See RAN’s shocking new Cargill fact sheet here.

Citing multiple corporate crimes ranging from slave labor, driving climate change and monopolizing the food chain to putting profits before food safety, the 99% took moral law into their own hands to perform a “Citizens’ Arrest” of Cargill, Inc. An Occupy Cargill protestor at the rally explained it this way: “Corporations aren’t people, but if they have the same rights as a person, shouldn’t they have the same responsibilities? So, can’t we arrest them for their criminal behavior?”

Cargill, Inc. is the largest privately held corporation in the world. The corporation’s annual revenue of $119 billion is higher than 70% of the world’s countries GDPs and the family that controls it is the richest in America. Cargill, Inc. is plagued with worldwide controversy around many of its commodities, including palm oil, salt, cotton, chocolate and grain as well as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), and carbon trading.  Agricultural free trade policies that benefit Cargill come at a high price for family farmers, food sovereignty, human rights, and the climate.

Departing from the former Occupy Minneapolis encampment site known as People’s Plaza, citizens marched in a “search party” to find this fugitive suspect, Cargill, Inc., to bring this corporate “person” to justice. Multiple speakers at the rally railed against Cargill’s corporate personhood and its extensive lobbying of governments for free trade policies that benefit its profits at the expense of people and planet.

Unable to find this corporate “person,” activists posted the arrest warrant at the last-seen location of Cargill, Inc.: The Minneapolis Grain Exchange. If I were this criminal, I would turn myself in to the 99% and beg for mercy.

RAN sent a delegation of four staff to lobby for human rights and rainforest protections at the 9th Annual RSPO Meeting in Malaysia.

As the 9^thAnnual Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) meeting wrapped up on the island of Borneo, the crisis stemming from the uncontrolled expansion of palm oil plantations into rainforests and communities reached a fever pitch.

Consider this: In the few days that RAN’s four staff-member delegation attended the RSPO meeting in SE Asia, the Forest People’s Programme (FPP) released a comprehensive and scathing report that documents Cargill supplier and palm oil giant Wilmar’s complicity in the bulldozing of homes and the use of live ammunition to forcibly evict Indigenous community members on the island of Sumatra.

In a press conference on the human rights impacts of palm oil held during the RSPO meeting, Rukaiyah Rofiq, who goes by Uki and works with the human rights advocacy group Yayasan Setara Jambi, warned that companies producing palm oil under the RSPO umbrella are failing to resolve the social conflict caused by plantation expansion. In a November 24 article in the print version of the Borneo Post titled “RSPO Emboldens Violators of Indigenous Rights – NGO,” Uki said:

Ideally, we had hoped that with the RSPO, these conflicts would be stopped or at least reduced, and the rights of the communities be restored. But we’re not seeing any impact with the RSPO. This is evident in the ninth meeting we’ve had with the RSPO. There has not been any change; the conflicts have not decreased. The presence of RSPO has not reduced or resolved the conflicts.

Uki is referring to the more than 600 cases of social conflict related to palm oil in Indonesia documented by Sawit Watch. In the same press conference, Jefri Gideon of Sawit Watch said: “There is a big hope among everyone that the RSPO can help resolve these conflicts.” He urged RSPO members to go beyond talking about the RSPO principles and criteria and code of conduct and actually implement them.

During the same week, the Jakarta Globe published two articles, “Indonesian Palm Oil Dispute at ‘Crisis Point’” and “Paradise Lost at Hands of Palm Oil Companies“, about a separate conflict surrounding the village of Muara Tae on the island of Borneo.

Muara Tae is in a stand-off with a palm oil firm whose forest clearing threatens the villagers’ entire way of life. Community member Petrus Asuy issued an impassioned plea, saying, “Because of the palm oil plantations, our water has become polluted and many of our springs have dried up. We took our case to the local government, but they ignored us. We are completely against these companies because they have compromised our way of life. What hope is there now for our grandchildren? We are pleading for help for our situation and for this activity to stop.”

It has become abundantly clear that wherever massive international commodity corporations are granted huge forest concessions and allowed free reign to manage them, community conflict and environmental devastation quickly follow.

It is more imperative than ever that companies like Cargill and Wilmar immediately address the serious problems of human rights abuses and rainforest destruction in their supply chains and become a part of the solution to this crisis instead of indiscriminately trafficking palm oil into North American and European markets. Please take a moment to ask Cargill CEO Greg Page to adopt safeguards to keep controversial palm oil out of American food products.

Palm Oil operations are destroying orangutan habitat

This post is by Girl Scouts Madison Vorva (age 16) and Rhiannon Tomtishen (age 15), who have been campaigning to get palm oil out of Girl Scout Cookies for the past few years.

Five years ago, while doing research for our Girl Scout Bronze Award, we learned that the cultivation of palm oil and palm kernel oil results in deforestation in Indonesia as well as orangutan extinction and human rights abuses. We were shocked to find that palm oil was, and continues to be, an ingredient in Girl Scout Cookies. We were both eleven years old at the time, and had enjoyed selling cookies for years as a fundraiser for Girl Scouts USA (GSUSA).

In 2007, we began our own grassroots campaign to convince GSUSA to remove palm oil from Girl Scout Cookies. We wrote letters, designed a petition (which has since been signed by Dr. Jane Goodall), created a website and organized with other scouts for years. But the organization that had played such a huge role in teaching us leadership and environmental stewardship gave us very little response. After working with environmental organizations like Rainforest Action Network, top decision makers at GSUSA finally agreed to meet with us.

As a result of the meeting, GSUSA has committed to working with us to find a solution to the palm oil in Girl Scout cookies that does not harm people, animals, or the environment. Unfortunately, the organization has not yet made any concrete decisions regarding this pressing problem. That’s why we need your support more than ever right now!

We’re encouraging all Girl Scouts to earn one of our limited edition “Rainforest Hero Badges” to help us show Girl Scouts USA that Girl Scouts all across the country will not settle for cookies that contribute to human rights abuses, deforestation and orangutan extinction.

Girl Scouts of all ages across the country have completed the community outreach actions to earn their badge and have had a great time doing it. There are still 200 limited-edition Rainforest Hero Badges to give scouts who download the Rainforest Hero Badge Toolkit and follow the instructions inside.

Scout Tianna Couch from Port Jefferson, NY was nervous to take on the Rainforest Hero Badge project because she feared her fellow troop members wouldn’t be interested in learning about rainforest destruction caused by palm oil. However, she was thrilled at the outcome — all of the girls in her troop cared deeply cared about the issue and were extremely supportive. They were eager to learn as much as they could about the issue.

When hundreds of Girl Scouts from all over the country earn this badge, it will demonstrate to GSUSA how important this issue is to the girls who make up the organization and that we want to show our concern in a positive way.

Girl Scouts USA is an incredible organization that builds girls of “courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place.” As Girl Scouts, we’re doing our best to live by that example. We’re asking GSUSA to live by its own mission statement, and ensure that its cookies are environmentally and socially responsible.

We want to thank everyone for all the support you’ve given this campaign and everything you’ve done to save the lives of orangutans and their rainforest home.

-Madi and Rhiannon

The smoke hanging over Pekanbaru

If you think this title sounds hyperbolic, you probably have not visited Sumatra lately. Before traveling here, I had heard stories about the oceans of oil palm that have been planted where rainforest once stood. But I was not prepared for this.

The first sign that something is terribly wrong came before our plane even landed. From 30,000 feet over the Java Sea between Jakarta and Sumatra, there was no sign of land or ocean below. Just a sickly haze stretching to the horizon.

Global climate change is usually an abstraction — a concept that must be imagined or made academic to understand. But here, it’s in your face, tangible and acute. Incredibly, Indonesia has become the world’s third largest carbon polluting country, behind only the US and China — and 80% of those emissions are the result of deforestation.

Stepping off the plane in Pekanbaru, the capital city of the Province of Riau, the assault on my eyes and nose and lungs was immediate. I actually had to suppress an initial panic that I would suffocate from the smoke. Our friends here later told us we were lucky to land at all, as air traffic would likely be cancelled again for lack of visibility. Shipping traffic from Singapore is sometimes similarly interrupted by the intensity of the smog. Our hosts laughed a little uncomfortably, explaining that before the vast deforestation of the past decades there used to be two seasons here: the wet season and the dry season. Now, they said, there are four: the wet season, the flooding season, the dry season and the smoke season.

This land was once rainforest, but has now been cleared, burned, planted, harvested and burned again

The acrid air is the smell of burning peat. It is the smell of palm oil plantations expanding deeper into the heart of what’s left of Sumatra’s once vast lowland jungles. Sumatra’s forests have been so lush, so wildly productive, for so many millennia unbroken, that their photosynthesis has processed immense amounts of carbon out of the air. The trees have quite literally breathed the atmosphere in, sinking its carbon through eons of leaf litter, forming massive reservoirs of underground organic material that has actually built land dozens of miles into the sea.

These steamy, amphibious ecosystems swarm with a cornucopia of life. Elephants and orangutans, tapirs and tigers and every manner of bird and beetle the human imagination can fathom. The truth is, no one has any idea how many species used to live here. Scientists estimate maybe half the species in these forests have yet to be described to science, and with most of these forests now suddenly gone, we will never know what’s already been lost.

These unusual deposits are called peat domes, and Sumatra’s are among the deepest in the world. To make this land fit for industrial palm oil and pulpwood production, however, it must first be cleared and drained, marring the natural landscape with a matrix of massive canals. Exposed to the air, the peat begins to decay, and when it ignites, it smolders in unstoppable fires that open the flood gates of the reservoir, releasing catastrophic quantities of carbon back into the tropical air.

The clearing of these forests has been so fast and merciless, the land and its people are in a distinct state of shock. Both are still reeling from the ongoing assault while struggling to pick up the pieces. Already, what is forever lost is devastating. Many wildlife biologists consider the remaining populations of endemic Sumatran Rhino to be the living dead. Their habitat is too sparse, too fragmented and too disturbed, their numbers too few.

RAN forest campaigner Lafcadio Cortesi walking through decimated forest that is set to become a palm plantation

Yesterday I was able to visit a peat forest for the first time, and to witness the advancing edge of its destruction firsthand. To get there, we traveled ten hours through the night from Riau to Jambi Province, then four hours by car over horrendous dirt roads to South Sumatra. From there we rode motorcycles on thin trails through a barren palm oil plantation to the edge of the peatlands. We continued by foot on a rough trail along a canal dug by illegal loggers to remove logs from the forest. We arrived at the forests edge, battered, sweaty and spent.

Thrilled to see tall trees still standing, I could hardly suppress tears at the tragic effort it took just to reach them. Monkeys howled in the distance. An electric blue butterfly swirled around me. Spiderhunters, dollarbirds, and bulbuls flit overhead while giant crested treeswifts carved gracefully through the air. Then, as if on cue, a chainsaw began to roar just out of sight, followed quickly by the terrible sound of trees crashing through trees to the ground.

A few days ago we watched video footage of an 18 month-old Sumatran tiger slowly dying in a trap set by a pig hunter on an Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) acacia plantation a few hours from our hotel in Pekanbaru. He was one of the last of his kind. 150 breeding pairs are estimated to remain in the wild. These majestic animals have been pushed to desperation in their search for the basics of food, habitat and mates amidst a biological desert of palm oil and pulpwood plantations.

This peat forest took days of travel to reach and was falling as we watched

I would like to tell a happier story, but not at the expense of the truth. Indonesia is at a critical tipping point. But, as severe as the destruction is, all is not yet lost. Taken as a whole, a recent estimate puts Indonesia’s forest loss at 49%. Orangutans still swing freely through the canopy of forests in Borneo and new species of lizards and birds continue to be described to science in West Papua. There remains some hope for the struggling Sumatran populations of pygmy elephants.

And, as communities across Indonesia are struggling to regain their livelihoods and the future livelihoods of their people from being sacrificed for quick profit by companies turning the rainforest into international commodities, there are signs the government is turning around.

Feeling discouraged and distraught after our disheartening trip to the forest, we returned last night to the hopeful news that the Indonesian government has announced a potentially major new direction in forest policy.

Declaring the establishment of a new 89,000 hectares of community-managed forest lands and the enforcement of a decade-old provision of forest law that requires the government to identify areas within the national forest estate that are in conflict with existing forest community land rights, Presidential advisor Pak Kuntoro said that Indonesia’s president supports protecting the land of indigenous communities and that “this is our chance to untangle our convoluted past and make a lasting difference.”

People in the know seem to think the government may be serious this time. After his speech, Kuntoro said to Reuters, “Paradigm shift is imperative, from exploitation to sustainable and responsible use of natural resources.”

Indeed. More power to him.

Dr. Bayu Wirayudha, founder and CEO of Friends of National Parks Foundation

I’ve only been in Indonesia for a few days and already I’ve heard multiple accounts of intimidation, corruption, kidnapping, torture and even murder suffered by our allies here who have been bold enough to speak out and resist the destruction of their forests and villages by palm oil and pulp and paper companies. But I am going to save those dark tales for another post and start this one with a happier story.

I didn’t expect to encounter evidence of RAN’s work in Indonesia until after I finished a three-day personal trip to the island paradise of Bali. After that, my plans were to immerse myself in two weeks of conservation-related meetings and site visits on the islands of Java and Sumatra — that’s what I traveled across the world for. But a close friend of mine who knows of my strong passion for birds told me that while I was in Bali I had to make a point of seeking out Dr. Bayu Wirayudha, the man widely credited with rescuing the iconic and critically endangered Bali Starling from the very brink of extinction (a truly incredible and ongoing story of its own).

It turns out Bayu is also the founder and CEO of Friends of the National Parks Foundation (FNPF), an inspiring organization that I learned has received funds from RAN on more than one occasion. I spoke at length with Bayu at his office/educational center/activist-organizing hub on the outskirts of the village of Ubud, Bali, and learned why FNPF is exactly the sort of frontline ally RAN is proud to support.

It’s important to understand that the threats facing the rainforests and communities of Indonesia are extreme and the challenges encountered by those trying to stem the destruction are immense and extraordinarily complex. Corruption is pervasive throughout the government and corporate spheres, and challenging those entrenched interests often means put your life on the line. The power wielded by the forces of profit and politics are almost beyond comprehension when viewed from the perspective of a villager fighting for their home or a conservationist struggling to save a species from extinction. So it takes some serious savvy to make headway against the seemingly unstoppable tide of forest conversion and community displacement sweeping rapidly across the country.

FNPF staff educate villagers about the importance of conservation

Bayu and his team understand that human rights, cultural survival and biodiversity preservation are inextricably linked in Indonesia. Conservationists here have learned the hard way that without the endorsement and involvement of local communities, desperate and disenfranchised villagers inevitably return to a slash and burn, extraction-based existence, dooming even the best-funded and well-intentioned conservation initiatives to failure. The approach of FNPF is a sophisticated melding of wildlife conservation, habitat protection and community development. Bayu praised RAN for supporting his organization’s vision at a time when other donors were unwilling to invest in such far-sighted plans.

With RAN’s help, FNPF has spent years gaining the trust of communities surrounding the huge and species-rich but conflict-ridden Tanjung Puting National Park on the island of Borneo. More than half of the forested land within the park has already been degraded by logging and agricultural encroachment. They built this trust partially by providing the villages with their first-ever cows and chickens, and the know-how to tend them for sustenance. At the same time, FNPF staff helped the villagers establish agroforestry operations with crops like rubber trees and agar wood that provide sustainable income while maintaining high levels of biological diversity. FNPF is also training local villagers to offer outstanding ecotourism opportunities in and around the National Park, giving locals a way to benefit from this lucrative emerging industry (before, ecotourism profits went exclusively to outsiders).

Villagers learn how to propagate key tree species

Bayu relayed a heartening story about how local palm oil workers now call his staff at FNPF when an orangutan enters the palm plantations, so the animal can be relocated unharmed, whereas previously they would have killed them on sight or called the notorious Forestry Ministry, which would have done the same.

These hard-fought, piecemeal advances may be just a drop in the ocean compared to the immensity of devastation underway across Indonesia’s rainforests, but they provide preciously rare living proof that a cooperative way forward is possible from the heinous mess that exists now. People like Bayu, and projects like those of FNPF, are like saplings rising up from a clear cut forest. With enough light and nourishment, it is these fresh starts that can take root and provide shade for others to do the same.

Two Girl Scouts have been working very hard to change this, Rhiannon Tomtishen and Madison Vorva. Our next step in pushing GSUSA CEO Kathy Cloninger to make the right decision for Girl Scouts and rainforests is a little nudge from thousands of people on Facebook and Twitter brought to you by Rainforest Action Network and Change.org. That’s where you come in…

1 Update Your Facebook Status

If you are a Girl Scout, alum, troop leader or family member:

As part of the Girl Scouts family, I am disappointed to see rainforest destroying palm oil still in our cookies. Please help me convince our CEO Kathy Cloninger that Girl Scouts must do right by the world’s last rainforests. Please sign this petition today! http://ran.org/girlscoutcookies

If you are not a member of Girl Scouts, copy/paste:

Will Girl Scouts get rainforest destroying palm oil out of their cookies? Girl Scouts of the USA claims they “have little say if not no say in the recipes used by the bakers.” We don’t buy it. Sign this petition telling CEO Kathy Cloninger that the power to save rainforests is in her hands. http://ran.org/girlscoutcookies

2 Update Girl Scouts of the USA Facebook Wall

9:00am PST update: After the Girl Scouts of the USA Facebook Page was flooded this morning with comments by Girl Scouts, troop leaders, alumnae, parents and Facebook users concerned about the rainforest, Girl Scouts USA panicked and removed all the individual comments from their page. GSUSA also disabled the Facebook function that allows you to share a link on that page. Therefore, instead of commenting on the Girl Scouts of the USA Facebook Page, you can do it on the Girl Scout Cookies Facebook App page. Here’s the latest version of instructions:

If you are a Girl Scout, alum, troop leader or family member, click “Like” on the Girl Scout Cookies Facebook App page, then copy/paste:

As part of the Girl Scouts family, I am disappointed to see rainforest destroying palm oil still in our cookies. I’d like to see Girl Scout cookies be rainforest safe by our 100th anniversary!

If you are not a member of Girl Scouts, click “Like” on the Girl Scout Cookies Facebook page, then copy/paste:

Will Girl Scouts get rainforest destroying palm oil out of their cookies? Girl Scouts of the USA claims they “have little say if not no say in the recipes used by the bakers.” We don’t buy it. Sign this petition telling CEO Kathy Cloninger that the power to save rainforests is in her hands. http://ran.org/girlscoutcookies

3 Tweet @ Girl Scouts

If you are a Girl Scout, alum, troop leader or family member:
As part of @GirlScouts, I pledge to help get #rainforest destroying #palmoil out of our cookies. http://su.pr/1WTU7i via @RAN RT!

If you are not a member of Girl Scouts:
#Rainforest destruction doesn’t belong in your cookies @GirlScouts USA. Your girls deserve better. http://su.pr/1WTU7i via @RAN RT!

***Follow Girl Scout activists Madi & Rhiannon on Twitter @GirlScoutHonor.

4 Tweet @ Celebrities

Get some celebrity spokespeople on our side!

Choose 1 or 2 celebs from our list of famous Girl Scout alumnae (we recommend choosing from the top 5), then add their twitter handle to the end of the tweet below:

Example: As a @GirlScouts alum,can you help us make GS cookies #rainforest safe by RT’ing this? http://su.pr/1WTU7i @MarthaStewart @VenusesWilliams

Girl Scout Alumnae Twitter Handles

1. Venus Williams    @ VenusesWilliams
2. Martha Stewart    @MarthaStewart
3. Taylor Swift    @taylorswift13
4. Sheryl Crow    @SherylCrow
5. Katie Couric    @katiecouric
6. Jackie Joyner-Kersee    @JackieJoynerK
7. Dolly Parton    @Dolly_Parton
8. Star Jones    @StarJonesEsq
9. Amy Sedaris    @amy_sedaris
10. Dakota Fanning    @theDakeFanning
11. Gloria Steinem    @GloriaSteinem
12. Reese Witherspoon    @RealReeseW
13. Mariah Carey    @mariahcarey
14. Kristin Davis    @KristinDavis
15. Carrie Fisher    @CarrieFFisher
16. Deborah Norville    @DeborahNorville
17. Barbara Walters    @BarbaraJWalters
18. Danica Patrick    @DanicaPatrick
19. Rep. Tammy Baldwin    @RepTammyBaldwin
20. Judy Biggert    @JudyBiggert
21. Rep. Mary Bono Mack    @MaryBonoMack
22. Rep. Diana DeGette    @RepDianaDeGette
23. Rep. Anna G. Eshoo    @RepAnnaEshoo
24. Rep. Kay Granger    @RepKayGranger
25. Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee    @JacksonLeeTX18
26. Rep. Barbara Lee    @RepBarbaraLee
27. Rep. Nita Lowey    @NitaLowey
28. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy    @RepMcCarthyNY
29. Sen. Barbara Mikulski    @SenatorBarb
30. Sen. Susan Collins    @SenatorCollins
31. Sen. Patty Murray    @PattyMurray
32. Donna Christensen    @DelegateDonna
33. Maria Bartiromo    @MariaBartiromo
34. Abigail Breslin    @AbigailBres
35. Laura Bush    @laurawbush
36. Vanessa Hudgens    @VanessaHudgens
37. Susan Lucci    @Susan_Lucci
38. Marlo Thomas    @MarloThomas
39. Judy Woodruff    @JudyWoodruff
40. Holly McPeak @hmcpeak1

Activists "Guide" Holiday Shoppers Away From Rainforest Destruction

Attention Shoppers: Until your local book retailer adopts a comprehensive set of standards for the books they carry, it is up to YOU to make sure that the books you buy aren’t made of destroyed rainforests! Rainforest Action Network has made a Rainforest-Safe Reading List and is working to influence consumer choice where it really packs a punch: at the point of sale.

At the Barnes & Noble flagship store in New York’s Union Square, activists promoted consumers’ right to know (and choose) by distributing over one thousand Rainforest-Safe Kids Book Guides to holiday shoppers. Others stealthily made the guides available in the bookstore café and tucked guides into hundreds of kids books.

The pocket-sized guide allows holiday shoppers to remove rainforest destruction from their shopping lists, at least at the bookstore, by ranking book publishers according to their paper policies. It was well-received by holiday shoppers who were absolutely shocked to hear that some books at Barnes & Noble may be printed on paper linked to destroyed rainforests.

The rise of e-books has provoked a certain nostalgia for traditional books, in particular those all-time favorite kids books we all know and love. Shoppers still want printed books, but they certainly don’t want books printed on the last habitats of endangered Sumatran tigers. Today’s Roar at the Store action (one of 150 Roar at the Store actions happening nationally this week) helped to provide the information that amplifies such a logical demand.

Book publishers need to quickly adopt and follow through with respectable paper policies for their books. Many publishers have, but companies like Disney Publishing and Harper Collins are going to disappoint a lot of holiday shoppers until they do.

Ferdi and Volario recently escaped from PT 198's palm oil plantations

Despite the 7.2 magnitude earthquake, tsunami and successive volcanic eruptions from Mt. Merapi this November, I made my way to Indonesia to attend the 2010 Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil conference, meet with allied organizations, and visit highly disputed palm oil plantations.

The rapid proliferation of palm oil plantations has had grave effects on Indonesian rainforests- loss of wildlife habitat, increased climate change, and mass infringements of Indigenous rights. These disturbing details I was already well aware of, but after meeting three young men in Java, my eyes were opened to a chilling facet of the global palm oil trade that turns out to be all too common- slavery.

Ferdi and Volario, 14 and 21-years-old respectively, are from neighboring communities in North Sumatra and experienced nearly identical stories. A representative from PT 198, a subsidiary of a Malaysian palm oil company Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK), came to their village offering jobs in the palm oil industry. The rep promised a good salary and work that suited their skill level, claiming those with driver’s licenses would take trucking positions and those with diplomas would work in the company offices. Both Ferdi and Volario seized on the opportunity of good work and good salaries. Much to their surprise, they were given the same job as all the other workers on that plantation upon arrival: fertilizer sprayers.

Palm Plantations in West Kalimantan. Photo: Ashley Schaeffer/RAN

The two worked grueling hours each day spraying oil palm trees with toxic chemical fertilizers, without any protection to shield their hands, face or lungs. After work, Ferdi and Volario were forced inside the camp where they’d stay overnight under lock and key, guarded by security. If they had to use the bathroom, they’d do their best to hold it until morning or relieve themselves in plastic bags or shoes.

After working under these conditions for several months without pay, Ferdi and Volario ran away from the palm oil plantation. To this day they have not been paid by PT 198.

I also spoke with a 42-year-old man named Suroso from Central Java. Suroso was approached by another oil palm company with the prospect of a well-paid career, along with promises of schooling, access to a local hospital, and all the protective gear necessary to take on the job of “opening the land,” or clearing natural forests to make way for rapidly expanding palm plantations. This company promised him 400,000 rupiah per hectare ($44US), and assured him that the land was flat, the trees small, and the work quick and easy.

After traveling by bus without food or water for 16 hours, Suroso found himself guarded by high security on his long boat journey to Borneo. When he finally arrived at his East Kalimantan work site, he was told he’d have to pay for his own protective gear–masks, gloves and hard hats–even though he wouldn’t be getting paid until he and his 20-man team team cleared 60 hectares (approximately 148 acres) of steep, thick forest. There wasn’t a school or a hospital for Suroso and the other men, very little food, and a stream used for drinking water, washing and human waste, which he described as “not suitable for human survival.”

After two months of backbreaking work and barely livable conditions, Suroso was paid 200,000 rupiah ($22US) for clearing 60 hectares of land.  He and several of the other workers made an escape plan. Suroso got some help from the Center for Orangutan Protection (COP) and ended up in Sawit Watch’s office, figuring out next steps and sharing his harrowing story with me.

While some industry pundits purport that the palm oil industry is an invaluable way to alleviate poverty, it couldn’t be further from the truth. The personal accounts highlighted here are just a few examples of dozens that I encountered on my travels in Indonesia. In addition to horrid health and safety conditions and slave wages, all who protest are deemed criminals both by the palm oil companies and the Indonesian government. Hundreds of workers have been arrested for protest on palm oil plantations.

Incredibly profitable for multinational companies and terribly damaging for people and planet, palm oil remains one of the most bitterly controversial commodities in the world.

Kampar Peninsula: Photo Via Treehugger

Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), Indonesia’s largest and most controversial logger, made another promise this week.

APP announced that one of the rainforest logging and conversion permits it controls (located in the globally significant peatland forests of the Sumatra’s Kampar Peninsula) will be re-licensed as a carbon conservation project.

However, given the lack local community or government involvement, the fact that the Industrial Timber Plantation license has yet to be reclassified as restoration or protected forest by government, and given the long timelines and lack of details associated with the deal, it remains to be seen if this is just another empty promise and public relations ploy by APP.

APP has a long history of broken commitments with communities, government, certification bodies, civil society and its customers.

Here’s my official statement:

The Kampar is among the deepest and most valuable peat forest ecosystems in the world. Not only does it provide carbon storage, it is customary land that supports the livelihoods of local communities and it serves as critical habitat for endangered Sumatran tigers and many other species. Although RAN hasn’t seen the details behind this announcement, it’s likely that the area in question should be illegal to clear in the first place. Any further development in this or other parts of the Kampar and neighboring peatlands and natural forests should certainly be subject to the moratorium on new licenses due to be adopted in January as part of the agreement on reducing deforestation and forest degradation between the Governments of Indonesia and Norway.
While we support the conservation of the Kampar, this project in no way makes up for the tremendous amount of damage that APP and its affiliates are having on communities rainforests and peatlands across Indonesia. This area represents a small proportion of the remaining natural forests and peatlands in their land bank and without action to protect other threatened areas in the Kampar and elsewhere, the area’s values could be lost and any emissions reductions rendered meaningless due to leakage.

APP’s conservation efforts are a drop in the bucket compared to the destruction that their standard business practices are causing across Indonesia. Under no circumstances should APP be praised or compensated for doing something that they should have been doing in the first place.

A critical question that needs to be answered in this situation, is whether or not local communities and governments know that this is happening and have a meaningful role in decision-making. If we don’t know that, it’s unclear where benefits will flow from this deal and how durable it will be. RAN maintains that if these types of conservation projects are to be successful, they must have the free, prior and informed consent of local communities and these communities must participate and receive an equitable share of the benefits.

What’s really good here is that the Ministry of Forests is stepping up to change the designation of this land use from “clear and convert” to “restore and protect.” If it’s done in the right way, involving communities and avoiding leakage, it could be an important precedent for Indonesia’s government.

If Indonesia is going to live up to their agreement with Norway, the government must re-designate licenses somehow and APP holds a lot of concessions with peat and natural forests. We urge the government to involve local communities, settle land claims and, as they appear to be doing with this agreement, and to reallocate all remaining undeveloped peatlands and natural forests to restoration/conservation areas.

Finally, this project is a great example of why, before they package carbon as a commodity, private carbon traders should adopt fundamental social and environmental safeguards and require their clients to verify that they’re not involved in the destruction of peatlands and natural forests across all their land holdings.

Thought the jury’s still out on how this project will land- given APP’s track record of deception, corruption and destruction- don’t hold your breath.

General Mills Moves Away from Rainforest Destruction!

It is with much gratitude, excitement and hope for our world’s remaining forests that I announce the end to Rainforest Action Network’s General Mills palm oil campaign. Our Rainforest Agribusiness Campaign has come a long way in 2010 with your help. Check out some campaign “best moments.”

Eight months ago, 42 activists braved the freezing cold weather of January to unfurl a massive banner reading “Warning: General Mills Destroys Rainforests!” on top of the frozen lake in front of General Mills’ Minneapolis Headquarters. At the time, not a single U.S. food company had a comprehensive palm oil policy.

Kids Thank General Mills: "We Can Eat Cheerios Again!"

Today, America’s favorite food company took a crucial step to protect rainforests.  General Mills (GIS) released a new palm oil policy that limits the company’s exposure to an increasingly controversial commodity. The company’s new policy, along with previous actions to eliminate problematic suppliers like Sinar Mas Group, puts them in the front of efforts by the U.S. food sector to address deforestation resulting from palm oil. Kraft and Burger King have also announced initial steps to ensure that they are not sourcing ingredients that damage the rainforest.

The new palm oil procurement policy includes specific commitments on critical issues including respect for the rights of Indigenous communities, prevention of further destruction of endangered rainforests and protection of peatlands, a major source of climate change causing emissions from palm oil production. In addition, General Mills has set a goal of “sourcing 100 percent responsible and sustainable palm oil” by 2015, setting a new bar for the American food industry.

See General Mills’ new palm oil policy in it’s entirety.

We hope that General Mills’ actions will serve as a wake-up call for others in the food industry, especially Cargill. America’s largest importer of palm oil, Cargill, has yet to take sufficient action to meet this demand or to clean up its own palm oil supply chain. Although the agribusiness giant has taken initial steps to do so in Europe, it has failed to bring RSPO certified segregated palm oil to the United States, and it continues to source palm oil from some of the worst suppliers in the business.

Today General Mills Sets Forward on the Right Path, Away from Rainforest Destruction; Now It's Cargill's Turn. Photo: David Gilbert

As a company with some of the most beloved brands in the nation, including Cheerios, Betty Crocker and Hamburger Helper, General Mills’ decision to address deforestation in its supply chain is a major industry signal that unsustainable palm oil expansion practices are a problem that can and should be addressed. RAN will continue working with General Mills on the ongoing implementation of the new policy.

Read General Mills’ press statement here.

Our report reveals that Cargill is clearing and burning rainforests, displacing Indigenous and traditional communities and exacerbating climate change. While Cargill claims that it is committed to sustainable palm oil, it is violating its palm oil commitments, RSPO Principles and Criteria and Indonesian law. Check out our post on GRIST.

One of the things we uncovered in our investigation is that Cargill is also failing to disclose the ownership of at least two plantations where they are actively clearing rainforests. The two plantations, located on Indonesian Borneo, are operating without legally required permits, resulting in clearing and burning of rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands and significant conflict with traditional and Indigenous communities. On one plantation, Cargill has cleared 10,500 hectares of rainforest since its operations began in 2005 – an area as large as all four Walt Disney World theme parks!

In thinking about the majestic forests of Borneo -that were once havens for orangutans, Sumatran tigers and elephants- and the people who depend on it for their survival, it’s unconscionable to think that in this day and age companies are still getting away with such egregious and rampant destruction. It’s not enough for companies like Cargill to say that they are committing to “sustainable palm oil”, they need to take bold action now!

RAN is recommending that Cargill adopt and implement a comprehensive palm oil policy, which includes cleaning up its entire palm oil supply chain and supporting an immediate moratorium on any further deforestation or draining of peatlands for palm oil plantations. We are also recommending that Cargill customers, like General Mills, cancel their contracts with the company until or unless it agrees to our recommendations. Our report and full recommendations can be found at www.ran.org/cargillreport

The media is just starting to cover our report. The Minneapolis Star Tribune says, “Rain forest advocacy group slams Cargill: Rainforest Action Network says Cargill operating outside of sustainability guidelines.” We’ll keep you posted on other updates, especially the update where Cargill agrees to clean up its act and stop clearing rainforests for palm oil plantations.

2010 Earth Day Poster Contest:

Name: Kayla Smith
Grade: 6th
Teacher: Amy Cole
School: Thompkins Middle School
Location: Evansville, IN

—-

Congratulations to Brandon and our Honorable Mentions below!  Everybody who participated in RAN’s 2010 Earth Day Poster Contest is a winner. Why? Because when the planet wins we all win . Please view all of these wonderful posters created by kids and youth that are making a difference. The winning poster’s class will receive a $75 gift certificate for materials or a class party.

Congratulations to everyone who entered the poster contest. We received over 60 entries and over 400 posters! Every poster had a powerful message, and together, these youth are making a huge difference for our world’s rainforests. Many of the posters had messages about protecting the last 20 percent of the planet’s remaining rainforests and their endangered inhabitants like orangutans and Sumatran tigers. Many of the posters also called on one of America’s most famous cereal brands, General Mills, to stop destroying rainforests for palm oil. Youth in Minneapolis delivered these posters to General Mills on Wednesday, April 28 in honor of youth working together for Earth Day from around the world. We have uploaded photos of this delivery to our online gallery.

Together, we can help General Mills to remember what’s really important: our future. Thanks for voting! Stay involved with our campaign by signing up for updates at www.theproblemwithpalmoil.org

View an of more incredible Earth Day Posters.

Honorable Mentions:

Name: Amina
Teacher: Kirsten Butler
School: Mill Creek Middle School
Location: Dexter, MI

—

Teacher: M. Martin’s Art Class
Grade: 3rd & 4th
School: Ventnor Elementary School
Location: Ventnor, NJ

—

Name: Cameron Cox
Teacher: Mrs. Parson
Grade: 3rd
School: Ashley Hall School

—

Teacher: Suzan Yildez
Grade: 3rd
Location: San Francisco, CA

Unfortunately for General Mills, over three hundred concerned cereal eaters across the U.S. and Canada took to the streets last week for a National Palm Oil Week of Action and distributed 20,000 spoof Cheerios postcards.

Concerned citizens are raising awareness about General Mills’ role in rainforest destruction from California to Minnesota to Alberta, Canada: General Mills is definitely on the spot.

In the world of Corporate Social Responsibility, the past two weeks have been an exciting time for companies like General Mills, receiving awards such as ‘Top Corporate Citizen,’ ranking 47^th in the world’s  50 ‘Most Admired Companies’ and 29^th on the ‘Diversity List.’ These awards recognize the company’s strong global reputation – at least according to Fortune Magazine and global business leaders.

But what this small group of decision makers doesn’t know is that millions of Indigenous peoples, endangered species and forests are at risk from palm oil expansion in Indonesia – thanks to General Mills.

General Mills, a company recognized for its CSR record, refuses to have a conversation with RAN about their palm oil commitments because of our “antics.”  It makes us wonder if General Mills is really committed to “sustainability.”

“General Mills strives to be one of the most socially responsible consumer food companies in the world, and we’re proud to be named one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens for 2010,” said Ken Powell, chairman and CEO of General Mills. “Each step we take across our businesses, big or small, advances our mission of Nourishing Lives.”

Which lives, exactly, is he nourishing? The lives of the children in the U.S. eating rainforest destruction-tainted Cheerios? Or the lives of the millions of forest-dependent people forced off their land to make way for monoculture palm oil plantations that release vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and destroy the precious habitat of endangered species, like orangutans and Sumatran tigers?

Will General Mills continue claiming that they support responsible palm oil while purchasing it from one of the worst palm oil supplier in the world – Cargill? RAN won’t quit campaigning until General Mills starts truly honoring their commitment to “Corporate Social Responsibility” by sourcing only environmentally and socially responsible palm oil. Until then, these awards mean nothing.

Over six hundred people and counting have already signed up for another national week of action for the first week of April! We will be passing out thousands of spoof Lucky Charms postcards as one of the many General Mills brands that contain palm oil ingredients.

Due to our combined efforts, more than 45 American companies have committed to using only environmentally and socially responsible palm oil.  Guess who’s not quite ready to make that same commitment? General Mills. Turns out Lucky Charms aren’t so lucky for the local people, culture and biodiversity of Indonesia’s lush tropical islands.

When General Mills steps up and cancels their contract with Cargill, their performance will merit an award they are actually deserving of. Until then, anyone who uses the word ‘responsible’ in the same sentence as General Mills is misguided and misinformed.

This flash mob culminated a Palm Oil Week of Action in which over 300 groups from around the country took action in their communities to raise awareness of the need for General Mills to stop using palm oil tainted with rainforest destruction.

While grocery store managers were not pleased to see their customer’s shopping experience altered in any way, the beauty of this flash mob was in its message: “Demand responsible products!” Leprechauns don’t want to lose Lucky Charms (or Cheerios or Wheaties for that matter) any more than kids around the world, but we all want to be able to purchase products that are as healthy for our planet as they are for our families. The purpose of this fun and fresh leprechaun flash mob was not to tell people what to buy or not buy, but rather to raise consumer awareness and help amplify the demand to General Mills for socially and environmentally responsible palm oil. And customers in these grocery stores LOVED it.

After freezing for three minutes, flute music began to play and the leprechauns did a jig as they shuffled out of the store and into the next grocery just to do it all over again!

Twin Cities Daily Planet wrote up a great article and video of this fun and feisty action.

General Mills can’t forever ignore the roar of leprechauns, valentines from kids, phone calls from angry shoppers around the country who want Cheerios that are really cheery, and giant yellow banners on the snowy lawn of their corporate headquarters! Soon they will have to step up and deal with the pink elephant in their office. General Mills: STOP destroying rainforests. The sooner the better, for all of us.

Overall, the report is impressively broad in scope. Unfortunately, it neglects to examine the climate impact of deforestation for food production. I wonder how that would add to the carbon footprint of the average American diet – quite a bit, I’d expect!

A Cargill Oil Palm Plantation - Photo Greenpeace PNG

Still, the authors’ recommendations for reducing your carbon “foodprint” are sound – and they would also contribute to reducing deforestation for food production:
• Eat fewer animals and more plants
• Buy unprocessed foods with less packaging
• Grow and harvest your own food
• Minimize car trips to restaurants and stores
• Cook at home more and eat out less
• Cook with efficient appliances and techniques
• Compost, recycle, and relish leftovers

Isn’t it nice that the same steps that are good for our health and our budget will also help the planet?

Well, don’t choke, but you deserve to know that one of America’s most well known brands- General Mills- is destroying rainforests.

Now,  this company is going to be famous not only for Cheerios, Betty Crocker and Hamburger Helper, but also for their sizeable contribution to rainforest destruction! General Mills isn’t as wholesome as they look.

Fortunately, the Minneapolis/St. Paul area is full of incredible grassroots communities intertwining movements for local agriculture, social justice, and a safe climate. There are so many inspiring people walking their talk, and ready to acknowledge and address how environmental and social distress to sneak into our responsibility chain via the food on our tables.

On Tuesday, Jan. 19, 42 activists unfurled a HUGE 30 x 70 foot banner reading: “WARNING: General Mills Destroys Rainforests” at the General Mills corporate headquarters. General Mills purchases the controversial palm oil from Cargill Incorporated. Cargill is sourcing palm oil from Indonesia where rainforests are being torn down and forest-dependant peoples are being ruthlessly kicked out of their homes all for an unsustainably-grown cash crop called palm oil. For the full story, visit www.theproblemwithpalmoil.org and see Rainforest Agribusiness campaigner Ashley’s blog about why we are zooming in on General Mills. Hey, you can sign the petition while you’re at it!

Activists here in the Twin Cities are thinking globally and acting locally in rapidly growing numbers. As our Twin Cities chapter grows and branches out, people from faith-based groups, food co-ops, political organizations, and art collectives are all stepping up to hold these local corporations accountable.

The result is incredible. General Mills has gotten the message loud and clear. And they know that  we aren’t going anywhere until they not only commit to getting dirty palm oil out of their supply chains, but until they follow through and do it.

Until then, we look forward to planting seeds of awareness across the country and watching people spring up to stop big agribusiness from disrespecting rainforests, family farmers, and the climate. The flowers of this work is in the connections, the friendships, and the collective power we are reclaiming person to person, company to company, and country to country, from Minneapolis to Kalimantan.

P.S. If you are based in/around the Twin Cities and want to join the local uproar, plug in to the RAN-Twin Cities chapter or Facebook group.

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining in West Virginia

1) The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or a similar regime of reduced emissions projects from developing countries. The CDM is quite controversial, and exists under the Kyoto Protocol, which the U.S. did not sign onto, so these CDM-like projects would theoretically need to emerge from the new agreement now being negotiated in Copenhagen.

2) And the second source would be carbon credits from international forests. This regime is also being negotiated right now in Copenhagen, and its outcome will influence if not determine the future for forest protection in the coming decade. A strong REDD deal with good safeguards would mean forest protection and the rights of forest dependent people respected. A weak REDD deal without strong safeguards would allow the continued logging of the intact natural rainforests in countries like Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Bukit Tigapuluh, Sumatra. Credit: David Gilbert

America’s future appetite for forest carbon credits is just one reason why the U.S. is so keenly interested in REDD. Another, more urgent reason, comes from the allocation of pollution credits under the climate policy. In Waxman Markey, 5% of the total number of CO2 pollution credits will be auctioned to generate a fund for Supplemental Emissions Reductions from Reduced Deforestation. The hope is that this REDD fund would account for 10% the total emissions reduction goal of the United States.

It’s too early to tell how this legislation will play out in the Senate. The Democratic majority is still pushing for a climate bill, and it will not live up to the science-based standard of 40% or more emissions reduction below 1990 levels, in large part due to the entrenched lobbying by the fossil fuels industry. Ironically this may not be bad for non-U.S. forests which are seen by King Coal and Big Oil as a key ‘cost containment mechanism’. RAN supports the Supplemental Fund mechanism as a key means of protecting rainforests, and welcomes the U.S.’ role in the global effort to halt deforestation. But we cannot move forward without reducing our own emissions, and that’s why we oppose the offset mechanism, which uses forest offsets to let big coal and oil off the hook from making necessary emissions reductions.

Now in Copenhagen, we’re seeing the U.S. position vis a vis the Waxman Markey bill playing out. The U.S. opposes binding legal targets for emissions reductions – which we in essence do not have in the U.S. due to all of those offsets. But meanwhile, the U.S. is ready to go on REDD, due to the Supplemental Fund, the silver lining from an otherwise weak and compromised U.S. climate policy.

REDD is intended to help developing countries protect their remaining rainforests and reduce the 15-20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation, forest degradation and peatland destruction.

Yet without key safeguards, REDD will fail to protect forests. Many countries hoping to benefit from REDD funding suffer from poor legal frameworks, high levels of corruption and illegality, and weak enforcement. Our allies at REDD Monitor summed up the situation with this graphic detailing rates of illegal logging in REDD beneficiary countries.

Key text that will prevent REDD from going the way of logging in terms of feeding corruption remains bracketed in the latest REDD text. [Brackets] means that some countries do not support this text, and from our conversations with negotiators it appears that the very same countries that stand to benefit from REDD funds are also working to undermine forest conservation and human rights in REDD. For example, here is the text that RAN and our allies in the Ecosystems Climate Alliance, working to include in the REDD negotiations in order for this forest deal to be a trustworthy alternative to logging and conversion:

• safeguards for transparent forest governance structures and support mechanisms {4(c)};
• safeguards for the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities {4(e)};
• safeguards on conservation of biological diversity and enhancement of ecosystem services {4(f)}.
• an objective for protecting intact natural forests.
• provisions to monitor compliance with these proposed safeguards should they be incorporated into the agreement;
• safeguards to prevent the conversion of natural forests to forest plantations.

Most worrisome is the likelihood that there is no legally-binding deal as an outcome of the Copenhagen meeting. If the parties still strike a REDD deal without a commitment from rich countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, REDD could end up as an offsetting mechanism rather than a key tool in reducing global emissions.

And without forest protection and enforcement of safeguards as its key priorities, REDD will threaten rather than preserve the world’s remaining natural forests.

Meanwhile, more and more companies and business groups (Apple, Exelon, PG&E) are dropping their membership in the Chamber and public opposition to the Chambers’ climate change denial is growing. The latest opposition is coming from the high tech sector, where the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and Silicon Valley Joint Venture are running an ad campaign against the Chamber for its opposition. And the Chamber is on the run, having been forced to backpedal on its claims to be the voice of the business community; last week the Chamber claimed to ‘represent’ 3 million businesses, but this week it quietly reduced that number to ‘300,000’ members. Investors are calling for companies that they own shares in to drop their membership in the Chamber, and local Chambers are formally distancing themselves from the US Chamber’s opposition to action on climate change.

As well they should. The Chamber of Commerce is behind the times: most companies have caught up with modern public values on climate change. For nearly ten years, the Carbon Disclosure Project has been surveying the leading global companies for their responses on climate change. In the most recent report issued earlier this year, 82% of the world’s largest 500 companies responded to the questionaire on their carbon emissions, 68% are reporting and tracking their emissions, and 51% have disclosed emissions reduction targets, all to report to investors representing over $55 trillion in capital investments. These companies are implementing global action plans for a carbon-constrained world, but the US Chamber of Commerce representing many if not most of these companies is heading in the opposite direction.

Here’s a note to Corporate America: every single company that claims to be taking climate change seriously yet continues to support the climate-change denying Chamber of Commerce, companies like Cargill, Microsoft (MSFT), Toyota (TM), FedEx (FDX) and Ford (F) – it’s time to come clean.

The US Chamber of Commerce is a national embarrassment, and corporations that continue to support this institution are standing in the way of progress in stopping climate change. It’s time for Chamber members to change or leave.

The report also finds that if we don’t take action to rein in the rapid global expansion of agrofuels we will in fact be making these problems worse. Particularly when expanding in rainforest regions, the carbon debt accumulated by agrofuels will take decades or sometimes centuries to pay back.

April 2009: Activists protest agrofuels in California

Read the full report at: http://ran.org/fileadmin/materials/comms/mediacontent/reports/Agrofuels_White_Paper.pdf