Police stop Greenpeace activists from preventing palm oil shipment leaving Indonesia

The Greenpeace activist locked himself to the anchor chain of the Gran Couva yesterday to stop it from leaving for Europe. Meanwhile, several other activists painted "Forest Crime" on the side of the ship even as crewmen onboard blasted them with a high-pressure hose. The palm oil onboard the Gran Couva is owned by the Wilmar group.

"Greenpeace believes that increasing productivity on existing palm oil plantations is the solution to increased global demand, rather than destroying our remaining forests,” said Bustar Maitar, Greenpeace Southeast Asia Forest Campaigner. "Continued palm oil expansion in the intact forests of Indonesia is the biggest driver of deforestation and peatland destruction. Ironically, companies like Wilmar and Sinar Mas belong to the industry body RSPO, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. Unfortunately, until these palm oil companies and the RSPO publicly commit to a moratorium on deforestation, ‘sustainable’ palm oil remains a myth.”

 

Forests for Climate campaigners witness continued destruction

The Greenpeace ship Esperanza embarked on the Indonesian leg of the Forests for Climate tour on October 6, 2008 to shine a spotlight on the rampant destruction of the Paradise Forests - the last remaining ancient forests of Southeast Asia. 

So far during the Indonesian tour, Greenpeace's campaigners have witnessed massive destruction of Papua’s tropical rainforests by the Sinar Mas corporation to create new palm oil plantations near Jayapura.

Greenpeace has also exposed ongoing forest destruction by loggers in Papua, and discovered fresh forest clearances in the peatland forests of Riau. Greenpeace is calling on the Indonesian government to implement an immediate moratorium on all forest conversion, including expansion of oil palm plantations, industrial logging, and other drivers of deforestation.

“The RSPO, which meets next week, must support a moratorium on deforestation and pressure the Indonesian government to take urgent action. Furthermore, the RSPO standards must be tightened to ensure that members stop deforestation and peatland clearance in all of their operations,” adds Maitar.