The Most Important Place You’ve Never Heard Of
Can you picture a rhinoceros in the rainforest? Add a herd of elephants, families of orangutans swinging through the treetops and tigers prowling the understory and there is only one place in the world you could be: Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, one of Earth’s most ancient forest ecosystems…
Community Struggles for Land Rights and Livelihoods in Singkil-Bengkung region
Tens of thousands of people depend on the intact forests of the Leuser Ecosystem and the area is rife with looming threats and unresolved conflicts between local communities and rogue palm oil plantation operators. The expansion of palm oil plantation companies has harmed community livelihoods by damaging local resources, including agricultural land such as rice fields, and has brought terror, intimidation and criminalization into the lives of local community members.
Global Human Rights and Environmental Communities Condemn the House Arrest of U.S. Human Rights Lawyer Steven Donziger
Prominent organizations call for Donziger’s immediate release and warn of chilling effect on other human rights lawyers who stand up to corporate polluters NOVEMBER 14, 2019 | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE…
Halloween Candymakers Caught Red-Handed Using Illegal Conflict Palm Oil Grown in ‘Orangutan Capital of the World’
***For Immediate Release October 29, 2019 Halloween Candymakers Caught Red-Handed Using Illegal Conflict Palm Oil Grown in ‘Orangutan Capital of the World’ Undercover field investigations expose major chocolate brands Nestlé,…
Major Brands Again Caught Sourcing Deforestation-Linked Palm Oil
Just weeks after a major undercover field investigation by RAN exposed global food brands as sourcing illegally grown palm oil from within Indonesia’s nationally protected Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve, RAN is releasing fresh evidence of deforestation in the region connected to many of the same brands through a different supplier, PT Laot Bangko.
Newsweek: THE FIRES DECIMATING RAINFORESTS CAN ONLY BE STOPPED IF WE SIDE WITH COMMUNITIES OVER CORPORATIONS | OPINION
“Across the globe, tropical rainforests are burning. Even as the Amazon continues to burn, the rainforest in the Congo Basin –– the second-largest rainforest on Earth –– is on fire. And…
Reuters: Green groups flag threat to Indonesia forests recovered from palm planters
“Gemma Tillack, forest policy director at U.S.-based environmental group Rainforest Action Network, said the move was “a welcome signal at a time when forest fires are destroying rainforests the world…
130 Banks Just Launched the Principles for Responsible Banking: Will Banks Finally Change for the Better?
130 banks including Citi and MUFG (parent of Union Bank) just committed to align their financing with the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. Wow. Does that mean they are going to totally transform their financing for the better and stop financing deforestation, fossil fuels, and human rights violations? If not, this is going to be just one more greenwashing exercise…
Reuters: Asian palm oil giants take action over green group’s rainforest probe
Two Asian palm oil traders that supply to a list of major consumer brands are investigating two mills accused this week of buying from an illegal plantation in Indonesian rainforest that is home to endangered orangutans.
Gizmodo: Your Favorite Snacks May Be Driving Deforestation in Ancient Indonesian Peatlands
“The fact that it takes an NGO-conducted investigation to expose that these major global brands are still actively sourcing Conflict Palm Oil from illegal sources, years after each of them has issued public policies explicitly committing them to stop sourcing from suppliers destroying rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands, signals a major failure of the implementation efforts conducted to date by these companies. Consumer trust is understandably undermined when…”