agribusiness
Palm oil firms not acting fast enough on no-deforestation vows: Report
JAKARTA — Less than a quarter of companies producing or sourcing palm oil from Indonesia have forest-related policies in line with best practices, a new report says. The report, by CDP, a global nonprofit that promotes environmental reporting and risk management by companies and cities, analyzed data provided by 167 firms. While 86% of companies […]
Indonesia amnesties 75 companies operating illegally inside forest areas
JAKARTA — Indonesia has pardoned 75 companies operating illegally inside forest areas, with hundreds more to be amnestied in the future, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry announced during a parliamentary hearing in August. Under the 2013 law on the prevention and mitigation of forest degradation, activities like oil palm cultivation and mining are prohibited […]
We’ve crossed the land use change planetary boundary, but solutions await
Just weeks after visiting a patch of Malaysian rainforest, Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler learned it had been logged for wood chips to supply a paper plant. A teenager at the time, Butler recalls being devastated. “This place of wonder and beauty was lost forever,” he wrote in a 2018 story. “The orangutan, the hornbills, […]
No permit? No problem for palm oil company still clearing forest in Papua
JAKARTA — More than 100 Indigenous people in Indonesia’s Papua region are calling on the local government to revoke all the permits of a palm oil company that’s continuing to clear land despite being ordered to halt all activities by officials. The order was issued after the company, PT Permata Nusa Mandiri (PNM), had one […]
Palm oil producer mired in legal troubles still razing Sumatran forest
JAKARTA — A part of the only forest on Earth where rhinos, tigers, orangutans and elephants coexist is seeing a resumption of deforestation for an oil palm concession. Indonesian company PT Cemerlang Abadi (CA) restarted clearing forests and peatlands in September last year in its concession in the Leuser Ecosystem on the island of Sumatra, […]
Plantations threaten Indonesia’s orangutans, but they’re not oil palm
JAKARTA — The vast majority of orangutan habitat in Indonesia is located outside of protected areas. That can be bad news for orangutans living in corporate concessions, where a new report finds many companies lack safeguards and commitments to protect these critically endangered apes. The report, by Amsterdam-based sustainability consultancy Aidenvironment, found that Indonesia has […]
Return to agroforestry empowers women in Nepal
KAVRE, Nepal – Srijana Karki still remembers her childhood when she visited her grandfather’s farm. “The green fields were dotted with various fruit trees and we would get to eat different varieties of fruits from the farm,” Karki, South Asia director at the NGO World Neighbors, says. But these days, when she visits the farm, […]
As dry season starts in Indonesia, risk of fires — and haze — looms
JAKARTA — A new analysis warns of the potential for forest fires in Indonesia that could spread smoke to neighboring countries as this year’s dry season sets in, following two years of haze-free skies across this part of Southeast Asia. In their “Haze Outlook 2022” report, researchers at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) […]
Net-zero commitments must include more anti-deforestation policies, UN tells private sector
A growing number of companies are committing to net-zero emission goals in an effort to lower their carbon footprint and prevent climate change. But they’ll likely fall short if their business practices don’t do a better job of factoring in anti-deforestation measures, a new report says. Many companies with net-zero commitments have made little, tangible […]
Indonesian palm oil audit a chance to clean up ‘very dirty’ industry
JAKARTA — Activists have welcomed the Indonesian government’s announcement to carry out a nationwide audit of all palm oil companies operating here, in response to a shortage of cooking oil that has wracked the world’s top producer of palm oil. “What’s happening in the cooking oil industry is very dirty, because it’s filled with many […]