Oil palm saplings waiting to be planted © Behring/Greenpeace

Last week, campaigners from Greenpeace South-East Asia met with palm oil producers and traders to discuss the challenges faced by the industry if it's going to get a grip on the problem of deforestation. The seminar was designed to get these companies thinking about the impact their trade is having on forests in the region, and working groups brought together industry reps and campaigners to discuss the issues involved, particularly our demand for a moratorium on clearing forest areas for palm oil plantations.

The Governor of the province of Riau on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia has pledged to halt deforestation, which could help protect Riau's vast peatlands and forests that store 14.6 billion tonnes of carbon. Just to give you an estimate of what that figure means, it's the equivalent of an entire year's greenhouse gas emissions for the entire planet. Moreover, aside from being an important carbon store, this area is also important for biodiversity and critical for the people that depend upon these forests for their survival.

Primary rainforest, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. © Davison/Greenpeace

Regular visitors to our website might have noticed that a few days ago, we launched a cyber action against the Italian company Ferrero, a major user of palm oil and maker of Nutella and Ferrero Rocher.

Well, we’re delighted to report that, before we even had the chance to email our supporters about it, we’ve had another success in the protection of Indonesia’s rainforests and peatlands - and of the threatened species that live there and, of course, the climate.

We're still working to build a coalition of companies which are determined to reform the palm oil industry so no more forest is lost due to the expansion of their plantations in South East Asia and with Unilever's help we're in contact with other major players in the palm oil trade. However, some are less keen than others to co-operate and need some persuading.

Palm oil has a huge carbon footprint © Solness/Greenpeace

Since the rapid turn-around of Unilever in the wake of our Dove campaign, our campaigners have met several times with their executives. They've been discussing how to build a coalition of allies throughout the palm oil industry which will support a moratorium on further deforestation in Indonesia to grow new plantations. As Tracy mentioned last week, even though things might go a bit quiet on this campaign for while, that doesn't mean we're not working away behind the scenes.

You may have noticed that we had quick win in our campaign to stop deforestation from palm oil a couple of weeks back. Unilever made an announcement that they would support a moratorium to protect Indonesia's rainforest from destruction just ten days after the launch of our campaign.

Potentially good news for orang-utans - Unilever announced this morning that they're now supporting our calls for a moratorium to protect Indonesia's rainforests from destruction at the hands of the expanding palm oil industry.

When we sent in our own 'orang-utans' to Unilever HQ last week to tell them that they needed to do more to stop rainforest and peatlands being cleared to make way for palm oil plantations, company executives told us that they wouldn't be forced into a quick decision on the matter.

Just some of the men, women and things who have told Dove to stop trashing rainforests

Our Dove campaign is rolling along and at the weekend it broke out into town centres up and down the country. Groups of Greenpeace volunteers were asking members of the public to pose for photos which are now part of our growing Flickr gallery full of people who think it's a bit mad to chop down rainforests just to make soap. We've had young 'uns, old 'uns and even a Cyberman - if you've had your picture taken, see if you can find it and send it to the people behind Dove (details below).

The orang-utans may have retreated from Unilever's premises for the time being, but our campaign to protect Indonesia's rainforests from the expanding palm oil industry has only just started. As well as an advert appearing in today's edition of the Times, commuters at Blackfriars tube station in London this morning saw some of our special 'Dove' adverts alongside the escalators. Blackfriars is the nearest station to Unilever's London headquarters, so a large number of their staff should have seen them on their way into work. Watch the video below for a taste of what they saw.