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New deal agreed to help protect one of the largest 'carbon stores' on Earth
One of the largest single stores of carbon on the planet is a step closer to lasting protection, according to the environmental group Greenpeace. The Indonesian province of Riau has pledged to halt the destruction of its carbon rich peatlands and forests in a move which could prevent billions of tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere.
The province is thought to store 14.6 billion tonnes of carbon (see http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/reports/cooking-the-climate) in its dense peatland areas, equivalent to one year’s entire global greenhouse gas emissions. At a ceremony in the province’s capital Pekanbaru, the Governor of Riau, Wan Abu Bakar, pledged to prevent any further destruction of the area’s peatlands and forests for the production of commodities like palm oil, a major commodity used in food, cosmetics and biofuels.
Greenpeace representatives in Indonesia are now urging the Riau government to maintain the moratorium until a permanent law can be passed. A separate proposal to halt the conversion of South East Asian forests for palm oil production is to be considered in November at the annual meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). This follows a Greenpeace campaign earlier this year against Unilever, the largest user of palm oil on the planet and President of the RSPO.
Greenpeace previously highlighted the dangers of Indonesian forest and peatland destruction in a report last year entitled “cooking the climate”. The report showed how rapid expansion of the palm oil industry was driving massive destruction of peatland swamps forests already responsible for 4% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Responding to the news, Mariana Paoli, UK Greenpeace forest campaigner said:
"If we want to beat climate change, then we have to stop the destruction of forests and peatlands in Indonesia. This deal sends a powerful signal to companies around the world that forest protection is becoming a priority in this part of the world. We now need to see the same kind of determination from big business when it considers a wider moratorium in November."
Indonesia is currently the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet, beaten only by China and the USA. The tiny province of Riau, on the island of Sumatra, contains 25 percent of the country’s palm oil plantations and plans exist to expand this area by 200 percent.
"The Indonesian government cannot waste any more time. It must declare a national moratorium on forest conversion to stop the vicious cycle of peatland drainage, forest fires and resulting biodiversity loss due to forest destruction." said Zulfahmi, Greenpeace Southeast Asia Forest campaigner based in Sumatra.
Success! Ferrero supports the palm oil moratorium
Posted by bex on 10 July 2008.
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.
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Amazon protected from soya growers for another year
Posted by saunvedan on 18 June 2008.
We have some truly excellent news to share about the ongoing campaign to protect the Amazon rainforest. The moratorium on deforestation for new soya plantations and the use of forced labour - which was the result of our McDonald's campaign two years ago - has been extended for another year. The original announcement by the major soya traders in Brazil only ran until this July, but now they've signed up to a further 12 months.
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Esperanza confronts world's biggest tuna ship
Posted by jossc on 27 May 2008.
Our 25 metre long 'No Fish No Future' banner looks tiny alongside the giant Albatun Tres
After last week's good news about Pacific Island nations banding together to stop foreign fishing fleets decimating their tuna stocks, the crew of Esperanza yesterday took action against the biggest and most devastatingly efficient tuna catching vessel in the world, the Spanish owned purse seiner Albatun Tres.
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Tide turns for Pacific tuna
Posted by jossc on 23 May 2008.
Hurrah! At last some good news for threatened Pacific tuna. Eight Pacific Island nations have signed an agreement to stop foreign fishing fleets taking their tuna. Our ship the Esperanza has been in the Pacific for the last seven weeks confronting unscrupulous foreign fleets that take 90 per cent of the fish, and even more of the profit.
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Whale meat scandal: police launch investigation
Posted by jossc on 20 May 2008.
Greenpeace Japan delivering stolen whale meat to the Tokyo Public Prosecutor's Office
You did it! Following last week's revelation that crew members from the fleet responsible for Japan's so-called 'scientific' whaling programme had for many years been stealing and illegally selling off prime whale bacon at the end of each annual hunt, more than 40,000 of you wrote to the Japanese government to demand an investigation. Today the Tokyo district Public Prosecutor has confirmed that there will be one.
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Dove story: how you're helping to change Unilever's mind on palm oil
Posted by jossc on 1 May 2008.
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.
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Bulb revolution sweeps into Argentina
Posted by jamie on 19 March 2008.
Another country is well on the way to making
the switch as last week Argentina
joined the rapidly growing list of nation states getting ready to use only
energy efficient light bulbs.
If the Argentinean president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner gets her way, by the end of 2010 mandatory efficiency standards will be introduced which will effectively ban incandescent bulbs. Better yet, she said her decision came as a direct result of the campaign run by our office in Buenos Aires.
And earlier this year, Italy followed Ireland's example to become the second EU country to propose similar efficiency standards and is also expected to remove incandescents from sale in 2010. All these bulb bans are a small but vital step in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, and introducing minimum energy efficiency standards on all electrical equipment has to be the ultimate goal.
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Ireland agrees to ban the bulb by 2009
Posted by jossc on 6 December 2007.
Good news on the energy conservation front - Ireland will be the first EU country to ban energy-wasting incandescent lightbulbs.
The Irish government announced today that, as part of its national Carbon budget, the old-style power hungry bulbs will be banned from 2009. Greenpeace congratulates the Ireland on its decision to lead the world in this simple but essential step in tackling climate change.
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Hachette makes it onto the good books
Posted by jamie on 16 November 2007.
We've had some excellent news in the Book Campaign as Hachette Livre, the largest book publisher in the UK, have finally produced an environmental policy which includes some great commitments to making sure the paper they use will be forest-friendly. With imprints such as Hodder & Stoughton, Orion and Little Brown, they publish nearly one-fifth of all books sold in this country, so it's a very big deal.
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