed mix for animal products and soy embedded in meat, dairy and eggs used in processed food.

“We need to see these commitments in place to ensure palm oil-based animal feed is not a new leakage market,” RAN’s Tillack said.

Ecosystems Sell Dirt Cheap for Palm Oil Filled Snickers and KitKat

Written by Hans Nicholas Jong, for Mongabay. Published 24th of September, 2024. Republished under the Creative Commons attribution licence. Read original article.

ENDS

Read more about deforestation and ecocide in the palm oil industry

Protect Nature to Avoid Future Pandemics

Research from University of Queensland and published in The Lancet: Planetary Health finds that the COVID-19 pandemic is linked to the decline of ecosystems and biodiversity, creating a cycle that could lead to…

Read more

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2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

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How does Indonesia’s palm oil industry fuel the climate crisis?

Booming global demand for palm oil in biofuel is spurring deforestation in Indonesia. Indonesia accounts for more than half of the global palm oil supply, the world’s most widely used vegetable oil that is found in everything from food to cosmetics to fuel.

But environmentalists fear surging demand for the product may drive mass deforestation in Indonesia, home to the world’s third-largest tropical rainforest, and exacerbate the global climate crisis.

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Experts fear a boom may drive massive in , threaten the world’s 3rd largest and send irreplaceable and plants to extinction @contextnewsroom @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2024/09/22/how-does-indonesias-palm-oil-industry-fuel-the-climate-crisis/

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New report shows just how devastating ramping up production in would be for global 🔥🌱 and extinction and air . Take action when you shop and https://palmoildetectives.com/2024/09/22/how-does-indonesias-palm-oil-industry-fuel-the-climate-crisis/

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This story was published by Thomson Reuters Foundation, on 20th of September, 2024. Reporting by Adi Renaldi and editing by Ayla Jean Yackley. Read original.

What’s the context?

Palm oil production reached 50 million tonnes in 2023 from 45 million tonnes the year before, according to the Indonesian Palm Oil Association.

As companies and small landholders replace natural habitats with palm oil plantations, activists and researchers are warning that large amounts of planet-heating carbon is being released into the atmosphere.

How do palm oil plantations contribute to deforestation?

Palm oil plantations cover more than 42.7 million acres of Indonesia, compared with 41.5 million acres in 2019, the government’s Geospatial Information Agency said this month.

Indonesia lost 721,000 acres of primary, or old growth, forest in the last two decades – equivalent to 221 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, according to Global Forest Watch. Drivers of this deforestation include plantations and mining.

Sumatra and Borneo, home to the endangered orangutan and other endemic species, have lost 36% and 45% of their tropical forests, respectively, due to palm oil expansion, according to Nusantara Atlas, a non-profit that tracks deforestation.

How does Indonesia's palm oil industry fuel the climate crisis?
How does Indonesia’s palm oil industry fuel the climate crisis?

The loss of carbon-storing forests is compounded by the conversion of peatland into plantations. Indonesia is home to more than a third of the world’s tropical peatlands, a type of wetland that is the world’s biggest land-based store of carbon.

Palm oil planters believe the soil in these wetlands yields more crops and drain them through man-made canals so that planting can take place. A study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 2021 showed draining peatlands across the world releases 1.9 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.

How does Indonesia's palm oil industry fuel the climate crisis?
How does Indonesia’s palm oil industry fuel the climate crisis?

How does the biofuel business affect climate change?

Palm oil is a primary ingredient of biodiesel, a cleaner-burning, renewable fuel used in transportation. But a growing body of research shows that biofuels from vegetable oils like palm actually emit more carbon than fossil fuels, primarily due to changes in land use in order to grow the crops.

Indonesia is currently among the largest biodiesel producers in the world, with total exports amounting to more than 193,000 kilolitres.

The government targets production of 13.4 million kilolitres in 2024, 2% more than last year, when it grew 11%, according to the energy ministry.

Indonesia requires fuel producers to make a blend of diesel fuel that contains 35% palm oil and wants that share to rise to 40% in 2025.

How does Indonesia's palm oil industry fuel the climate crisis?
How does Indonesia’s palm oil industry fuel the climate crisis?

The government began to cultivate palm oil in the 1980s in the hopes of boosting the economy and providing jobs. It now accounts for 3.5% of gross domestic product, government statistics showed.

Researchers claim palm oil has not contributed to the welfare of people living near plantations. The rate of poverty remains high in the palm oil-rich regions of Sumatra and Borneo, where people face food insecurity after farms were cleared to make way for palm trees.

Can a moratorium on new plantations help stop deforestation?

While Indonesia’s deforestation rate fell between 2019 to 2022 due to stricter regulations, a moratorium on forest clearing and better mitigation of forest fires, the clearing of primary forests for mining and plantations has risen slightly.

The government issued a moratorium on new palm oil plantation in 2018 to slow deforestation. Despite the reprieve, about 119,400 hectares of forests were cleared between 2021 and 2022.

Between 2022 and 2023, some 52,000 hectares of forests were converted into plantations, Nusantara Atlas data showed.

Environmental groups have blamed a lack of reinforcement of the moratorium and called for replanting unproductive oil palm trees on existing plantations, instead of clearing forests.

This story was published by Thomson Reuters Foundation, on 20th of September, 2024. Reporting by Adi Renaldi and editing by Ayla Jean Yackley. Read original.

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Read more about deforestation and greenwashing in the palm oil industry

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2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris

Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris

IUCN Red List: Endangered

Extant (resident): Southeast Asia: Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Philippines

Intelligent and social Irrawaddy dolphins, also known as the Mahakam River dolphins or Ayeyarwady river have endearing faces. Only 90 to 300 are estimated to be left living in the wild. Their rounded and expressive looking noses liken them to a baby beluga whale or the Snubfin dolphin of Australia. These shy are found in coastal and freshwater habitats across , they live in small groups. Tragically, Irrawaddy dolphins face many human threats, from entanglement in fishing gear to dam construction. Palm oil deforestation, and #pesticide run-off in rivers is another major threat to their survival.

Protecting the Irrawaddy dolphin is paramount. As a keystone species, they maintain biodiversity in their fragile home. These beautiful animals are classified as endangered on IUCN Red list but are critically endangered in some ecosystems. Fight for their survival when you boycott palm oil and go vegan. Support the Boycott4Wildlife movement by using the hashtags #BoycottPalmOil and #Boycott4Wildlife on social media!

Endearing and sweet-faced Irrawaddy face serious threats from , fishing bycatch, tourism in S.E . Just 90-300 remain alive in the wild. Fight for them and be , 💙🐬 @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-8Pk

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Playful Irrawaddy 🐬 are threatened by in their river homes in . Just dozens remain alive! Help them when you shop be @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-8Pk

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Appearance & Behaviour

Irrawaddy dolphins have a distinctive appearance with their rounded heads, expressive faces, and lack of a beak. With grey to slate blue bellies, they sport small dorsal fins and broad flippers. Socially, they are found in groups of 2-6, although larger gatherings of up to 25 individuals can be found in deeper waters.

Capable spitting streams of water up to 1.5 metres into the air, they also have a U-shaped blowhole, which opens towards the front of their head. Their ability spit water is believed to be used to confuse fish during hunting. These dolphins use suction feeding, drawing prey into their mouths using negative pressure.

Irrawaddy dolphins are slow swimmers, often surfacing in a rolling motion. They can be shy around boats and typically dive when alarmed. They are also known for play behaviours like spyhopping, the practice of holding their bodies out of the water. Also they commonly tail slap and roll on their sides while waving their flippers.

Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris
Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris
Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris swimming up close
Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris swimming up close
Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris
Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris squirting water
Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris boycott palm oil
Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris threats
Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris face threats from palm oil
Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris in the Mekong River
Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris playing

Threats

Palm oil deforestation and pollution:

Pollution run-off from palm oil plantations puts toxic pesticides into their freshwater habitats. These pollutants can lead to serious health issues for the dolphins, such as skin lesions and reduced reproductive success. Deforestation from palm oil production destroys delicate mangroves and estuaries, forcing Irrawaddy dolphins into fragmented ranges, where they struggle to survive.

Industrial fishing bycatch:

The greatest threat to Irrawaddy dolphins is accidental entanglement in fishing gear, particularly gillnets. Dolphins trapped in these nets often drown before they can be rescued. In areas such as the Mekong River, gillnet bycatch accounts for a significant number of dolphin deaths. In some regions, fishing practices involving explosives or electrofishing further contribute to the decline of dolphin populations.

Habitat loss due to dam construction

The construction of dams on major rivers, such as the Mekong and Ayeyarwady, disrupts the natural flow of water. This impacts fish migration and isolates dolphin populations. These dams also prevent the dolphins from accessing essential deep-water pools, which are vital for their survival. Noise pollution from dam construction generates noise pollution and shock waves. This damage the dolphins’ sensitive hearing structures, leading to injury or death.

Industrial river waste and pesticide run-off:

Irrawaddy dolphins’ habitats are increasingly contaminated by pollutants such as pesticides, industrial waste, and oil. Runoff from agricultural activities, including palm oil plantations, introduces toxic substances into the rivers and estuaries where these dolphins live. Additionally, sedimentation caused by deforestation and poor land practices reduces water depth, altering the ecosystems on which the dolphins rely.

Boat traffic interfering with their echolocation

The growth of unregulated tourism in dolphin habitats has led to increased boat traffic. A major cause of fatal collisions with dolphins. Noise pollution from boats also interferes with the dolphins’ echolocation abilities. This makes it hard for them to find and catch prey.

Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris threats
Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris boycott palm oil

Habitat

Irrawaddy dolphins are found in coastal and freshwater riverine habitats across Southeast Asia. Coastal areas include the Bay of Bengal, and river systems such as the Mekong, Mahakam, Ayeyarwady, and Ganges Rivers. They prefer shallow, brackish waters such as river mouths, estuaries, and mangrove channels. Freshwater populations are found in the Ayeyarwady, Mahakam, and Mekong Rivers, among others. These dolphins are highly dependent on the health of these ecosystems, which are increasingly under threat from human activities.

Diet

Irrawaddy dolphins are opportunistic feeders, consuming a variety of fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods. They are known to follow the tides. Moving inshore with high tides and further offshore as the tides go out, likely tracking their prey. In freshwater habitats, these dolphins sometimes surface with mud on their heads or backs, indicating they feed on bottom-dwelling species.

Mating and breeding

Irrawaddy dolphins reach sexual maturity between seven to nine years of age. Mating usually occurs between December and June in the Northern Hemisphere, with a gestation period of approximately 14 months. Females typically give birth to a single calf every two to three years, and calves are weaned after two years. Their lifespan is about 30 years, though this can vary depending on environmental conditions and threats faced by different subpopulations.

Support Orcaella brevirostris by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the

Several organisations are working to protect the Irrawaddy dolphin and their habitats. The Irrawaddy Dolphin Conservation Project in Myanmar focuses on protecting the dolphins in the Ayeyarwady River through anti-poaching measures, habitat restoration, and education. The Wildlife Conservation Society of Bangladesh work to create protected areas in the Sundarbans mangrove forest to safeguard dolphin populations. Indonesia’s Mahakam River population is monitored by local NGOs working to reduce bycatch and raise awareness.

Further Information

Minton, G., Smith, B.D., Braulik, G.T., Kreb, D., Sutaria, D. & Reeves, R. 2017. Orcaella brevirostris (errata version published in 2018). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T15419A123790805. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T15419A50367860.en. Accessed on 18 March 2025.

Wikipedia contributors. (2024). Irrawaddy dolphin. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrawaddy_dolphin

Whale and Dolphin Conservation. (2024). Irrawaddy dolphin. Retrieved from https://au.whales.org/whales-dolphins/species-guide/irrawaddy-dolphin/

Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris squirting water
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How can I help the ?

Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags .

Join 3,176 other subscribers

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture

Global
South America
S.E. Asia
India
Africa
West Papua & PNG

Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing

Read more about RSPO greenwashing

Lying
Fake labels
Indigenous Land-grabbing
Human rights abuses
Deforestation
Human health hazards

A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

Read more
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Air Pollution and Health

Protect Nature to Avoid Future Pandemics

Research from University of Queensland and published in The Lancet: Planetary Health finds that the COVID-19 pandemic is linked to the decline of ecosystems and biodiversity, creating a cycle that could lead to more pandemics. The pandemic, caused by a virus jumping from animals to humans, has worsened deforestation, increasing human-wildlife contact and the risk of future disease outbreaks. The study emphasizes the need for a One Health approach, combining public health, conservation efforts and involving indigenous custodianship of land and indigenous traditional knowledge to prevent outbreaks by protecting ecosystems. We must safeguard biodiversity to prevent more pandemics.

@UQ_News research published in @TheLancetPlanet finds that are linked to and declines, with viruses jumping from animals to humans. Urgent and policies needed @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-77u

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This research was originally published in The Lancet Planetary Health (DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00258-8). The media release below from the University of Queensland was published on 16th November, 2021, view original

Scientists have investigated the links between the COVID-19 pandemic and the deterioration of the world’s ecosystems and their biodiversity, discovering feedback loops that suggest a potential increase in future pandemics.

University of Queensland Master of Conservation Biology graduate Odette Lawler, collaborating with a team of students and fellows contributing to the study in Professor Salit Kark’s Biodiversity Research Group, said that the links between biodiversity loss, habitat degradation and zoonotic disease transfer had long been understood, but it’s taken an international pandemic to bring the issue to public attention.

“COVID-19 has shown the world that human health and environmental health are intricately linked,” Ms Lawler said.

“We’ve long known that issues like land-use change, intensive livestock production, wildlife trade, and climate change drive the emergence of zoonotic diseases, as they increase human-wildlife interactions.

“Now we’ve also found that these issues are being compounded by outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in feedback loops that are likely to promote future zoonotic disease outbreaks.

Protect nature to avoid future pandemics

“For example, research has found that rates of deforestation have substantially increased in many regions around the world over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is likely due to some combination of pandemic-related factors, including decreased enforcement of forest protections, relaxation of sustainability agreements and environmental deregulation, increased pressures on low-income communities, and threats to Indigenous land managers.

“This means that COVID-19 – a pandemic sparked by a pathogen spilling from animal to human populations – has played a part in fuelling further deforestation, which in turn increases risk of future zoonotic disease emergence by increasing human-wildlife interactions.”

The research team stressed that responses to COVID-19 must include actions aimed at safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystems.

Senior researcher UQ’s Professor Salit Kark, who led and supervised the study said that such responses would benefit from adopting what is known in public health and conservation circles as a One Health approach.

“One Health is a collaborative, transdisciplinary approach that aims to optimise health outcomes for communities arising from factors operating, for example, at the intersections between people, animals and their shared environment,” Professor Kark said.

“It’s an approach that can help holistically address outbreaks before they happen, working closely with the community and engaging people in preventative ecosystem and human health.

“Here in Australia, the emphasis should be on developing close, long-term collaboration and engagement with First Nations communities and other partners to address these risks.

“And, internationally, Australia has so many valuable ties, which can be strengthened through working together with other nations to address the drivers of zoonotic disease emergence. In this paper, for example, the team closely collaborated with a group based in Nepal working in the area.

“It’s vital we invest in protecting biodiversity and ecosystem health and address the drivers of zoonotic disease.

“If we don’t, we really are increasing the likelihood of future zoonotic disease emergence and further pandemics arising, and we now all know just how world-altering and high-impact they can be.”

The research has been published in The Lancet Planetary Health (DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00258-8).

This research was originally published in The Lancet Planetary Health (DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00258-8). The media release from the University of Queensland was published on 16th November, 2021 View original

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Food Without Agriculture

Researchers argue food can be made without destroying rainforests, using alternative energy sources like microbes, yeast and CO2, saving animals and emissions

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Sambar deer Rusa unicolor

Sambar deer Rusa unicolor

IUCN Red List: Vulnerable

Extant (resident): Bangladesh; Bhutan; Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; China; India; Indonesia (Sumatera); Laos; Malaysia; Myanmar; Nepal; Sri Lanka; Taiwan; Thailand; Vietnam.

The majestic Sambar deer, cloaked in hues ranging from light brown to dark gray, are distinguished by their rugged antlers and uniquely long tails. Adorned with a coat of coarse hair and marked by a distinctive, blood-red glandular spot on their throats, these deer embody the beauty of the wild. Their adaptability is evident in their alert behavior, silent movements, and the gradual development of their unique spots. Perfectly designed for grazing, these deer use their antlers and feet deftly in defense, relying on their acute senses of hearing and smell to evade predators. To protect these splendid deer and their habitats from the impacts of deforestation and agricultural expansion, especially for palm oil, join the movement: #BoycottPalmOil and #Boycott4Wildlife to aid in their survival.

Sambar deer are from habitat destruction for and and relentless hunting. Help them survive, be for them and and to safeguard these magnificent beings. Learn more via @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-75t

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Save the magnificent Sambar , threatened in multiple countries like by and hunting. Fight for them by being and use your wallet as a weapon @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-75t

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Appearance & Behaviour

The enigmatic Sambar deer captivates with their varied coat, ranging from light brown to almost black, highlighted by a grayish or yellowish tinge and complemented by paler underparts.

Sambar deer Rusa unicolor - India Asia - male with large antlers. #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Sambar deer Rusa unicolor - India Asia - female side portrait #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Sambar deer Rusa unicolor - India Asia - young deer at riverside #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Sambar deer Rusa unicolor - India Asia mother and juvenile at the riverside #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Sambar deer Rusa unicolor - India Asia - young deer swimming in the river #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Sambar deer Rusa unicolor - India Asia - young deer #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife

Males boast robust, three-tined antlers, advertising their strength and virility to their female counterparts. Their long tails, a blend of black and white, along with their striking dark brown legs and long, brownish-gray ears, add to their distinct appearance.

Both adult males and some females sport an unusual, hairless, blood-red spot on their throats, a mysterious glandular feature.

These crepuscular beings prefer the solitude of night or twilight and remain largely alone or with small, close-knit herds. Males, particularly nomadic and territorial during breeding seasons, engage in unique behaviors like wallowing in urine-soaked soil and marking trees with their antlers. Females show maternal fierceness and will bravely defend their young, fearlessly confronting predators, especially in shallow waters, forming protective formations, and emitting a resonant ‘pooking’ sound as a warning.

In some cases Sambar deer come together to form large temporary groups, especially in India’s dry deciduous and semi-arid forests. These groupings, sometimes reaching up to 100 individuals near water bodies during peak summer, indicate a complex social structure influenced by environmental conditions.

Threats

  • Impact of Agricultural Expansion for Timber and Palm Oil: Agricultural expansion, particularly for timber and palm oil plantations, significantly contributes to the loss of the Sambar deer’s natural habitat. This expansion not only destroys their forest environment but also facilitates easier access for hunters, further escalating the threats to their survival.
  • Habitat Encroachment and Hunting: The Sambar deer faces severe threats from habitat encroachment and hunting across their range, especially in the Sundaic region. Logging activities often lead to increased hunting, causing local extinctions. In many areas, such as Sarawak, hunting following logging is the primary threat to ungulates.
  • Hunting for Meat and Trade: Sambar deer are a popular source of wild meat and are heavily hunted for this purpose. In Southeast Asia, hunting is largely commercially driven, catering to affluent urban classes and workers in industries like logging. The trade in Sambar meat is extensive, with adult males additionally targeted for their antlers, used as trophies and in traditional medicine.
  • Variation in Hunting Patterns and Impact: Hunting methods and intensity vary across the Sambar’s range, with some areas experiencing intense, market-driven hunting. In places like India, even well-protected areas see poaching. The Sambar’s tolerance of habitat degradation ironically makes them more accessible to hunters, exacerbating their decline.
Sambar deer Rusa unicolor - India Asia #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Sambar deer Rusa unicolor - India Asia #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Sambar deer Rusa unicolor - India Asia - young deer swimming in the river #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife

Sambar deer are imperiled by rampant habitat destruction, primarily due to deforestation for timber and palm oil. They are further threatened by relentless hunting. To make a tangible difference in their survival, stand with us in this vital cause, be for them and and to safeguard these magnificent beings.

Habitat

Sambar deer are renowned for their remarkable adaptability to diverse forest types and environmental conditions, showcasing an impressive geographical range. They are found in various habitats within India, from thorn forests in Gujarat and Rajasthan to the lush evergreen forests of the Western Ghats and northeastern India, and even in the pine and oak forests at the Himalayan foothills. Their adaptability extends beyond India, inhabiting temperate and alpine-zone woodlands in Taiwan, thriving in a wide array of environmental conditions.

Diet

Sambar deer possess a broad diet, consuming a wide variety of plant species, which enables them to thrive in diverse habitats. Depending on the availability of forage, they alternate between grazing and browsing. Their diet varies across different altitudes and regions, reflecting the changes in local plant communities. This dietary flexibility allows them to inhabit regions with varying vegetation, from moist deciduous forests, where they are found in higher densities, to semi-arid forests.

Mating and breeding

Breeding by Sambar deer tends to be seasonal, with a peak in the rutting period observed in various regions. Males, especially during the rut, can travel significant distances, marking territories with scent glands. Fawns are typically born singly, with the birth season peaking in the warmer months. Predation, primarily by tigers, leopards, and dholes, significantly influences their populations, especially in well-protected forest reserves where they are a key prey species.

Sub-species of the Sambar Deer

The Sambar deer has several distinct subspecies, each exhibiting unique characteristics and adaptations to their respective habitats.

  • The Sri Lankan Sambar Rusa unicolor unicolor: Found primarily in India and Sri Lanka, this subspecies is noted for being the largest in the genus, boasting the most substantial antlers in terms of both size and body proportions.
  • The South China Sambar Rusa unicolor dejeani: Inhabiting Southern China and mainland Southeast Asia, this subspecies ranks second in size, possessing slightly smaller antlers compared to the Indian sambar.
  • The Sumatran Sambar Rusa unicolor equina: Native to the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, these deer are characterized by having smaller antlers in relation to their body size.
  • The Bornean Sambar Rusa unicolor brookei: Similar to the Sumatran sambar, the Bornean variant also exhibits smaller antlers when compared to their body size.
  • The Formosan Sambar Rusa unicolor swinhoii: This subspecies is identified as the smallest, with antler-body proportions akin to the South China sambar.

Support Sambar Deers by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the #Boycott4Wildlife

Support the conservation of this species

This animal has no protections in place. Read about other forgotten species here. Create art to support this forgotten animal or raise awareness about them by sharing this post and using the #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.

Further Information

Timmins, R., Kawanishi, K., Giman, B, Lynam, A., Chan, B., Steinmetz, R., Sagar Baral, H. & Samba Kumar, N. 2015. Rusa unicolor (errata version published in 2015). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T41790A85628124. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T41790A22156247.en. Accessed on 29 December 2023.

 Sambar Deer on Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambar_deer

Sambar on the Animalia.bio website https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambar_deer

Sambar deer Rusa unicolor - India Asia #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
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3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

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Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture

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Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing

Read more about RSPO greenwashing

Lying
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Deforestation
Human health hazards

A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

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WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Air Pollution and Health

Research: Wild cat carnivores in Borneo may adjust their schedules to avoid each other

Study by Hiroshima University finds that due to increased human pressures from hunting, palm oil and other deforestation, wild cats and other carnivores in Indonesia and Malaysia may go out of their way to avoid other species – they negotiate space and resources for survival.

🐯🐅💛 in 🇮🇩🇲🇾 may adjust their schedules to avoid each other as they compete for ever more scarce food 😿 Help them survive and 🌴🪔🔥🤮☠️🧐🙊⛔️ every time you shop! @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2024/08/25/research-wild-cat-carnivores-in-borneo-may-adjust-their-schedules-to-avoid-each-other/

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Wildcat like Borneo Bay 🐈 Marbled Cats 🐅 and Sunda Clouded Leopards 🐆 compete for scarce food 🥩 due to and other in . Help them and 🌴🚫 @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2024/08/25/research-wild-cat-carnivores-in-borneo-may-adjust-their-schedules-to-avoid-each-other/

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This is a media release from Hiroshima University based on peer reviewed research entitled: ‘Temporal activity patterns suggesting niche partitioning of sympatric carnivores in Borneo, Malaysia’, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-99341-6 

Just as humans may leave their home five minutes early to avoid a talkative neighbour or depart work late to avoid a rude coworker, carnivorous mammals may go out of their way to avoid other species. But they’re not trying to navigate awkward social interactions; rather, they are negotiating space and resources for survival.

Researchers monitored this temporal niche partitioning intermittently over six years with 73 infrared trigger sensor cameras installed at three sites in the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo, the third largest island in the world. The international collaboration published their findings, and what they might mean for the mechanism of coexistence between competing mammals, on Oct. 6 in Scientific Reports.

“Approximately 20% of the world’s mammal species face the risk of extinction, mainly due to threats such as habitat loss and overexploitation. The status of mammals in the Indomalayan realm — one of Earth’s eight biogeographic regions, covering most of South and Southeast Asia — is among the world’s worst.”

~ First named author Miyabi Nakabayashi, Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering at Hiroshima University.

Pictured: Borneo Bay Cat Catopuma badia

One of the major roadblocks to effective and realistic solutions to lower the rate of endangered species is the scarcity of basic ecological information on mammals in the Indomalayan region, according to Nakabayashi.

“Information regarding temporal activity patterns of animals is crucial to assess responses to anthropogenic disturbances and to allow the implementation of proper conservation measures,” Nakabayashi said. “Camera trapping is one of the most useful techniques to study cryptic and rare animals.”

The researchers collected 37,379 photos over a total of about three active years. Although the first cameras were installed in 2010 and the last ones were removed in 2016, there were significant periods of bad weather or logistical issues — such as nesting insects — that rendered the cameras inoperable for long stretches of time.

In the dataset, the researchers identified nine distinct carnivore species with sample sizes larger than 10 and categorized their activity patterns by time of day. Of the species, six were active at night, two were active during the day and one was active regardless of time.

Some of the more closely related animals demonstrated a clear temporal segregation, including two wild cats, one of whom was nocturnal while the other preferred the day. However, the researchers also found that three species of civets were all active at night, which might be due to limited competition over resources because all three species eat a variety of food items, Nakabayashi said.

The researchers also found that tourism may have an impact on mammal behaviors. Tourism activities — mainly non-lethal ecotourism events — were conducted at all study sites during the study period. Only one site, however, hosted nocturnal tourism activities. Common palm civets at the other two sites had two clear peaks of temporal activity at night, but the same species at the site with nocturnal tourism had unclear and delayed temporal movement.

“The potential benefits of ecotourism may include reduced threats to wildlife ,” Nakabayashi said, noting that community-based ecotourism can bring significant benefits such as alternative income that incentivizes local communities and policy makers to protect the species in areas of interest. “But our results indicate that the temporal activity pattern of a species might be directly affected by tourism activity. The effect of tourism on animal behavior should be evaluated, even though it is non-lethal ecotourism.”

The researchers also recommended a two- to three-year-long study with at least 10 cameras to gather more data on the activities of the carnivores.

“Current information is too limited and sporadic to understand basic behaviors of mammals, which may affect the progress in evaluating and improving the threatened status,” Nakabayashi said. “We should accumulate more information on rare species to determine their basic ecology and to reassess whether current conservation management strategies are appropriate.”

JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-021-99341-6 

ARTICLE TITLE

Temporal activity patterns suggesting niche partitioning of sympatric carnivores in Borneo, Malaysia

This is a media release from Hiroshima University based on peer reviewed research entitled: ‘Temporal activity patterns suggesting niche partitioning of sympatric carnivores in Borneo, Malaysia’, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-99341-6 

ENDS

Big, medium and small wildcats are disappearing as a result of deforestation for soy, palm oil and meat. Help them and

Jaguar Panthera onca

Jaguars, currently deemed Near Threatened, face a substantial habitat reduction of up to 25% in just over two decades. This decline stems from rampant deforestation for palm oil, soy, and meat, as well as…

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Marbled Cat Pardofelis marmorata

Marbled Cat Pardofelis marmorata IUCN Status: Near Threatened Location: India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia (Sumatra, Borneo), China (Yunnan, Guangxi, Tibet), Brunei The marbled cat is a small #wildcat…

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Leopard Panthera pardus

Of all the great cats prowling the wild, few inspire as much awe and fascination as the leopard Panthera pardus. Sleek, powerful, and enigmatic, leopards are found across a staggering range—from sub-Saharan Africa, forests of…

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3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

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Pledge your support

August 19th is #WorldOrangutanDay

Although falls on the 19th of August, every day deserves to be World Orangutan Day! So here is an infographic that you can download, print and share however you please. All three species of orangutan are classified as ‘endangered’ or ‘critically endangered’ in S.E. Asia. Their main threat is palm oil deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia Help them and fight for their survival every time you shop!

Aug 19th is 🦧🧡 Yet for everyone who loves them, every single day is World Day! Learn why “Sustainable” is a lie 🌴🚫. Help orange apes every time you @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-4t7

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Happy , download your in the link 🧐👇 You’ve been sold a lie! face extinction from “sustainable” , which DOES NOT STOP 🔥🌴🚫 ! @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-4t7

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Help to protect them!

This infographic is creative commons attribution licence, this means you are free to use it so long as you credit Palm Oil Detectives.

Although #WorldOrangutanDay falls on the 19th of August, in our opinion, every day deserves to be World Orangutan Day! So here is an infographic that you can download, print and share however you please.
See HTML interactive version
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Infographic Sources

Animalia: Bornean Orangutan https://animalia.bio/bornean-orangutan

Animalia: Sumatran Orangutan https://animalia.bio/sumatran-orangutan

Animalia: Tapanuli Orangutan https://animalia.bio/tapanuli-orangutan

Global Palm Oil Market (2022 to 2027) – Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecasts (2022). https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/05/17/2444825/28124/en/Global-Palm-Oil-Market-2022-to-2027-Industry-Trends-Share-Size-Growth-Opportunity-and-Forecasts.html

The Asian Forest Fires of 1997-1998, Mongabay. https://rainforests.mongabay.com/08indo_fires.htm

TIMELINE: Slaves, colonials, weevils: palm oil’s historic rise, Reuters (2019). https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-forest-palm-timeline-sb-idUSTRE58M01I20090923

Research: Palm Oil Deforestation and its connection to RSPO members/supermarket brands, Palm Oil Detectives, (2021). https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/02/07/research-palm-oil-deforestation-and-its-connection-to-brands/

RSPO: History and timeline. https://rspo.org/about

Wildfires May Cause Long-Term Health Problems for Endangered Orangutans, Rutgers (2018). https://www.rutgers.edu/news/wildfires-may-cause-long-term-health-problems-endangered-orangutans

Orangutans: Architects of the Forest, Champions of Survival

Embracing International Orangutan Day: Guardians of the Canopy

On August 19th each year, orange ape enthusiasts celebrate cheeky and nurturing orangutans of Indonesia and Malaysia. With their flame-coloured fur and expressive eyes like deep obsidian pools, orangutans are not only symbols of wild intelligence, they are vital ecological architects dispersing seeds and contributing to the survival of their rainforest home.

World Orangutan Day - make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
World Orangutan Day - make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
World Orangutan Day - make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
World Orangutan Day - make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
World Orangutan Day - make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
World Orangutan Day - make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
World Orangutan Day - make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
World Orangutan Day - make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
World Orangutan Day - make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
World Orangutan Day - make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
World Orangutan Day - make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
World Orangutan Day - make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
World Orangutan Day - make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
World Orangutan Day - Download your free infographic

Celebrations of World Orangutan Day are tempered with immense worry for animal lovers each year. All three species of orangutan are on the brink of extinction. The relentless expansion of industrial palm oil plantations, roads and infrastructure slices through the heart of the rainforest. Human encroachment puts these gentle giants closer to greedy and unscrupulous poachers and also farmers who kill them in retribution for invading their crops.

Read on to discover the indelible and unique scientific discoveries about orangutans over the past few years. Also take a look at this infographic to understand how palm oil colonialism and land-grabbing have manifested into a pressure cooker of risks for one of our closest evolutionary relatives. Finally learn how you can take action to help orangutans every time you shop.

Murmurs of Meaning: The Complex Language of Orangutans

Orangutans communicate in ways that continue to fascinate people. A recent study has unlocked new insights into their sophisticated communication methods, revealing how orangutans use vocalisations and gestures to convey emotions and information (Erb et al., 2024). The study, conducted by a team of researchers from several institutions, employed machine learning algorithms to analyse vocal recordings of orangutans in the wild.

Key Findings

  • Diverse Vocalisations: Researchers identified over 200 distinct sounds used by orangutans, ranging from long-distance calls to subtle grunts and whistles. These vocalisations serve various purposes, including warnings of danger, expressions of joy, and coordination of group activities.
  • Gesture Communication: In addition to vocal sounds, orangutans use a rich tapestry of gestures to communicate, such as arm waves and facial expressions. These gestures are often used in social interactions, highlighting their rich emotional intelligence and social complexity

Implications

Understanding these communication patterns not only provides a window into the cognitive abilities of orangutans but also underscores the need for conservation strategies that consider their social dynamics. Protecting their habitats allows orangutans to continue engaging in these complex social behaviours, essential for their survival and well-being.

Tool-Wielding Innovators: The Ingenious Minds of Orangutans

Recently, researchers were given insight into how orangutans showcase their remarkable intelligence through the use of tools. A study detailed the innovative ways these apes utilise objects in their environment, demonstrating a level of cognitive sophistication that rivals even our closest relatives, the chimpanzees (Motes-Rodrigo et al., 2022). This research, led by Alba Motes-Rodrigo and her team, observed wild orangutans across several regions in Sumatra.

Key Findings

  • Tool Usage: The study documented instances where orangutans used sticks to extract insects from tree bark and employed leaves as makeshift umbrellas during tropical downpours. This behaviour reflects their problem-solving skills and adaptability to environmental challenges.
  • Cultural Transmission: Researchers noted that tool use varied across different orangutan communities, suggesting that these skills are passed down through generations, much like cultural traditions in human societies.

Implications

These findings highlight the orangutans’ ability to innovate and adapt, underscoring the importance of preserving their habitats to allow for such natural behaviours. By understanding their tool use, conservationists can develop strategies that cater to their cognitive needs, ensuring that these intelligent beings continue to thrive in their natural environments.

Using Healing Jungle Herbs: Orangutans and Self-Medication

In an extraordinary display of natural wisdom, orangutans have been seen in the wild tending to their own painful wounds. A groundbreaking study revealed that orangutans in the wild use plants with medicinal properties to alleviate pain and discomfort (Laumer et al., 2024). This research, led by Isabelle B. Laumer and her colleagues at the University of Zurich, involved detailed observation and analysis of orangutan behaviour in their natural habitat.

Key Findings

Medicinal Plants: The study found that orangutans use various forest plants known to humans for their anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. They were observed chewing leaves and applying them to their skin to treat muscle and joint pain, showcasing a sophisticated understanding of the medicinal properties of their environment.

Behavioural Evidence: By closely monitoring orangutan behaviour, researchers documented over 20 instances of self-medication, providing compelling evidence of their ability to diagnose and treat their own health issues.

Implications

This remarkable discovery highlights the depth of orangutans’ ecological knowledge and underscores the importance of preserving their natural habitats. By protecting these environments, we not only safeguard the orangutans’ ability to care for themselves, but also maintain the biodiversity that supports such important medicinal plant life. Understanding this behaviour offers valuable insights into the evolution of self-care and the potential for discovering new medicinal compounds that could benefit human health as well.

Hilarious Hijinks: Great Apes and Playful Teasing

Recent research has shown that playful teasing isn’t limited to human babies. Scientists hypothesised that because language isn’t necessary for teasing, this behaviour might also exist in non-human animals. Indeed, cognitive biologists and primatologists have observed playful teasing in four great ape species. Like human humour, ape teasing involves provocation, persistence, and unexpected playful elements. The fact that all four great ape species exhibit this behaviour suggests that the origins of humour may have evolved in our shared ancestors at least 13 million years ago.

Key Findings

  • Play Behaviour: Orangutans were observed engaging in various playful activities, including mock wrestling, swinging contests, and teasing games. These behaviours are crucial for social bonding and development, helping young orangutans learn social cues and build relationships.
  • Emotional Intelligence: The study found that playfulness is linked to emotional intelligence, as orangutans display empathy and care in their interactions, often comforting one another during moments of distress.

Implications

Recognising the playful nature of orangutans highlights the importance of preserving their social groups and habitats. By understanding their social dynamics, conservationists can develop empathetic strategies that honour their complex social structures, ensuring the continued survival of these remarkable beings in the wild.

Family Bonds: The Deep Connections in Orangutan Communities

Orangutans, just like us spend many years nursing and nurturing their young before they are ready to fly solo. So it’s therefore no surprise that the bond between orangutan mothers and her baby is so profoundly powerful. A recent study by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology observed orangutan families across various habitats in Borneo and revealed the intricacies of their connections.

Key Findings

  • Long-Term Parenting: Orangutan mothers were found to invest up to eight years in raising their young, teaching them essential survival skills and knowledge about their environment. This extended parenting period is crucial for the development of independence and competence in young orangutans.
  • Social Learning: The study also revealed that young orangutans learn from their mothers through observation and imitation, acquiring skills such as foraging, nest building, and navigation of the forest canopy.

Implications

Understanding the family bonds and social learning in orangutan communities highlights the urgent need to protect their habitats, ensuring that these family structures remain intact. By safeguarding their environments, we preserve the social dynamics that are critical to their well-being and survival, allowing future generations of orangutans to flourish.

Unmasking the Greenwash: The Truth Behind ‘Sustainable’ Palm Oil

The palm oil industry frequently markets itself as “sustainable,” yet reports by industry watchdogs like the World Health Organisation, Greenpeace, Environmental Investigation Agency and researchers reveals that the RSPO is nothing more than an industry sponsored greenwashing body.

Key Findings

  • Deforestation: The study highlights how palm oil plantations contribute significantly to deforestation in regions such as Indonesia and Malaysia, leading to the loss of critical orangutan habitats. Despite certifications like the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), these practices persist, often bypassing genuine sustainability criteria.
  • Impact on Indigenous Communities: In addition to environmental destruction, the expansion of palm oil plantations displaces indigenous communities, disrupting traditional ways of life and contributing to social unrest.

Implications

Exposing the greenwashing tactics of the palm oil industry is crucial for advocating genuine conservation solutions that prioritise orangutans and their ecosystems. By holding the industry accountable, we can work towards strategies that genuinely reflect the needs of these remarkable creatures and the environments they inhabit.

Take Action: Stand with Orangutans and Protect Their Future

Boycott Palm Oil and Meat Products

One of the most effective ways to support orangutans and their lush forest eden is to boycott products containing palm oil and meat. By choosing plant-based and palm oil free alternatives, you can help reduce the demand for these industries, contributing to the preservation of rainforests and protection of rare endangered animals. Learn which brands to boycott and brands to buy on the Palm Oil Detectives website.

Support Indigenous Rights

Empowering indigenous communities for self-determination is critical to protect ecosystems and animals. Organisations like WAHLI and World Rainforest Movement support indigenous rights and grassroots collective action against palm oil and timber corruption.

Raise Awareness on Social Media

Join the movement on social media by sharing posts and information about the plight of orangutans. Use hashtags like #Boycottpalmoil and #Boycott4Wildlife to spread awareness and encourage others to take action.

Be a Supermarket Sleuth

The next time you’re shopping, take a closer look at product labels to identify those containing palm oil. Share your a photo of what you discover on social media and call out brands engaging in greenwashing, using the hashtags.

Conclusion

On International Orangutan Day, we celebrate the remarkable lives of orangutans and commit to protecting their future. By understanding their unique characteristics, exposing the myths of the palm oil industry, and taking action to preserve their habitats, we can ensure a brighter future for these magnificent creatures and the ecosystems they inhabit.

References

Here are some other ways you can help by using your wallet as a weapon and joining the

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Palm Oil Detectives is 100% self-funded

Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.

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Dorias Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus dorianus
Giant Ground Pangolin Manis gigantea
Borneo Pygmy Elephant Elephas maximus borneensis
Bornean Peacock-pheasant Polyplectron schleiermacheri

Palm Oil Detectives is 100% self-funded

Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.

Say thanks on Ko-Fi
Dorias Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus dorianus
Giant Ground Pangolin Manis gigantea
Borneo Pygmy Elephant Elephas maximus borneensis
Bornean Peacock-pheasant Polyplectron schleiermacheri

African Golden Cat Caracal aurata

African Golden Cat Caracal aurata

Vulnerable

Extant (resident)

Angola; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Côte d’Ivoire; Equatorial Guinea; Gabon; Ghana; Guinea; Liberia; Nigeria; Sierra Leone; Uganda

Presence Uncertain

Benin; Burundi; Gambia; Guinea-Bissau; Kenya; Rwanda; Senegal; Sudan; Togo

The African golden cat’s striking coat varies from radiant red to elegant gray. They are a symbol of wild grace in the African jungle. This feline enchants a cacophony of sounds, from gentle meows to assertive growls. They are classified as Vulnerable and their population is expected to reduce by 30% as a direct result of palm oil deforestation in their forest home (IUCN Red List). Fight to protect these magnificent animals and their home every day! and in the supermarket!

The African Golden Cat’s striking coat varies from radiant red to elegant grey. They’re a symbol of wild grace in and are now due to and hunting. Help them and @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-753

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African Golden Cats make a cacophony of cat-like meows and assertive growls. Elusive and mysterious- they are now due to and other threats. Fight for them and via @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-753

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Appearance & Behaviour

They are often referred to as “the leopard’s brother,” a testament to their shared habitat and peculiar habit of trailing behind leopards.

African golden cats, the enigmatic denizens of the African jungle and the only members of the Profelis genus, share a close kinship with servals and caracals. These feline marvels exhibit a remarkable adaptability in captivity, undergoing a dramatic transformation in their fur colour, shifting from a vibrant red to a more subdued gray within approximately four months. Primarily terrestrial hunters, these agile climbers prefer the ground for their predatory pursuits, embodying a perfect blend of stealth and strength. The African golden cat is not just visually stunning but also vocally diverse, capable of producing an array of wild cat sounds, ranging from the familiar meow to the intimidating growl and hiss. They even engage in a unique gurgling communication, a sound specifically reserved for the proximity of their feline counterparts, adding to their mysterious and captivating aura.

Leopard’s brother and Leopard’s prey

African Golden Cats often shadow and follow larger Leopards in the hope of obtaining remnant carrion left behind by the bigger cats. This has leant them the moniker of ‘Leopard’s brother‘. However despite these cats being predators themselves, they also fall prey to leopards, the only other felid in African moist forests.

Evidence of this predatory relationship has been found in Gabon’s Lopé National Park and the Ituri forest, where remains of African Golden Cats were discovered in leopard scats and a carcass killed by a leopard was found. This interaction highlights the complex dynamics within their ecosystem.

African Golden Cat Caracal aurata - Africa, close up of face #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
African Golden Cat Caracal aurata laying down- Africa #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
African Golden Cat Caracal aurata - Africa, close up of face #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
African Golden Cat Caracal aurata - Africa, close up of face #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
African Golden Cat Caracal aurata - Africa threats #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
African Golden Cat Caracal aurata - Africa #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
African Golden Cat Caracal aurata - Africa, close up of face #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife

Threats

Help the survival of these beautiful and rare small wild cats by boycotting products containing palm oil, which contributes to the destruction of their home.

  • Forest Loss in Golden Cat Habitats: Over the past 15 years, at least 6.5% of forests in countries where African golden cats live have been lost, greatly reducing their natural range. This loss is primarily due to deforestation and habitat fragmentation.
  • Agricultural Deforestation & Palm Oil Expansion: The expansion of palm oil plantations, mimicking the extensive habitat destruction seen in Southeast Asia, poses a major threat in Africa, particularly in West and Central Africa. This leads to significant loss of forest habitat, impacting the golden cat’s environment.
  • Impact of Roads and Settlements: The development of roads and settlements, which increased rapidly in the past 15 years, has led to a sharp decline in the populations of large and medium-sized mammals within 10–15 km of these areas. Over 64% of forest habitat in the Congo Basin is within 10 km of a road, resulting in higher hunting pressure and affecting golden cat populations.
  • Hunting: Although not a primary target, golden cats are often accidentally killed in wire-snares set for other animals. Areas with moderate to intense bushmeat hunting see significantly reduced golden cat populations.
  • Population Decline in Specific Regions: In Rio Muni, Equatorial Guinea, despite 78% being dense forest, golden cats were found in only 16% of the area. Their presence correlates with rugged terrains away from human disturbance.
  • Rapid Human Population Growth: The human population in golden cat range countries is growing rapidly, leading to increased pressure on their habitats. This growth is among the fastest globally, exacerbating threats to golden cats.
  • Mining and Infrastructure Development: The surge in mining activities and associated infrastructure development in Africa, including roads and railways, contributes to habitat destruction, human relocation into remote areas, and increased bushmeat hunting.

The exacerbation of these threats due to population growth, projected mining activities and forest clearance for oil palm plantations will likely cause further reduction in AOO for the Golden Cat and we therefore predict that the AOO will be reduced by at least a further 30% in the next 15 years, lending additional support to the species’ listing as Vulnerable under criterion A3c.

IUCN Red List
African Golden Cat Caracal aurata - Africa #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
African Golden Cat Caracal aurata - Africa threats #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
African Golden Cat Caracal aurata - Africa, close up of face #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife

Habitat

The African Golden Cat is unique to Africa, inhabiting primarily moist equatorial forests across a vast range from western Sierra Leone through central Africa to Kenya, with the Congo River distinguishing two subspecies. These adaptable felines are primarily found in lowland moist forests, but also inhabit areas along rivers in logged forests and in mountainous regions characterized by alpine moorland and bamboo forests. This showcases the unique adaptability of these cats to different forest environments.

Diet

The African Golden Cat are apex predators who primarily prey on rodents and squirrels, which constitute up to 70% of their diet, as revealed by studies of scats in Congo and the Central African Republic. Additionally, these cats hunt small and medium-sized duikers (a type of antelope), making up about a quarter to a third of their diet. They occasionally prey on larger mammals such as pygmy hippos and arboreal primates, pangolins and also birds. These dietary habits are consistent across various regions, including Uganda’s Bwindi National Park and the Ivory Coast’s Tai National Park.

Mating and breeding

The African golden cat’s breeding is shrouded in mystery, with limited observations suggesting potential monogamous pair bonding. Mothers typically birth 1-3 kittens after a 75-78 day gestation. Kittens, born blind, open their eyes within a week and start exploring at two weeks. Males reach sexual maturity at six months, and females at eleven months.

Support African Golden Cats by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the #BoycottPalmOil

Support the conservation of this species

This animal has no protections in place. Read about other forgotten species here. Create art to support this forgotten animal or raise awareness about them by sharing this post and using the #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.

Further Information

Embaka Community Programme for the African Golden Cat

Bahaa-el-din, L., Mills, D., Hunter, L. & Henschel, P. 2015. Caracal aurata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T18306A50663128. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T18306A50663128.en. Accessed on 28 December 2023.

African Golden Cat Wikipedia article https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_golden_cat

African Golden Cat Animalia.bio https://animalia.bio/african-golden-cat

African Golden Cat Caracal aurata - Africa threats #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
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How can I help the ?

Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags .

Join 3,176 other subscribers

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture

Global
South America
S.E. Asia
India
Africa
West Papua & PNG

Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing

Read more about RSPO greenwashing

Lying
Fake labels
Indigenous Land-grabbing
Human rights abuses
Deforestation
Human health hazards

A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

Read more
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Air Pollution and Health

Echoes of the Ancients: The Wisdom and Power of Elephants

World Elephant Day, celebrated on August 12th, honours the gentle and nurturing giants of Asia and Africa, who are revered for their deep spiritual wisdom, gentle strength, and nurturing natures. Over the past decade, their numbers have plummeted by 62% due to habitat encroachment for palm oil deforestation, other agriculture, infrastructure expansion, mining and the cruel for ivory. Without radical intervention, these magnificent beings could be near by the 2060s. Yet, do not despair because hope endures in the form of activism. Explore the extraordinary resilience and intelligence of pachyderms, and discover how you can help safeguard their future with consumer boycotts and supporting organisations fighting wildlife crime.

Celebrate every day 🐘💌🩶 are famous for their gentle intelligence and strength. They need your help! Learn about how you can fight for lives when you shop 💖✨ 🌴🚫#Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-8Jg

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World Elephant Day, celebrated on August 12th, honours one of Earth’s most magnificent creatures, the faithful, gentle and powerful elephant species of Asia and Africa. Over the past decade, the number of elephants has significantly dropped by 62% due to multiple threats, the main ones being deforestation for palm oil and meat and the illegal killing of elephants for the black market of wildlife trophies.

According to these grim figures, without radical intervention, many elephant species are likely to be close to extinction by the 2060’s. However, all is not lost for elephants and together we can fight for their survival. Read on to discover the many incredible demonstrations of elephant resilience, strength and intelligence, along with some concrete ways that you can fight for elephants.

Elephants: Majestic Icons of Culture and Mythology

Elephants have been revered and depicted in mythology, symbolism, and popular culture for millennia. They are admired for their strength, wisdom, and significant roles in various religious traditions. In Hinduism, elephant-headed deity Ganesha, symbolises wisdom and new beginnings. The elephant is also a revered symbol in Buddhism, particularly in Thailand, where the white elephant is considered sacred.

In African folklore, elephants are often depicted as wise and strong leaders. They symbolise strength, loyalty, and intelligence. In many cultures, elephants are also associated with royal power and majesty. For example, in the Kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin), the elephant was a symbol of the rulers’ strength and enduring legacy.

The Grim Reality: Threats Facing Elephants Today

Elephants are divided into three species with distinct subspecies, each facing severe threats:

African Savannah Elephant Loxodonta africana africana – Endangered

African Savannah Elephant Loxodonta africana africana – Endangered
African Savannah Elephant Loxodonta africana africana – Endangered

African Forest Elephant Loxodonta cyclotis – Critically Endangered

Asian Elephant Elephas maximus

Asian Elephant sub-species:

  • Sri Lankan Elephant (Elephas maximus maximus) – Endangered
  • Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) – Endangered
  • Sumatran Elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) – Critically Endangered
  • Borneo Elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis) – Endangered

Habitat Destruction: A Dire Threat

One of the most significant threats to elephants is habitat destruction. A study by the University of California, San Diego, revealed that more than 3 million square kilometres of the Asian elephant’s historic habitat have been lost in just three centuries (University of California – San Diego, 2023).

This loss is largely due to agricultural expansion, deforestation for commodities like palm oil, meat, and cocoa, and urban development. The reduction in suitable habitats leads to increased human-elephant conflicts as elephants encroach on human settlements in search of food and space.

Poaching and the Ivory Trade: A Deadly Combination

Poaching is another critical threat. It is estimated that 100 African elephants are killed each day for their ivory, primarily driven by demand in Asian markets. This relentless poaching not only reduces elephant populations but also disrupts their social structures and destabilises the ecosystem.

Elephants: Astonishing Intelligence and Forest Protectors

The reasons for protecting elephants are varied and include their ability to capture carbon and as giant seed dispersers, they are able to reinvigorate and protect landscapes for all other species.

Research from Lund University has shown that regions with abundant large herbivores, such as elephants, have more variable tree cover, benefiting biodiversity overall (Wang et al., 2023). Elephants play a crucial role in maintaining the health and diversity of their habitats by dispersing seeds and creating pathways for other species.

Elephants play a crucial role in mitigating climate change. A study by Saint Louis University found that if elephants become extinct, the rainforests of central and west Africa would lose a significant portion of their ability to capture atmospheric carbon, amplifying global warming. Elephants help maintain the diversity of tree species, promoting the growth of high carbon density trees which store more carbon from the atmosphere (Blake et al., 2023).

Let’s not forget that they deserve to exist in their own right, just as any other animal deserves to live. Elephants are intelligent, emotional and complex sentient beings, as countless recent research papers have shown.

Elephants Call Each Other By Names

A recent study by Colorado State University revealed that wild African elephants use name-like calls to address each other, a rare ability among nonhuman animals (Pardo et al., 2024). This finding suggests a high level of cognitive sophistication and social complexity in elephants.

Borneo pygmy elephants Elephas maximus borneensis playing together by the river
Borneo pygmy elephants Elephas maximus borneensis playing together and trumpeting by the river
Borneo pygmy elephants Elephas maximus borneensis enjoying a dunk in the river
Borneo pygmy elephants Elephas maximus borneensis
Borneo pygmy elephants Elephas maximus borneensis close-up of faces with mother and baby.

Puzzle Solvers in the Wild

A study conducted at the Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand documented wild Asian elephants solving puzzles to access food. This research demonstrated that elephants possess individual innovation and problem-solving abilities, with some elephants showing greater persistence and success in retrieving food from various compartments (Jacobson et al., 2023).

Sibling Support: The Importance of Older Sisters

Research published in the Journal of Animal Ecology found that young Asian elephants benefit significantly from having older siblings, especially sisters. Those with older sisters had higher survival rates and reproduced earlier, highlighting the importance of family dynamics in elephant populations (Berger et al., 2021).

Cooperation and Competition Among Giants

A study in PLOS Biology revealed that Asian elephants are keen to cooperate with friends but will compete aggressively when resources are scarce. This behaviour sheds light on the complex social strategies elephants use to balance cooperation and competition (Li et al., 2021).

Wise Old Elephants Keep the Young Calm

Research from the University of Exeter suggests that male elephants are more aggressive when fewer older males are present. The study, conducted in Botswana, found that older bulls play a key role in keeping younger males calm, reducing the risk of aggression towards non-elephant targets such as vehicles and livestock. The removal of old male elephants, often targeted by trophy hunting, can lead to increased human-wildlife conflict, highlighting the importance of preserving these wise old giants. (Allen et al., 2021).

Winnie Cheche: Wildlife and Environmental Advocate in Her Own Words

Large Tuskers Contribute to Tree Diversity

Research from Lund University has shown that regions with abundant large herbivores, such as elephants, have more variable tree cover, which benefits biodiversity overall. The study highlighted the crucial role of megafauna in maintaining species-rich and resilient ecosystems (Wang et al., 2023).

Taking Action: How You Can Help Save Elephants

Protecting elephants involves collective efforts and practical actions. Here are some steps you can take to make a difference:

1. Support Indigenous-Led Conservation and Agroecology

Advocate for animal conservation that is led by indigenous communities with indigenous knowledge firmly at its heart. Agroecology, integrates ecological principles and traditional knowledge into agricultural practices and is a viable alternative to destructive industrial monocultures. In contrast, agroecology benefits wildlife, forests and human communities.

2. Boycott Commodities Causing Deforestation

Avoid buying products linked to deforestation, such as palm oil, meat and gold. By adopting a largely meat-free and palm oil free diet, or even better being vegan you are making a powerful ethical statement in support of elephants. Boycotting these commodities helps reduce the demand that drives habitat destruction and endangers elephants.

3. Support Organisations Fighting Illegal Wildlife Trade

Support organisations like TRAFFIC and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) that work to stop illegal poaching and the ivory trade. Raising awareness and advocating for stronger laws and enforcement is crucial.

4. Supermarket Sleuthing and Calling Out Greenwashing On Social Media

Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the #BoycottPalmOil and #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil-free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil-free.

5. Be a Part of the Movement

Share posts from the Palm Oil Detectives website to your own network on Twitter, Mastodon, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube using the hashtags and .

6. Raise Your Hands and Trunks for Captive Elephants

All around the world, elephants are captured and forced to ‘entertain’ people in cruel, isolated and unhealthy conditions. DO NOT accept these atrocities and blatant animal cruelty, instead you should boycott zoos (which are at their essence glorified prisons for wild animals), sign petitions and call out ongoing abuse of captive elephants online.

Conclusion

Elephants are facing unprecedented human-related threats. On World Elephant Day and also every day, we can join together and take action for these magnificent creatures so that they survive now and always generations to come. By advocating for indigenous-led conservation, supporting agroecology, combating illegal poaching, and spreading awareness, we can make a significant impact. Together, we can create a safer world for elephants and preserve the rich biodiversity of our planet.

References

ENDS

Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture

Global
South America
S.E. Asia
India
Africa
West Papua & PNG

Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing

Read more about RSPO greenwashing

Lying
Fake labels
Indigenous Land-grabbing
Human rights abuses
Deforestation
Human health hazards

A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

Read more
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Air Pollution and Health

Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags .

Join 3,176 other subscribers

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

“Sustainable” Palm Oil No Different in Land Conflicts

New research published in the journal Political Geography reveals that there is no significant difference between RSPO-certified “sustainable” palm oil companies and non-certified ones when it comes to handling land conflicts with rural communities in Indonesia. The study, titled “Corporate Contentious Politics: Palm Oil Companies and Land Conflicts in Indonesia,” highlights how both types of companies employ contentious tactics to deal with land disputes, challenging the perceived benefits of RSPO certification.

New 🧐 reveals “sustainable” isn’t any better for workers. RSPO-certified and non-certified co’s in use violence and intimidation for . Take action and ✊ #humanrights🌴🚫 @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-8IK

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Regardless of RSPO “sustainable” or not, companies don’t respect of farmers, finds a landmark into police/corporate collusion using to suppress protest. @palmoildetect @ward_berenschot https://wp.me/pcFhgU-8IK

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Berenschot, W., Dhiaulhaq, A., Hospes, O., Afrizal, & Pranajaya, D. (2024). Corporate contentious politics: Palm oil companies and land conflicts in Indonesia. Political Geography, 114, 103166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2024.103166

Our study of trajectories of 150 such conflicts identifies a big gap between the policies that companies (and RSPO) publicly announce, and their on-the-ground practices. Many companies do not live up to their stated intent of respecting land rights and resolving grievances. Instead, companies implement various measures to limit the capacity of rural Indonesians to voice their grievances and realize their claims. This involves violent suppression of protests. This suppression is made possible by extensive collusion between company managers and local authorities and police officials – ensuring that local governments side with companies against villagers. The result is that demonstrations often end violently, and that the arrest and criminalization of protest leaders is common, effectively undermining the capacity of communities to protest. Despite corporate policies and pious public statements, we found that companies are actually quite hesitant to come to an agreement with communities, and tend to avoid or stall mediation efforts.

Lead author, Dr Ward Berenschot

Key findings

  • Systematic Strategies: The research documents 150 conflicts between palm oil companies and rural communities in four Indonesian provinces. It highlights how companies engage in conscious and strategic efforts to realise their claims to land, employing tactics such as co-opting local leaders, cultivating connections with local authorities, suppressing community protests, and criminalising protest leaders.
  • Contentious Repertoire: Companies have been found to adopt a repertoire of contentious tactics, including providing gifts and inducements to local leaders, offering bribes to government officials and police, and using security personnel and hired goons to intimidate and suppress protests.
  • Limited Legal Recourse for Communities: The study highlights the challenges faced by rural communities in Indonesia, where the lack of formal land titles and the curtailing of land rights by the state create a vulnerable position for locals. This environment allows palm oil companies to exploit informal networks and circumvent regulatory measures.
  • RSPO Membership Impact: Surprisingly, the study found no significant differences in conflict behaviours between companies that are members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and those that are not. This suggests that the RSPO’s code of conduct has limited influence on reducing contentious tactics by its member companies.
New Research Reveals: "Sustainable" Palm Oil No Different in Land Conflicts. Berenschot, W., Dhiaulhaq, A., Hospes, O., Afrizal, & Pranajaya, D. (2024). Corporate contentious politics: Palm oil companies and land conflicts in Indonesia. Political Geography, 114, 103166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2024.103166
New Research Reveals: "Sustainable" Palm Oil No Different in Land Conflicts. Berenschot, W., Dhiaulhaq, A., Hospes, O., Afrizal, & Pranajaya, D. (2024). Corporate contentious politics: Palm oil companies and land conflicts in Indonesia. Political Geography, 114, 103166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2024.103166
New Research Reveals: "Sustainable" Palm Oil No Different in Land Conflicts. Berenschot, W., Dhiaulhaq, A., Hospes, O., Afrizal, & Pranajaya, D. (2024). Corporate contentious politics: Palm oil companies and land conflicts in Indonesia. Political Geography, 114, 103166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2024.103166
New Research Reveals: "Sustainable" Palm Oil No Different in Land Conflicts. Berenschot, W., Dhiaulhaq, A., Hospes, O., Afrizal, & Pranajaya, D. (2024). Corporate contentious politics: Palm oil companies and land conflicts in Indonesia. Political Geography, 114, 103166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2024.103166
New Research Reveals: "Sustainable" Palm Oil No Different in Land Conflicts. Berenschot, W., Dhiaulhaq, A., Hospes, O., Afrizal, & Pranajaya, D. (2024). Corporate contentious politics: Palm oil companies and land conflicts in Indonesia. Political Geography, 114, 103166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2024.103166
New Research Reveals: "Sustainable" Palm Oil No Different in Land Conflicts. Berenschot, W., Dhiaulhaq, A., Hospes, O., Afrizal, & Pranajaya, D. (2024). Corporate contentious politics: Palm oil companies and land conflicts in Indonesia. Political Geography, 114, 103166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2024.103166

Research Implications

The authors, Ward Berenschot, Ahmad Dhiaulhaq, Otto Hospes, Afrizal, and Daniel Pranajaya, call for more comparative research on corporate contentious politics, particularly in regions with informalised state institutions. They argue that a contentious politics perspective provides valuable insights into the often-secretive tactics of corporations in land conflicts, challenging the benign image projected by CSR policies.

Conclusion

This groundbreaking research reveals the dual-faced nature of palm oil companies’ operations in Indonesia. While these companies publicly pledge to uphold high sustainability standards, their on-the-ground tactics often contradict these commitments, exacerbating land conflicts and community grievances. The study urges policymakers, stakeholders, and researchers to scrutinise corporate behaviour more closely and advocate for stronger regulatory frameworks to protect vulnerable communities.

Berenschot, W., Dhiaulhaq, A., Hospes, O., Afrizal, & Pranajaya, D. (2024). Corporate contentious politics: Palm oil companies and land conflicts in Indonesia. Political Geography, 114, 103166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2024.103166
Berenschot, W., Dhiaulhaq, A., Hospes, O., Afrizal, & Pranajaya, D. (2024). Corporate contentious politics: Palm oil companies and land conflicts in Indonesia. Political Geography, 114, 103166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2024.103166

Berenschot, W., Dhiaulhaq, A., Hospes, O., Afrizal, & Pranajaya, D. (2024). Corporate contentious politics: Palm oil companies and land conflicts in Indonesia. Political Geography, 114, 103166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2024.103166

ENDS

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Philippine tarsier Carlito syrichta

Philippine tarsier Carlito syrichta

Near Threatened

Extant (resident)

Philippines


The Philippine #tarsier, Carlito syrichta, epitomises nocturnal secrecy, leading a mostly concealed life in the dense recesses of impenetrable bushes and forests of the . They boast large and mesmerising eyes that aid with night vision. These tiny creatures have a distinct appearance and measuring around 8 to 16 cm. Their fur is soft and comes in various shades, often blending with their natural surroundings.

Known for their incredible leaping abilities, tarsiers are agile hunters, relying on their keen sense of hearing to locate prey. Despite their small size, they play a vital role in maintaining the ecological balance in their habitat. They are now ‘Near Threatened’ due to multiple human-related threats including palm oil deforestation and the pet trade. Help them to survive #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife

Known for their incredible leaping abilities and huge eyes, Philippine tarsiers are agile hunters. They face multiple threats including . Help them every time you shop! @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-74s

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Kooky Philippine epitomise nocturnal secrecy and live in the dark of forests. Their main threats are the trade and . Help them by using your wallet as a weapon and @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-74s

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Philippine tarsier Carlito syrichta in a tree #Boycott4Wildlife
Philippine tarsier Carlito syrichta in a tree #Boycott4Wildlife
Philippine tarsier Carlito syrichta peering out of a tree #Boycott4Wildlife
Philippine tarsier Carlito syrichta peering out of a tree #Boycott4Wildlife
Philippine tarsier Carlito syrichta peering out of a tree #Boycott4Wildlife
Philippine tarsier Carlito syrichta peering out of a tree #Boycott4Wildlife

Habitat

Endemic to the Philippines, the Philippine tarsier lives in lush tropical forests. These tiny and fragile looking primates are particularly abundant in specific regions such as Bohol, Leyte, Leyte, and Mindanao. Their habitat preference is dense vegetation, where they can navigate and forage efficiently in the tree canopies. Unfortunately, the expansion of multiple industries in the Philippines threatens their existence and they are now classified as ‘Near Threatened’.

Philippine tarsier Carlito syrichta threats #Boycott4Wildlife
Philippine tarsier Carlito syrichta threats #Boycott4Wildlife
Philippine tarsier Carlito syrichta peering out of a tree #Boycott4Wildlife

Threats

  • Habitat Loss: Rapid deforestation and conversion of forests into agricultural land.
  • Illegal Pet Trade: Despite being protected by law, the Philippine tarsier faces the threat of capture for the exotic pet trade.
  • Tourism Impact: Unregulated tourism can disturb their natural habitats and stress the tarsiers.

Diet

These small primates are insectivores, primarily feeding on a variety of insects, including crickets, beetles, and caterpillars. They are one of the only species whose eyes weigh more than their brains. They are equipped with exceptional night vision and sensitive ears. Philippine Tarsiers skilfully navigate the dense vegetation of tropical forests to hunt for their prey.

Mating and breeding

Communication is a complex affair, involving audible calls, ultrasonic vocalisations, and scent markings. Tarsiers vocalise with a distinctive loud call, a sweet, bird-like twill, and ultrasound frequencies for distress and mating communication.

The gestation period lasts about six months, with a mating season from April to May, and females give birth to a single offspring per gestation. These tiny infants, born with eyes wide open, weigh only 25 grams. They are carried by their mothers until they are capable of independent movement. The close bond between mother and offspring is crucial for the survival of the species. Tarsiers that are captured for the pet trade rarely survive and reproduce, so it is critical that they remain living and reproducing in the wild. Only a month after being born, babies exhibit great agility and are able to leap from this point onwards.

Support the Philippine tarsier by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the

Support the conservation of this species

This animal has no protections in place. Read about other forgotten species here. Create art to support this forgotten animal or raise awareness about them by sharing this post and using the #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.

Further Information

Shekelle, M. 2020. Carlito syrichta. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T21492A17978520. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T21492A17978520.en. Accessed on 27 December 2023.

Philippine Tarsier Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_tarsier

Philippine Tarsier Animalia.bio https://animalia.bio/philippine-tarsier

Philippine tarsier Carlito syrichta threats #Boycott4Wildlife
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Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags .

Join 3,176 other subscribers

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture

Global
South America
S.E. Asia
India
Africa
West Papua & PNG

Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing

Read more about RSPO greenwashing

Lying
Fake labels
Indigenous Land-grabbing
Human rights abuses
Deforestation
Human health hazards

A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

Read more
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Deforestation and Extinction
WHO Bulletin on Palm Oil: Air Pollution and Health