Good to see palm oil making the news-
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/21/news/companies/palm_oil.fortune/
Sounds like several environmental groups- The Rainforest Action Network, Greenpeace International, Friends of the Earth, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest- are currently involved in campaigns against palm oil...hopefully they can put enough pressure on to make some changes!
I went to Greenpeace's webpage, looking for more info, and saw this:
"8/15/2008
Some really great news out of Indonesia:
AMSTERDAM – The Indonesian province of Riau has pledged to halt the destruction of its forests and peatlands; a move that will prevent billions of tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere.
At a ceremony in the provincial capital Pekanbaru, Riau Governor Wan Abu Bakar announced the temporary ban, which will remain in place until a law is agreed. The move follows Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s pledge at the G-8 Summit in July to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation by 50 percent by 2009.
Indonesia is the world’s 3rd largest global warming polluter, mostly due to deforestation. In many cases, the forests of Indonesia are being cut down illegally to make way for palm plantations. Forest fires in Indonesia have been called the single largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world.
Aside from the direct impact a ban on deforestation in Indonesia will have on the amount of pollution being dumped into our atmosphere, it’s just nice to see that some of the world’s leaders actually made meaningful commitments to combatting global warming at the G8 summit. Other commitments made at that summit were not close to being ambitious enough to really tackle the enormity of the climate crisis we’re facing. It’s just nice to see some progress."
:)
Awesome. I hope Indonesia follows through with that pledge.
The law of unintended consequences strikes again.
