Kao: Cut ties with land-grabbing agribusinesses
By sourcing its palm oil from the wrong suppliers, Kao is taking part in destroying the livelihoods of Rajes, Eva, and all the other community members who’ve relied on farming and benzoin harvesting for generations.
But right now, Kao is reviewing our research and re-evaluating their palm oil joint-venture in Indonesia, so let’s make sure they hear from all of us and know we’re watching!
To Kao:
The rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, are some of the last remaining in the world, and the only place where elephants, tigers, rhinos and orangutans live together. But they’re being intentionally burned and bulldozed to clear forest for Conflict Palm Oil and pulp plantations – a big problem for both the health of local communities, the rainforests, and for our climate.
One of the biggest culprits in Indonesia is the Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) group that controls millions of acres of land used for both pulp and palm oil production. Despite RGE’s track record of mass deforestation, fires, community conflicts and human rights abuses, Kao still sources palm oil from RGE and maintains a joint-venture with its palm oil arm APICAL. By doing so, Kao is complicit in destroying livelihoods of Indigenous communities such as the Pargamanan-Bintang Maria community.
This community, like so many others in Indonesia and around the world, is fighting for their birthright – the right to their lands – and upholding these is key to keeping forests standing and protecting the climate.
Doing business with forest destroyers and rights abusers makes Kao complicit, exposing your company to all sorts of risks. Act now and show you value the future of the planet. We call on Kao to suspend all sourcing from RGE and all its subsidiaries immediately and to re-evaluate its joint venture partnership with APICAL.