Male superb-bird’s-of-paradise are the dramatic actors of #NewGuinea’s rainforest. They use their lush, multicoloured plumage to change shape in an elaborate dancing courtship display that typically goes on for many hours for the sole benefit of a female #bird. At the end of the dancing ritual, the female will get to choose her mate between 15-20 male #birds. These magnificent birds are struggling to survive, hemmed in on all sides by #hunting, #palmoil, gold mining and timber #deforestation throughout their range. Help their survival every time you shop and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife in the supermarket!
Although this animal was previously recorded on IUCN Red List as being ‘Least Concern’ 100,000’s of hectares of rainforest in Papua have since disappeared for palm oil, soy and meat – making this rating no longer relevant. These birds are most likely going to be upgraded to ‘vulnerable’ or ‘endangered’ due to massive deforestation throughout their range.
These songbirds are approximately 26 cm long and are dimorphic. Males possess a stunning iridescent green crown, blue-green breast cover and a velvety, iridescent black cape covering their backs. This plumage is used primarily for elaborate and intricate mating displays.
Female Vogelkop Superb Birds of Paradise have russet coloured feathers with brownish buff coloured breast. Juvenile birds of both sexes appear like mature females with earthy russet coloured feathers.
Threats
The superb-bird-of-paradise’s main threat is forest loss which has increased enormously over the past decade.
Superb bird-of-paradise are distributed throughout rainforests and forest edges of Papua New Guinea and West Papua. They are also found throughout the steep mountain ranges of New Guinea. Their range coincides with forest either in the process of being destroyed or earmarked for destruction for palm oil, mining and timber deforestation.
Diet
The superb bird-of-paradise is omnivorous and has been known to eat fruits, insects and larger animals such as reptiles, frogs and small birds. They forage throughout the tree canopy and the forest floor for insects and other foods depending on seasonal availability. Males of this species are territorial and will defend an area of around 1.2ha for food and mating rights.
Mating and breeding
The competition between males for mating rights with females is fierce and aggressive. The superb bird-of-paradise has one of the most intricate and elaborate courtship displays of any animal in the world.
The first part of the courtship display involves simple movements. This is followed by the ‘high intensity display’ where the male scrubs the dirt and prepares the dancefloor for his dancing ritual. After this, he calls to the female with a loud call. The curious female approaches and watches. He spirals and furls out his feathers into a riotous display and black and bright blue feathers into a semi-circular shield shape. He dances in front of the female and snaps his tail feathers, similar to clicking one’s fingers.
The dancing courtship display of males to females can take many hours each day.
The female will typically reject 15-20 suitors before consenting to mate. The males will usually mate with more than one female.
Females will nest at the top of tree canopies using soft leaves and produce between 1-3 eggs in a clutch. These eggs take 16-22 days for incubation and following hatching, chicks will become indepedent after 16-30 days.
Female superb-bird’s-of-paradise reach sexual maturity two years before the males, the latter requiring longer to develop his beautiful feathers for courtship.
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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
Angola; Benin; Cameroon; Chad; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Côte d’Ivoire; Equatorial Guinea; Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Liberia; Mali; Mauritania; Niger; Nigeria; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Togo
In the folklore of West Africa, there’s a fascinating character called Maame Water, believed to be a goddess of the sea, she symbolises wealth and beauty. Maame Water is none other than the African Manatee!
The Serer people of Senegal, the Gambia, and Mauritania hold the African Manatee in high regard, considering them sacred and a guardian of the secrets of the future according to their creation myth. This precious species is vulnerable from palm oil deforestation, hunting and pollution. They perform an essential service to mangrove ecosystems by keeping them healthy. Help them survive and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop!
African Manatees 🐋💙 have been a fixture in #African myths for millennia 🇨🇩🇨🇲🇬🇭🇱🇷 Now they a threatened by #palmoil 🌴🩸🔥 #hunting, #cocoa and the pet trade. Help them every time you shop and #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/10/08/african-manatee-trichechus-senegalensis/
African manatees are usually content with their own company, but they occasionally join forces with a few fellow manatees to rest together. They’re versatile creatures, active during both day and night, exploring their watery world. When the sun is high, you might spot them resting in the shallows, hidden away among mangrove roots or floating plants. And don’t be fooled by their peaceful appearance—they’re just avoiding the hustle and bustle of human activity.
African manatees enjoy their solitude but occasionally gather in small groups to rest together. They have a knack for finding quiet spots in shallow water, like mangrove roots or under floating plants, to take a break. You’ll hardly notice them gliding through the water as they move with grace and gentleness. Depending on the region, their activity patterns may vary, with some being active both during the day and night.
Fast Facts
African manatees resemble the American manatees but have distinctive white markings on their abdomens.
African manatees have large front flippers used for paddling and bringing food to their mouths.
They rely on strong molars to chew vegetation, their primary food source.
When born, manatees have small incisors that are eventually lost, and new molars grow in their place.
African manatees consume 4 to 9 percent of their body weight in wet vegetation daily.
It is crucial to protect these amazing beings and their habitats. One way you can make a difference is by boycotting palm oil, as its production often leads to deforestation and the destruction of important manatee habitats. By using your wallet as a weapon and opting for palm oil-free products, you can help them!
Threats
African Manatees face several major threats:
Deforestation for palm oil, cocoa and other commodities: pesticide run-off from these industries into rivers is devastating to populations.
Illegal poaching: for parts (meat, oil, bones, skin)
Zoo and pet trade: Capture and sale to zoos, aquariums, and as pets
Infrastructure growth: Increased damming and hydroelectric power use
Genetic isolation of populations
Accidents with turbines in dams: along with fishing nets
Climate change and extreme weather incidents: droughts, tidal changes.
Starvation during the dry season in the Niger River
Habitat
African manatees thrive in a variety of habitats across West and Central Africa. They can be found in rivers, estuaries, lagoons, coastal bays, lakes, and reservoirs. These gentle creatures prefer calm waters with easy access to food and freshwater.
Diet
These herbivorous beauties have a diverse palate. They munch on a variety of aquatic plants, grasses, and emergent vegetation. From Vossia to Cyperus papyrus, they savor the flavors of their leafy feasts. In certain areas, they might even surprise you by snacking on small fish or delectable mollusks. These manatees definitely know how to enjoy a well-rounded meal!
Mating and breeding
When it comes to family, African manatees keep it small and sweet. Mothers and calves form a strong bond, sticking together as a unit. While we don’t know all the details about their love lives, we have observed mating herds in various African countries. The little ones stay close to their moms for quite some time, but we’re still learning about their growth and development.
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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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
Northern Muriquis (AKA Woolly Spider Monkeys) have a striking light brown and golden fur and are known for their rattling vocalisations. They live in large communities and act as critical seed dispersers in the Atlantic forest. There are fewer than 800 individuals left alive and they are critically endangered. Their main threats are palm oil,meat and soy deforestation in Brazil, along with illegal hunting. Help them every time you shop and be #vegan, #Boycottpalmoil and #Boycott4Wildlife
Muriquis are the largest species of New World monkeys coated in a striking gold and light brown fur. They use their long prehensile tails and agile arms to travel with speed and grace through the rainforest canopy. They are rapidly disappearing from our world, mainly because of palm oil, meat and soy deforestation.
Appearance & Behaviour
Their long prehensile tails and willowy long arms assist with swinging through the tree tops. Yet Northern Muriqui also spend a fair amount of time socialising, playing, embracing each other, feeding and resting on the ground. They are most active during daylight hours.
Highly social, northern muriquis live in large groups of 48-81 individuals made up of young infants, juveniles and adults of both sexes.
Smaller sub-groups will rest and feed separately with males spending time together in all-male groups and mothers with infants spending time away from other females to nurse and rest with infants, along with occasionally socialising with other females.
They use distinct vocalisations for long and short distance communications.
Threats
Northern muriquis have very low genetic diversity meaning that their population may not be sustainable. There are thought to be fewer than <855 individuals left. They face a range of anthropogenic threats, including:
Hunting and human persecution: seen as a food source in times of scarcity and hunger for local people.
This species survives in much reduced and isolated populations – none of which alone are believed to be viable in the long term—none exceed 500 individuals, and the largest known is that in the RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala (about 230 individuals).
IUCN RED LIST
Habitat
These large New World monkeys are found in the Atlantic Forest region of the Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, and Bahia. They thrive in tropical forests.
Diet
Northern muriquis are herbivores with their fruit, leaves, flowers, vine and seed diet being critically important for the dispersal of seeds in their ecosystem, helping the forest to grow.
Mating and breeding
Female and male northern muriquis are polygynandrous (in other words promiscuous). Both males and females have multiple partners during mating season.
Mating takes place during the period of October to April with infants between May to October. After a gestation period of 7 months, the mother will give birth to one infant and care for this offspring for up to 2 years. Females reach sexual maturity aged 5-11 years old and males at 4-8 years old.
Support Northern Muriquis by going vegan and boycotting palm oil and meat 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.
Further Information
Mendes, S.L., de Oliveira, M.M., Mittermeier, R.A. & Rylands, A.B. 2008. Brachyteles hypoxanthus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T2994A9529636. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T2994A9529636.en. Accessed on 12 November 2022.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
In an effort to combat #India’s edible oil shortage, the Indian government has heavily promoted the cultivation of exotic palm oil trees. This is a decision mired in controversy due to the associated severe ecological repercussions witnessed in other nations. The thirst for high rainfall, crucial for palm oil’s yield, threatens India’s already dwindling groundwater reserves. Notably, proposals to introduce palm oil in the ecologically sensitive regions of Assam and the North East have sparked significant backlash. Writer Bharat Dogra advocates for a shift in focus, suggesting that the solution may lie in harnessing the potential of indigenous trees capable of producing oilseeds for edible oil.
Article originally published in Countercurrents on 18th June, 2023. Written by Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener of the campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food, Man over Machine and Planet in Peril.
Recent government policy has resorted to huge promotion of exotic palm oil trees to end edible oil shortage in India. However, this is associated with highly disruptive ecological costs, as has been seen from the experience of several countries.
The kind of high rainfall conditions needed for its high yield are not readily available in India and this will lead to heavy extraction of already scarce groundwater. Plans for large-scale introduction of palm oil in India’s ecologically fragile regions of Assam and the North East have already faced much criticism.
Palm oil plantations at the foothills of Eastern Ghats near Srungavarapukota in Vizianagaram district by Adityamadhav83 on Wikipedia
A better option would be to explore the potential of several indigenous trees which yield oilseeds from which edible oil can be obtained.
There are several such indigenous trees which can provide edible oils, such as mahua, karanj, sal, kokum, kusum etc. (not to mention coconut, which is already well established as a supplier of edible oil). Some of these trees are known and some are not so well-known and need to be explored further. The edible oil contained from some of these trees is known to be very good for nutrition and to be rich in poly unsaturated fats, important for nutrition.
Availability of edible oils can increase significantly even from already existing trees. However once this importance is realised and conscious efforts are made to increase these trees, then edible oil availability for domestic use ( particularly in tribal community areas) as well as for export markets for niche uses, including medicinal value, can increase even more significantly.
It will be a mistake to grow these trees as plantation crops. This will be harmful for biodiversity, environment and food security. It will be much better for all families in a tribal community to grow two additional such trees each on their land. In this way about two to four hundred additional oilseed trees can grow in each village, and about 200,000 villages in India are likely to be suitable for growing these trees.
Bharat Dogra
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)
As almost all of these trees have multiple uses for their fruits, flowers, seeds, leaves etc., benefits for these farmers and villagers will be many. Mahua tree can provide very nutritious and filling food which is all the more useful in lean season and drought years, its fodder is also very useful while at the same time the use of its flower as an intoxicant should be minimised.
Cooperatives of farmers and villagers to collect tree oilseeds can be set up to ensure a fair price. However instead of selling these to big processors, value addition can be obtained by local processing.
Local processing units in all these villages should be set up, particularly to extract oil but also to process other produce of these trees. This local processing will generate more livelihoods, while the residue (after oil extraction) will provide nutritive feed for animals and organic fertiliser for farms.
The potential for this is the highest in tribal communities, but certainly potential exists in other villages also for various communities.
Isn’t it irrational that the authorities are ignoring this potential but instead going in for the ecologically disruptive option of palm oil plantation?
There are also trees like neem whose oil may not be used for cooking but has important medicinal uses. Then there are other trees which provide non-edible oil with several uses such as for soap making and can be used for cottage scale units of soap or other products of everyday use.
In addition there is much potential for better protection and improvement of coconut trees which have so many different uses apart from providing edible oils.
There is a strong case for giving much more attention to all indigenous trees which provide edible oils and for providing many more sustainable livelihoods on the basis of their various products including oilseeds, with the added caution that these indigenous trees should be grown not as big monoculture plantations but instead in their usual natural way co-existing with all biodiversity.
Article originally published in Countercurrents on 18th June, 2023. Written by Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener of the campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food, Man over Machine and Planet in Peril.
ENDS
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
The yellow-casqued hornbill is one of the most remarkable hornbills in the world and one of the largest birds in the rainforests of West Africa weighing up to two kilos. Sporting a shock of russet coloured feathers and a striking blue coloured face, they prefer to live high up in the rainforest canopy in Côte d’Ivoire, #Ghana, #Liberia, Mali and #SierraLeone. Their main threat is hunting and human persecution and they are possibly extinction now in some countries. Recent mass deforestation for #mining, #palmoil, #cocoa and #meat is also a threat and they are now classified as #vulnerable. Help them every time you shop and be #vegan, #Boycottpalmoil, #Boycott4Wildlife
One of the largest birds in West African the yellow-casqued hornbill has a shock of russet coloured feathers and a striking blue coloured face. They live in the forest canopy and rarely venture to the ground. Generally, they live in family groups of generally one adult female and male birds and two juveniles.
When a large ant or termite nest is discovered occasionally the birds will gather in large flocks to penetrate the nest. These hornbills are predated upon by crowned hawk eagles. Under threat from these eagles, a flock of hornbills will mob the birds as a group and call together loudly. This collective alarm call may serve to deter the eagles from hunting them.
Threats
Rapid destruction of their range across several countries in West Africa has meant that the yellow-casqued hornbill is now classified as vulnerable.
The Yellow-casqued Hornbill faces numerous anthropogenic threats including:
Hunting is a major threat: Humans have predated upon these birds and overhunted them causing serious decline in their numbers.
Deforestation for palm oil, meat and cocoa: Increasing fragmentation of rainforests in West Africa has meant the birds are restricted in food sources and their populations have reduced as a result.
The species is on the way out in eastern Ghana, and it is likely extinct in Togo (F. Dowsett-Lemaire in litt. 2016). Its disappearance from Bia NP, where there have been no records since 1991 (Dowsett-Lemaire and Dowsett 2011a), is probably related to uncontrolled hunting and the logging of the southern section in the 1990s. The species’s fate in south-western Ghana is very unfavourable, with most habitat expected to be lost to timber extraction and agricultural encroachment, and habitat in reserves expected to be lost by the early 2030s (Dowsett-Lemaire and Dowsett 2014).
IUCN Red List
Habitat
Yellow-casqued hornbills prefer to live their lives high up in the tree canopy of primary forest. However they are known to also survive in logged, riverine or secondary forests. They migrate according to food availability.
Diet
These birds are primarily folivores and insectivores who consume seeds, small insects, spiders and scorpions. The birds congregate in large flocks to invade termite mounds.
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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
Central African Republic; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Rwanda; South Sudan; Sudan; Tanzania; Uganda; Zambia
Known for their unnerving and intense stare and imposing, prehistoric appearance – shoebills are magnificent birds. There are less than 8000 individual birds left alive. They are vulnerable from #palmoil, #cocoa and #meat #deforestation, agricultural run-off, #pollution, #mining, #hunting and human persecution. Help them every time you shop and be #vegan, #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
The #Shoebill is a magnificent and gentle big bird 🕊️🦤 with an unnerving stare 👀 There are only 8000 left alive in #DRC, #Uganda #Africa. Vulnerable from #palmoil #deforestation, #hunting and more. Fight for them! #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🚫 #Boycott4Wildlife https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/09/10/shoebill-balaeniceps-rex/
Known for their menacing stare 👀😸 gentle #shoebills are iconic in #Uganda 🇺🇬 #Congo 🇨🇩 #Tanzania 🇹🇿 They are vulnerable from #hunting, #palmoil #deforestation. Help them and be #vegan 🥕🍆 and #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔☠️🔥⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/09/10/shoebill-balaeniceps-rex/
There are less than 8,000 birds left alive and they are increasingly threatened by agricultural run-off from palm oil and cocoa deforestation across their range.
The shoebill Balaeniceps rex is also known by the common names: the whale-headed stork, shoebill stork and whalehead. Their eponymous feature is their enormous bill They have the third largest bills after pelicans and large storks.
Fast Facts
When shoebills soar they make around 150 flaps per minute which makes them one of the slowest of any bird, with the exception of the larger stork species.
They stand stock-still and waiting, all alone giving them an eerie and unnerving appearance. Once they notice fish appearing on the surface of swamps they quickly snap them up into their large bills.
The shoebill’s chattering large bill makes a sound akin to machine gun fire. This combined with their silent creeping gait can make them seem rather menacing!
Shoebills are attracted to poorly oxygenated waters, as this means fish must come to the surface to breathe – where they are efficiently captured.
They are mostly silent except for elaborate bill-clattering communication that happens during their breeding. Chicks make a human-like hiccup sound when signalling hunger.
Although they have a similar appearance to storks, shoebills are more closely related to pelicans and herons in the order Pelecaniformes.
Appearance & Behaviour
They possess extraordinarily large feet with their middle toe extending up to 18.5 cm in length. This helps them with balance while standing on uneven swamps and on aquatic vegetation while they hunt.
Adults have feathers that range from blue-grey to slate-grey. Juveniles possess similar plumage but in a tawny blue-brown hue.
Shoebills have a modestly sized bill at birth, which grows much larger once chicks reach between 23-43 days old.
Their unusual beauty makes them a must-see for birdwatchers in Africa. Despite their slightly unnerving appearance, these birds are placid and will allow birdwatchers to snap their photo at a range of two metres.
Shoebills are known for staying statue-still and silent in the muddy waters while hunting. These birds stalk their prey in a solitary way, patiently lurking and hunting entirely with their vision. Once prey is spotted they launch a rapid strike. They will sometimes use their big beaks to pry deep into the pond mud and extirpate lung fish with a violent strike.
They are normally silent but will get noisy during nesting season with elaborate bill clattering displays. Adults birds will make a ‘moo’ sound and high pitched whine while clattering their bills in order to communicate with each other. Chicks call out to their mothers with a ‘hiccup’ sound.
Shoebills typically hunt for lungfish and other fish in poorly oxygenated marshlands, bogs, peatland and swamps. Fish frequently break to the surface to breathe – it is then that shoebills rapidly strike. Their large feet enable them to balance on floating vegetation. The movement of hippos can aid the hunting of shoebills, as they rustle up fish from bottom of swamps, pushing them to surface for the shoebills’ easy capture.
Threats
There is estimated to be below 8,000 individual shoebills left and they are classified as vulnerable. Shoebills face a range of anthropogenic threats:
Hunting: In some cultures shoebills are thought of as a bad omen, in others they are hunted for food.
Capture for the pet trade: Shoebill eggs and chicks are captured for consumption or sold to zoos.
Armed human conflict: Armed groups moving through the rainforest has facilitated hunting of shoebills.
Climate change: Increased extreme weather events like fires and droughts brought on by climate change lowers their numbers.
Habitat
Shoebills are found in central tropical Africa. Including South Sudan, eastern Congo,Rwanda, Uganda, western Tanzania, and northern Zambia. They are non-migratory birds who make limited seasonal movements.
They live in dense freshwater swamps and marshes including undisturbed papyrus and reed beds. They are attracted to areas of mixed vegetation and have been seen on occasion in rice fields and flooded plantations.
Diet
Shoebills mainly consume fish but will also eat a range of wetland vertebrates. Their preferred food is marbled lungfish, tilapia and catfish. When this is not available they are known to consume frogs, nile monitors,baby crocodiles, water snakes, turtles, snails, rodents and other small waterfowl.
Mating and breeding
Shoebills form monogamous pair bonds for the breeding season. They fiercely defend their nests from other birds during their nesting period, which begins either during the monsoon season or after this ends.
Both parents build the nest on a floating and flat platform made up of swamp vegetation and around three metres wide and three metres deep.
Typically the female will lay between one to three eggs, with only one being reared and cared for until maturity. The other eggs are back-ups in case the eldest chick is weak or dies.
In the hot weather, shoebill parents will fill their bills with water to shower their nests to cool their eggs.
Chicks take about 105 days to fledge and juveniles typically fly well by 112 days. Juvenile birds will continue to feed with their mother for another month after this and reach sexual maturity at about three years old.
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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
The largest of the three #rhinoceros species in #Asia, the Indian #Rhino has a distinctive and unique armour-plated look which lends them a fairytale quality that has captivated admirers for aeons. Although Indian rhino numbers have climbed over the past decades due to conservation, they are under imminent threat from the expansion of #palmoil #deforestation in the #Assam region of #India. A protected national park there is earmarked for destruction. Use your wallet as a weapon every time you shop and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Known as the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros or the Great Indian Rhino, the Indian Rhino is generally solitary, except when females are with their young. Loosely connected groups of a few individuals occur, especially in foraging areas or wallowing grounds. They feed mostly in the cool of the early morning, during the late afternoon, or at night. During the day, they spend a lot of time in water or wallowing in the mud in order to keep cool.
Indian rhinos mostly feed during the cooler parts of the day: dawn, twilight and during the night. They spend the majority of the time in water or mud as a way of cooling down their large bodies.
Male rhinos are prone to aggression when defending territories which can lead to a fight to the death. Fights include clashes of horns, charges and biting.
They communicate with each other using up to 10 sounds including honking, roaring, snorting, shrieking, groaning, rumbling and humphing.
Groupings of rhinos vary. Bulls are generally solitary except for when mating and fighting. Most are solitary however cows and calves remain together for up to 4 years after birth. Groupings of juvenile cows and bulls are common as well. During the monsoon season there are often groupings of up to 10 individuals.
Groups of rhinos are often friendly and highly social with each other. They will greet each other by mounting flanks, nuzzling, licking, waving and bobbing their heads.
Interesting Facts
Female cows are quite shy and generally will run away from danger in preference to attacking, although females will defend their calves. Bulls can be more aggressive especially to defend territory or during mating.
Rhinos often bathe and wallow in muddy swamps during peak heat of the day. This is important for them to keep cool and ward off insects.
Indian rhinos descend from “wooly” rhinos that were living in Tibet 3.6 million years ago. They possessed a hairy coat suitable to the cold alpine climate.
Male and female Indian rhinos both have a single horn, which starts to show at around 6 years and grows to about 25 cm.
Rhino’s skin may be as thick as 5 cm with a typical range across the species being 1.5-5 cm thick. Their pinkish coloured skin is due to the presence of abundant blood vessels under the skin. This assists them with temperature maintenance in their bodies.
The word “rhinoceros” means “horn nose” and is from the Ancient Greek “ῥῑνόκερως”.
Threats
There are less than 3,500 individual Indian Rhinos left alive. The Indian Rhino faces multiple anthropogenic threats including:
Livestock grazing and other agricultural expansion: Indian Rhinos leave their range of forage for food and are killed in retribution by farmers for eating crops.
Indian rhinos prefer to live in the fertile and wet grasslands, forests and swamps of northern Asia. They once ranged across the entirety Indo-Gangetic Plain. Sadly now this has been drastically reduced to 11 sites in northern India and southern Nepal in an area spanning 20,000 km2.
85% of Indian Rhinos live in Assam, India. The small protected areas where these majestic giants roam is rapidly shrinking by palm oil and meat related deforestation.
Diet
Indian Rhinos are herbivores who eat fruit, aquatic plants, branches, grass, leaves and cultivated crops.
Mating and breeding
Dominant bulls are aggressive with each other for mating rights with females and often fight to the death.
Mating and pregnancy occurs throughout the year and gestation takes 480 days.
Calves are born weighing approximately 70 kg.
Calves are weaned after 12-18 months but will stay with their mothers for up to four years. After this time, the cow will chase away the juvenile rhino if she is preparing to give birth to another calf.
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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
Juanchi Pérez is a #wildlife artist and #animalrights advocate from #Ecuador who uses his paintbrush to fight 4 #Ecuador’s animals against #palmoil and #gold mining. Here is his inspiring story @ZIGZE #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Juanchi Pérez is a #vegan #animalrights advocate and #wildlife artist who paints species of #Peru #Ecuador in his exquisite art. He discusses why #animals should matter more to us all than #greed @ZIGZE #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Juanchi Pérez is a talented and well-established designer, illustrator and artist from Ecuador who captures the soulful presence of rare rainforest animals near his home.
He is passionate about sharing the magnificent animals and plants of his bountiful homeland with the world. Together with his beautiful wife and daughter, he founded Zigze several years ago. They create eco-friendly homewares and clothing in Ecuador. This features Juanchi’s signature illustrations of plants and animals. In this way, Juanchi shares the emotional lives of animals and plants in one of the most biodiverse hotspots on our planet. After seeing the devastation of palm oil firsthand in his country, Juanchi is a passionate advocate for the #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
Palm Oil Detectives is honoured to interview to Juanchi Pérez about his beautiful, powerful and impactful art featuring animals on the knife-edge of survival in South America.
Juanchi Pérez
I admire the beauty in all creatures. There are fascinating worlds in all scales, from the minuscule to the enormous
It would be very hard to choose only one or a few favourites. It is mind-blowing to watch nature’s creativity, there isn’t a single creature who does not possess an inherent beauty, it depends on humans to see it, or not.
Pionus chalcopterus detalle by Juanchi Pérez
We are often so immersed in our lives that we don’t take the time to appreciate nature
It is kind of sad to see how many of us have forgotten to appreciate or just to contemplate the beauty all around us.
Diversity of the jungle by Juanchi Pérez
My principal motivation to paint is nature and the love I have for it. I love all the magnificent creatures we have in this amazing planet we live in and which is our only home.
I paint animals to make them visible
I have always been attracted to drawing and painting animals. To show them to the world and hopefully change the way we should see nature- as a part of ourselves rather than apart from it.
I believe that all species deserve the same rights to exist
Humankind has lost it’s values. Sadly money is the only driving force nowadays.
We are destroying our own planet and the only place that we call home.
This isn’t just a problem with big companies, but also with our personal choices regarding our consumption habits – what we buy as consumers.
Science has shown that tuna and other big fish populations have decreased more than 90% in many cases
Yet many people still choose to ignore this fact and eat fish rapaciously. If we don’t intervene, in a few years everything will be lost forever.
We should stop eating sentient beings
So yes, right now it’s every person’s responsibility and duty to critically analyse our food choices and to stop eating the sentient beings who deserve to have a life of their own and who do not have a voice.
You can purchase my art through my brand Zigze.com
My art can be found through my brand Zigze http://www.zigze.com or you can visit @zigze_arte_salvaje , or my other more personal IG @juanchi_illustration
In Ecuador where I live, palm oil has replaced vast areas of rainforest
Just like in other parts of the world, palm oil companies exist to make money. They won’t stop with their endless expansion, because corporate greed doesn’t care for anything other than profits.
Andean Night Monkey Andus miconax threatene by palm oil deforestation #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
A recent report by Insight Crime revealed that the major driver for deforestation in Ecuador is palm oil
Most forest loss in Ecuador’s Amazon results from land being cleared for palm oil cultivation. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s, Suriname’s, and Guyana’s forests are most affected by gold mining.
Palm Oil and Land Grabs in Ecuador
As in Bolivia, deforestation in Ecuador’s Amazon is mainly driven by agroindustrial interests. Sixty-five percent of land use across Ecuador’s Amazon is designated for pasture, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). A lack of economic incentives for farmers discourages them from being sustainable and efficient in their practices, according to the UNDP. Meanwhile, the expansion of industrial agriculture has reduced possibilities for small-scale agriculture. As access to land has become scarce, the illegal grabbing of small plots has ramped up.
Agricultural interests often drive the unconstitutional eviction of communities from territories that have belonged to them for centuries. In many cases, intimidation and falsified documents are used to expel them from their homes. Otherwise, agricultural activities linked to land grabbing are fomented by judicial decisions and rulings issued by authorities.
Huge biodiverse parts of Ecuadorian coastal areas have been replaced by this devastating monoculture
Now huge areas of the Ecuadorian rainforest are suffering the same fate. For a cheap and crappy ingredient in supermarket products, we are losing our greatest treasure of Ecuador – our biodiversity.
It is doubtful that any palm oil company or palm oil investor can see the value of conserving this richness. Instead, they are creating a barren and dead land where no other species can thrive. They are disrupting all of the natural balancing systems that have supported humankind and animalkind for many millennia.
Palm oil companies are blind. There is no worst kind of blind person than those who refuse to see!
There is no sustainable way to produce palm oil. When you visit a palm oil plantation, the only thing you are guaranteed to find is kilometres and kilometres stretching far beyond the horizon or palms, palms and more palms.
The loss of habitat is the main threat to jaguars in Ecuador: more than 75% of the original coastal forest has been eradicated with the expansion of logging and agriculture industries; including coffee, cacao, palm oil and bananas. pic.twitter.com/pVbTauWE9Q
Recently I had the opportunity to visit a palm oil plantation in Ecuador
“It surprised me to see vast expanses of dead palms. At first I though perhaps they were in the process of being replaced. However, I later discovered that they were dying from some strange disease. The owners didn’t have a clue what was killing them.”
Inside I rejoiced because this was nature fighting back!
As the forgotten father of environmentalism Alexander von Humboldt advised us more than 200 years ago when he glimpsed nature’s vulnerability and the devastating environmental effects of colonial cash crop cultivation:
Monoculture and deforestation made the land barren, washed away soil and drained lakes and rivers.
I support the boycott of palm oil and the #Boycott4Wildlife
I believe that our personal choices or actions regarding our consumer habits have way more effect than our words. We as consumers can drive the companies toward better habits.
I support any boycott that will bring greedy companies to their senses and to help stop the devastation of rainforests in Ecuador and other parts of South America and the world.
As a conscientious person, I have become aware of my choices. As far as it is possible, I choose to refrain from purchasing things with palm oil and to buy products with as light environmental footprint as possible.
I admire environmental activists so much
If I could speak to them directly, I would encourage them to keep persevering with their work.
In Ecuador and in many other parts of South America, being an activist carries the risk of being killed
More than 1700 activists have been killed over the past decade. In Ecuador we hear more and more frequently about activists being murdered.
🔻El #AceiteDePalma requiere menos trabajadores que la mayoría de cultivos, lo que da lugar a un alto nivel de competencia entre trabajadores por los escasos puestos, lo que los hace fácilmente sustituibles y, por tanto, incapaces de protestar por las malas condiciones. pic.twitter.com/572ZjKqLVD
— Iniciativa Global contra el Crimen Organizado (@GI_TOC_esp) May 1, 2023
Ecuador’s High Court Orders Halt to Contamination from #PalmOil Production Palm oil plantations are threatening the biodiversity of #Chocó, an ancient forest in #Ecuador. The companies managing these plantations have caused massive destruction to the forest, endangering species. pic.twitter.com/KeP5UnPvvw
I encourage journalists, activists and leaders to use every tool at their disposal to show what is happening
The voracious companies in Ecuador are devastating our nature and environment. If I could speak to the CEO’s of these companies I would tell them to take their blindfolds off. Their greed and stupidity is no excuse for what they are doing to all life on our planet.
Greenwashing example: Activists place washing machines in front of the Deutsche Bank headquarters to protest against greenwashing during Deutsche Bank AG Annual Shareholders Meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, May 2022. REUTERS
What corporations do for industrial-scale food today will make all of us hungry tomorrow
All systems are collapsing at an alarming rate, mainly because of multi-national corporations and their reckless way of exploiting the natural world. They need to heed the science, logic and their own hearts instead of their bank balances. They need to stop pretending that their actions are not harmful.
Colgate-Palmolive greewashing in the supermarket to assuage consumer guilt but not actually preventing palm oil deforestation associated with their brand Inhumans of Late Stage Capitalism – Brand ABCs consumerism
All of the fortunes in the world won’t serve us anymore if the earth’s support systems collapse
Money won’t serve any purpose if we can’t breathe and don’t have clean water to drink. What these people will discover is that we can’t eat and drink money and we will see them in hell!
The fight is an unfair one
Palm oil giants, allied with the governments have infinite resources, if you compare this with the resources of indigenous peoples.
It is a David and Goliath battle.
An orangutan against a bulldozer
A single person against the machinery of death
Reason against stupidity
Love against hatred
Communities against the egos
Reason against madness
In defence of nature it will take a brave and valiant effort to resist this sort of power. We should support these activists and demand that their voices are heard throughout the entire planet.
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
Tropical forests matter to each and every one of us. They suck colossal quantities of carbon out of the atmosphere, providing a crucial brake on the rate of climate change. Yet a statistical model in this study has estimated that by 2030 the African forests’ capacity to remove carbon will decrease by 14%, while Amazonian forests may stop removing carbon dioxide altogether by 2035. What can you do? Demand a system change from greedy capitalism. Use our wallet as a weapon and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycottmeat #Boycott4Wildlife
The speed of change in the world’s forests is staggering. Across the 1990s intact tropical forests – those unaffected by logging or fires – removed roughly 46 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This diminished to an estimated 25 billion tonnes in the 2010s. The lost sink capacity is 21 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, equivalent to a decade of fossil fuel emissions from the UK, Germany, France and Canada combined.
How did we reach such an alarming conclusion, and how is it that nobody knew this before? The answer is that we – along with 181 other scientists from 36 countries – have spent years tracking individual trees deep in the world’s rainforests.
Chokniti Khongchum / shutterstock
The idea is simple enough: we go and identify the tree species and measure the diameter and height of every individual tree in an area of forest. Then a few years later we return to exactly the same forest and re-measure all the trees again. We can see which grew, which died and if any new trees have grown.
These measurements allow us to calculate how much carbon is stored in a forest, and how it changes over time. By repeating the measurements enough times and in enough places, we can reveal long-term trends in carbon uptake.
Most of the world’s primary tropical rainforests are found in the Amazon, Central Africa or Southeast Asia. Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, CC BY-SA
This is easier said than done. Tracking trees in tropical forests is challenging, particularly in equatorial Africa, home to the second largest expanse of tropical forest in the world. As we want to monitor forests that are not logged or affected by fire, we need to travel down the last road, to the last village, and last path, before we even start our measurements.
First we need partnerships with local experts who know the trees and often have older measurements that we can build upon. Then we need permits from governments, plus agreements with local villagers to enter their forests, and their help as guides. Measuring trees, even in the most remote location, is a team task.
The work can be arduous. We have spent a week in a dugout canoe to reach the plots in Salonga National Park in central Democratic Republic of the Congo, carried everything for a month-long expedition through swamps to reach plots in Nouabalé Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo, and ventured into Liberia’s last forests once the civil war ended. We’ve dodged elephants, gorillas and large snakes, caught scary tropical diseases like Congo red fever and narrowly missed an Ebola outbreak.
Wading through swamps in Nouabalé Ndoki National Park. Aida Cuní Sanchez, Author provided
Days start early to make the most of a day in the field. Up at first light, out of your tent, get the coffee on the open fire. Then after a walk to the plot, we use aluminium nails that don’t hurt the trees to label them with unique numbers, paint to mark exactly where we measure a tree so we can find it next time, and a portable ladder to get above the buttresses of the big trees. Plus a tape measure to get the tree diameters and a laser to zap tree heights.
After sometimes a week of travel, it takes four to five days for a team of five people to measure all 400 to 600 trees above 10 cm diameter in the average hectare of forest (100 metres x 100 metres). For our study, this was done for 565 different patches of forest grouped in two large research networks of forest observations, the African Tropical Rainforest Observatory Network and the Amazon Rainforest Inventory Network.
This work means months away. For many years, each of us has spent several months a year in the field writing down diameter measurements on special waterproof water. In total we tracked more than 300,000 trees and made more than 1 million diameter measurements in 17 countries.
Managing the data is a major task. It all goes into a website we designed at the University of Leeds, ForestPlots.net, which allows standardisation, whether the measurements come from Cameroon or Colombia.
Many months of detailed analysis and checking of the data followed, as did time for a careful write-up our findings. We needed to focus on the detail of individual trees and plots, while not losing sight of the big picture. It’s a hard balancing act.
One of the authors in Rep. Congo with Noe Madingou of Marien Ngouabi University and other local guides and researchers. Aida Cuní Sanchez, Author provided
The declining carbon sink results provide pretty grim news and not what we would like to report. But as scientists, we have a job is to follow the data wherever it takes us. That can be far into the rainforests of Congo, or onto the TV to tell people about our work. It’s the least we can do in the climate emergency we are currently living though. We will all need to play a role in solving this crisis.
“The final part of our analysis looked to the future. We used a statistical model and estimates of future environmental change to estimate that by 2030 the African forests’ capacity to remove carbon will decrease by 14%, while Amazonian forests may stop removing carbon dioxide altogether by 2035. Scientists have long feared that one of Earth’s large carbon sinks would switch to become a source. This process has, unfortunately, begun.”
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
#Bonobos are one of our closest living relatives 🦍🩷 Intelligent, sensitive and complex they are endangered by #palmoil #meat #deforestation and #poaching. Help them survive, be #vegan 🥦🥕 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife 🌴🪔🩸🧐🙊⛔️ @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/08/13/bonobo-pan-paniscus/
Beautiful #bonobos 🦍🫶🩷💘 serve as a model of non-violent conflict resolution. Yet humans are sending them #extinct 🤯 from #palmoil 🌴🔥 #meat #deforestation 🥩🔥 and #poaching! Fight for them #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/08/13/bonobo-pan-paniscus/
Bonobos share 98% of their DNA with humans and are one of our closest extant relatives. They are complex beings with intricate social relationships, they demonstrate profound intelligence and emotional sensitivity.
It is therefore fitting that 14th of February, Valentine’s Day is also the International Day to celebrate Bonobos – Bonobos provide a potent example to humans for how we can resolve conflicts through love and non-violent conflict resolution. They are endangered in DRC/Congo from infectious diseases, illegal poaching and deforestation for palm oil, cocoa and meat and mining throughout their home range. Help their survival every time you shop – be vegan and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
Oil palm is already being grown in what would otherwise be Bonobo habitat (Nackoney et al. 2012)
Africa is becoming the new frontier for oil-palm plantations, which offers excellent economic prospects in countries with appropriate rainfall, soil and temperature conditions (Rival and Levang 2014). A staggering 99.2% of the Bonobo’s range is suitable for oil palm (Wich et al. 2014), highlighting the enormous risk the palm-oil industry will pose unless sustainable management plans are developed and implemented to protect great apes and their habitats (IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group 2014).
IUCN Red List
Appearance & Behaviour
Bonobos share 98% of their DNA with humans and are known as one of our closest extant relatives. They are complex beings who display profound intelligence, close social bonds and emotional sensitivity.
Matriarchal and peaceful society
Compared to the hierarchical and male-dominated culture of the chimpanzee, bonobo society is (most of the time) matriarchal, peaceful, and more egalitarian. Due to their generally compassionate and caring communities, bonobos have the capacity to inspire human cooperation and peace.
Bonobos have a more slender, longer-limbed and fine-boned in appearance compared to chimpanzees. However, similar to chimpanzees, the forearms of bonobos are longer than their legs, and they have mobile shoulder joints and long fingers. They have pink lips and dark faces, with tail tufts present until adulthood. Their long hair is parted on their heads.
Bonobo Pan paniscus are complex intelligent beings
Frans de Waal
Primatologist Frans de Waal‘s landmark research found that bonobos are capable of altruism, empathy, kindness, compassion, patience and sensitivity. In short – all of the better and higher consciousness qualities that humankind aspires towards.
Other primatologists have argued against de Waal’s findings and have found a broad range of other behaviours including aggressive behaviours. Some researchers theorise that ecological factors in the wild account for why some chimpanzee and bonobo communities are more peaceful than others. Other researchers believe that it is due to bonobos being observed in captivity that they display cooperative behaviours.
Social behavior
Unlike other ape species, Bonobos are matriarchal (there are also extensive overlaps with male and female hierarchies leading some researchers to call their societies gender-balanced).
Bonobo communities don’t have a defined territory and are nomadic. Their evenly distributed food sources mean that there is no incentive for male bonobos to form groups with other males and defend a home range, thus leading to male assertive dominance – as seen with chimpanzee groups.
Females are seen to be co-dominant with males and can even coerce reluctant males to mate. Within male and female pairs of bonobos – the male may become dominant over the female.
Bonobo Pan paniscus are threatened by palm oil and meat deforestation, poaching and mining in Congo
Dr George McGavin in Monkey Planet: Bonobo makes a fire, cooks and eats marshmallows
This charming video leads us to believe that off-camera there may be another bonobo strumming on the guitar while another plays the harmonica. Hear about Dr George McGavin’s thoughts on palm oil -hint – he wants it banned!
Matriarchal societies
Communities are frequently led by an alpha female who acts as decision maker and leader. Females gain seniority in the group through age, experience and forging alliances with other females in the group – rather than physical intimidation. Males may gain a senior ranking as well and outrank some females. Some males in the group will alert the group to predators like pythons or leopards.
Aggression is rare between males and females and males gain their rank and status from their mother. The mother-son bond remains strong throughout their lives. Females prefer to mate with males who are agreeable and non-aggressive and groups of bonobos are friendly and cooperative with each other rather than competitive.
As they age, bonobos lose their playful and social ways and often become more irritable. Female bonobos have been observed to foster infants outside of their established community.
Bonobos are not known to kill each other, and are generally less violent than chimpanzees. However, aggression still manifests itself in bonobo communities in association with the complexities of mating selection and competitiveness.
Sex as a social lubricant
Sex is used as a social glue in bonobo societies. It is used for many reasons:
During times of excitement or group celebration
Conflict resolution and post-conflict reconciliation
As a form of greeting or to solidify social bonds
Bonobos are promiscuous and don’t form monogamous partnerships. Instead social encounters, bonding and connections are formalised through sexual interactions.
Bonobos engaging in face-to-face sex by Rob Bixby for Wikipedia
This can be in the form of group sex, male to male, female to female or male to female sex. Adults also have sex with infants and this can be initiated by the infants. The only form of sex that isn’t (generally) engaged in is between a mother and son. They engage in face-to-face genital sex and tongue kissing – the only ape other than humans to do so.
Compared to chimpanzees, female bonobos are more sexually active and less discriminatory about whom they have sex with. They also spend longer in estrus than female chimpanzees.
Peacefulness and aggression
Although referred to as peaceful, bonobo aggression has been observed in captivity and in the wild.
Humans have also been attacked by bonobos, and suffered serious, albeit non-fatal, injuries. Frans de Waal warns against romanticising bonobos as all animals are competitive with each other and capable for aggression.
Threats
Bonobos reproduce very slowly and thus their populations are vulnerable to direct losses at the hands of humans.
Bonobos face a number of human-related threats to their survival:
Illegal poaching: mainly for bushmeat or folk medicine. Taboos against poaching are ineffective when poachers come to the DRC from other regions and kill bonobos.
Human civil warfare: warfare results in the destruction of habitat and these large apes are often caught in the crossfire.
Palm oil, timber, meat and cocoa deforestation: habitat loss for industrial agricultural expansion is a huge threat.
Illegal animal trafficking: As with other large apes in the Congo, bonobo mothers are killed and their babies sold into black market trade as exotic pets.
Infectious diseases: Diseases that pose a risk to Bonobos’ survival include human-borne pathogens such as respiratory viruses, and natural pathogens such as Ebolavirus.
Bonobos, palm oil and Ebola virus: Research has found that previous outbreaks of ebola virus transferred from bonobos to humans coincided directly with the expansion of industrial palm oil in the Congo. Both palm oil deforestation and Ebola have decimated number of bonobos. Read the study.
Bonobos spend most of their lives high up in the tree canopies foraging and hunting for food, sleeping, mating, socialising and constructing nests.
They are found in the forests and riverine ecosystems of the Congo Basin in a 500,000km2 area the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Their region is bordered by the Congo River in the north, the Kasai River in the south and west, and the Lualaba River in the east.
Diet
Bonobos are mainly frugivorous and consume fruits, nuts, shoots, stems, pith, leaves, roots, flowers and tubers. However, mushrooms and small invertebrates are also eaten including termites, worms and grubs. Some communities of bonobos have cultures of hunting specific animals such as flying squirrels, duikers, bats and other monkeys.
Bonobo communities of around 100 apes will split into smaller groups during the day to seek out food. Then they will come back together to sleep in their constructed tree-canopy nests. Females often have feeding privileges before males.
Mating and breeding
Adolescent females often leave their native community and so enrich the gene pool of neighbouring communities. Males on the other hand will remain with their natal community as they reach maturity and have a much more loose hierarchical structure compared to females.
Females living in the wild will give birth for the first time aged 13-14 years of age. Females will care for their young for around 4 years post partum and give birth an average of once every 4.6 years.
Infanticide is found with chimpanzee societies, but is absent in bonobo communities. Nevertheless, there have been documented cases of bonobos kidnapping infants in captivity. Bonobo females mating with many males means that there is ambiguity over paternity – this means that the incentive for infanticide disappears.
Support Bonobos by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the #Boycott4Wildlife
Fruth, B., Hickey, J.R., André, C., Furuichi, T., Hart, J., Hart, T., Kuehl, H., Maisels, F., Nackoney, J., Reinartz, G., Sop, T., Thompson, J. & Williamson, E.A. 2016. Pan paniscus (errata version published in 2016). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T15932A102331567. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T15932A17964305.en. Accessed on 14 February 2023.
Bonobo Pan Paniscus has little protection – help them and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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
Renowned and prolific science communicator and author Julian Cribb writes this op-ed piece for Palm Oil Detectives. He addresses the world’s most pressing needs for survival as we descend into the pointy end of the Anthropocene era.
Julian outlines a dozen direct and actionable solutions for preserving a healthy and habitable earth. These are taken from his interviews with the world’s brightest minds. For a more in-depth analysis, be sure to grab a copy of his most recent book, published this year – ‘How to Fix a Broken Planet’
Julian Cribb AM FRSA FTSE is an Australian science writer and author of six books on the human existential emergency and its solutions. Find him on his website and Twitter: @JulianCribb
Among the world’s many pressing needs, the most urgent of all is a plan for human survival on a habitable Earth.
At present no country has one. What we currently have is a chaotic road to avoidable disaster, driven by ten vast, interconnected threats which are all the result of human activity.
This existential emergency in which all humanity now stands has been building steadily for over half a century. Our capacity to inflict mass harm on ourselves through our own actions has increased exponentially since the end of WWII.
The science is in. We’ve wiped out two thirds of the world’s large animals, we’re losing water, topsoil, fish and forests at appalling rates; we poison everyone and everything on the planet every day; we’re constructing weapons able to obliterate ourselves many times over.
We’re shaping a climate that can render the Earth largely uninhabitable within a few generations. We’re building dangerous technologies over which society has no control. We throw away half our food and wreck the planet trying to grow more. We unleash new plagues every few years and spread them worldwide. And we lie, constantly and obsessively, to ourselves about it all.
These are not the actions of a wise species. Or even, maybe, an intelligent one. Our governments and corporations seem paralysed, unable to grasp the magnitude of the overwhelming, interlinked threats that are engulfing us.
The ten mega threats are:
Extinction and ecological destruction
Resource scarcity
Global poisoning
A hothouse Earth
The new nuclear arms race
Pandemics and zoonotic diseases
Food insecurity
Overpopulation
Uncontrolled technologies
And the global deluge of misinformation about these threats
Because they are all connected, none of these threats can be tackled on their own. They must all be tackled together.
All are outcomes of the sheer scale of the human enterprise – overpopulation, overconsumption, over-pollution and money are the chief drivers. Mostly, they stem from the 101 billion tonnes of resources we now devour every year to support our ‘lifestyle’ – 12 tonnes for each of us – and the damage this process inflicts on the planet, its species and on ourselves.
The good news is that solutions to all these threats already exist
They can all be solved in ways that do not generate fresh perils or make other threats worse. We have the brains and we have the technology to save ourselves. The bad news is that we do not have the governments, the leadership or the will to do so.
No government on Earth has a plan for overcoming these risks and securing the human future, as the Council for the Human Future has often warned. Most are not even aware such a need exists, so poorly do they understand the message of science over the past half century – and so effectively have selfish interests managed to mislead, deceive and frustrate action.
In “How to Fix a Broken Planet” (Cambridge University Press 2023) I explain the scientific understanding of these risks but, more importantly, I list all the main solutions which governments, institutions and we, as individuals, can take in our work and our own lives to make this a safer, more sustainable world. This amounts to a first draft for a World Plan of Action for Human Survival.
It isn’t the complete answer. No short book could provide that
Yet it is an outline of what the world’s wisest minds now consider we must do in order to survive. It shows that thinking and acting our way out of the biggest crisis ever to face humanity is entirely possible. Furthermore, it is positive, encouraging hope, confidence and opportunity.
Among several hundred solutions proffered for policymakers and individual humans, here are the top dozen. They should not surprise anyone who has thought about our situation objectively.
1. An Earth System Treaty addressing all the catastrophic threats, open for all to sign
2. A ban on all nuclear weapons
3. A Stewards of the Earth plan for rewilding half the Earth
4. An end to the use of fossil fuels, to stem both climate change and global poisoning
5. A Renewable (or circular) World Economy to end waste and pollution
6. New Human Rights, including a Right Not to Be Poisoned
7. A Global Technology Convention to oversee all powerful new technologies before they are put to dangerous misuse
8. A World Truth Commission, to expose the liars and their lies to public shame
9. A Human Survival Index, to inform everyone how risky is our plight and the progress we are making towards making the world safer
10. Renewable Food for everyone, to sustain all humanity, restore the environment and reduce the threat of war
11. A World Population Plan, providing voluntary family planning for all
12. A world pandemic plan to prevent and arrest the uncontrolled spread of disease by human behaviour
There are many other actions that must be taken to mitigate the danger in which humans now stand, and most of them are outlined in ‘How to Fix a Broken Planet’.
The heart of all this is an Earth System Treaty, a legal agreement by the world’s people (not just its nations or governments, but all of us) which commits all those who sign it to working for a habitable Earth and a safer human future, by addressing all ten of the great threats.
An issue of great concern to Palm Oil Detectives is the wanton destruction of forests and wildlife by the gigantic machinery of the agroindustrial complex – the system that exploits the food supply for profit.
My books explain how this can be overcome, but developing a renewable food system consisting of regenerative farming, urban food production and deep ocean aquaculture. This will remove the pressures we now place on the wild world, enabling us to return half the world’s area to nature and to the creatures that naturally inhabit it.
Stewards of the Earth program led by indigenous peoples
To make this happen we need a ‘Stewards of the Earth’ program, funded from the world’s $1.8 trillion weapons budget, and run by indigenous people and ex-farmers who want to repair the damage caused by industrial food. Renewable food is totally achievable, much healthier for us, for wild animals and for their environment. Details may be found in my book Food or War.
The answers to the human emergency do not lie in business-as-usual, in government procrastination, in the corruption of public discourse, the poisoning of an entire planet or the destruction of nature.
They lie in employing the attribute which has led human survival for over a million years: wisdom – the ability to read the future and take sensible action in time to achieve a better, safer outcome.
The world’s governments, intent on the rivalries of yesterday, are not interested in this, or able to achieve it. They must be driven by the wishes and concerns of eight billion humans who their grandchildren to survive on a world that hasn’t been reduced to a charred ruin by human negligence and greed.
This is, without a doubt, the greatest and most noble undertaking in the long ascent of human aspiration and achievement. It is a task worthy of us all – and which cannot be completed without the co-operation of all.
The Earth is a lifeboat, sinking under the pressures of overcrowding and demand. We either row it together – or we go down together. The choice is stark, and it is now before us.
Julian Cribb AM FRSA FTSE is an Australian science writer and author of six books on the human existential emergency and its solutions. Find him on his website and Twitter: @JulianCribb
Julian’s recent books…
Biography: Julian Cribb AM
Julian Cribb AM is an Australian author and science communicator. He is a Fellow of the UK Royal Society for the Arts, the Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering (ATSE) and the Australian National University Emeritus Faculty.
His career includes appointments as scientific editor for The Australian newspaper, director of national awareness for CSIRO, editor of several newspapers including the National Farmer and Sunday Independent, member of numerous scientific boards and advisory panels, and president of national professional bodies for agricultural journalism and science communication.
His published work includes over 9000 articles, 3000 science media releases and 12 books. He has received 32 awards for journalism. He was nominated for ACT Senior Australian of the Year in 2019. He is a co-founder of the Council for the Human Future which developed the Earth System Treaty. He was appointed a Member of the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2021.
Julian is principal of Julian Cribb & Associates who for twenty years have provided international consultancy in the communication of science, agriculture, food, mining, energy and the environment for over a hundred scientific, government and private organisations.
For the past two decades his main literary focus has been the self-inflicted existential emergency faced by humanity. This is dealt with in six books: The Coming Famine (UCP 2010) explored the question of how we can feed 10 billion humans this century; Poisoned Planet (A&U 2014) is his first book on global contamination by anthropogenic chemicals. Surviving the 21st Century (Springer 2017) tackles the existential crisis now facing humanity from a combination of ten megathreats – and what we can do about it. His book Food or War (Cambridge University Press 2019) explores how food can help prevent human conflict in the C21st. Earth Detox describes the vast question of human chemical emissions, their impact on us and how we can overcome it. His latest book ‘How to Fix a Broken Planet’ (Cambridge 2023) offers a plan to rescue humanity from the self-created threats that beset it.
As a grandfather, Julian is deeply concerned about the future our descendants will face unless humanity as a whole acts with urgency to overcome all the megarisks.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
Want to hear the latest on #palmoil #deforestation and #corruption? Subscribe for regular #news updates from Palm Oil Detectives that help you to resist and #fightgreenwashing. #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop!
Newly published research led by the University of Michigan reveals that despite the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification system being influential, its effectiveness in reducing deforestation has so far for decades, been an illusion. The study used remote sensing to analyse deforestation caused by oil palm plantations in Guatemala, a major palm oil supplier to global markets.
The results of the paper show that these plantations were responsible for 28% of the region’s deforestation, and RSPO-certified plantations did not significantly reduce deforestation. The study links this deforestation to the supply chains of major brands: Pepsico, Mondelēz International, and Grupo Bimbo, who rely on RSPO-certified palm oil supplies.
This media release entitled “Palm oil plantations and deforestation in Guatemala: Certifying products as ‘sustainable’ is no panacea” was issued by The University of Michigan on July 20, 2023. The study on which it is based is available to read here
Cheap, versatile and easy to grow, palm oil is the world’s most consumed vegetable oil and is found in roughly half of all packaged supermarket products, from bread and margarine to shampoo and toothpaste.
But producing palm oil has caused deforestation and biodiversity loss across Southeast Asia and elsewhere, including Central America. Efforts to curtail the damage have largely focused on voluntary environmental certification programs that label qualifying palm-oil sources as “sustainable.”
However, those certification programs have been criticised by environmental groups as greenwashing tools that enable multinational corporations to claim fully “sustainable” palm oil, while continuing to sell products that fall far short of the deforestation-free goal.
Findings from a new University of Michigan-led study, published online in the Journal of Environmental Management, support some of the critics’ claims—and go much further.
Study senior author Joshua Newell, a geographer and a professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability.
Key findings
RSPO-certified plantations, comprising 63% of the total cultivated area assessed, did not produce a statistically significant reduction in deforestation and appear to be ineffective at reducing encroachment into ecologically sensitive areas in Guatemala.
Despite their RSPO membership and pledges to source palm oil from certified plantations, several multinational corporations predominantly sourced palm oil from noncertified mills in Guatemala.
Even RSPO-certified palm oil plantations and mills are contributing to deforestation in Guatemala.
The U-M case study focuses on Guatemala, which is projected to become the world’s third-largest palm-oil producer by 2030 after Indonesia and Malaysia, and an influential environmental certification system called the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, or RSPO.
“Our results indicate the supply chains of transnational conglomerates drove deforestation and ecological encroachment in Guatemala to support U.S. palm oil consumption,” said study lead author Calli VanderWilde, a doctoral student at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability who did the work for her dissertation.
“In addition, we found no evidence to suggest that RSPO certification effectively protects against deforestation or ecological encroachment. Given that oil palm expansion is predicted to increase significantly in the coming years, this pattern is likely to continue without changes to governance, both institutionally and to supply chains.”
The U-M-led research team tracked palm oil sourced from former forestland, and other ecologically critical areas in Guatemala, by several large transnational conglomerates that sell food products made from the oil in the United States. The corporations are members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and have RSPO commitments and sourcing policies in place to ensure the sustainability of their palm oil supplies.
The study used satellite imagery and machine learning to quantify deforestation attributable to palm oil plantation expansion in Guatemala over a decade, 2009-2019. In addition, the researchers used shipment records and other data sources to reconstruct corporate supply chains and to link transnational conglomerates to palm oil-driven deforestation.
The study found that:
Guatemalan palm oil plantations expanded an estimated 215,785 acres during the study period, with 28% of the new cropland replacing forests.
As of 2019, more than 60% of the palm oil plantations in the study area were in Key Biodiversity Areas. KBAs are sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.
RSPO-certified plantations, comprising 63% of the total cultivated area assessed, did not produce a statistically significant reduction in deforestation and appear to be ineffective at reducing encroachment into ecologically sensitive areas in Guatemala.
Despite their RSPO membership and pledges to source palm oil from certified plantations, several multinational corporations predominantly sourced palm oil from noncertified mills in Guatemala.
Even RSPO-certified palm oil plantations and mills are contributing to deforestation in Guatemala.
Guatemala is divided into 22 administrative districts called departamentos. The study focused on a 20,850-square-mile region in the three departamentos (Alta Verapaz, Izabal and the lower half of Petén) responsible for 75% of Guatemala’s palm oil production.
The researchers used high-resolution satellite imagery to assess land-use change between 2009 and 2019, and a machine learning algorithm enabled them to distinguish between forests and monoculture plantations.
They found that oil palm expansion is encroaching on, and causing deforestation in, seven Key Biodiversity Areas and 23 protected areas.
Among the areas impacted, the Key Biodiversity Areas with the largest palm extent include the Río La Pasión, Caribe de Guatemala and Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve. The Río La Pasión is an especially rich area for endemic fish species, making it an important area for conservation.
Oil palm encroachment on the Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve threatens animals such as the quetzal, Guatemala’s national bird. Known as the jewel of Guatemala, the reserve is an irreplaceable gene bank for tropical reforestation and agroforestry and supports the livelihoods of more than 400,000 people.
The researchers identified 119 RSPO-certified plantations and 82 non-RSPO plantations. During the study period, 9% of the RSPO-certified plantation expansion resulted in, or contributed to, forest loss, compared to 25% of the noncertified plantation expansion.
“Environmental certification does not effectively mitigate deforestation risk, and firms cannot rely on—or be allowed to rely on—certification to achieve deforestation-free supply chains,”
Study senior author Joshua Newell, a geographer and a professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability.
By reconstructing the supply chains of the three conglomerates, the researchers revealed connections to palm oil-driven deforestation. Of the 60,810 acres of palm oil-driven deforestation across the study period, more than 99% was traced to plantations supplying palm and palm-kernel oil to mills used by two multinational conglomerates. Seventy-two percent of the palm and palm-kernel oil was linked to the subset of plantations supplying a third corporation’s mills.
Greenwashing ecocide – Agropalma & Orangutan Land Trust
8. Certification provides opportunities for greenwashing and increases vested interests in and corporate power over natural resources.
100 NGOS sign a public statement denouncing the RSPO and “sustainable” palm oil as a fake solution that does not stop deforestation
Spoiled Fruit: landgrabbing, violence and slavery for “sustainable” palm oil
10 Tactics of Sustainable Palm Oil Greenwashing – Summary
“Palm oil has attracted attention for its ties to widespread forest and biodiversity loss across Southeast Asia. However, the literature has paid minimal attention to newer spaces of production and issues of corporate supply-chain traceability,” VanderWilde said.
“As it stands, environmental certification makes unjustified claims of ‘sustainability’ and fails to serve as a reliable tool for fulfilling emerging zero-deforestation requirements.”
The authors recommend reforms to RSPO policies and practices, robust corporate tracking of supply chains, and the strengthening of forest governance in Guatemala.
In addition to VanderWilde and Newell, authors of the study are Dimitrios Gounaridis of the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability and Benjamin Goldstein of McGill University. Funding for the study was provided by U-M’s Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship Program.
Calli P. VanderWilde, Joshua P. Newell, Dimitrios Gounaridis, Benjamin P. Goldstein, Deforestation, certification, and transnational palm oil supply chains: Linking Guatemala to global consumer markets, Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 344, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118505
Deforestation, certification, and transnational palm oil supply chains: Linking Guatemala to global consumer markets
Abstract
Although causal links between tropical deforestation and palm oil are well established, linking this land use change to where the palm oil is actually consumed remains a distinct challenge and research gap. Supply chains are notoriously difficult to track back to their origin (i.e., the ‘first-mile’). This poses a conundrum for corporations and governments alike as they commit to deforestation-free sourcing and turn to instruments like certification to increase supply chain transparency and sustainability. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) offers the most influential certification system in the sector, but whether it actually reduces deforestation is still unclear. This study used remote sensing and spatial analysis to assess the deforestation (2009–2019) caused by oil palm plantation expansion in Guatemala, a major palm oil source for international consumer markets. Our results reveal that plantations are responsible for 28% of deforestation in the region and that more than 60% of these plantations encroach on Key Biodiversity Areas. RSPO-certified plantations, comprising 63% of the total cultivated area assessed, did not produce a statistically significant reduction in deforestation. Using trade statistics, the study linked this deforestation to the palm oil supply chains of three transnational conglomerates – Pepsico, Mondelēz International, and Grupo Bimbo – all of whom rely on RSPO-certified supplies. Addressing this deforestation and supply chain sustainability challenge hinges on three measures: 1) reform of RSPO policies and practices; 2) robust corporate tracking of supply chains; and 3) strengthening forest governance in Guatemala. This study offers a replicable methodology for a wide-range of investigations that seek to understand the transnational linkages between environmental change (e.g. deforestation) and consumption.
This media release entitled “Palm oil plantations and deforestation in Guatemala: Certifying products as ‘sustainable’ is no panacea” was issued by The University of Michigan on July 20, 2023. The study on which it is based is available to read here
ENDS
Read more about deforestation and greenwashing associated with “sustainable” palm oil
Curtailed press freedom in Asia makes the job of calling out greenwashing increasingly difficult – at a time when corporate accountability is critical in the fight against climate change. Experts think greenwashing is…
The system is failing. #Indonesia’s own parliament, backed by big business interests, has succeeded in weakening the very system set up to fight corruption. Resist the corruption! #FightGreenwashing #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🩸⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife
A 5-month investigation by Elfredah Kevin-Alerechi and Kevin Woke of Sahara Reporters reveals how RSPO member SIAT Nigeria Limited is involved in human rights abuses and land-grabbing on host communities’ lands. Journalists Elfredah…
Indonesia’s online space is polluted by fake news. The government’s media literacy program promotes its own interests and greenwashing, boycott palm oil!
In 2023, Indonesia’s government is set to ratchet up greenwashing and propaganda on social media, fuelled by a well-resourced misinformation machine. But the biggest propagator of disinformation seems not to be political renegades,…
Palm oil produced through the destruction of forestland is still being sold around the world with the blessing of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
For nearly two decades now, the RSPO has failed in its mission to make the industrial palm oil sector “sustainable”. Instead, it has been used by the palm oil industry to greenwash environmental…
Expose the truth about brands like Nestlé, PepsiCo, and Unilever sourcing “sustainable” palm oil from Brazil linked to violence, abuses and fraud. Shame!
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
Extant (resident): Argentina (Misiones); Brazil (Minas Gerais, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, São Paulo)
You will hear a Brown Howler #Monkey before you sere one. Heard from several kilometres away these monkeys have a haunting howl that penetrates and rustles the forest canopy. They live in groups between two and eleven individuals and take respite during the heat of the day in the Atlantic forests of #Brazil and #Argentina. Despite their prehensile tails and graceful gait they face enormous threats, mainly from palm oil, soy and meat deforestation, yellow fever virus and human persecution. Help them every time you shop when you #BoycottGold #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife.
Brown Howler #Monkeys 🤎🐵🐒 are essential seed dispersers 🌱🥜✨ helping the #Amazon rainforest to grow. Only 12% of their forest remains. They are #vulnerable from #palmoil and #mining. #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔☠️🔥🧐⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/07/23/brown-howler-monkey-alouatta-guariba/
Brown Howlers have a loud howl 🐒🐵🔊 that can be heard 2km away. They are #vulnerable from #palmoil and other #deforestation in #Brazil 🇧🇷 Use your wallet as a weapon and #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔🤮⛔️#Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/07/23/brown-howler-monkey-alouatta-guariba/
These monkeys are incredibly gregarious and typically live in groups of between two to 11 individuals. They are most active throughout the day, however will rest during the heat of midday.
The larynx and chests of Howler Monkeys are enlarged. Through this resonating chamber they are able to produce loud signature howls, heard from up to 2 kilometres away.
Brown Howler Monkey Alouatta guariba – South America
Howling for warnings, food dominance and mate dominance
Despite their namesake, Brown Howlers come in a variety of colours from buff to reddish orange and brown-black. They are well known for their expressive and loud howling which can be heard from up to 2 kilometres away. Excellent seed dispersers, they are essential for maintaining a healthy rainforest. Only 12% of their forest habitat remains. Protect them every time you shop and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Their famous howls or roars have a blood-curdling cadence to them which performs the group function of mate defence. Howling typically happens when both males and females are present in groups. Other reasons for howling are as gestures of dominance when food sources are scarce or to alert others in the group of imminent danger.
Male Brown Howlers are larger than females and more dominant, they will commence the howling and females seldomly howl compared to males.
When Brown Howlers are threatened by a bird of prey (the Black Hawk Eagle is their main aerial predator), they will howl once and then remain silent as a group. The Black Hawk Eagle has a penchant for young Brown Howlers, so the priority of the adult monkeys is to protect their young. The howlers will silently descend to the understory of the trees and then disperse in an organised way.
If the group are threatened by a land-based predator, they will stay in the tree canopy and remain silent together for five to fifteen minutes.
Rubbing for sexual dominance and communication
Rubbing is used as a gesture of group communication that indicates dominance and territorial signalling. Males rub females for sexual intention and males are considered to be more dominant as they rub more often than females. Dominant females tend to rub more often than less dominant females.
Geographical range
Brown Howlers live in the Atlantic forests of South America, mainly in Brazil and Argentina. They are able to live in the lowland, montane and mixed broadleaf forests and spend the majority of their lives hanging out in the tree canopies.
Threats
Widespread forest loss and fragmentation throughout their range are the main threats to Alouatta guariba. Their distributional range largely correlates with the most densely populated regions of Brazil. Only 12% of the original forest coverage is remaining in these areas, fragmented into almost 250 forest fragments, 83.4% of which are smaller than 50 ha (Ribeiro et al. 2009).
IUCN Red List
Brown Howler Monkeys face a range of human-related threats, including:
The yellow fever virus: Brown Howlers are highly vulnerable to the yellow fever virus, which has a high mortality rate. When large numbers of monkeys are found dead, this is an indication that an outbreak has occurred.
Habitat loss for mining, palm oil, soy and meat deforestation: Large swathes of the Amazon rainforest continue to be destroyed for gold mining, palm oil, soy and meat related deforestation.
Human persecution: People living near to the monkeys have considered that they are responsible for outbreaks of the yellow fever virus – this has lead to them being killed for this reason. This is not the case as the virus is spread via a mosquito vector. The widespread killing of Brown Howler monkeys must be stopped.
Diet
Brown Howlers are avid consumers of wild figs, petioles, buds, seeds, moss, flowers, twigs and plant stems – they are folivores and frugivores. These monkeys are essential to eco-systems and perform an important function in dispersing seeds throughout the rainforest.
Brown Howler Monkey Alouatta guariba – South America
Mating & reproduction
Howler Monkeys are difficult to breed in captivity, therefore not enough is known about their mating and reproduction. They are capable of breeding all year round and a pregnancy lasts for approximately 6 months, after this one infant is born. Between pregnancies there is a break period of around 19 months. If a baby dies then the mother will typically become pregnant earlier than the 19 month break period. Young monkeys are weaned at one year old. Females come into oestrus at about 3.6 years old and males reach sexual maturity at 5 years old.
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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.
Further Information
Jerusalinsky, L., Bicca-Marques, J.C., Neves, L.G., Alves, S.L., Ingberman, B., Buss, G., Fries, B.G., Alonso, A.C., da Cunha, R.G.T., Miranda, J.M.D., Talebi, M., de Melo, F.R., Mittermeier, R.A. & Cortes-Ortíz, L. 2021. Alouatta guariba (amended version of 2020 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T39916A190417874. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-1.RLTS.T39916A190417874.en. Accessed on 07 September 2022.
Brown Howler Monkey Alouatta guariba – South America – Boycott4Wildlife
How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
The recently released Global Slavery Index reveals that Australia risks importing goods amounting to US $17.4 billion, which are suspected to be produced via forced labour.
A ban of these goods from Australia was proposed by the Australian Greens, who along with several community organisations, are urging the Labor Party to prioritise this change following a report from the outgoing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Despite previous support while in opposition, the Australian Labor Party has now shown signs of weakening on supporting a ban on commodities like palm oil, clothing and electrical goods made using slavery and forced labour.
Advocates of the ban, including the Greens spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Peace & Nuclear Disarmament, Senator Jordon Steele-John, are pushing for Australia to align with the EU and the United States that have already enforced similar bans.
The Global #Slavery Index shows #Australia risks importing billions of commodities incl. #palmoil linked to #humanrights abuses. Story via @Greens. Don’t stand for it, instead #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
#Australia – like the EU and America MUST ban goods coming from #ecocide and #humanrights abuses incl. #palmoil or risk turning into a global dumping ground for goods made from #slavery: The Australian @Greens #Boycottpalmoil
Media release from the Australian Greens, published 1 June, 2023. Read original.
Australia must not be a dumping ground for palm oil made from slavery: The Australian Greens
Despite Labor voting in support of banning products produced by forced labour when they were in opposition, today in Senate Estimates they could not confirm that they would do so again.
A wide range of community organisations are joining the Greens to call on Labor to prioritise this change.The outgoing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet produced a report in 2022 that called on the Australian Government to block the import of goods made from forced labour from all countries.
Across our region, forced labour is occurring en masse, and many in the Australian community would be surprised to know that forced labour produces many goods that are used in Australia.
The latest Global Slavery Index found 50 million people worldwide now live in modern slavery. It also showed Australia’s at risk of importing at-risk products which amount to US $17.4 billion. In Indonesia, forced labour is seen in industries including the production of palm oil and onboard fishing vessels.
In Malaysia, migrant workers have been forced to produce garments. In Turkmenistan, state-sanctioned forced labour is used in the cotton industry. Since 2017, the Chinese government has imprisoned more than one million Uyghurs and subjected those not detained to forced production of garments, electronics, home decorations and more.
As stated by Senator Jordon Steele-John, Australian Greens spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Peace & Nuclear Disarmament:
“The Australian Government must do all it can to ensure that human rights are upheld globally.
Amending the Customs Act would enforce a global ban. It would send a clear message to all countries that Australia sees modern slavery as unacceptable and that our community will not accept goods that have been produced by forced labour.
“We are calling on the Australian Labor Party to support this change, as they did in opposition. We have the opportunity to pass the Greens amendments when the Customs Act is next before the parliament. We could see this parliament take immediate action to stop forced labour imports and no longer have Australia implicated in these horrific human rights abuses.
“It’s time for Australia to no longer fall behind, and join countries like Canada and the United States who have implemented a ban.
As stated by Carolyn Kitto, Be Slavery Free:
‘No-one wants to buy products which have been produced through another person being in slavery like conditions. The social licence to be exposed to such goods is rapidly disappearing. The Australian Government needs to catch up with the desire of the Australian people and the practices of others globally in banning the import of products made with forced and child labour.
If we truly want a level playing field for Australian business we need to make it easier for companies seeking to do the right thing for people to work freely in their supply chains.
We risk becoming a dumping ground for products made with forced labour which are banned from entering the USA, Mexico, Canada, the European Union and the UK.
We have seen the effectiveness of ‘forced labour ban legislations’ in driving change in labour rights for marginalised workers.
ENDS
Media release from the Australian Greens, published 1 June, 2023. Read original.
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An investigation reveals Socfin’s exploitation of rubber and palm oil in West Africa, leading to deforestation, landgrabbing, and shocking human rights abuses.
PepsiCo’s supply chain is linked to environmental and human rights violations in Peru, involving Amazon deforestation and Indigenous land invasion. For three years, palm oil from deforested Shipibo-Konibo territory has been used in…
Encounter the Wondiwoi tree-kangaroo. Rediscovered in 2018, these rare marsupials from West Papua are a symbol of hope amidst threats from palm oil, hunting
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
Sunda #pangolins, also known as the Malayan or Javan pangolins, possess quirky traits that make them truly intriguing. They are capable swimmers and have a remarkable defense mechanism of curling into a protective ball, walk in an upside-down manner, and communicate through scale vibrations. As consummate insectivores, they rely on their long, sticky tongues to extract ants and termites from mounds. These pangolins have a slow metabolism, lack teeth but have a gizzard-like structure, and feature a specialised digestive system. To protect these unique creatures and their habitat, it’s crucial to take action. Join the movement and raise awareness about their primary threat #poaching and also by boycotting palm oil, which is also contributing towards their demise and putting them at risk of extinction. Help them every time you shop and be #vegan #Boycottpalmoil and #Boycott4Wildlife in the supermarket
Sunda #Pangolins have no teeth and their scales vibrate to help them communicate. They’re critically #endangered due to #palmoil #deforestation 🌴🔥🙊🚫 and #poaching in #Indonesia and #Malaysia. Help them when you shop! #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/07/16/tbc-sunda-pangolin-manis-javanica/
Fascinating #Sunda #Pangolins curl up like #pokemons 🏀🤯 to evade predators. They’re facing #extinction due to rampant #palmoil #deforestation and #poaching in South East Asia. Fight for them! #BoycottPalmOil 🌴🪔🩸💀⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/07/16/tbc-sunda-pangolin-manis-javanica/
Sunda pangolins use a fascinating behaviour called “scale vibrations” to communicate with each other. By contracting and relaxing their muscles, they create subtle vibrations that can be sensed by other pangolins through their scales. These vibrations likely play a role in social interactions and mate selection.
Appearance & Behaviour
Here are some quirky facts about Sunda Pangolins which demonstrate their reign as one of the most fascinating creatures in the entire animal kingdom:
Walking on the ceiling: Sunda pangolins have an interesting way of moving about. When they are on the ground, they walk on their hind legs with their forelimbs curled upwards. This peculiar method of locomotion is commonly referred to as the “upside-down walk.”
Defensive and protective curl: When Sunda pangolins feel threatened, they have a unique defense mechanism. They curl up into a tight ball, using their scales as a protective armor. This posture makes it incredibly challenging for predators to attack them effectively.
Consummate Insectivores: Sunda pangolins have an exceptionally specialised diet. They are insectivores, primarily feeding on ants and termites. Their long, sticky tongues, which can be longer than their body length, allow them to probe deep into termite mounds and anthills to extract their prey.
Their scales vibrate: Sunda pangolins use a fascinating behaviour called “scale vibrations” to communicate with each other. By contracting and relaxing their muscles, they create subtle vibrations that can be sensed by other pangolins through their scales. These vibrations likely play a role in social interactions and mate selection.
They have no teeth: Unlike most #mammals, Sunda pangolins lack teeth. However, they possess a muscular stomach and a unique adaptation known as a gizzard-like structure. They swallow small stones or grit, which aids in grinding up their insect prey within the digestive system.
They have a slow Metabolism: Sunda pangolins have a relatively slow metabolism, which contributes to their low energy requirements. This metabolic trait allows them to survive on a diet consisting mainly of insects, which provide them with the necessary nutrients and energy.
Their unusual digestive system: The digestive system of Sunda pangolins is adapted to handle their specialised diet. It features a long and complex intestine to maximize nutrient absorption, enabling them to extract as many nutrients as possible from the insects they consume.
Threats
Sunda Pangolins are heavily threatened and are now critically endangered. Their main threat is from hunting and poaching for local and international use. Their secondary threat is habitat destruction across their range for palm oil, timber and other crops.
Demand comes from China and Vietnam: this drives the illegal trade in poaching, involving large quantities of live and dead animals, meat, and scales. Sophisticated trade routes exist over land and sea, contributing to the decline of Sunda Pangolin populations.
Palm oil deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia: accelerates poaching with increased access to animals from deforestation activities.
Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica) are found across Southeast Asia. Their range includes countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and the islands of Borneo, Java, Sumatra, and the Lesser Sunda Islands.
In terms of habitat, Sunda pangolins prefer forested environments, including primary, secondary, and scrub forests. They can also be found in plantations such as rubber and palm oil plantations. These pangolins have adapted to spend a significant portion of their lives in trees, making use of their prehensile tails for climbing.
Diet
Sunda pangolins primarily feed on ants and termites, making them insectivores. Their diet consists mainly of these small invertebrates. They use their long, sticky tongues to probe into termite mounds and ant hills, collecting the insects as their main source of sustenance. The lack of teeth in pangolins is compensated by their specialised tongues and digestive system, which are well-adapted to consuming large amounts of ants and termites. This diet of ants and termites provides the necessary nutrients and energy for Sunda pangolins to thrive in their natural habitats.
Mating and breeding
Pangolins are fascinating creatures that give birth to one or two offspring annually. Their breeding season takes place in autumn, and females carefully select winter burrows where they give birth. They prefer mature forest tree hollows for added fortification and stability during the birthing and nurturing process.
Parental care lasts for about three months, during which the mother’s range significantly decreases as she travels and forages alongside her young. Only in the weeks before the offspring becomes independent, brief bursts of diurnal activity may be observed. Pangolins are typically solitary and nocturnal, using their ability to roll into protective balls to safeguard their vulnerable underparts when feeling threatened.
They are skilled diggers, creating burrows lined with vegetation near termite mounds and ant nests for insulation. Sunda pangolins are believed to engage in polygynous breeding, with males mating with multiple females.
The gestation period lasts around 130 days, and newborn pangolins have soft scales that harden shortly after birth. Weighing between 100 to 500 grams, the young are nursed by the females for three months, who display strong protective behaviour. During their travels and foraging, the baby pangolins often ride on their mother’s tail, and when danger looms, the mother instinctively curls up into a tight ball, providing a secure haven for her young.
Support Sunda Pangolins 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.
Further Information
Challender, D., Willcox, D.H.A., Panjang, E., Lim, N., Nash, H., Heinrich, S. & Chong, J. 2019. Manis javanica. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T12763A123584856. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T12763A123584856.en. Accessed on 02 June 2023.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
Cryptic and solitary #marsupials, Waigeo #cuscus 🐒 cling to tree canopies on Waigeo Island #WestPapua, they are vulnerable from #palmoil 🌴🪔🩸💀⛔️ #deforestation. Help them and go #vegan and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/07/09/waigeo-cuscus-spilocuscus-papuensis/
Pocket sized cuties 🧸😻🩷 Waigeo #Cuscus are #vulnerable due to #palmoil #deforestation on a tiny island in #WestPapua. Fight for their survival, go #vegan 🥦🍅 and #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔🔥🧐🏂🙈🚫 #Boycott4Wildlife each time you shop https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/07/09/waigeo-cuscus-spilocuscus-papuensis/ via @palmoildetect
Waigeo Cuscus, also known as the Waigeou Spotted Cuscus are cryptic and solitary marsupials of the family Phalangeridae. Not much is known about their ecology and behaviour and more research is needed in this area.
Waigeo Cuscus like other cuscus species have a strong prehensile tail that allows them to swing and hang in tree canopies.
Different cuscus species have eyes of varying colours. Waigeo Cuscuses have amber or orange eyes with have vertical pupils, similar to a cats or reptiles. This allows cuscuses to have superior night time vision. Like other cuscus, Waigeo Cuscuses have long nails to help with grip on tree branches and for grooming.
Geographical range
They are restricted to a small islet off the coast of the West Papua province called Waigeo Island. They prefer to live in primary or secondary tropical forests.
Threats
Their isolated and small geographic location makes their existence fragile and threatened by increased palm oil deforestation and mining in Waigeo Island, which is now taking place. An increase in hunting, mining and palm oil deforestation on the island would have a disastrous impact on this species.
Waigeo Cuscuses are classified as Vulnerable on IUCN Red List as they face many human-related threats including:
Hunting and human persecution: These cuscus are hunted for their meat and fur.
Mining: Mining concessions on Waigeo Island have been sold and this limits the geographic range of the Waigeo Cuscus across the small island.
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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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
Known for their expressive big eyes, Peruvian Night Monkeys are one of the rarest and most beautiful monkeys in the world. They are critically endangered by gold mining, palm oil and meat deforestation. Help them every time you shop and be vegan, #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife!
Known for their big emotive eyes, Peruvian Night Monkeys are one of the most beautiful #monkeys in the world 🐵🫶💝 They are critically #endangered by #palmoil and #meat #deforestation. Help them and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/07/02/andean-night-monkey-aotus-miconax/
Fight for Andean Night Monkeys – they are critically endangered from #mining, #palmoil #meat deforestation in their rainforest home 🥺😨 Help them by being #vegan and #Boycottpalmoil 🌴⛔️🧐 #Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop! @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/07/02/andean-night-monkey-aotus-miconax/
Andean Night Monkeys (also known as Peruvian Night Monkeys) are one of the rarest and least studied of all New World monkeys. They live in the cloud forests of northern Peru and are critically endangered.
Appearance & Behaviour
Andean Night Monkeys weigh around 1 kilo and range in colour between grey and light brown with distinctive black and white markings to the face.
Their chest and upper body are an orange hue and they are thought to live in the cloud forest at altitudes of 900-2,800 metres above sea level in the Amazonas, Huanuco and San Martin regions. They are known for their large expressive eyes which enable them to see well in the deeply shaded darkness of the cloud forest.
Threats
They are mainly threatened by deforestation for palm oil and soy monoculture, mining and meat across their range.
Collection for the pet trade is also an increasing threat.
Illegal hunting for human consumption.
Andean Night Monkeys (Aotus miconax) are endemic to Peru, where they are threatened by deforestation, habitat disturbance and hunting. Shanee et al. (2015), conducting field surveys from 2009 to 2013 and using combined GIS and ecological niche modelling, estimated the species’ original extent of suitable habitat at close to 33,000 km², the third lowest of the 11 Aotus species. Of this, approximately 17,700 km² of suitable habitat remained at the completion of those surveys, representing a loss of close to 50% (up to 2013).
Forest loss and fragmentation continue, especially within the peripheral areas of this species’ range, with an expansion of mining and large-scale monocultures reaching higher into the Andean foothills. Hunting for food follows immigration into new areas, with young night monkeys also routinely taken as pets in the process. Given that this species appears to adapt to shrinking habitats, their rate of decline may not be as precipitous, but this is still sufficiently significant to qualify them as threatened.
IUCN red list
Habitat
They are found in primary and secondary forest and small forest patches in the humid montane cloud forests, and white sand forests.
Similar to other Night Monkeys of the Aotus Genus they are mostly nocturnal and spend the majority of the night time on the move. One study found that they spend 54% travelling, 13% resting and 33% of the time feeding during the night, with activity peaking at the beginning of each night.
Diet
Little is known of the diet of this species, however it is thought that their diet is mostly frugivorous with occasional buds and insects also consumed.
Mating and breeding
Peruvian Night Monkeys are highly gregarious and social, they form monogamous partnerships and live in small family groups of 2-6 individuals made up of young infants, sub-adults and solitary individuals of both sexes. Males are responsible for carrying and caring for infants.
Support Andean Night Monkeys by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the #Boycott4Wildlife
You can support this beautiful animal
There are no known conservation activities for this animal. Share out this post to social media and join the #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife on social media to raise awareness
Further Information
Shanee, S., Cornejo, F.M. & Mittermeier, R.A. 2020. Aotus miconax (amended version of 2019 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T1802A164046186. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-1.RLTS.T1802A164046186.en. Accessed on 06 February 2023.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
The conversion of forests to agricultural land is happening at a mind-boggling speed. Between 2015 and 2020, the rate of deforestation was estimated at around 10 million hectares every year. From a climate and carbon point of view, we know that cutting down trees at this scale is devastating. But the impacts run deeper: 75% of the world’s accessible fresh water arises from forested watersheds. Want an easy way to fight #climatechange and #deforestation? Stop #eating meat and #dairy and eat #mushrooms 🍄🥦🍅🍌 fruit and veg instead! #Boycottmeat and be #vegan #Boycott4Wildlife
And with 80% of the world’s population facing a threat to their water security, trees play a very significant role in stemming desertification and preventing soil erosion. They also protect against flooding in coastal areas as well as being home to a huge number of species, many of which are important crop pollinators.
What can you do? Stop eating meat and eat mushrooms instead!
We know that different foods have different footprints. Reducing the quantity of animal-based products will have a huge impact. In fact, eating less meat is one of the most potent changes that people in the west can make to help save the planet.
But what if we could go further? What if, instead of having farming and forestry in direct conflict, we could develop a system that allows food production and forest on the same parcel of land?
This is exactly what our latest research focuses on, looking at fungi that grow in partnership with trees, in a mutually beneficial arrangement. This is a common association and some species can produce large mushroom fruiting bodies, such as the highly prized truffle. Aside from this delicacy, cultivation of these species is a new and emerging field. But progress is especially being made in one group known as milk caps, that include a beautiful and unusually bright blue species known as Lactarius indigo, or the blue milk cap.
High in dietary fibre and essential fatty acids, this edible mushroom’s blue pigmentation means they are easy to identify safely. With extracts demonstrating antibacterial properties and an ability to kill cancer cells, the blue milk cap could also be a source of pharmacological potential.
Paul Thomas/University of Stirling, Author provided
Iin our paper, we describe how to cultivate this species, from isolation in the lab to creating young tree saplings with roots inoculated with this symbiotic fungus. These trees can then be planted at scale in suitable climate zones ranging from Costa Rica to the US. As the tree and fungus’s partnership matures, they start to produce these incredible mushrooms packed with protein.
The agriculture on cleared forested land is dominated by pastoral beef production where around 4.76-6.99kg of protein per hectare per year is produced. But, if this system was replaced with planting trees hosting the milk cap fungus, the same parcel of land could produce 7.31kg of protein every year. The mushrooms can be consumed fresh, processed or the protein content can be extracted to produce other food items.
Pictured: Mushrooms on the forest floor by Wooter Penning for Pexels
This would lead to more food production, with all the benefits forests bring and without the environmental burdens of intensive farming such as fertiliser, water use or the growing of additional feed. Beef farming contributes to climate change by emitting greenhouse gases, but as these fungus-inoculated trees grow, they draw down carbon from the atmosphere, helping in our fight against the climate crisis. So, as well as producing more food, the process can also enhance biodiversity, aid conservation, act as a carbon sink for greenhouses gases and help stimulate economic development in rural areas.
Forests are still being bulldozed to make way for agricultural land for palm oil and beef production. Richard Whitcombe/Shutterstock
In Mexico, harvesting is often a family activity where fungi are traded informally or exchanged for goods and in neighbouring Guatemala, the blue milk cap is listed as one of the most popular edible mushrooms. So there is economic potential and community empowerment at a smaller local scale as well as trading opportunities for national and international corporations.
We believe this approach is cheaper – or more cost effective – than beef farming. But this is a new technology and like all new innovations, support is needed. This means further research and proper financial investment to develop the technology to a point where agribusinesses feel confident to invest at scale.
But even with support, there must also be demand for the end product. Doubtless with health and environmental concerns in mind, the proportion of meat eaters who have reduced or limited the amount of meat they consume has risen from 28% in 2017 to 39% in 2019, according to market research. And sales of meat-free foods are expected to reach £1.1 billion by 2024. Clearly there’s a market, as ordinary people endeavour to do their bit for the planet. With so much at stake we must urgently pursue the promising options that fungi provide.
Here are some other ways you can help by using your wallet as a weapon and joining the #Boycott4Wildlife
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.
Barasinghas Cervus duvauceli also known as Swamp Deers, are instantly recognisable for their enormous handsome antlers. They can have as many as 12 antlers and their namesake Barasinghas means ’12 antlered deer’ in Hindi. They are now one of the most endangered deer species in the world due to habitat fragmentation for palm oil and beef, along with human persecution and hunting. The only remaining population live in protected sanctuaries in India and Nepal. The herd will be led by a single female and then followed by other females in a procession and then the males follow along at the rear of the group. Despite this, females are not dominant over the herd. These resilient, tough and majestic deer species are classified vulnerable on IUCN Red List. If you want to help them, adopt a #Vegan lifestyle and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife in the supermarket!
Handsome #Barasinghas of #India 🇮🇳 #Nepal 🇳🇵 have huge antlers 🦌😻 They are one of the most endangered #deer species in the 🌎 due to #hunting and #palmoil #deforestation. Help save them! 🌴🪔🩸🚜🔥🧐🚫 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/06/25/barasingha-cervus-duvauceli/
#Barasingha mean “12 Antlered #Deer” in #Hindi 🦌🤎 Major threats include #meat and #palmoil #ecocide in #India 🇮🇳 and #Nepal 🇳🇵 along with #poaching 🏹 Take action for them and be #vegan 🥦🍅 #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🩸🙊⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/06/25/barasingha-cervus-duvauceli/
Barasinghas are a highly social and strongly matriarchal deer species. They typically gather in herds of 10-2o individual deers.
Herds are mostly made up of deer of similar age. Although herds may sometimes be mixed in age and gender. The herd will be led by a single female and then followed by other females in a procession and then the males follow along at the rear of the group. Despite this, females are not dominant over other members of the herd. Males are known to move between herds, whereas females are more loyal to their own herd. Like many other deer species, males are generally referred to as ‘bucks’ and dominant males a ‘stags’.
They are naturally diurnal and active throughout the day. They will typically rest during the heat of midday and spend the dawn and dusk grazing.
Juvenile males will sport smaller antlers that are an extension to their bones and have blood vessels inside of them. This coating of blood vessels or ‘felt’ is lost over time, as the young deers will rub the antlers against trees to toughen the antlers up.
Young male Barasinghas with fuzzy antlers by SlowmotionGli for Getty Images
Threats
There are three sub-species of Barasinghas and in total IUCN Red List estimates that there are only 3,500 to 5,100 left alive. They are classified as Vulnerable. Only a small number of Barasinghas live in protected zones, including:
350-500 animals in Kaziranga National Park
300-350 animals in Kanha National Park
Barasinghas face multiple human-related threats:
Palm oil deforestation: A significant part of their range is being destroyed for palm oil. They rely on mangroves and swamps and these are drained and destroyed to make way for palm oil.
Hunting: Hunters often deliberately seek out these deer for their extraordinary antlers.
Livestock deforestation: Livestock grazing and other agricultural expansion.
Barasingha Cervus duvauceli – India – Asia – threatsBarasingha Cervus duvauceli – India – Asia – #Boycott4Wildlife
Habitat
The Barasingha is faces multiple anthropogenic threats which has heavily fragmented their range in north and central India and south west Nepal. They prefer riparian and riverine habitats close to floodplains, wetlands, mangroves and swamps as well as riversides. They are also fund in woodlands and deciduous forests.
Diet
Barasinghas are herbivorous mammals and they provide a vital ecosystem service by ensuring that plants are kept under control with their grazing habits. They generally stick with a diet of foliage, leaves and grass. Some Barasinghas living in wetlands will supplement this diet with algae and aquatic vegetation.
A Barasingha eating algae
by CGToolbox for Getty Images
Mating and breeding
Dominant males in herds will mate with a group of females known as a harem. Males in herds will engage in bloody and violent conflicts with each other for mating rights during the rutting season. Male ‘bucks’ call for female ‘does’ using a series of bugling and barking sounds to indicate their readiness to mate. Mating season is between October and February.
Females give birth typically to only one fawn after around eight months of pregnancy. Occasionally twins occur. The fawn is weaned by six to eight months, and after two years, young females reach sexual maturity.
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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.
Further Information
Duckworth, J.W., Kumar, N.S., Pokharel, C.P., Sagar Baral, H. & Timmins, R. 2015. Rucervus duvaucelii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T4257A22167675. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T4257A22167675.en. Accessed on 12 November 2022.
Barasingha Cervus duvauceli – India – Asia – #Boycott4Wildlife
How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
Ecolabels like RSPO and FSC are involved in networks of extensive greenwashing. They exist to conceal corporations’ environmental damage rather than fighting it. With three decades dubious promises from environmental certifications, World Rainforest Movement calls for a swift end to this disgraceful palm oil, soy and timber industry greenwashing. You can help resist palm oil colonialism and ecocide #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop!
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.
Even when it comes to buying an airplane ticket, consumers can pay a little more to ensure that their carbon emissions are (supposedly) “neutralised”, so as to guarantee that much touted “sustainability”.
So why is there this need for so many labels and forms of certification? What is actually being certified? And who is benefiting from this?
After 30 years of certification schemes with environmental and social bias, what is clear is that the only “sustainability” that they guarantee is that of corporations’ lucrative business.
The first environmental certification mechanism for a specific product (wood) and its production chain emerged in the early 1990s, with the creation of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Although its origin is connected with civil society pressure on corporations, FSC has been fully incorporated into the production logic of logging companies operating in forests, of giant paper and pulp corporations using tree monoculture plantations, as well as of producers and distributors of consumer goods.
Over time, having shown that it did not constitute any threat – on the contrary: an opportunity – to the accumulation strategy of the corporations involved, other sectors started creating similar mechanisms. Hence, starting in the 2000s, initiatives and so-called roundtables for “sustainable” or “responsible” production of palm oil, soybeans, cocoa, sugarcane, among others, proliferated.
Greenwashing ecocide – Agropalma & Orangutan Land Trust
These “sustainable” initiatives have various aspects in common
1. They are dominated, compromised and funded by corporate interests
They are schemes that present themselves as non-profit associations including many apparently diverse actors and interests (companies, NGOs, governments etc.) However, in practice, the business sector participants andtheir allies, like the big conservationist NGOs, dominate these initiatives and impose their interests in a highly unequal power relation between the members.
2. They promote toothless and unenforceable guidelines
They are mechanisms that establish operational guidelines and directives for companies to adhere to on a voluntary bases, leaving no possibility of legal consequences when rules are broken – rules formulated and judged by the companies themselves, it should be noted.
3. They promote an endless growth model of capitalism in spite of our limited and finite natural world
They are initiatives submitted to the logic of the market and its expansion, that is to say, certification labels have become important both to obtain funding for companies’ expansion projects and to win over consumers, mainly urban consumers and those from the global North. Read more about the limits of the Endless growth model.
4. The mechanism for conflict resolution is set and decided upon by the certification label itself – amplifying racial and gender inequities
They are mechanisms headquartered in countries of the North, and with management boards mainly composed of men and white people, leaving the rural communities of the South that have to face the certified plantations, to play the role of mere receivers of determinations imposed from outside about the use of the space where they live. And if they want to question the actions of any of the certified companies, they must submit to the protocol created by the certification system itself on how to proceed.
5. They use greenwashing language and false promises even though this does not reflect reality
Certification schemes are used by companies as defence mechanisms whenever they are faced with criticism over the impacts of their activities:
“Our products are certified…”, “The project has certification…”, as if this has guaranteed that there is no cause for concern.
One way or another, such certification mechanisms have not stopped the destructive expansion of industrial tree plantations, oil palms, soy, etc. Read more about using Design and Words as a greenwashing tool.
6. The predatory nature of corporate land-grabbing and expansionism cannot ever work in favour of indigenous peoples
Certification labels have not been able to resolve the conflicts generated with traditional communities and Indigenous Peoples. Nor do they have the potential to do so, since they are designed to allow the continuity and expansion of corporate accumulation patterns that are intrinsically dependent on a predatory dynamic.
In fact, the main common denominator of such certification schemes is that they guarantee a green label to the companies involved, thus contributing to their primary objective, i.e., the maximisation of profit.
7. Certification labels like FSC and RSPO are vital to for companies gain consumer buy-in and greenwash away harms
Certifiers have hence become a key element through which companies seek to legitimize their territorial and economic expansion in the global South, deceiving consumers with the “sustainability” discourse.
In other words, these destructive corporations need certification labels to obtain some legitimacy in the eyes of consumers and investors, bearing in mind the vast number of reports, news and studies showing their harmful effects, such as:
Violent corporate land-grabbing aided by private enforcement or military/police intervention
Problematic, deceptive or non-existent community consultation processes
Contamination by agro-chemicals and its human health and environmental impacts
Soil degradation
Dangerous and humiliating jobs
Sexual abuse and other forms of violence against women
Child slavery and indentured slavery
among many other impacts related to extensive monoculture plantations.
This permits one to affirm without reservation that certification itself has become an underlying cause of deforestation.
When a brand makes token changes while continuing with deforestation, ecocide or human rights abuses in another part of their business – this is ‘Hidden Trade Off’
For example, Nestle talks up satellite monitoring to stop palm oil deforestation. Yet…
Claiming a brand or commodity is ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’ based on broad generalisations, unclear language or vague statements Jump to section Greenwashing: Vagueness in Language Greenwashing: Vagueness in certification standards Reality: Auditing of RSPO a failure Quote: EIA: Who Watches…
Claiming a brand or commodity is green based on unreliable, ineffective endorsements or eco-labels such as the RSPO, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or FairTrade coffee and cocoa. Greenwashing: Fake Labels and fake certifications Ecolabels are designed to reassure consumers that…
Learn how lobbyists use irrelevant information and deflection to shift the conversation away from their environmental harms, e.g. “sustainable” palm oil.
Claiming that a brand, commodity or industry is greener than others in the same category, in order to excuse ecocide, deforestation, human rights and animal rights abuses. Jump to section Greenwashing: Lesser of Two Evils: Palm Oil Uses Less Land…
Greenwashing lies are falsifying support from authorities to back up claims or using spurious research data to back up the greenwashing, boycott palm oil!
Greenwashing Tactic 8. Companies use design principles and subliminal language to signal ‘greenness’ and trigger unconscious emotional responses in consumers
Gaslighting, harassing or stalking vocal critics of a brand, commodity or industry certification in order to silence these critics – this is greenwashing!
Learn ten marketing and PR tactics used for “sustainble” palm oil greenwashing to justify endless growth by the palm oil industry. Boycott palm oil now!
New forms of greenwashing: Carbon Credits and Biodiversity Credits
Furthermore, it is important to mention that the idea of certification has been taking on new shapes. With the creation of offset mechanisms for carbon emissions and biodiversity loss, new commodities have emerged already linked to certification mechanisms. In this new market, carbon credits and biodiversity credits – issued by certification schemes – represent a supposed guarantee that greenhouse gas emissions or the destruction of biodiversity are being duly offset elsewhere.
Differently from wood, paper, palm oil or soybeans, where the certification is “added” to the product by means of a label, in the carbon or biodiversity markets it is the certification itself that makes it feasible for the product to be consumed.
In other words, the commodity in itself is supposedly a guarantee – though a virtual guarantee, obtained through dubious methodologies and permeated by openly suspect interests.
This compilation of articles from the WRM Bulletin aims to underscore the damaging role played by companies and organisations involved in certification schemes. WRM considers it important to highlight that after three decades with ever more environmental certification labels on the market, it is urgent to put an end to this greenwashing.
Ultimately, instead of combating environmental devastation and the social ills linked to corporations’ and other players’ operations, these labels cover up and sustain their destructive logic.
The industrial plantation model is intrinsically linked with patriarchal oppression, serving as a cornerstone for corporate profitability. Companies often exploit women, recognizing their integral role within community dynamics, as a means to augment their bottom line. The intersection of gender and economic exploitation exemplifies the profound social implications of this oppressive system.
The RSPO certification, cleverly turning the palm oil industry’s legitimacy crisis to its favor, uses it as a stepping stone to further strengthen the industry’s position. It provides certificates claiming to meet sustainability standards—a clear advantage to the industry. However, it’s important to note that these standards are largely controlled by and designed to benefit companies operating within the palm oil sector itself.
Implementing gender policies in oil palm companies and the RSPO certification scheme is a start. But do they truly tackle the violence, patriarchy, and racism in the plantation model, or merely mask them? It’s crucial to examine how these policies are enacted and if they genuinely drive substantial change, or just scratch the surface of these systemic issues.
The harsh realities of violence, mass killings, and forced relocations amid the armed conflict in Colombia have disturbingly paved the way for the expansion of industrial oil palm cultivation. The palm oil company and RSPO member Poligrow, has been significantly implicated in these issues, with credible allegations of land seizure and intimidation tactics within the region of Mapiripán.
Language never operates in a vacuum. Historically, specific terms have been leveraged as tools for exercising control over populations and territories. This article throws light on certain terms which, while seemingly positive, often shield economic interests detrimental to forests, forest animals and forest peoples.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is a widely used certification system promising environmental, safety, and human rights standards in the palm oil industry. However, Friends of the Earth Africa groups contest its effectiveness, citing ongoing environmental degradation, human rights breaches, biodiversity loss, and increased poverty in Africa linked to the activities of palm oil companies.
The palm industry in Ecuador, encompassing 270,000 hectares of plantations, has been using the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification to project an image of sustainability, setting itself apart from Asian palm oil. However, critics argue that this certification merely muffles community objections. Resistance from communities such as La Chiquita, Guadualito, and Barranquilla de San Javier in the Esmeraldas region continues to fuel discontent and foster international solidarity.
Nearly 1,500 members of MALOA in Sierra Leone are challenging RSPO’s certification of a SOCFIN subsidiary. They cite a string of conflicts and grievances tied to land use. This move follows controversial certifications of SOCFIN group’s operations in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast. Critics question if RSPO, perceived as industry-biased, can truly guarantee sustainability and human rights in the palm oil sector.
The Palmas del Ixcán company in Guatemala is accused of implementing systematic dispossession of land from indigenous communities for oil palm cultivation, using tactics such as deceptive RSPO certification and independent producers. The company’s strategic approach replaced the traditional collective land management by indigenous people in the Municipality of Ixcán, which had been disrupted by development plans since the 1960s. Despite filing a complaint to the RSPO and participating in consultations, the communities found their concerns disregarded, leading them to criticize the RSPO and label it a sham, asserting that its true intention is to facilitate palm planting at any cost.
C4ADS analysis shows that the food conglomerates that feed millions—including giants such as Nestlé, Cargill, Adani Wilmar, IOI, Olenex and more —continue to enable forced labor through their indiscriminate import of tainted palm…
Corporate monopolies drive land grabbing for palm oil, worsening the climate crisis. Indigenous peoples in Asia resist. Join the fight. #BoycottPalmOil
Today is ‘International Day of Struggle Against Monoculture Plantations’. World Rainforest Movement have produced a powerful video to highlight the Ugandan people’s struggle against BIDCO an international company partly owned by global palm…
The race is on to find a real solution to stop palm oil ecocide. For several years now, several new #biotech companies have been busy generating alternatives to palm oil that are healthier…
What does the $60 billion USD palm oil industry have in common with Big Tobacco? A lot according to this report by the World Health Organisation. Palm oil industry lobbying tactics are used…
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
Extant (resident): The Democratic Republic of the Congo
Dryas #Monkeys are secretive and vividly colourful monkeys who hang on to survival in the forests of the #Congo. Tragically, there is estimated to only be 100-250 individual monkeys still alive. They are fruit-eaters and play a critical role in ensuring the dispersion of seeds and therefore the future health of the DRC’s #rainforests. They are preyed upon by leopards in the Congo basin. However, the main threat they face is the illegal poaching and hunting by humans for #bushmeat, along with #deforestation for #palmoil, #mining and other commodities. Fight for their survival every time you shop, be #vegan and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
Vividly coloured and social Dryas #Monkeys 🌈😎🐵🐒🧐 hang to survival in #Congo 🇨🇩 #DRC #Africa. There are only 100-250 of them left 😿 Help save them each time you shop @palmoildetect #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife 🌴🪔💩☠️🚜🔥⛔️https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/06/11/dryas-monkey-chlorocebus-dryas/
Dryas #Monkeys are secretive colourful monkeys in #Congo #Africa 🇨🇩🇨🇬🐒🐵🙉 They are endangered by #palmoil 🌴🔥 and #mining 🪔🔥 #deforestation. Fight for them and use your wallet as a weapon #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🧐⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/06/11/dryas-monkey-chlorocebus-dryas/
Stunning and striking colourations are the signature of the Dryas Monkey. They have black mask-like faces that are ringed with white and surrounded by a vivid orange or yellow necks and chests. Their backs are dark brown and their limbs are black. Their bellies and the inside of their arms and legs are a pale cream colour. Males have a vividly blue scrotum and anogenital region. Not all males have this and it’s thought to be related to age, health and status of the monkey in the troop. Females also have a blue rear end that is not as bright as males.
Gregarious and highly social, Dryas Monkeys live in groups of between 5 to 30 individuals of their own species and mixed multi-species groups as well, with red-tailed monkeys (C. ascanius). They communicate visually and through vocalisations with their own kind and with other species. They make chirps, murmurs, and chuckles to each other, they are considered to be quieter than other primates and their booming calls and screams.
Troops typically contain many young monkeys and females but only one male. Although occasionally groups with multiple males are found.
Staring is a form of intensive threat display that is used by Dryas Monkeys to intimidate others in a troop. During a staring contest – their eyes will stay fixed and focused while their eyebrows and forehead is retracted backwards.
They will often stare with an open-mouthed expression and bob their heads – this is also considered to be a threat and intimidation display, although more aggressive.
When females come into oestrus during the mating season, they will exhibit presenting behaviour to indicate to males that they are ready to mate.
Dryas Monkeys were listed as critically endangered, however their status was changed to endangered after they were found in eight locations in Lomami National Park indicating that their population is larger than once thought. Although their survival is still fragile and is threatened by increased deforestation throughout their range.
Dryas Monkey Chlorocebus dryas – Threats
Habitat
There is much that still needs to be uncovered about the behaviour, habits and culture of the Dryas Monkey. They are also known as the Salonga monkey, ekele, inoko, Dryad monkey, Dryas guenon and Salonga guenon. They live in the heart of the Congo Basin – the second largest remaining rainforest in the world after the Amazon. They live in two regions: the Kokolopori-Wamba area and the Lomami-Lualaba area.
Dryas monkeys prefer secondary lowland forest and swampland that has been disturbed by elephants, wind or floods.
Although they prefer to remain hidden and are cautious about human contact, they nevertheless live close to the edge of villages, homes and people’s gardens.
Diet
These monkeys prefer a diet of fruit, young leaves and flowers. However, food scarcity in different seasons of the year mean that they will eat invertebrates like insects as a supplement.
Mating and breeding
Dryas monkeys are likely polygynous, with each male mating with multiple females. Pregnancy lasts for approximately five months and mothers will only birth one baby and care for them after birth. Females reach sexual maturity at age five and males take a bit longer and will reach maturity at about six years old. Their expected lifespan in the wild is 10-15 years old. It is not known how long they would live in captivity, as to date no Dryas Monkeys are kept in captivity.
Support Dryas Monkeys by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the #Boycott4Wildlife
You can support this beautiful animal
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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
#Palmoil cultivation in #India’s northeast such as #Nagaland and #Assam is devastating natural ecology with increased human-animal conflicts and #ecocide leaving #animals, #forests and people at risk. Resist and fight back every time you shop and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Since the 1990s, India has prioritised palm oil production to reduce its import dependency and meet increasing consumer demand. Despite various initiatives to promote palm oil cultivation across the country, northeast Indian palm oil farmers face challenges forcing them to reconsider their crop choices. The dilemma also raises questions about striking a balance between India’s goals for self-sufficiency in edible oils and its climate goals for carbon neutrality, considering the ecological damage inherent to palm oil cultivation.
In Brief
Since 2016, palm oil cultivation in the state of Nagaland has increased by more than 3,000 per cent, due in large part to the Indian government’s introduction of the National Mission on Oilseed and Oil Palm in 2015-16 and a renewed push with the 2021 National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) that emphasises oil palm cultivation in northeast Indian states. Despite rapid growth in cultivation since these mission statements were activated, Nagaland farmers continually face water shortages, inadequate irrigation infrastructure, a lack of state support, and, more recently, a lack of buyers and processing capacity. As a result, they have disposed of palm kernels – or used them as animal feed – as they look for other crop options.
Implications
Over the past two decades, palm oil consumption in India has increased by approximately 230 per cent, and today India is the largest importer of palm oil globally. As palm oil is a part of almost 50 per cent of all packaged consumer products – edible and non-edible – it is not surprising to see the increasing global demand. The COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian war in Ukraine have caused significant supply-chain issues, spikes in global prices, and restrictions on edible oil exports from source countries as they seek to protect their domestic markets.
Roughly 56 per cent of India’s edible oil imports are palm oil, and over 90 per cent of the imported palm oil comes from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Given palm oil’s versatility and economic viability, the Indian government launched its oilseed initiatives to reduce India’s reliability on imports, contribute to the nation’s food security, and help address the growing unemployment rates in the country. Incorporating aspects of previous schemes, the NMEO-OP increased available funding and support systems for palm oil farmers in 13 Indian states. Under the 2021 scheme, the total area for palm oil cultivation is projected to increase threefold — to a whopping one million hectares — and crude palm oil production to 1.125 million tonnes by 2026. Most of the cultivation will occur in seven ecologically sensitive northeastern states and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Palm oil cultivation is already proving disastrous for the northeast’s natural ecology as tropical forests must be cleared to establish plantations. There have also been reports of increased human-animal conflicts in these impacted areas. Alleged misleading reporting of plantations as forest cover by state forest departments in national forest surveys has reportedly further concealed the environmental damage. Additionally, palm oil cultivation is water intensive.
As weather patterns change, uneven rainfall, flooding, and erosion in the northeast is causing damage to palm oil saplings, a situation compounded by a lack of sustainable irrigation systems suitable for the region’s hilly terrain. India also risks following in the footsteps of Indonesia and Malaysia, where 3.5 million hectares of forest were converted to palm oil plantations, resulting in a staggering biodiversity loss.
Leopard Panthera pardus – threatsBarasingha Cervus duvauceli – India – Asia – threatsAssam Rabbit (Hispid Hare) hispidus – threatsWild Water Buffalo Bubalus arneeDhole Canis Cuon alpinus – #Boycott4Wildlife Dhole/ Red Wolf eating in India, Guid00878 for Getty ImagesPygmy Hog Porcula salvania by Craig Jones Wildlife PhotographyRhino in Assam India by Craig Jones Wildlife Photography
Understanding palm oil-associated health risks and exploring alternatives: Studies show that palm oil contains 50 per cent triglycerides, and its regular consumption can clog arteries, increase heart disease risks, and heighten bad cholesterol levels. In terms of higher nutrient content, oil from rice bran, groundnut, sunflower, and oilseeds such as sesame, mustard, and linseed are healthier, but not as cost-effective. The less water-intensive sesame and mustard have long been cultivated by Indian farmers, and even rice can be utilised to increase oil extracts. With proper guidance and support in producing these alternative edible oils, India can decrease its reliance on palm oil altogether.
Produced by CAST’s South Asia team: Dr. Sreyoshi Dey (Program Manager); Prerana Das (Analyst); and Suyesha Dutta (Analyst).
Nestlé is destroying rainforests, releasing mega-tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, and killing hundreds of endangered species. Once these animals are gone – they are gone for good. See Nestlé’s full list of…
Despite global retail giant Colgate-Palmolive forming a coalition with other brands in 2020, virtue-signalling that they will stop all deforestation, they continue to do this – destroying rainforest and releasing mega-tonnes of carbon…
In 2020, global retail giant Unilever unveiled a deforestation-free supply chain promise. By 2023 they would be deforestation free. This has been and gone and they are still causing deforestation. This brand has…
Savvy consumers have been pressuring French Dairy multinational Danone for decades to cease using deforestation palm oil. Yet they actually haven’t stopped this. From their website: ‘Danone is committed to eliminating deforestation from…
Despite decades of promises to end deforestation for palm oil PepsiCo (owner of crisp brands Frito-Lay, Cheetos and Doritos along with hundreds of other snack food brands) have continued sourcing palm oil that…
Despite decades of promises to end deforestation for palm oil Procter & Gamble or (P&G as they are also known) have continued sourcing palm oil that causes ecocide, indigenous landgrabbing, and the habitat…
In late 2023, Kelloggs became Kellanova for their US arm. Savvy consumers have been pressuring Kelloggs for decades to cease using deforestation palm oil. Yet they actually haven’t stopped this. From their website:…
Global mega-brand Johnson & Johnson have issued a position statement on palm oil in 2020. ‘At Johnson & Johnson, we are committed to doing our part to address the unsustainable rate of global…
PZ Cussons is a British-owned global retail giant. They own well-known supermarket brands in personal care, cleaning, household goods and toiletries categories, such as Imperial Leather, Morning Fresh, Carex, Radiant laundry powder and…
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
“It turns out prevention of #pandemics really is the best medicine. We estimate we could greatly reduce the likelihood of another pandemic occuring by investing as little as 1/20th of the losses incurred so far from COVID into [#wildlife and #rainforest] conservation measures designed to help stop the spread of these viruses from wildlife to humans in the first place.” Professor Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University, who was co-lead author of the study. Fight against extinction every time you shop #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
This is a media release from Duke University published on February 4, 2022. Original study: “The Costs and Benefits of Primary Prevention of Zoonotic Pandemics,” A.S. Bernstein et. al. Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abl4183 View original.
Tens of billions spent on habitat and surveillance would avoid trillions of annual costs
DURHAM, N.C. – We can pay now or pay far more later. That’s the takeaway of a new peer-reviewed study, published Feb. 4 in the journal Science Advances, that compares the costs of preventing a pandemic to those incurred trying to control one.
“The bottom line is, if we don’t stop destroying the environment and selling wild species as pets, meat or medicine, these diseases are just going to keep coming. And as this current pandemic shows, controlling them is inordinately costly and difficult”.
~ Professor Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University.
“It turns out prevention really is the best medicine,” said Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University, who was co-lead author of the study. “We estimate we could greatly reduce the likelihood of another pandemic by investing as little as 1/20th of the losses incurred so far from COVID into conservation measures designed to help stop the spread of these viruses from wildlife to humans in the first place.”
A smart place to start, the study shows, would be investing in programs to end tropical deforestation and international wildlife trafficking, stop the wild meat trade in China, and improve disease surveillance and control in wild and domestic animals worldwide.
COVID, SARS, HIV, Ebola and many other viruses that have emerged in the last century originated in wild places and wild animals before spreading to humans, the study’s authors note. Tropical forest edges where humans have cleared more than 25% of the trees for farming or other purposes are hotbeds for these animal-to-human virus transmissions, as are markets where wild animals, dead or alive, are sold.
“Prevention is much cheaper than cures. Compared to the costs and social and economic disruptions associated with trying to control pathogens after they have already spread to humans, preventing epidemics before they break out is the ultimate economic bargain.”
~ Dr Aaron Bernstein of Boston Children’s Hospital and the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Art: Pandemics and Zoonotic Disease by Jo Frederiks
“It’s been two years since COVID emerged and the cure still isn’t working. Not enough people are vaccinated in the U.S, where shots are available and we can afford them, and not enough vaccines are going to other countries that can’t afford them.”
The new study, by epidemiologists, economists, ecologists, and conservation biologists at 21 institutions, calculates that by investing an amount equal to just 5% of the estimated annual economic losses associated with human deaths from COVID into environmental protection and early-stage disease surveillance, the risks of future zoonotic pandemics could be reduced by as much as half. That could help save around 1.6 million lives a year and reduce mortality costs by around $10 trillion annually.
“We’re talking about an investment of tens of billions of dollars a year. Government have that kind of money.”
~ Professor Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University.
Art: Eating animals causes pandemics by Jo Frederiks
One key recommendation of the new study is to use some of this money to train more veterinarians and wildlife disease biologists.
Another key recommendation is to create a global database of virus genomics that could be used to pinpoint the source of newly emerging pathogens early enough to slow or stop their spread, and, ultimately, speed the development of vaccines and diagnostic tests.
Aaron Bernstein of Boston Children’s Hospital and the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Andrew Dobson of Princeton University were co-lead authors of the study with Pimm.
The need to put preventive measures in place as soon as possible is increasingly urgent, said Dobson. “Epidemics are occurring more frequently, they are getting larger, and spreading to more continents.”
This is a media release from Duke University published on February 4, 2022. Original study: “The Costs and Benefits of Primary Prevention of Zoonotic Pandemics,” A.S. Bernstein et. al. Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abl4183 View original.
ENDS
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)
Nestlé is destroying rainforests, releasing mega-tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, and killing hundreds of endangered species. Once these animals are gone – they are gone for good. See Nestlé’s full list of…
Despite global retail giant Colgate-Palmolive forming a coalition with other brands in 2020, virtue-signalling that they will stop all deforestation, they continue to do this – destroying rainforest and releasing mega-tonnes of carbon…
In 2020, global retail giant Unilever unveiled a deforestation-free supply chain promise. By 2023 they would be deforestation free. This has been and gone and they are still causing deforestation. This brand has…
Savvy consumers have been pressuring French Dairy multinational Danone for decades to cease using deforestation palm oil. Yet they actually haven’t stopped this. From their website: ‘Danone is committed to eliminating deforestation from…
Despite decades of promises to end deforestation for palm oil PepsiCo (owner of crisp brands Frito-Lay, Cheetos and Doritos along with hundreds of other snack food brands) have continued sourcing palm oil that…
Despite decades of promises to end deforestation for palm oil Procter & Gamble or (P&G as they are also known) have continued sourcing palm oil that causes ecocide, indigenous landgrabbing, and the habitat…
In late 2023, Kelloggs became Kellanova for their US arm. Savvy consumers have been pressuring Kelloggs for decades to cease using deforestation palm oil. Yet they actually haven’t stopped this. From their website:…
Global mega-brand Johnson & Johnson have issued a position statement on palm oil in 2020. ‘At Johnson & Johnson, we are committed to doing our part to address the unsustainable rate of global…
PZ Cussons is a British-owned global retail giant. They own well-known supermarket brands in personal care, cleaning, household goods and toiletries categories, such as Imperial Leather, Morning Fresh, Carex, Radiant laundry powder and…
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.
The Quince Monitor Varanus melinus get their name from the spectacular bright yellow of their skin. This is a rare and elusive species of #monitor #lizard that lives in only one location in #Indonesia – the #Maluku Islands. Their muscular, wide stance and ancient dragon-like looks make them fascinating to behold. They are endangered primarily from #palmoil #deforestation throughout their range along with collection for the illegal #pettrade. They have no known protections in place. Help them every time you shop and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife in the supermarket and don’t buy these lizards as exotic pets as this is sending them extinct!
Quince monitors gain their names from their bright colouring reminiscent of the quince fruit.
These large and impressive lizards have a yellow head, back and tail along with striking contrasting bands of yellow and black across their limbs, face and neck. Juvenile quince monitors are darker and they get brighter yellow with age. They average around 80-120cm in total body length.
Threats
This species of lizard appears to be threatened through over-collection for the international pet trade, and also degradation and clearance of forested areas within their range (for both timber and agricultural expansion for palm oil). An additional potential threat is the introduction of the non-native toad, Duttaphrynus melanostictus, which may be toxic to this predatory monitor lizard (Koch et al. 2013, Weijola and Sweet 2010).
IUCN RED LIST
The Quince Monitor faces a range of anthropogenic threats:
An introduced, non-native toad, which is toxic to the lizards
Quince Monitor (Banggai Island Monitor) Varanus melinus – threatsQuince Monitor (Banggai Island Monitor) Varanus melinus – #Boycott4Wildlife
Habitat
Far more research is needed to understand the ecological needs of the Quince Monitor. They seem to have a preference for swamps, wetlands and forests. These large reptiles are also found close to human settlements.
In captivity, Quince monitors are known to eat crickets, mealworms, waxworms, roaches, frogs and eggs.
Mating and breeding
The generation length for this species requires further research. The reproductive age of this lizard, as revealed from captive breeding, may exceed seven years. A clutch consists of 2–12 eggs, with up to three clutches being laid per year and a minimum of 77 days between two clutches. The lizards reach reach 37–39.5 cm in length by 5.5 months and reach sexual maturity at 120 cm (male) or 90 cm (female).
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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.
Quince Monitor (Banggai Island Monitor) Varanus melinus – threats
How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
These species have no known conservation actions in place and are silently disappearing before we can save them. Do something about it by boycotting supermarket brands linked to tropical deforestation. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife
Locations: Bhutan; India (West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Assam); Nepal. Presence Uncertain: Bangladesh; India (Madhya Pradesh, Bihar)
Shy, solitary and wary Hispid hares are most active during dawn and dusk. They often take shelter from predation in tall grasses and the burrows of other animals. They are endangered by multiple human-related threats including palm oil deforestation in the #Assam region of #India and they also hold to survival in #Bhutan and #Nepal. Help them to survive and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
A medium-sized hare, they are typically 47 cm in height, with males being slightly smaller than females. Females weigh an average of 2.5kg, with pregnant females weighing an average of 3.2kg. They possess a bristly haired coat with a dark brown and black back and a creamy white abdomen. This enables them ample camouflage in a grassland environment.
Threats
The primary threat to Hispid Hare populations is habitat loss, caused by encroaching agriculture, logging, summer flooding, and human development (Bell et al. 1990).
IUCN RED LIST
The Indian Hare faces multiple anthropogenic threats including:
Hispid hares are found infrequently in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and possibly Bhutan. They live in tall grasslands and during the dry season. These areas are vulnerable to extreme weather events like fires and floods which are exacerbated by climate change. When these areas are under threat, the Hispid hare retreats to marshes and areas close to riverbanks.
Diet
Hispid hares are herbivores feeding mainly on roots of grasses, shoots, bark, and occasionally crops.
Mating and breeding
More research is needed to understand the mating and reproductive behaviour of these hares. From limited research, it is understood that they have a small litter size and that they are crepuscular, preferring both dawn and twlight for hunting.
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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.
भूटान; भारत (पश्चिम बंगाल, उत्तर प्रदेश, असम); नेपाल
उपस्थिति अनिश्चित
बांग्लादेश; भारत (मध्य प्रदेश, बिहार)
दिखावट और व्यवहार
एक मध्यम आकार का खरगोश, जो सामान्यतः 47 सेमी ऊँचा होता है, जिसमें नर मादा से थोड़े छोटे होते हैं। मादाओं का वजन औसतन 2.5 किग्रा होता है, जबकि गर्भवती मादाओं का वजन औसतन 3.2 किग्रा होता है। इनके पास एक कड़े बालों वाला कोट होता है जिसमें पीठ गहरे भूरे और काले रंग की होती है और पेट क्रीमी सफेद रंग का होता है। यह उन्हें घास के मैदान के वातावरण में पर्याप्त छद्मावरण प्रदान करता है।
हिस्पिड हेयर की आबादी के लिए प्राथमिक खतरा आवास की हानि है, जो कृषि के फैलाव, लकड़ी काटने, ग्रीष्मकालीन बाढ़ और मानव विकास (Bell et al. 1990) के कारण होती है।
IUCN रेड लिस्ट
भारतीय खरगोश कई मानवजनित खतरों का सामना कर रहे हैं, जिनमें शामिल हैं:
पाम तेल का विस्तार: उनके आवास का एक बड़ा हिस्सा पाम तेल के लिए नष्ट किया जा रहा है।
जलवायु परिवर्तन: जलवायु परिवर्तन के परिणामस्वरूप चरम मौसम, आग और बाढ़।
पशुधन चराई और अन्य कृषि विस्तार।
घटते आवास में भोजन के लिए अन्य जानवरों के साथ प्रतिस्पर्धा।
मानव उत्पीड़न।
आवास
हिस्पिड हेयर बांग्लादेश, भारत, नेपाल और संभवतः भूटान में कम ही पाए जाते हैं। ये लंबे घास के मैदानों में रहते हैं और शुष्क मौसम के दौरान। ये क्षेत्र आग और बाढ़ जैसी चरम मौसम की घटनाओं के लिए असुरक्षित हैं, जो जलवायु परिवर्तन से बढ़ रही हैं। जब ये क्षेत्र खतरे में होते हैं, तो हिस्पिड हेयर दलदल और नदी किनारे के क्षेत्रों में शरण लेते हैं।
आहार
हिस्पिड हेयर शाकाहारी होते हैं और मुख्यतः घास की जड़ों, अंकुर, छाल और कभी-कभी फसलों पर निर्भर रहते हैं।
प्रजनन और संतति
इन खरगोशों के प्रजनन और प्रजनन व्यवहार को समझने के लिए और अधिक शोध की आवश्यकता है। सीमित शोध से यह समझा गया है कि उनके पास छोटे कूड़े का आकार होता है और वे क्रेपसकुलर होते हैं, जो शिकार के लिए सुबह और शाम को प्राथमिकता देते हैं।
असम खरगोश का समर्थन करें
शाकाहारी बनकर और सुपरमार्केट में पाम तेल का बहिष्कार करके असम खरगोश का समर्थन करें, यह है #Boycott4Wildlife। आप इस खूबसूरत जानवर का समर्थन कर सकते हैं। इस प्रजाति के संरक्षण का समर्थन करें। इस जानवर की कोई सुरक्षा व्यवस्था नहीं है। अन्य भूले हुए प्रजातियों के बारे में यहाँ पढ़ें। इस भूले हुए जानवर का समर्थन करने के लिए कला बनाएं या इस पोस्ट को साझा करके और सोशल मीडिया पर #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife हैशटैग का उपयोग करके उनके बारे में जागरूकता बढ़ाएं। आप सुपरमार्केट में पाम तेल का बहिष्कार भी कर सकते हैं।
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According to a May 2023 report by Transparency International, the top 50 palm oil companies in Indonesia are beset by deep problems: a lack of transparency in company ownership and who are the ultimate beneficiaries of profits, conflicts of interest, revolving-door politics, and politically exposed persons within companies.
A report into corporate capture and corruption in Indonesia’s top 50 palm oil companies originally published in Baha Indonesia by Transparency International Indonesia. This report is summarised and analysed by Mongabay journalist Hans Nicholas Jong and republished by Eco-Business on May 5, 2023. Republished below. The Transparency International report’s conclusion is also translated and published below.
“Revolving door practices and cooling-off periods are still not widely recognised in Indonesia. In fact, the trend of businesspeople sponsoring political parties and then being appointed to public office – revolving door practices – is still a well-established practice.
“Even RSPO/ISPO certification cannot guarantee that a certified company is free from illegal and unsustainable practices”
Published by anticorruption NGO Transparency International Indonesia (TII), the report evaluates the top 50 palm oil companies in Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of palm oil. It focuses in particular on their disclosure practices with respect to their anticorruption programs, lobbying activities, company holdings, and key financial information.
This means there’s a general lack of transparency in palm oil companies’ political activities and how they can interfere with government policies, according to TII program officer Bellicia Angelica. In short, any government lobbying they carry out is done without much scrutiny and monitoring, leading to policies and regulations that are favourable to them, she said.
“This should serve as a warning for the government, the private sector and civil society to regulate the management of the palm oil industry more seriously,” Bellicia said.
The companies on six criteria on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being extremely not transparent and 10 being very transparent. The report found that, on average, the 50 companies only scored 3.5 out of 10.
The report also looked at how many of the palm oil companies were certified, either under Indonesia’s mandatory palm oil certification scheme, the ISPO, or under the voluntary Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
It found that only seven of the 50 companies have RSPO and/or ISPO certification that covers not only the parent companies, but also all their subsidiaries.Yet even RSPO/ISPO certification cannot guarantee that a certified company is free from illegal and unsustainable practices, the report said.
An assessment by Greenpeace of 100 RSPO members found that each had more than 100 hectares (250 acres) of illegal plantations inside forest areas in Indonesia, with eight of them having more than 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres).
Greenpeace also identified 252,000 hectares (623,000 acres) of ISPO-certified oil palm plantations inside forest areas, which aren’t permitted under Indonesian zoning laws.
Billionaire oligarchs control dozens of palm oil companies through opaque company structures – with great secrecy
The highest-scoring company in the report, at 7.2, is PT Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology (SMART), one of the palm oil arms of Indonesia’s billionaire Widjaja family, presiding over dozens of plantations and oil-processing mills across Indonesia.
Yet even SMART’s score doesn’t necessarily reflect strong anti-corruption measures, Bellicia said: Of the 50 companies, SMART has the highest number of politically exposed persons working for it, she noted.
Akhmad Kamaluddin, a plantation researcher at environmental NGO Auriga, noted that a former vice president of SMART was caught bribing a pair of provincial legislators from Central Kalimantan in 2018. The bribes were meant to head off an investigation into the alleged pollution of a lake by palm oil processing waste and pesticides.
“So it’s very ironic,” Akhmad said. “From this one case, we can see the face of the palm oil industry in Indonesia.”
Agus Purnomo, a director at SMART, said the problem of corporate corruption plagues all industries across in Indonesia, with local officials often seeing companies operating in their jurisdictions as prime targets for extortion.
“If we become an honest actor” — that is, refuse to pay bribes — “we will become an enemy of all stakeholders, from public officials to local communities,” he told Mongabay. “If there’s a rich person, it’s obligatory to pay for various things like sports and religious events, and that’s deemed normal.”
Agus said it’s this culture of permissiveness that needs to be changed, because it nurtures corruption. He added that the government, community leaders and organisation leaders should lead the change.
Before that change comes, however, companies will continue to feel like they have no option other than to comply with demands for money from stakeholders.
“People always assume that companies are evil [because] they bribe [officials] to get permits. While such cases may exist, most [companies] are afraid to say no [to extortion] because the risks are high,” Agus said. “Will you dare to say no if it’s locals who demand [money]? No, because if you do, then the road [to your company] will be blocked. If that’s the case, will you dare to clear the blockade?”
Corporate capture
We found that there are still many companies that are not transparent in informing the policies and processes of interaction between companies and public officials or politicians. This is quite worrying because political connections can lead to conflicts of interest and the impact can give excessive privileges to entrepreneurs who do business in palm oil in the form of policies, subsidies and incentives that can lead to policy capture
50% of companies do not have anticorruption commitments
In compiling their report, researchers from TII first looked at the 50 companies’ anticorruption policies.
They found that 24 of the companies, nearly half, don’t have an anticorruption commitment that applies to all staff members, including high-level board members.
The second aspect they analysed was whether the companies offered anticorruption training to staff. On this measure, they fared even worse: 46 of the companies don’t provide anticorruption training to all of their employees, including executives and directors.
Twenty-six companies don’t have whistleblower systems in place for employees to flag illegal or fraudulent activities anonymously without fear of retaliation. And even when a whistleblower channel was present, it didn’t necessarily protect whistleblowers from retaliation.
The report cited the case of PT Inti Indosawit Subur, a subsidiary of the Asian Agri group, controlled by the billionaire Tanoto family. In 2006, Asian Agri’s then-comptroller, Vincentius Amin Sutanto, was reported by the company to the police for allegedly embezzling US$3.1 million. Vincentius then revealed to the media and the country’s anticorruption agency, the KPK, that Asian Agri, had committed tax evasion from 2002 to 2005.
Despite Inti Indosawit Subur having a whistleblower system in place that should have followed up on Vincentius’s allegation, Asian Agri pressed ahead with its criminal charges against him. Vincentius was eventually convicted in court and sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2008. And in 2013, Asian Agri threatened Vincentius with a defamation lawsuit.
Asian Agri itself was in 2012 convicted of tax evasion and ordered by a court to pay US$205 million in fines.
Wilmar: Irresponsible political lobbying practices
The TII report also assessed the extent of the 50 palm oil companies’ lobbying practices. It found 41 of them lacked responsible lobbying policies or procedures. In particular, these companies don’t forbid donating to political figures.
The report also found that 49 firms, nearly all of them, don’t publish the details of their political donations.
Irresponsible lobbying practices increase the risk of corruption as there’s no transparency in the relationship between companies and policymakers, according to TII. This could result in corrupt practices like bribing policymakers in exchange for favourable policies for the companies.
The report cited the case of PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia, a subsidiary of Singapore-listed agribusiness giant Wilmar International. Master Parulian Tumanggor a member of its board, claimed he often attended government meetings that determined the allocation of money from the state palm oil fund.
The state fund, which is collected from export tariffs levied on palm oil producers for every shipment of crude palm oil that they sell abroad, is meant to be reinvested in the industry for farmer training, research and development, replanting ageing trees with newer and more productive ones, building infrastructure, and promoting palm oil.
But most of the money collected has instead gone toward palm oil-derived biodiesel, both to subsidise producers and to artificially lower the price of biodiesel at the pump, to make it more competitive with conventional diesel. Between 2015 and 2021, the fund collected 139.17 trillion rupiah (US$9.64 billion) in revenue, and handed 80 per cent of it to biodiesel producers — and less than 5 per cent to small farmers for a replanting program.
Wilmar is the biggest recipient of Indonesian government subsidies to biodiesel producers. In 2017, it received 55 per cent of the total US$530 million distributed by the government to five palm oil companies, or triple the amount it had paid into the fund.
“What PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia did can be perceived as irresponsible lobbying practices,” TII said in its report.
TII’s Bellicia said there should be an investigation into the company’s role and influence in the fund’s meetings.
“This is what we have to investigate,” she said. “With Master attending those meetings, did it result in more beneficial policies to big companies, resulting in the government siding with corporations instead of people in need?”
However, Indonesia doesn’t have rules banning irresponsible lobbying practices or requiring companies to be transparent about their lobbying activities, Bellicia said.
“In our opinion, lobbying has to be regulated because it’s a doorway to corruption,” she said.
In January, Master was convicted and sentenced to one and a half years in prison for conspiring with a trade ministry official to ensure that four palm oil companies, including Wilmar, could skirt their obligations to allocate a quota for the domestic market.
“This is a concrete example of how corruption will be a never-ending problem [in Indonesia] if things like lobbying are not regulated,” Bellicia said.
A ‘Revolving Door’ between the palm oil industry and the Indonesian government
Another aspect assessed in the TII report is the revolving-door phenomenon that sees officials in charge of regulating the industry going on to take jobs in it, and vice versa.
Government agencies typically hire industry professionals to take advantage of their private sector experience and influence within corporations. Their presence can also help governments gain political support such as donations and endorsements from private firms.
“These individuals [hired by the government] also tend to have biased view in formulating policies and they tend to be in favour of policies that benefit companies but harm people,” the TII report said.
In the other direction, companies also gain an advantage when they hire the very officials previously responsible for overseeing their industry. This allows them to seek favourable legislation and government contracts in exchange for high-paying employment offers, and also to gain inside information on policy discussions.
Unlike some other countries that have issued laws regulating the revolving-door issue, Indonesia has no such restrictions. And in the palm oil industry, the practice is very common: according to the TII report, only two out of the 50 companies assessed are aware of this practice, and none has regulations addressing it.
One example of a regulation used elsewhere to prevent conflicts of interest is the “cooling-off period,” in which former public officials are prohibited from accepting employment in the private sector for a given time period after leaving office.
The report also looked at the presence of politically exposed persons within the 50 companies.
Known as PEPs, these are individuals who hold a prominent public position or function, such as a political party official, industry regulator, law enforcer, or a family member of such a person. PEPs are widely seen as being more prone to bribery, corruption or other potential financial irregularities.
The TII report identified 80 PEPs in 33 companies, including six each at SMART and PT Multi Agro Gemilang. Agus from SMART is one of these. He served as a special assistant to former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono from 2010 to 2014, just before joining SMART in 2014. He was also a special adviser to the environment minister from 2004 to 2009.
The report characterises Agus as an example of both a politically exposed person and a revolving-door player.
“Am I a politically exposed person? I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like it,” Agus told Mongabay. “But if I didn’t go to the company I currently work in, there are many other companies that want my assistance.”
He added it’s not fair if a politically exposed person is automatically perceived as something of a liability.
“If [the report] gives a score, then it looks like the report is judging [politically exposed persons]. Don’t judge, just prove” that PEPs bring risk to a company, Agus said. “Because people can become a bad actor without them having served in the government before.”
The report noted that the presence of politically exposed persons within a company doesn’t necessarily translate into a bad thing.
“But there really needs to be extra monitoring because politically exposed persons are closely tied to conflicts of interests and trading in influence,” Bellicia said.
Lack of transparency of palm oil company ownership and ultimate beneficiaries
The final aspect assessed in the TII report was data disclosure — whether the companies revealed information on corporate structure, plantation ownership, tax and income, and beneficial owners.
Data transparency can be an effective tool in preventing illicit financial flows and tax evasion, according to the report. But palm oil companies in Indonesia are still largely opaque in this regard, the report said.
For instance, only 34 out of the 50 assessed companies reported who their beneficial owners were to the government, despite this being a mandatory disclosure under a 2018 presidential regulation.
Lack of clarity on corporate ownership makes it difficult for the government and people affected by corporate activities such as deforestation or tax evasion to demand accountability from the company.
The report also found only five companies that disclosed detailed data on their tax payments.
The absence of disclosure of the ultimate beneficial owners of the company as well as the publication of the company’s tax expenses and revenues in detail and separately by country (country country-by-country, indicates loopholes for illicit financial flows by companies.
“This opens up room for tax evasion,” Bellicia said.
The Tanah Merah project in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua is an example of how obscure corporate structures and beneficial ownership can increase the risk of corruption, according to the report.
Spanning 280,000 hectares (692,000 acres) in the heart of the largest tract of primary rainforest remaining in Asia, nearly twice the size of Greater London, the project is set to become the world’s largest oil palm plantation.
A 2018 investigation by Mongabay and The Gecko Project revealed that the investors behind the project have employed all the tools of corporate secrecy to hide their identities: shell companies with front addresses, fake and proxy shareholders, and offshore secrecy jurisdictions.
The investigation also revealed that key documents relating to the project were signed by a politician while he was in jail on the island of Java, and that key permits have been hidden from public scrutiny.
Government response
Responding to the TII report, Roro Wide Sulistyowati from the corruption prevention department at the country’s antigraft agency, the KPK, said her office has been pushing for palm oil companies to commit to anticorruption practices.
She added that the KPK has also issued a corruption prevention guideline for companies.
“This year, we want to push [the guideline] to palm oil companies so that they have an anticorruption commitment and antibribery system,” Roro said.
In 2016, the KPK carried out an analysis of the palm oil industry and found a raft of problems, such as tax evasion and the lack of an accountable system to prevent corruption in the issuance of permits.
In 2019 and 2022, the country’s financial audit agency, the BPK, carried out its own assessment of the industry. The 2019 audit found that 81% oil palm plantations in Indonesia are operating in violation of numerous regulations, including excess size, noncompliance with the ISPO standard, failure to allocate sufficient land for smallholder farmers, and lack of relevant operating permits.
The BPK has already finished the 2022 audit, but refused to disclose the findings. Following this latest BPK audit, the government recently announced that it had formed a task force to improve governance in the palm oil industry, including on permits and taxes.
It is not surprising that in recent years, corruption cases involving individuals representing palm oil companies have emerged.
Despite the series of findings from the KPK and the BPK, there’s been little to no improvement in the management of the palm oil industry, Bellicia said.
“If there have been changes [since the 2019 audit], there’s no way the score would be 3.5,” she said. “This score should be a wake-up call for the government.”
Below is the conclusion of Transparency International’s report into palm oil industry’s weaknesses and vulnerability to corruption, collusion and corporate capture. Published on May 5, 2023 translated from Baha Indonesia to English. Read original report.
Transparency International Indonesia’s report findings
Indonesian
English
Berdasarkan penilaian yang dilakukan oleh TI Indonesia terhadap 50 perusahaan sawit dengan kinerja baik yang beroperasi di Indonesia, hasil yang dicapai oleh 50 perusahaan sawit tersebut tidak dapat dikatakan baik.
Skor rata-rata Transparency in Corporate Reporting dari 50 perusahaan sawit yang dinilai hanya mendapatkan perolehan 3.5/10. Skor rata-rata dari 50 perusahaan sawit dengankinerja baik ini merefleksikan bahwa masih banyak perusahaan sawit tidak transparan dan minim informasi terkait kebijakan perusahaan terkait antikorupsi, inklusivitas, lobi yang bertanggung jawab, praktik keluar-masuk pintu, dan pengungkapan berbagai data yang seharusnya dapat diakses dan diketahui oleh publik. Hal ini juga mengindikasikan bahwa masih banyak perusahaan sawit, baik yang dikelola oleh negara maupun swasta juga cenderung tidak transparan terkait aktivitas perusahaan dan keterlibatannya dalam politik. Urgensi transparansi pelaporan dan aktivitas perusahaan dalam politik menjadi esensial mengingat interaksi antara sektor privat dan sektor publik rawan terhadap ruang gelap yang membuka lebar celah-celah korupsi dan penggelapan pajak yang merugikan negara dan berdampak buruk bagi masyarakat. Dalam penilaian dimensi pertama, yaitu program antikorupsi; hanya 26 perusahaan dari 50 perusahaan sawit yang memiliki komitmen antikorupsi dan 11 perusahaan yang melaporkan kegiatan politik atau mengatur hubungan antara pemerintah dengan perusahaannya. Sedikitnya angka ini menunjukkan bahwa masih ada perusahaan yang tidak mengutamakan kebijakan antikorupsi dan prinsip untuk mengatur hubungan perusahaan dengan pemerintah. Kekosongan kebijakan antikorupsi dan kode etik perilaku atau prinsip dalam pengaturan hubungan perusahaan dan pemerintah dapat menjadi celah korupsi melalui bagaimana perusahaan berinteraksi atau mencoba memberikan pengaruh pada pemerintah mengenai berbagai kebijakan sawit. Hasil penilaian dimensi kedua yang menilai aturan pencegahan korupsi dan inklusivitas perusahaan juga mengisyaratkan bahwa aturan atau pencegahan korupsi masih seakan berlaku hanya bagi pegawai perusahaan di level staf. Idealnya, seluruh lini jabatan perusahaan perlu diatur, diawasi, dan diberikan pemahaman secara ketat terkait pencegahan korupsi. Hanya 4 perusahaan yang secara eksplisit menyatakan aturan tersebut berlaku bagi seluruh level perusahaan, termasuk komisaris dan direksi. Selain itu, pelibatan perempuan di jajaran pengambil keputusan sangat diperlukan mengingat perspektif gender tidak dapat dipisahkan dari pengambilan keputusan bisnis – hanya 18 perusahaan yang menempatkan perempuan dalam jajaran direksinya. Dalam penilaian dimensi ketiga terkait kegiatan lobi yang bertanggung jawab, tidak ada satu pun perusahaan yang memiliki kebijakan terkait hal ini. Absennya aturan perusahaan dalam hal ini menandakan interaksi perusahaan dengan pejabat publik dapat dikatakan tidak transparan. Sama dengan penilaian dimensi ketiga, hasil dimensi keempat terkait praktik keluar masuk pintu juga tidak dapat dijawab dengan baik oleh semua perusahaan; hanya dua perusahaan yang memiliki kesadaran (awareness) terhadap praktik keluar masuk pintu–namun tidak ada regulasi yang mengatur praktik tersebut. Hal ini merefleksikan bahwa perusahaan memandang perpindahan individu dari sektor publik ke sektor privat dan sebaliknya tanpa masa jeda belum mempertimbangkan besarnya risiko konflik kepentingan. Dalam penilaian dimensi kelima terkait keberlanjutan dan standar sertifikasi, sebagian besar perusahaan telah dapat menjawab pertanyaan dengan baik mengingat kewajiban sertifikasi ISPO bagi perusahaan sawit di Indonesia. Sayangnya, masih banyak pula perusahaan yang belum memiliki ISPO bagi anak-anak perusahaannya–padahal sertifikasi ini sangat penting untuk seluruh grup perusahaan, setidaknya menjamin keberlanjutan sawit di Indonesia. Dalam dimensi pengungkapan data, banyak perusahaan sawit yang hanya mempublikasikan rincian data pembayaran pajak dan penerimaan perusahaan secara terkonsolidasi. Selain itu, hanya 7 perusahaan yang mengungkap pemilik manfaat akhir perusahaan yang dilakukan secara eksplisit; sisanya hanya berupa data pemegang saham perusahaan. Tidak adanya pengungkapan pemilik manfaat akhir perusahaan serta publikasi beban pajak dan penerimaan perusahaan secara rinci dan terpisah di negara tempat perusahaan beroperasi (country-by-country), mengindikasikan celah aliran keuangan gelap yang dilakukan oleh perusahaan. Tingkat kepatuhan perusahaan dalam pelaporan pemilik manfaat akhir dapat dikatakan cukup memenuhi prasyarat dengan persentase 68% perusahaan melapor. Namun, masih ada perusahaan yang melaporkan pemilik manfaat akhir berupa nama entitas legal/perusahaan. Selain itu, hadirnya politically exposed persons (PEPs) di 33 perusahaan juga perlu diawasi agar konflik kepentingan dan celah korupsi yang dapat mengintervensi kebijakan sawit yang adil dan berkelanjutan hanya menguntungkan kepentingan pebisnis.
Based on TI Indonesia’s assessment of 50 well-performing palm oil companies operating in Indonesia, the results achieved by these 50 palm oil companies operating in Indonesia are not good.
The average score of Transparency in Corporate Reporting of the 50 palm oil companies assessed is only 3.5/10. The average score of the 50 well-performing palm oil companies reflects that the Transparency in Corporate Reporting of the 50 well-performing palm oil companies good performance reflects that there are still many palm oil companies that are not transparent and lack information regarding the company’s anti-corruption policies. information regarding the company’s policies on anti-corruption, inclusiveness, responsible lobbying, out-door practices, and responsible lobbying, door-to-door practices, and disclosure of data that should be publicly accessible and known by the public. This also indicates that there are still many palm oil companies palm oil companies, both state-owned and privately-owned, also tend not to be transparent about their activities and their involvement in politics.
The urgency of transparency in reporting and company activities in politics is essential given that the interaction between the private sector and the public sector is prone to dark spaces that open up loopholes for corruption and tax evasion that harm the state and impact the economy.
corruption and tax evasion that harm the state and have a negative impact on society.
In the assessment of the first dimension, anti-corruption programmes; only 26 out of 50 companies of 50 palm oil companies with anti-corruption commitments and 11 companies that reported on political activities or organising relations between the government and their companies.
At least this number shows that there are still companies that do not prioritise their anti-corruption policies and principles to regulate the company’s relationship with the government. The void anti-corruption policies and codes of conduct or principles in regulating company-government relations can be an opening for corruption through how companies and the government can be a loophole for corruption through how companies interact or try to influence the government on various palm oil policies.
The results of the second dimension, which assesses the company’s corruption prevention and inclusiveness rules, also suggest that anti-corruption rules or prevention The results of the second dimension assessing the company’s corruption prevention rules and inclusiveness also suggest that the rules or prevention of corruption still seem to apply only to company employees at the staff level. company employees at the staff level.
Ideally, all lines of company positions need to be regulated, supervised, and given a strict understanding of corruption prevention. given a strict understanding of corruption prevention. Only 4 companies explicitly state that the rules apply to explicitly state that the rules apply to all levels of the company, including commissioners and directors.
In addition, the involvement of women in the decision-making ranks is necessary, given that gender perspectives are inseparable from decision-making. given that gender perspectives are inseparable from business decision-making – only 18 companies that have women on their board of directors.
In assessing the third dimension of responsible lobbying, none of the companies had policies in place. company has a policy in this regard. The absence of company rules in this regard indicates that the company’s interactions with public officials can be considered non-transparent.
Similar to the assessment of the third dimension, the results of the fourth dimension related to door-to-door practices were also not well answered by the companies. also could not be answered well by all companies; only two companies had a good awareness of door-to-door practices-but there are no regulations governing the practice.
However, there is no regulation governing the practice. This reflects the fact that companies perceive the movement of of individuals from the public sector to the private sector and vice versa without a break in service has not yet the risk of conflicts of interest.
In the assessment of the fifth dimension related to sustainability and certification standards, most of the companies have been able to answer the questions well given the ISPO certification obligation for palm oil companies in Indonesia. certification for palm oil companies in Indonesia. Unfortunately, there are still many companies that do not yet ISPO for their subsidiaries – even though this certification is very important for the whole group, at least to ensure the sustainability of the company. at least to ensure the sustainability of palm oil in Indonesia.
In the dimension of data disclosure, many palm oil companies only publish details of tax payments and company revenues. data on tax payments and company revenues on a consolidated basis. In addition, only 7 companies explicitly disclose the ultimate beneficial owners of the company; the rest only provide data on the company’s shareholders. The absence of disclosure of the ultimate beneficial owners of the company as well as the publication of the company’s tax expenses and revenues in detail and separately by country (country country-by-country, indicates loopholes for illicit financial flows by companies.
The level of company compliance in reporting the ultimate beneficial owner can be said to be sufficiently fulfil the prerequisites with 68% of companies reporting. However, there are still companies that report the ultimate beneficial owner in the form of a legal entity/company name. In addition, the presence of the presence of politically exposed persons (PEPs) in 33 companies also needs to be monitored so that conflicts of interest and corruption loopholes that can intervene in the reporting of beneficial owners can be avoided. and corruption loopholes that can intervene in fair and sustainable palm oil policies that only benefit business interests. in favour of business interests.
Mewajibkan Komitmen Antikorupsi Perusahaan
Sawit merupakan komoditas ekspor andalan Indonesia. Namun pelaku usaha di sektor ini masih sedikit yang tidak mentoleransi adanya praktik korupsi–meskipun sudah mampu melakukan ekspansi bisnis di tingkat global. Bukan suatu hal yang mengejutkan apabila dalam beberapa tahun terakhir bermunculan kasus korupsi yang melibatkan individu-individu yang mewakili perusahaan sawit–seperti kasus korupsi pemberian persetujuan ekspor (PE) Crude palm oil (CPO).68 Sudah sepatutnya pemerintah memprioritaskan agenda pencegahan korupsi di korporasi terhadap perusahaan yang berbisnis di komoditas sawit dan menagih komitmen antikorupsi perusahaan sawit.
Requiring Corporate Anti-Corruption Commitments
Palm oil is Indonesia’s main export commodity. But businesses in this sector are still a few that do not tolerate corrupt practices – even though they have been able to expand their business globally. to expand their business on a global level.
It is not surprising that in recent years, corruption cases involving individuals representing palm oil companies have emerged, such as the corruption case of Crude palm oil (CPO) export approval (PE).68 palm oil (CPO) export approval (PE).68.
It is only fitting that the government prioritises a corruption prevention agenda for companies doing business in corporations and a corruption prevention agenda for companies doing business in the palm oil commodity and demand an anti-corruption commitment from palm oil companies.
Mendorong Implementasi, monitoring, dan pengawasan kebijakan dalam kegiatan antikorupsi
dan keterlibatan politik perusahaan Tidak hanya pada tataran kebijakan (policy), pemerintah juga harus memastikan bahwa perusahaan telah mengimplementasikan kebijakan antikorupsi (practice). Berdasarkan hasil penilaian kami, sangat sedikit perusahaan yang mengimplementasikan kebijakan antikorupsi dan keterlibatan politik perusahaan–tataran practice–seperti pelatihan, monitoring, dan pengawasan. Keberadaan peraturan antikorupsi namun tidak diikuti dengan implementasinya akan membuat kebijakan antikorupsi hanya sebagai paper tiger dan mendelegitimasi eksistensi kebijakan antikorupsi dan kebijakan keterlibatan politik perusahaan.
Encourage the implementation, monitoring and supervision of policies on anti-corruption activities and political engagement of palm oil companies.
Not only at the policy level, the government must also ensure that companies have implemented anti-corruption policies. companies have implemented anti-corruption policies (practice). Based on the results of our our assessment, very few companies have implemented anti-corruption policies and corporate political engagement at the practice level-such as training, monitoring, and supervision. supervision. The existence of an anti-corruption regulation but not its implementation will make the anti-corruption policy only a practice. will make the anti-corruption policy a paper tiger and delegitimise the existence of anti-corruption and political engagement policies.
Perkuat transparansi besaran pendapatan (revenue) dan pembayaran pajak (tax payment)dari korporasi sawit ke Pemerintah
Munculnya kasus korupsi minyak goreng pada tahun lalu membuat pemerintah bergerak untuk mengaudit seluruh perusahaan sawit di Indonesia serta memerintahkan agar perusahaan sawit berkantor pusat di Indonesia. Secara implisit, upaya pemerintah untuk ‘memaksa’ perusahaan berkantor pusat di Indonesia itu disebabkan karena adanya dugaan praktik Base Erosion Profit Shifting (BEPS), yaitu praktik penggerusan pajak dan pemindahan keuntungan yang dihasilkan dari negara yang menjadi lokasi aktivitas bisnis–Indonesia–ke negara tujuan yang memiliki tarif pajak yang lebih rendah–Singapura.69 Menyadari adanya potensi kehilangan pajak akibat praktik diatas, Pemerintah menerbitkan Peraturan Menteri Keuangan (PMK) No. 213/2016 tentang Jenis Dokumen dan/atau Informasi Tambahan yang Wajib Disimpan oleh Wajib Pajak yang Melakukan Transaksi dengan Para Pihak yang Memiliki Hubungan Istimewa dan Tata Cara Pengelolaannya, dan salah satu dokumen yang wajib dilaporkan adalah laporan per negara (Country-by-Country Report).70 Dalam laporan-per-negara, alokasi penghasilan, pajak yang dibayar, dan aktivitas bisnis di setiap yurisdiksi anak usaha wajib dilaporkan. 71 Laporan tersebut diyakini dapat dijadikan oleh Pemerintah sebagai senjata untuk memerangi praktik penggelapan pajak. Hasil penelusuran kami pun menunjukkan bahwa belum ada perusahaan yang mempublikasikan laporan per negara kepada publik. Selain itu, laporan per negara tidak membuka ruang bagi publik untuk melakukan verifikasi terhadap kebenaran informasi yang disampaikan oleh perusahaan dalam laporan per negara yang disampaikan oleh perusahaan ke Direktorat Jenderal Pajak (DJP). Sebaiknya dokumen ini dijadikan sebagai dokumen yang dapat diakses dan dipublikasikan kepada publik.72
Strengthen transparency of revenue and tax payments from palm oil corporations to the government
The emergence of the cooking oil corruption case last year made the government move to audit all palm oil companies in Indonesia and ordered palm oil companies to be headquartered in Indonesia.
Implicitly, the government’s attempt to ‘force’ companies to be headquartered in Indonesia was due to the alleged practice of Base Erosion Profit Shifting (BEPS), which is the practice of profit shifting. Shifting (BEPS), which is the practice of tax erosion and profit shifting generated from the country of business activity-Indonesia. from the country of business activity-Indonesia-to a destination country with a lower tax rate-Singapore. 69
Recognising the potential for tax loss due to the above practice, the Government issued the Minister of Finance Regulation (MoFTR) on the practice. The Government issued Minister of Finance Regulation (PMK) No. 213/2016 on Types of Documents and/or Additional Information that Must be Kept by Taxpayers Conducting Transactions with Related Parties and the Procedures for Their Management, and one of the documents that must be reported is the Country-by-Country Report.70 In the Country-by-Country Report, the allocation of income, taxes paid, and business activities in each subsidiary jurisdiction must be reported. 71
The report is believed to be used by the Government as a weapon to combat tax evasion. Our search results also show that there are no companies that publish country-by-country reports to the public.
In addition, the country-by-country report does not allow the public to verify the accuracy of the information submitted by the company in the country-by-country report submitted by the company to the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT). This document should be made accessible and publicised to the public.72
Pengawasan terhadap Politically-Exposed Persons (PEPs)
Maraknya keberadaan Politically-Exposed Persons (PEPs) di 50 perusahaan sawit di Indonesia menunjukkan bahwa koneksi politik sangat berharga bagi perusahaan sawit. Sko Corruption Perception Index (CPI) tahun 2022 pun menurun 4 poin–penurunan skor terburuk sejak tahun reformasi. Penurunan skor disebabkan oleh konflik kepentingan antara pebisnis dan pejabat publik dinilai semakin terang enderang.73 Apabila pemerintah berkomitmen kuat untuk memperbaiki skor CPI, sudah seharusnya pemerintah mengimplementasikan aturan konflik kepentingan–dimulai dari kabinet Presiden Jokowi–dan mendorong perusahaan sawit untuk tidak merekrut direksi dan komisaris yang tergolong sebagai Politically-Exposed Persons (PEPs).
Supervision of Politically-Exposed Persons (PEPs)
The prevalence of Politically-Exposed Persons (PEPs) in 50 palm oil companies in Indonesia shows that political connections are valuable to palm oil companies. The 2022 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) score dropped by 4 points – the worst drop since reformasi.
The decline in the score is due to the conflict of interest between business people and public officials, which is considered to be increasingly obvious.73 If the government is strongly committed to improving the CPI score, it should be the government’s responsibility to improve the CPI score. to improve the CPI score, the government should implement conflict of interest rules-starting with President Jokowi’s cabinet of interest rules – starting from President Jokowi’s cabinet – and encourage palm oil companies to not recruit directors and commissioners who are classified as Politically-Exposed Persons (PEPs). (PEPs).
Perusahaan Sawit di Indonesia
Memastikan adanya kebijakan antikorupsi yang esensial
Selain menagih komitmen antikorupsi perusahaan sawit, pemerintah juga harus memastikan bahwa perusahaan sawit turut menyusun kebijakan antikorupsi yang esensial, seperti aturan terkait suap, gratifikasi, donasi politik, dan konflik kepentingan. Dalam laporan ini ditemukan bahwa masih sedikit perusahaan sawit yang memiliki aturan-aturan esensial yang telah disebutkan sebelumnya. Penyusunan peraturan antikorupsi dinilai penting karena aturan tersebut berguna untuk memberikan pedoman bagi karyawan, direksi, dan komisaris perusahaan dalam berperilaku mewakili nama perusahaan dan agar korporasi tidak dimintai pertanggungjawaban pidana karena tidak melakukan langkah-langkah yang diperlukan untuk melakukan pencegahan korupsi.
Palm Oil Companies in Indonesia
Ensure essential anti-corruption policies are in place
In addition to demanding anti-corruption commitments from palm oil companies, the government must also ensure that palm oil companies develop essential anti-corruption policies, such as rules on anti-corruption. that palm oil companies also develop essential anti-corruption policies, such as rules on bribery, gratuities, political donations and conflicts of interest.
This report found that there are still few palm oil companies that have the essential rules mentioned earlier. mentioned earlier. The development of anti-corruption regulations is important because they provide guidance to employees, employees’ supervisors, and employees. to provide guidelines for employees, directors and commissioners of the company in their in their behaviour on behalf of the company and so that the corporation is not held criminally criminal liability for not taking the necessary steps to prevent corruption.74
Perkuat mekanisme peniup peluit
Kebijakan antikorupsi dan keterlibatan politik perusahaan sudah sepatutnya dilengkapi sistem yang bertujuan untuk menerima laporan dan mendeteksi kecurangan, seperti sistem pelaporan pelanggaran (Whistle-Blowing System/WBS). Hanya setengah dari 50 perusahaan sawit yang kami nilai yang memiliki WBS. Untuk meningkatkan efektivitas, perusahaan harus menjamin bahwa WBS yang dimiliki telah menjamin perlindungan kepada pelapor, memperbolehkan pelaporan secara anonim, dan menjaga independensi pengelola WBS.
Strengthen the whistleblower mechanism
Companies’ anti-corruption and political engagement policies should be complemented by systems aimed at receiving reports and detecting fraud, such as whistle-blowing systems (WBS). Only half of the 50 palm oil companies we assessed have a WBS. To improve effectiveness, companies should ensure that their WBS provides protection to whistleblowers, allows anonymous reporting, and maintains the independence of the WBS manager
Transparansi kegiatan lobbying
Praktik lobbying–baik secara langsung maupun tidak langsung–sangat lekat dengan komoditas sawit. Komoditas ini sering dilabeli sebagai komoditas yang memicu tingginya tingkat deforestasi dan merusak biodiversitas kawasan hutan. Komoditas ini juga menjadi salah satu sasaran utama penerapan prinsip NDPE (No Deforestation, No Peat, and No Exploitation). Namun ada saja upaya lobi untuk membajak konsep deforestasi, misalkan saja upaya melabeli sawit sebagai tanaman hutan.75 Sudah seharusnya pemerintah memaksa perusahaan sawit–dan asosiasi bisnis sawit–untuk transparan dalam melakukan praktik lobbying agar tidak ada policy capture dalam kebijakan yang mengatur komoditas ekspor andalan Indonesia ini.
Transparency of lobbying activities
The practice of lobbying-both directly and indirectly-is closely associated with palm oil commodities. This commodity is often labelled as the one that triggers high deforestation and destroying the biodiversity of forest areas. This commodity has also become one of the main targets for the implementation of NDPE (No Deforestation, No Peat, and No Exploitation) principles. Exploitation). However, there are lobbying efforts to hijack the concept of deforestation, for example labelling palm oil as a forest crop.75 The government should have forced palm oil companies-and palm oil business associations-to be transparent in their lobbying practices so that there is no policy capture. lobbying practices so that there is no policy capture in the policies governing Indonesia’s flagship export commodity. Indonesia’s flagship export commodity.
Mewajibkan pihak ketiga dan penyedia barang dan jasa (PBJ) untuk mematuhi kebijakan antikorupsi perusahaan
Untuk memudahkan praktik korupsi, korporasi seringkali memanfaatkan jasa perantara/intermediary untuk menyamarkan praktik tersebut.76 Selain itu, penyedia barang dan jasa (PBJ) yang ditunjuk oleh korporasi juga seringkali terpilih tanpa melalui proses uji tuntas integritas (integrity due diligence). Berdasarkan penilaian kami, sangat sedikit perusahaan sawit yang mewajibkan perantara dan penyedia barang dan jasa (PBJ) untuk mematuhi kebijakan antikorupsi perusahaan dan melalui proses cek latar belakang, pemilik manfaat (beneficial owner), dan Politically-Exposed Persons (PEPs). Sebaiknya korporasi mewajibkan kedua pihak di atas untuk mematuhi kebijakan antikorupsi perusahaan agar kekosongan hukum ini tidak menjadi bumerang ketika perusahaan tersangkut kasus tindak pidana.
Require third parties and providers of goods and services (PBJ) to comply with the company’s anti-corruption policy
To facilitate corrupt practices, corporations often utilise the services of intermediaries to disguise the practice. In addition, providers of goods and services appointed by corporations are also often selected without going through an integrity due diligence process. Based on our assessment, very few palm oil companies require intermediaries and PEPs to comply with the company’s anti-corruption policy and go through a background check process, beneficial owners, and Politically-Exposed Persons (PEPs). Corporations should require both of the above parties to comply with the company’s anti-corruption policy so that this legal vacuum does not backfire when the company is involved in a criminal case.
Pengaturan praktik revolving door dan cooling-off period
Praktik keluar-masuk pintu (revolving door) dan masa jeda (cooling-off period) masih tidak dikenal secara luas di Indonesia. Padahal, tren di mana pebisnis yang dahulu menjadi sponsor bagi partai politik kemudian ditunjuk menjadi pejabat publik–praktik revolving door masih menjadi praktik yang dilaksanakan secara terang benderang.77 Hasil penilaian kami menunjukkan bahwa tidak ada satu pun perusahaan sawit yang telah mengatur praktik revolving door dan cooling-off period. Sudah sepatutnya pemerintah Indonesia yang mengklaim lebih mengutamakan pencegahan korupsi daripada penindakan korupsi–Operasi Tangkap Tangan (OTT)–pasca penerbitan UU KPK tahun 2019 untuk mengatur praktik revolving door dari sektor publik ke sektor swasta maupun sebaliknya.
Regulating revolving door practices and cooling-off periods
Revolving door practices and cooling-off periods are still not widely recognised in Indonesia. In fact, the trend of businesspeople sponsoring political parties and then being appointed to public office – revolving door practices – is still a well-established practice.
77 Our assessment shows that not a single palm oil company has regulated revolving door practices and cooling-off periods. It is appropriate for the Indonesian government, which claims to prioritise corruption prevention over corruption prosecution-Operasi Tangkap Tangan (OTT)-after the issuance of the 2019 KPK Law to regulate revolving door practices from the public sector to the private sector and vice versa.
Pentingnya mewajibkan korporasi untuk melaporkan pemilik manfaat (BO) dan verifikasi data BO
Pemerintah telah mewajibkan korporasi untuk melaporkan pemilik manfaat korporasi–know your beneficial owner–melalui penerbitan Peraturan Presiden Nomor 13 tahun 2018 tentang Penerapan Prinsip mengenali Pemilik Manfaat dari Korporasi dalam rangka Pencegahan dan Pemberantasan Tindak Pidana Pencucian Uang dan Tindak Pidana Pendanaan Terorisme.
Namun analisis kami terhadap 50 perusahaan sawit yang beroperasi di Indonesia menunjukkan masih ada perusahaan yang belum melaporkan pemilik manfaat. Kemudian, masih ada korporasi yang melaporkan nama korporasi lainnya sebagai pemilik manfaat. Padahal, pemilik manfaat adalah orang perseorangan (nature person). Sejalan dengan isi dari Peraturan Menteri Hukum dan HAM (PermenkumHAM) Nomor 21 tahun 2019 tentang Tata Cara Pengawasan Penerapan Prinsip Mengenali Pemilik Manfaat dari Korporasi, sudah seharusnya Kementerian Hukum dan HAM (KemenkumHAM) melakukan verifikasi terhadap kebenaran laporan pemilik manfaat yang dilaporkan oleh korporasi dan menjatuhkan sanksi bagi korporasi yang menyampaikan pemilik manfaatnya secara tidak benar
The importance of requiring corporations to report beneficial owners (BO) and verification of BO data
The government has made it mandatory for corporations to report corporate beneficial owners – know your beneficial owner – through the issuance of Presidential Regulation No. 13/2018 on the Implementation of the Principle of Recognising Beneficial Owners of Corporations in the context of Preventing and Eradicating the Criminal Acts of Money Laundering and the Criminal Acts of Financing Terrorism.
However, our analysis of 50 palm oil companies operating in Indonesia shows that there are still companies that have not reported their beneficial owners. Then, there are still corporations that report the names of other corporations as beneficial owners. In fact, the beneficial owner is a natural person. In line with the contents of the Minister of Law and Human Rights Regulation (PermenkumHAM) Number 21 of 2019 concerning Procedures for Supervising the Implementation of the Principle of Recognising Beneficial Owners of Corporations, the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (KemenkumHAM) should report the names of other corporations as beneficial owners.
Law and Human Rights (KemenkumHAM) should verify the accuracy of the beneficial owner report reported by the corporation and impose sanctions on corporations that submit their beneficial owners incorrectly.
Menagih komitmen transparansi keterlibatan politik perusahaan
Selain transparansi program antikorupsi perusahaan, salah satu isu lainnya yang perl diwajibkan bagi perusahaan sawit adalah transparansi keterlibatan politik perusahaan (corporate political engagement). Kami menemukan bahwa masih banyak perusahaan yang belum transparan dalam menginformasikan kebijakan dan proses interaksi antara perusahaan dengan pejabat publik atau politisi. Hal ini cukup mengkhawatirkan karena koneksi politik dapat mengarah kepada konflik kepentingan dan dampaknya dapat memberikan privilese yang berlebih kepada pengusaha yang berbisnis di sawit dalam bentuk kebijakan, pemberian subsidi dan insentif yang bisa saja mengarah pada policy capture. Oleh karenanya, di samping mendorong agenda pencegahan korupsi di korporasi, pemerintah juga perlu memprioritaskan transparansi keterlibatan politik perusahaan.
Demanding transparency in corporate political engagement
In addition to the transparency of corporate anti-corruption programmes, one of the other issues that needs to be addressed is the transparency of corporate political engagement. We found that there are still many companies that are not transparent in informing the policies and processes of interaction between companies and public officials or politicians. This is quite worrying because political connections can lead to conflicts of interest and the impact can give excessive privileges to entrepreneurs who do business in palm oil in the form of policies, subsidies and incentives that can lead to policy capture. Therefore, in addition to pushing the corruption prevention agenda in corporations, the government also needs to prioritise transparency of corporate political involvement.
ENDS
Read more about palm oil corruption, collusion and greenwashing
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1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
Our world is facing a huge challenge: we need to create enough high-quality, diverse and nutritious food to feed a growing population – and do so within the boundaries of our planet. This means significantly reducing the environmental impact of the global food system. Below is information about how you can identify ultra processed foods containing palm oil and other harmful ingredients in order to avoid them – for your own health and the health of the planet. Help the planet, animals and indigenous peoples – #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
There are more than 7,000 edible plant species which could be consumed for food. But today, 90% of global energy intake comes from 15 crop species, with more than half of the world’s population relying on just three cereal crops: rice, wheat and maize.
The rise of ultra-processed foods is likely playing a major role in this ongoing change, as our latest research notes. Thus, reducing our consumption and production of these foods offers a unique opportunity to improve both our health and the environmental sustainability of the food system.
Food agriculture is a major driver of environmental damage and ecocide
Sumatran Rhino Dicerorhinus sumatrensis. 10,000s of animal species, like the Sumatran Rhino are pushed out of their homes by the encroachment of agriculture to make cheap, processed foods
The impacts of these foods on human health are well described, but the effects on the environment have been given less consideration. This is surprising, considering ultra-processed foods are a dominant component of the food supply in high-income countries (and sales are rapidly rising through low and middle-income countries too).
Our latest research, led by colleagues in Brazil, proposes that increasingly globalised diets high in ultra-processed foods come at the expense of the cultivation, manufacture and consumption of “traditional” foods.
How to spot ultra-processed foods
Ultra-processed foods are a group of foods defined as “formulations of ingredients, mostly of exclusive industrial use, that result from a series of industrial processes”.
They typically contain cosmetic additives and little or no whole foods. You can think of them as foods you would struggle to create in your own kitchen. Examples include confectionery, soft drinks, chips, pre-prepared meals and restaurant fast-food products.
In contrast with this are “traditional” foods – such as fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, preserved legumes, dairy and meat products – which are minimally processed, or made using traditional processing methods.
While traditional processing, methods such as fermentation, canning and bottling are key to ensuring food safety and global food security. Ultra-processed foods, however, are processed beyond what is necessary for food safety.
According to an analysis of the 2011-12 Australian Health Survey (the most recent national data available on this), the ultra-processed foods that contributed the most dietary energy for Australians aged two and above included ready-made meals, fast food, pastries, buns and cakes, breakfast cereals, fruit drinks, iced tea and confectionery.
What are the environmental impacts?
Ultra-processed foods also rely on a small number of crop species, which places burden on the environments in which these ingredients are grown.
Maize, wheat, soy and oil seed crops (such as palm oil) are good examples. These crops are chosen by food manufacturers because they are cheap to produce and high yielding, meaning they can be produced in large volumes.
Also, animal-derived ingredients in ultra-processed foods are sourced from animals which rely on these same crops as feed.
The rise of convenient and cheap ultra-processed foods has replaced a wide variety of minimally-processed wholefoods including fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, meat and dairy. This has reduced both the quality of our diet and food supply diversity.
Ferrero and Nutella responsible for palm oil deforestation despite supposedly using “sustainable” palm oil. Image: Charlie Hebdo
In Australia, the most frequently used ingredients in the 2019 packaged food and drink supply were sugar (40.7%), wheat flour (15.6%), vegetable oil (12.8%) and milk (11.0%).
Hersheys is responsible for palm oil deforestation despite supposedly using “sustainable” palm oil.
What can be done?
The environmental impact of ultra-processed foods is avoidable. Not only are these foods harmful, they are also unnecessary for human nutrition. Diets high in ultra-processed foods are linked with poor health outcomes, including heart disease, type-2 diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer and depression, among others.
To counter this, food production resources across the world could be re-routed into producing healthier, less processed foods. For example, globally, significant quantities of cereals such as wheat, maize and rice are milled into refined flours to produce refined breads, cakes, donuts and other bakery products.
These could be rerouted into producing more nutritious foods such as wholemeal bread or pasta. This would contribute to improving global food security and also provide more buffer against natural disasters and conflicts in major breadbasket areas.
Other environmental resources could be saved by avoiding the use of certain ingredients altogether.
Demand for palm oil (a common ingredient in ultra-processed foods, and associated with deforestation in Southeast Asia) could be significantly reduced through consumers shifting their preferences towards healthier foods.
Reducing your consumption of ultra-processed foods is one way by which you can reduce your environmental footprint, while also improving your health.
Kim Anastasiou, Research Dietitian (CSIRO), PhD Candidate (Deakin University), Deakin University; Mark Lawrence, Professor of Public Health Nutrition, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University; Michalis Hadjikakou, Lecturer in Environmental Sustainability, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Engineering & Built Environment, Deakin University, and Phillip Baker, Research Fellow, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University, Deakin University
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
Researchers travel into the remote wilderness of #Cambodia to study the world’s most endangered #crocodile, the placid, cryptic and little-known Siamese crocodile. Help their survival in the supermarket and be #vegan, boycott crocodile leather and #Boycott4Wildlife
For nine hours, my colleague Michael Shackleton and I held onto our scooters for dear life while being slapped in the face by spiked jungle plants in the mountains of Cambodia. We only disembarked either to help push a scooter up a slippery jungle path or to stop it from sliding down one.
With our gear loaded up on nine scooters – 200 metres of fishing nets, two inflatable kayaks, food for five days, hammocks, preservation gear for collection of DNA, and other assorted scientific instruments – we at last arrived at one of the few remaining sites known to harbour the critically endangered Siamese crocodiles.
The Siamese crocodile once lived in Southeast Asian freshwater rivers from Indonesia to Myanmar. But now, fewer than 1000 breeding individuals remain.
In fact, during the 1990s the species was thought to be completely extinct in the wild. Then, in 2000, scientists from Fauna and Flora International found a tiny population in the remote Cardamom Mountains region of Cambodia.
We travelled to this remote wilderness in 2017 to determine habitat suitability for the reintroduction of captive-bred juvenile Siamese crocodiles. We wanted to understand the food web there to see whether it contains enough fish to sustain the young crocs.
Our journey would not have been possible without the help of Community Crocodile Wardens – local community members who patrol the jungle sanctuaries for threats and record crocodile presence. Wardens also conduct crocodile surveys further afield to discover new populations or to identify new areas of potential suitable crocodile habitat for juvenile releases.
Our recent study found to ensure the species survives, reintroduction locations must be protected from fishing pressure – both from a food supply perspective, but also from risk of entanglement in nets.
A species in decline
When we arrived at our site, northwest of the village of Thmor Bang, our day was capped by what we came to know as the standard evening downpour, despite assurances that we had, in fact, timed our trip for the dry season.
Kayaks were inflated, nets set, and sampling was underway. This proved laborious – to ensure crocodiles didn’t drown, we couldn’t leave nets unattended in the water overnight, but instead checked them every hour until morning.
Siamese crocodiles are generally not aggressive to humans, but they come into conflict with people when caught in fishing nets.
This often leads to the crocodile drowning and the fishing net being ruined. It’s a disaster on both counts, because fish is the only source of protein for many local communities in Cambodia.
Like many other apex predators around the world, the Siamese crocodile is also in decline because of habitat destruction and poaching for their skins.
Their potential large size and generally placid nature means they are highly prized by crocodile farmers who use the skins for handbags and footwear. Crocodile farmers also often hybridise the Siamese crocodiles with other non-native crocodile species.
This means programs for Siamese crocodile reintroduction and breeding must carefully genetically screen all young crocodiles bred in captivity to make sure they’re not actually hybrids, so the “genetically pure” wild populations can remain.
Finding fish bones in croc poo
Despite a pretty good understanding of captive Siamese crocodile behaviour and biology, very little is known about Siamese crocodiles in the wild, such as what they eat or how much food they need to raise an egg to adulthood.
Our only reliable indication of diet comes from scats (crocodile poo or “shit of croc” as we came to call it) collected along the river banks inhabited by remnant populations.
Carefully collected poo samples containing scales and bones tell us fish and snakes make up a significant proportion of the Siamese crocodile diet.
But the shrouded, mystical, extremely remote and virtually inaccessible jungle in the Cardamom Mountains has ensured we know next to nothing about fish communities within habitats set for the release of captive crocodile. And this information is particularly important for prioritising release locations for captive bred juveniles.
We spent four days sampling fish communities and then repeated the process at two other equally remote locations within the Cardamoms, requiring two days travel between each.
We saw groups of gibbons moving through the forest and macaques climbing down from trees to drink at the river. But at last we spotted a wild Siamese crocodile after dark, swimming in our morning bathing pool, on our second-last day.
Ultimately, we distinguished 13 species of fish from the Cardamom Mountains, confirming the presence of two previously unconfirmed species groups for the region.
What’s more, we found fish density was highest in areas with more Siamese crocodiles, and lowest in areas with more human fishing pressure.
Understanding the food web of crocodile reintroduction sites is important, because conservation managers need to understand the ecological carrying capacity of the system – the number of individual crocodiles that can be supported in a given habitat. Learning this is especially important when historical information does not exist.
Preservation of fish stocks within Siamese crocodile habitats is critical for survival of the species. But a key challenge for natural resource managers of the Cardamom Mountains is balancing crocodile density with local fishing necessity, and to do this, we need more information on Siamese crocodile biology.
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A curious and intelligent small monkey species, Raffles’ Banded Langurs are also known by their other common names: Banded Leaf Monkey or Banded Surili. Endemic to the southern Malay Peninsula and Singapore, this critically endangered monkey is now found in only a few fragmented pockets of primary and secondary forest, swamps, mangroves, and rubber plantations. Once widespread across Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand, the banded surili’s population has plummeted—fewer than 60 individuals survive in Malaysia, with Singapore’s last wild group clinging to existence in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve. Palm oil deforestation and habitat destruction continue to erase their world. Help them survive and #BoycottPalmOil and #Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop.
Deforestation and conversion of habitat continue to be the major threats to this species. They particularly affected by oil palm plantations, which are expanding very rapidly within their range.
IUCN RED LIST
Appearance & Behaviour
Banded Surili’s are around 40-60 cm long and with their tails this can extend to up to 83cm in length. They weigh between 5 – 8 kg and possess dark fur with a a white coloured band across their chest and inner thighs and a shock of white fur on their face giving them a startled and morose appearance. Males have white fur with a black stripe down their back from head to tail. Males will leave their natal group before they reach sexual maturity – at about 4 years old.
Male langurs make a ke-ke-ke alarm call sound which is like a harsh rattle. In the wild, these langurs have been observed being groomed by long tailed macaques.
Threats
Deforestation and conversion of habitat continue to be the major threats to this species. They are particularly affected by oil palm plantations, which are expanding very rapidly within its range.
IUCN RED LIST
The Raffles Banded Langur was once a common sight throughout Singapore however their number has dwindled to only 60 individuals in the wild – they are critically endangered in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve. They have now increased to 70 individuals in 2022 however their ongoing existence is extremely fragile.
They are fussy fruit eaters and will travel great distances to obtain their chosen food sources: an estimated 27 plant species, including Hevea brasiliensis leaves, Adinandra dumosa flowers and Nephelium lappaceum fruits.
The Raffles’ Banded Langur faces numerous anthropogenic threats:
Palm oil deforestation: Large swathes of their home range have been destroyed for timber and palm oil.
Infrastructure projects: Roads and rail links cutting through their range further reduces their access to the forest.
Hunting: Humans have been known to hunt them for food.
Banded Surili by Daniel Ferrayanto
for Getty Images
Habitat
These langurs are mostly active during the day and spend the majority of their lives in the tree canopy. They prefer rainforest trees of the family Dipterocarpaceae and have historically been found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand. Although almost the entirety of their rainforest has been destroyed – mostly for palm oil in Malaysia and Indonesia. They are the most dependent on trees compared to other leaf monkeys. Raffles’ banded langurs can be found in primary and secondary forests, swamps, mangroves and rubber plantations.
Diet
Banded Surilis are mostly herbivorous with a diet mainly consisting of fruits, seeds and leaves. Their stomachs contain specialised bacteria to help break down plant matter.
Mating and breeding
They are highly social and gregarious and typically live in groups of 3 to 6 individuals. There’s normally 4 or more females for every one adult male in a troop. Banded Surilis appear to have two birth seasons: July/July and December/January.
Support Banded Surilis 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.
Banded Surili by Daniel Ferrayanto
for Getty Images
How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife 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 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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.
More and more palm oil free 🦧 products in Australia 🇦🇺. Customer awareness is increasing month by month. Of course Bart Van Assen will keep pushing "sustainable" palm oil with Orangutan Land Trust. Boycott palm oil to protect wildlife! There is not planet B #boycott4wildlifepic.twitter.com/rm7chub5Rb
If possible to get Ovomaltine, please promote it among your friends. It openly advertises with 0 palm oil. No RSPO no bullshit. For me it even tasts better than nuttela. It substantiates that chocolate spread can be made delicious without filthy palm oil. pic.twitter.com/cyV5Tm3tLd
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
Palm Oil Detectives 
