Sierra Leone passes new laws to boost landowners’ rights
Freetown, Sierra LeoneReuters Sierra Leone’s parliament on Monday passed two laws that lawyers say will help boost the rights of rural landowners and women against land grabs by big mining and agribusiness firms. The West African country has a history of sometimes deadly conflict between local communities and foreign companies that have cleared huge tracts […]
Impacts of war: How Africa is bearing the brunt of palm oil’s perfect storm
ANGE ABOA and JOE BAVIER, of Reuters, report on how the knock-on effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have impacted the palm oil industry in countries like the Ivory Coast…
From beef to chocolate, illegal deforestation found behind many everyday foods
Bogota, ColombiaThomson Reuters Foundation Nearly 70 per cent of tropical forests cleared for cattle ranching and crops such as soybeans and palm oil were deforested illegally between 2013 and 2019, a study showed on Tuesday, warning of the impact on global efforts to fight climate change. Illegal logging was behind the loss of 4.5 million […]
Mars achieves “deforestation-free” palm oil – what about the rest?
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation Chocolate maker Mars needs to help more palm oil producers become sustainable rather than ditching those that do not meet its standards, environmentalists said, after the confectionery giant announced it had secured “deforestation-free” supplies. The maker of M&Ms and Snickers said this week it had simplified and reduced the number […]
Australian chocolate maker’s ban on green palm oil disappoints industry
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation A senior official at the palm oil industry’s main green label has urged an Australian confectionery giant to be “responsible” and work with ethical producers after it became the country’s first major supermarket brand to ditch the tropical oil as an ingredient. Darrell Lea, which has been making chocolate since […]
PepsiCo adopts stricter, greener rules for palm oil in products
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation US food and drink giant PepsiCo Inc said on Tuesday it would introduce stricter rules for the palm oil used in its goods – including a retrospective ban on working with firms linked to deforestation – and enforce them for its business partners. In a first for the consumer goods […]
Asian palm oil buyers lag behind in global green push – survey
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation A survey of major palm oil buyers on their pledges to help curb deforestation shows that a quarter, mostly based in Asia, have yet to make commitments to purchase sustainable supplies, green group WWF said on Friday. The scorecard, now running for a decade, looked at 173 big buyers of the […]
Can insects help clean up palm oil’s tarnished image?
Dubai, UAEThomson Reuters Foundation A pioneering entrepreneur believes insects can help improve the reputation of the palm oil industry, which for years has been accused of causing widespread deforestation, while slashing commercial farming’s voracious water use. Patrick Crowley, founder of Chapul, the first insect protein foods company in the United States, is proposing a “circular […]
Brands urged to think bigger on saving forests as 2020 goal looms
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation Green certification is not a silver bullet to end deforestation, leaving many global household brands struggling to meet pledges to halt forest-clearing linked to the production of palm oil and other ingredients by 2020, said a body grouping those firms. After environmentalists staged a series of high-profile campaigns against large […]
Palm oil giants double down on deforestation with new radar system
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation Ten major companies that sell and use palm oil have teamed up on a new radar system to monitor forests across Malaysia and Indonesia more closely and speed up action to stop deforestation, a group leading the initiative said on Friday. The coalition of palm oil producers and buyers will […]