Here are some palm oil free convenience food and snack brands that DO NOT use rainforest-destroying palm oil. If you are ever in doubt look for the prefixes: LAUR, STEAR, GYLC and PALM in the ingredients list on packaging – this is most likely palm oil. Another tip is to shop for locally produced products instead of mass-produced convenience foods
palm oil on fire After a forest fire in Sumatra – Craig Jones Wildlife Photography African Forest Elephant Loxodonta cyclotis A mother and baby orangutan are rescued from an RSPO member palm oil plantation. Craig Jones Wildlife Photography
Did you know that palm oil is one of the world’s most destructive crops, as it can only be harvested in tropical rainforest and peatland landscapes where the highest concentration of endangered species live? The majority of palm oil and soy is fed to farm animals that people eat. This is why palm oil is an animal rights issue. And it is for these reasons that palm oil isNOT considered vegan by animal activists. It may be a plant-based substance, but it is NOT VEGAN. Convenience food megabrands like Mondelez, Nestle, Danone, CocaCola, Pepsi, Hersheys and Ferrero claiming that their products are plant-based AKA vegan but yet still using palm oil are simply greenwashing extinction and ecocide!
Despite the virtue-signalling of the palm oil certification body the RSPO, Mondelez’s so-called “sustainable” palm oil is linked to 37.000ha of palm oil deforestation since 2016 (Source: Chain Reaction Research).
Mondelez destroys rainforests, sending animals extinct and release mega-tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, and killing hundreds of endangered species. Once these animals are gone – they are gone for good. See research on Mondelēz’s palm oil sources.
Data courtesy of Palm Watch, a multidisciplinary research initiative by the University of Chicago. View Mondelez’s recent palm oil deforestation Look Up Mondelez on PalmWatch
Mondelez is on the board of the RSPO,9 is a signatory to the New York Declaration on Forests and co-chairs the Consumer Goods Forum Palm Oil Working Group. However, Mondelez continues to source palm oil from rainforest destroyers, despite its stated commitment to responsible sourcing.
In light of this – the pledges about palm oil on their website are a massive joke
‘Mondelēz International is committed to sourcing palm oil sustainably and eradicating deforestation and human rights violations in the palm oil supply. We take this responsibility seriously.’
Palm Oil Detectives thinks it is wise to boycott all Mondelēz sub-brands until it has been indepedently verified that they have stopped 100% of their deforestation activities throughout the world.
Mondelēz own a vast global empire of snackfood, confectionery, food and beverage brands…
2014 Infographic The most updated list of their stable of brands from their website includes:
Savvy consumers have been pressuring French Dairy multinational Danonefor decades to cease using deforestation palm oil. Yet they actually haven’t stopped this. From their website:
‘Danone is committed to eliminating deforestation from its supply chain by end of 2020, and to the principles of no deforestation, no development on peat, and no exploitation of rights of workers, indigenous peoples and local communities (NDPE).’
This phrasing above means absolutely nothing. In reality, in 2021 Danone
... show more
Danone
Savvy consumers have been pressuring French Dairy multinational Danonefor decades to cease using deforestation palm oil. Yet they actually haven’t stopped this. From their website:
‘Danone is committed to eliminating deforestation from its supply chain by end of 2020, and to the principles of no deforestation, no development on peat, and no exploitation of rights of workers, indigenous peoples and local communities (NDPE).’
This phrasing above means absolutely nothing. In reality, in 2021 Danone’s supply chain continues to slash and burn thousands of hectares of forests and release mega-tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. Danone is therefore involved in the killing thousands of endangered species. Once these animals are gone – they are gone for good. See research on Danone’s palm oil sourcesincluding a PDF of their palm oil mills.
Global Witness October 2021 Report: Violence and death for palm oil connected to household supermarket brands (RSPO members)
“One palm oil firm, Rimbunan Hijau, [Papua New Guinea] negligently ignored repeated and avoidable worker deaths and injuries on palm oil plantations, with at least 11 workers and the child of one worker losing their lives over an eight-year period.
“Tainted palm oil from Papua New Guinea plantations was sold to household name brands, all of them RSPO members including Kellogg’s, Nestlé, Colgate, Danone, Hershey’s and PZ Cussons and Reckitt Benckiser”
Danone makes claims of sustainability for palm oil on their website. They have a NDPE policy on their website (a policy which prohibits deforestation and peatland destruction). However this policy is not worth the paper it is written on. In 2020, Danone was one of many global brands to continue to purchase palm oil from mills for 38,000 ha of newly destroyed rainforest in Indonesia. Sending hundreds of species of animals plummetting towards extinction. Danone’s claims do not match what is happening on the ground. This is pure greenwashing! The brand has a high ranking on the WWF Scorecard and has an RSPO certification. However this high ranking is greenwashing and this mega-brand is purchasing huge amounts of palm oil from two mills that are responsible for 44% of all deforestation: Indonusia and Sulaidy.
Palm Oil Detectives thinks it is wise to boycott all Danone sub-brands until it has been independently verified that they have stopped 100% of their deforestation activities throughout the world.
Danone own a vast global empire of dairy and drink sub-brands
The most updated list of their stable of brands from their website includes:
Papua New Guinea & West Papua: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
As rainforest habitats are destroyed for palm oil in Indonesia and Malaysia, Indonesian and Chinese oil palm processing companies are switching focus towards Papua New Guinea, West Papua, Africa and South America to keep up with demand for palm oil.
Papua New Guinea and West Papua were divided up and taken by Indonesian colonial forces in the middle of last century. Yet for the ancestral indigenous owners of the islands of Papua and Melanesia, the Papuans who have lived the region for thousands of years -they simply call this region – home. Read more about this at the bottom of this page.
“When our forests are damaged, there will be a massive climate crisis, species like the birds of paradise will become extinct and not just our Namblong Indigenous culture will be destroyed, but that of all peoples everywhere,”
Orpha Yoshua, an Indigenous Namblong woman from West Papua told Greenpeace.
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again. Papua New Guinea & West Papua: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation youtu.be/eESMGraMlKM
Rainforest animals and rainforest peoples in Papua are under attack from global palm oil plantations and industrial-military actions on their illegally taken land
Indigenous Melanesian peoples of West Papua and Papua New Guinea are the rightful and original custodians of Papuan rainforests. Their voices deserve to be heard in environmental campaigns.
Yet Indonesia has embarked on an extensive greenwashing campaign to make these people invisible. Papuans never ceded sovreignty of their land and they have a right to have it back. Palm Oil Detectives works in solidarity with Melanesian and West Papuan support networks to raise the voices of Papuan indigenous activists.
There are many ways you can join the fight too. Become a Palm Oil Detective and Take Action today!
On Twitter, a South East Asian couple cosplay as Papuan indigenous traditional clothing in an obvious effort to erase Melanesian ethnicity and to normalise Indonesian rule – Spoiler: Papuans never ceded their sovereignty
More stories about Papua’s indigenous peoples and rare animals
Papua harbours uniquely beautiful animals including rare marsupials and birds not found anywhere else on the planet. In the lush and fertile forests of Papua live thinking, feeling and intelligent beings that love their children. Just like us, they just want to survive and have their animal families and communities left in peace. These animals live in Papua New Guinea and have a IUCN Red List status of Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable. Although animal conservation is still relatively new in Papua New Guinea, there is hope, with conservation foundations working to protect these species and the rainforest they live in.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.
5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here
Indigenous knowledge can help us better adapt to and mitigate climate change. More than 190 nations at COP15 — the United Nations biodiversity summit — have reached a historic deal to protect a third of the Earth’s land and water by the end of the de…
Despite the virtue-signalling of the palm oil certification body the RSPO, Mondelez’s so-called “sustainable” palm oil is linked to 37.000ha of palm oil deforestation since 2016 (Source: Chain Reaction Research).
Mondelez destroys rainforests, sending animals extinct and release mega-tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, and killing hundreds of endangered species. Once these animals are gone – they are gone for good. See research on Mondelēz’s palm oil sources.
Share this to BlueSky / Twitter
Serial rainforest destroyer #Mondelez 😱 uses “sustainable” #
... show more
Mondelēz
Despite the virtue-signalling of the palm oil certification body the RSPO, Mondelez’s so-called “sustainable” palm oil is linked to 37.000ha of palm oil deforestation since 2016 (Source: Chain Reaction Research).
Mondelez destroys rainforests, sending animals extinct and release mega-tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, and killing hundreds of endangered species. Once these animals are gone – they are gone for good. See research on Mondelēz’s palm oil sources.
Data courtesy of Palm Watch, a multidisciplinary research initiative by the University of Chicago. View Mondelez’s recent palm oil deforestation Look Up Mondelez on PalmWatch
Mondelez is on the board of the RSPO,9 is a signatory to the New York Declaration on Forests and co-chairs the Consumer Goods Forum Palm Oil Working Group. However, Mondelez continues to source palm oil from rainforest destroyers, despite its stated commitment to responsible sourcing.
In light of this – the pledges about palm oil on their website are a massive joke
‘Mondelēz International is committed to sourcing palm oil sustainably and eradicating deforestation and human rights violations in the palm oil supply. We take this responsibility seriously.’
Palm Oil Detectives thinks it is wise to boycott all Mondelēz sub-brands until it has been indepedently verified that they have stopped 100% of their deforestation activities throughout the world.
Mondelēz own a vast global empire of snackfood, confectionery, food and beverage brands…
2014 Infographic The most updated list of their stable of brands from their website includes:
The True Price of Palm Oil: How global finance and household brands are fuelling deforestation, violence and human rights abuses in Papua New Guinea Read Report
Oil palm plantations support much fewer species than do forests and often also fewer than other tree crops. Further negative impacts include habitat fragmentation and pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions.
Currently certified grower supply bases and concessions in Sumatra and Borneo are located in large mammal’s habitat and in areas that were biodiverse tropical forests less than 30 years ago. We suggest that certification schemes claim for the “sustainable” production of palm oil just because they neglect a very recent past of deforestation and habitat degradation.
We analyse consequences of the globally important land-use transformation from tropical forests to oil palm plantations. Species diversity, density and biomass of invertebrate communities suffer at least 45% decreases from rainforest to oil palm.
We found that certified plantation concessions that are committed to deforestation-free production are limited in their ability to prevent further biodiversity loss, due to the past conversion of forest habitats to plantations. Concession holders can improve forest habitats through corridor development and other measures, which would mitigate, but not prevent, further biodiversity loss.
We find positive effects on prices and income from sale of certified products. However, we find no change in overall household income and assets for workers. The wages for workers are not higher in certified production.
There was no significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.
This article argues that the form of sustainability offered by certification schemes such as the RSPO fetishes the commodity palm oil in order to assuage critical consumer initiatives in the North. This technical-managerial solution is part of a larger project: the “post-political” climate politics regime (Swyngedouw) that attempts to “green” the status quo.
“Both Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) schemes are failing to ensure that palm oil is being produced and traded legally, let alone sustainably. They cannot be relied upon by overseas consumers concerned about their role in the global chain that leads to deforestation.”
Deceased Estate: Illegal palm oil wiping out Indonesia’s national forest, Greenpeace Indonesia, Oct 2021
No significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.
During its 14 years of existence, RSPO – the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil – has failed to live up to its claim of “transforming” the industrial palm oil production sector into a so-called “sustainable” one. In reality, the RSPO has been used by the palm oil industry to greenwash corporate destruction and human rights abuses, while it continues to expand business, forest destruction and profits.
RSPO presents itself to the public with the slogan “transforming the markets to make sustainable palm oil the norm”. Palm oil has become the cheapest vegetable oil available on the global market, making it a popular choice among the group that dominates RSPO membership, big palm oil buyers.
They will do everything to secure a steady flow of cheap palm oil. They also know that the key to the corporate success story of producing “cheap” palm oil is a particular model of industrial production, with ever-increasing efficiency and productivity which in turn is achieved by:
Planting on a large-scale and in monoculture, frequently through conversion of tropical biodiverse forests
Using “high yielding” seedlings that demand large amounts of agrotoxics and abundant water.
Squeezing cheap labour out of the smallest possible work force, employed in precarious conditions so that company costs are cut to a minimum
Making significant up-front money from the tropical timber extracted from concessions, which is then used to finance plantation development or increase corporate profits.
Grabbing land violently from local communities or by means of other arrangements with governments (including favourable tax regimes) to access land at the lowest possible cost.
Those living on the fertile land that the corporations choose to apply their industrial palm oil production model, pay a very high price.
Violence is intrinsic to this model:
violence and repression when communities resist the corporate take over of their land because they know that once their land is turned into monoculture oil palm plantations, their livelihoods will be destroyed, their land and forests invaded. In countless cases, deforestation caused by the expansion of this industry, has displaced communities or destroyed community livelihoods where
companies violate customary rights and take control of community land;
sexual violence and harassment against women in and around the plantations which often stays invisible because women find themselves without possibilities to demand that the perpetrators be prosecuted;
Child labour and precarious working conditions that go hand-in-hand with violation of workers’ rights;
working conditions can even be so bad as to amount to contemporary forms of slavery. This exploitative model of work grants companies more economic profits while allowing palm oil to remain a cheap product. That is why, neither them or their shareholders do anything to stop it.
exposure of workers, entire communities and forests, rivers, water springs, agricultural land and soils to the excessive application of agrotoxics;
depriving communities surrounded by industrial oil palm plantations of their food sovereignty when industrial oil palm plantations occupy land that communities need to grow food crops.
RSPO’s proclaimed vision of transforming the industrial oil palm sector is doomed to fail because the Roundtable’s certification principles promote this structural violent and destructive model.
The RSPO also fails to address the industry’s reliance on exclusive control of large and contingent areas of fertile land, as well as the industry’s growth paradigm which demands a continued expansion of corporate control over community land and violent land grabs.
None of RPSO’s eight certification principles suggests transforming this industry reliance on exclusive control over vast areas of land or the growth paradigm inherent to the model.
Industrial use of vegetable oils has doubled in the past 15 years, with palm oil being the cheapest. This massive increase of palm oil use in part explains the current expansion of industrial oil palm plantations, especially in Africa and Latin America, from the year 2000 onward, in addition to the existing vast plantations areas in Malaysia and Indonesia that also continue expanding.
On the ground, countless examples show that industrial oil palm plantations continue to be synonymous to violence and destruction for communities and forests. Communities’ experiences in the new industrial oil palm plantation frontiers, such as Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Peru, Honduras, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, are similar to past and ongoing community experiences in Indonesia and Malaysia.
RSPO creates a smokescreen that makes this violence invisible for consumers and financiers. Governments often fail to take regulatory action to stop the expansion of plantations and increasing demand of palm oil; they rely on RSPO to deliver an apparently sustainable flow of palm oil.
For example, in its public propaganda, RSPO claims it supports more than 100,000 small holders. But the profit from palm oil production is still disproportionally appropriated by the oil palm companies: in 2016, 88% of all certified palm oil came from corporate plantations and 99,6% of the production is corporate-controlled.
RSPO also claims that the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is key among its own Principles and Criteria. The right to FPIC implies, among others, that if a community denies the establishment of this monoculture in its territory, operations cannot be carried out. Reality shows us, however, that despite this, many projects go ahead.
Concessions are often guaranteed long before the company reaches out to the affected communities. Under these circumstances, to say that FPIC is central to RSPO is bluntly false and disrespectful.
RSPO also argues that where conflicts with the plantation companies arise, communities can always use its complaint mechanism. However, the mechanism is complex and it rarely solves the problems that communities face and want to resolve.
This becomes particularly apparent in relation to land legacy conflicts where the mechanism is biased against communities. It allows companies to continue exploiting community land until courts have come to a decision. This approach encourages companies to sit out such conflicts and count on court proceedings dragging on, often over decades.
Another argument used by RSPO is that industrial oil palm plantations have lifted millions of people out of poverty. That claim is certainly questionable, even more so considering that there is also an important number of people who have been displaced over the past decades to make space for plantations.
Indigenous communities have in fact lost their fertile land, forests and rivers to oil palm plantations, adversely affecting their food, culture and local economies.
The RSPO promise of “transformation” has turned into a powerful greenwashing tool for corporations in the palm oil industry. RSPO grants this industry, which remains responsible for violent land grabbing, environmental destruction, pollution through excessive use of agrotoxics and destruction of peasant and indigenous livelihoods, a “sustainable” image.
What’s more, RSPO membership seems to suffice for investors and companies to be able to claim that they are “responsible” actors. This greenwash is particularly stunning, since being a member does not guarantee much change on the ground. Only recently, a company became RSPO member after it was found to deforest over 27.000 hectares of rainforest in Papua, Indonesia.
Certification is structurally dependent on the very same policies and regulation that have given rise to the host of environmental devastation and community land rights violations associated with oil palm plantations. These systemic governance issues are part of the destructive economic model, and embedded in state power.
For this reason, voluntary certification schemes cannot provide adequate protection for forests, community rights, food sovereignty and guarantee sustainability. Governments and financiers need to take responsibility to stop the destructive palm oil expansion that violates the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples.
As immediate steps, governments need to:
Put in place a moratorium on palm oil plantations expansion and use that as a breathing space to fix the policy frameworks;
Drastically reduce demand for palm oil: stop using food for fuel;
Strengthen and respect the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples to amongst others, self-determination and territorial control.
Promote agro-ecology and community control of their forests, which strengthens local incomes, livelihoods and food sovereignty, instead of advancing industrial agro-businesses.
Signatures
Aalamaram-NGOAcción Ecológica, Ecuador
ActionAid, France
AGAPAN Amics arbres
Arbres amics
Amis de la Terre France
ARAARBA (Asociación para la Recuperación del Bosque Autóctono)
Asociación Conservacionista YISKI, Costa Rica Asociación Gaia El Salvador
Association Congo Actif, Paris
Association Les Gens du Partage, Carrières-sous-Poissy
Association pour le développement des aires protégées, Swizterland
BASE IS
Bézu St Eloi
Boxberg OT Uhyst
Bread for all
Bruno Manser Fund
CADDECAE, Ecuador
Campaign to STOP GE Trees
CAP, Center for Advocacy Practices
Centar za životnu sredinu/ Friends of the Earth Bosnia and Herzegovina
CESTA – FOE El Salvador
CETRI – Centre tricontinental
Climate Change Kenya
Coalición de Tendencia Clasista. (CTC-VZLA)
Colectivo de Investigación y Acompañmiento Comunitario
Collectif pour la défense des terres malgaches – TANY, Madagascar
Community Forest Watch, Nigeria
Consumers Association of Penang
Corporate Europe Observatory
Cuttington University
Down to Earth Consult
El Campello
Environmental Resources Management and Social Issue Centre (ERMSIC) Cameroon
Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria
Have a look at these quarterly and at-a-glance reports by Mighty Earth, they show the RSPO members (palm oil manfacturers, traders, processors and retail brands) at the centre of deforestation. Click on image to go to most recent report. This information below is a stark contrast to the greenwashing WWF Palm Oil Scorecard, which allocates many of these same brands with a ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ label and encourages people to buy from them! We call out this form of greenwashing and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife!
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Ecocide & Corruption Whistle-blowers on Twitter
With so much misinformation, greenwashing and BS out there. It is difficult to know who is telling the truth.
Here’s a list of NGOS, individuals and media outlets you can trust for clear information that exposes the corruption going on around so-called ‘sustainable’ palm oil, deforestation and many other issues.
Also these media outlets, individuals and NGOs regularly cover other topics like deforestation for soy, meat, gold, timber, cocoa, coffee and other commodities. They also expose corruption, abuse, violence and death of indigenous people, land grabs etc and how this links to global companies.
There are now literally thousands of people who are a passionate supporters and activists in the #Boycott4Wildlife – This list is not ignoring these people, you are all amazing people and the contribution you are making is very important!. However this list here focuses on people or NGOs who publish and produce news, research, books, photojournalism, podcasts or TV documentaries. So that everyone else knows who to listen to in the gigantic social media cacophony.
Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.
More than 100 organizations from five continents signed on to this open statement from Friends of the Earth International and the World Rainforest Movement,
In late 2023, Kelloggs became Kellanova for their US arm. Savvy consumers have been pressuring Kelloggs for decades to cease using deforestation palm oil. Yet they actually haven’t stopped this. From their website:
‘All of the palm oil that is used in our products is sourced from a combination of the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Certified Segregated supply chain, RSPO Mass Balance mixed-source supply and the purchase of Green Palm certificates.’
This phrasing above means absolutely nothing. In reality, Kelloggs’ supply chain continues to slash and burn thousands of hectares of forests
... show more
Kelloggs/Kellanova
In late 2023, Kelloggs became Kellanova for their US arm. Savvy consumers have been pressuring Kelloggs for decades to cease using deforestation palm oil. Yet they actually haven’t stopped this. From their website:
‘All of the palm oil that is used in our products is sourced from a combination of the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Certified Segregated supply chain, RSPO Mass Balance mixed-source supply and the purchase of Green Palm certificates.’
This phrasing above means absolutely nothing. In reality, Kelloggs’ supply chain continues to slash and burn thousands of hectares of forests and release mega-tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. Kellogg’s is therefore involved in the killing thousands of endangered species. Once these animals are gone – they are gone for good. See research on Kelloggs’s palm oil sources including a PDF of their palm oil mills.
Global Witness October 2021 Report: Violence and death for palm oil connected to household supermarket brands (RSPO members)
“One palm oil firm, Rimbunan Hijau, [Papua New Guinea] negligently ignored repeated and avoidable worker deaths and injuries on palm oil plantations, with at least 11 workers and the child of one worker losing their lives over an eight-year period.
“Tainted palm oil from Papua New Guinea plantations was sold to household name brands, all of them RSPO members including Kellogg’s, Nestlé, Colgate, Danone, Hershey’s and PZ Cussons and Reckitt Benckiser”
Kelloggsmakes claims of sustainability for palm oil on their website. However these claims do not match what is happening on the ground. This is pure greenwashing. The brand has a high ranking on the WWF Scorecard and has an RSPO certification. However this high ranking is greenwashing and this mega-brand is purchasing huge amounts of palm oil from four mills that are responsible for 44% of all deforestation: Jhonlin, Mulia Sawit, Tunas Baru Lampung and Peputra Group
Palm Oil Detectives thinks it is wise to boycott all Kelloggs sub-brands until it has been independently verified that they have stopped 100% of their deforestation activities throughout the world.
Sign a petition telling Kelloggs to stop deforestation!
Download the Bahasa translated version here. Analysis by Chain Reaction Research (CRR) shows that ten palm oil companies were alone responsible for approximately 39,500 hectares (ha) of deforestation and peat development in Indonesia, Sarawak (Malays…
Papua New Guinea & West Papua: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
As rainforest habitats are destroyed for palm oil in Indonesia and Malaysia, Indonesian and Chinese oil palm processing companies are switching focus towards Papua New Guinea, West Papua, Africa and South America to keep up with demand for palm oil.
Papua New Guinea and West Papua were divided up and taken by Indonesian colonial forces in the middle of last century. Yet for the ancestral indigenous owners of the islands of Papua and Melanesia, the Papuans who have lived the region for thousands of years -they simply call this region – home. Read more about this at the bottom of this page.
“When our forests are damaged, there will be a massive climate crisis, species like the birds of paradise will become extinct and not just our Namblong Indigenous culture will be destroyed, but that of all peoples everywhere,”
Orpha Yoshua, an Indigenous Namblong woman from West Papua told Greenpeace.
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again. Papua New Guinea & West Papua: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation youtu.be/eESMGraMlKM
Rainforest animals and rainforest peoples in Papua are under attack from global palm oil plantations and industrial-military actions on their illegally taken land
Indigenous Melanesian peoples of West Papua and Papua New Guinea are the rightful and original custodians of Papuan rainforests. Their voices deserve to be heard in environmental campaigns.
Yet Indonesia has embarked on an extensive greenwashing campaign to make these people invisible. Papuans never ceded sovreignty of their land and they have a right to have it back. Palm Oil Detectives works in solidarity with Melanesian and West Papuan support networks to raise the voices of Papuan indigenous activists.
There are many ways you can join the fight too. Become a Palm Oil Detective and Take Action today!
On Twitter, a South East Asian couple cosplay as Papuan indigenous traditional clothing in an obvious effort to erase Melanesian ethnicity and to normalise Indonesian rule – Spoiler: Papuans never ceded their sovereignty
More stories about Papua’s indigenous peoples and rare animals
Papua harbours uniquely beautiful animals including rare marsupials and birds not found anywhere else on the planet. In the lush and fertile forests of Papua live thinking, feeling and intelligent beings that love their children. Just like us, they just want to survive and have their animal families and communities left in peace. These animals live in Papua New Guinea and have a IUCN Red List status of Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable. Although animal conservation is still relatively new in Papua New Guinea, there is hope, with conservation foundations working to protect these species and the rainforest they live in.
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.
5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here
Indigenous knowledge can help us better adapt to and mitigate climate change. More than 190 nations at COP15 — the United Nations biodiversity summit — have reached a historic deal to protect a third of the Earth’s land and water by the end of the de…
View Mondelez’s recent palm oil deforestation
2014 Infographic
Papua New Guinea & West Papua: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
Burning Questions – Credibility of sustainable palm oil still illusive – Environmental Investigation Agency (2021)
Dying for a cookie: How Mondelez’s Dirty Palm Oil is feeding the climate and extinction crisis by Greenpeace (2019)
Who Watches the Watchmen Part 2: The continuing incompetence of the RSPO’s assurance systems (2019)
The RSPO: 14 Years of Failure by Friends of the Earth International and Co-signed by 100 Indigenous and Human Rights Organisations (2014)
Destruction Certified by Greenpeace (2021)
Trading Risks ADM and Bunge and failing land and environmental rights defenders in Indonesia (2021)
Keep the Forests Standing: Exposing the brands driving deforestation – RAN (2020)
License to Clear Dark Side of Permitting in West Papua by Greenpeace (2021)
FMCG’s Zero-Deforestation Challenges and Growing Exposure to Reputational Risk. Chain Reaction Research (2020)
Plantation Life Corporate Occupation in Indonesia’s Oil Palm Zone (2021)
Planet Palm: How Palm Oil Ended Up In Everything and Endangered the World by Jocelyn Zuckerman (2021)
Rethinking Dayak Identity Dr Setia Budhi
https://www.nzz.ch/english/palm-oil-boom-threatens-protected-rainforest-in-indonesia-ld.1625490" title="Adina Renner, Conradin Zellweger, Barnaby Skinner. ‘Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire’. (May 2021) https://www.nzz.ch/english/palm-oil-boom-threatens-protected-rainforest-in-indonesia-ld.1625490" class="has-alt-description">Adina Renner, Conradin Zellweger, Barnaby Skinner. ‘Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire’. (May 2021) nzz.ch/english/palm-oil-boom-t…
The True Price of Palm Oil: How global finance and household brands are fuelling deforestation, violence and human rights abuses in Papua New Guinea
Deceased Estate: Illegal palm oil wiping out Indonesia’s national forest, Greenpeace Indonesia, Oct 2021