NEW EARTH RISING 2008: Please Support Ecological Internet in Our Fight to Defend the Earth
Ecological Internet's $70,000 Mid-Year Fund-Raiser. This is no time to let up on EI's successful information campaigns, knowledge tools & commentary for climate, rainforest and environmental sustainability action.
70% to goal - $48,836 from 174 donors. Next $5,000 in gifts doubled! | $21,164 or 30% to go. Pls. Donate Now! |
Action Alert: Unilever Threatens Côte d'Ivoire's Primary Rainforests, Showing Promises of "Sustainable" Palm Oil Meaningless
Leading global consumer products company poised to destroy Ivory Coast's rainforests as both investor and customer, pushing three primates to extinction, just after its future commitment to rainforest protection and certified oil palm in 2015 was much heralded by some
By Rainforest Portal, a project of Ecological Internet - June 2, 2008
Caption: Species extinction is too high of price to pay for Unilever's oil palm rich consumer products (link)
One of Côte d'Ivoire most important primary rainforests is to be cleared by
global consumer product company Unilever and others, despite Unilever's recent
promises to buy only "sustainable" palm oil from lands not cleared of
rainforests for their production. Tanoé Swamps Forest in Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is one of the last remaining old growth forests in the country and the
last refuge for three highly endangered primates -- the Miss Waldron's Red Colobus,
the Geoffroy's colobus and the Diana roloway -- as well as home to many
endangered plant species.
Tanoé Forest is thought to contain the last remaining population of
Piliocolobus waldronae (known as Miss Waldron's Red
Colobus). This is a species formerly widespread in Côte
d'Ivoire and Ghana, but hunted to extinction over most of
its range and declared extinct in 1998; yet a freshly shot
specimen was found, in the early 2000s, having been hunted
in the Tanoé Forest. If Unilever goes ahead with this
project, it may be the first time in history that any company has deliberately profited from the extinction of a species.
Despite international protests, the palm oil company PALM-CI has just begun destroying
this 6,000 hectare forest to convert it to oil palm plantations. They are currently building drainage systems at the
periphery and, once the rainy season is over, they intend to clearcut all of the
forest. If the forest is destroyed, the three primate species as well as many
plant species will almost certainly become globally extinct. Large amounts of
carbon dioxide will be released from the carbon-rich swamp forests.
Unilever -- one of the world's leading food and personal care consumer brands --
is one of the main companies behind PALM-CI and the destruction of the Tanoé
Swamps Forest. They have been a long-term investor in PALM-CI and are
represented on the company's board. They are stakeholders in a joint venture,
Newco, which is the main customer of PALM-CI. Unilever publicly presents
themselves as a 'responsible' palm oil company, being chair of the Roundtable
for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). They have recently publicly told Greenpeace
that they will support a moratorium on rainforest and peatland destruction in
Indonesia, and intend to only buy palm oil certified as sustainable. Apparently
Africa's rainforests are less important than Indonesia. Despite years of
membership in the RSPO and proclamations about 'sustainability', they have not
so far stopped purchasing palm oil grown on deforested land, drained peatland,
or at the expense of communities and food production. Unilever continues to
profit from the expansion of palm oil monocultures, which is intrinsically
unsustainable, and "certified" palm oil is unsubstantiated greenwash.
Despite an international petition with around 8,000 signatures calling for the
protection of Tanoé Swamps Forest, they have so far done nothing to stop the
destruction. The government of Côte d'Ivoire has refused to protect the forest,
despite its high biodiversity, and against calls from many conservation NGOs.
Throughout West Africa only 3-4 million hectares of old-growth forest remain,
out of 50 million hectares a century ago, and deforestation has accelerated
since 2000. Deforestation has had disastrous impacts on communities, soil, water
and regional and global climate change. Please take part in this email alert to
request that Unilever stop the destruction of Tanoé Swamps Forest and
immediately finance and implement a programme to undo the damage that PALM-CI
has caused in recent weeks. After sending the first protest email, you will be
forwared to a second protest email asking the government of Côte d'Ivoire to
ensure that the forest and the communities that depend on it are fully
protected.
**NAME, EMAIL, COUNTRY ARE REQUIRED and will automatically be added as a signature