SCANDAL: PALM OIL PRODUCERS DRAINING PROTECTED PEATLANDS

Palm oil producers are digging illegal canals to drain ancient peat soils in the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve, critical habitat for Sumatran orangutans.

Major consumer goods brands like Procter & Gamble and Mondelēz International stand to benefit from this destruction, which will dump thousands of years of stored carbon into the atmosphere.

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To the Consumer Goods Forum:

Last year, we informed the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) that its members, including Procter & Gamble and Mondelēz International, were sourcing palm oil from carbon-rich peatlands in the Leuser Ecosystem’s Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve.

This “Carbon Bombs” investigation prompted major CGF brands to pledge to halt sourcing from illegal plantations and restore the affected areas. This promise remains unfulfilled, and destruction in the reserve is accelerating.

RAN’s latest investigation reveals that palm oil producers are digging canals in the reserve to drain carbon-rich peatlands to plant palm oil, and that this palm oil will find its way into CGF members’ supply chains via surrounding mills, which have inadequate tracing mechanisms.

It is simply unacceptable that CGF members would continue to benefit from the destruction of the “orangutan capital of the world” — and unleash yet more “carbon bombs” into the atmosphere.

The CGF and its members should be alarmed by this rapidly accelerating destruction in light of the CGF's “Forest Positive” commitments and given trends away from deforestation throughout Indonesia. CGF must work to end this destruction in the Leuser Ecosystem, immediately.

Sincerely,

{First Name}