From The Times December 11, 2009

Illegal palm oil from forests taints Unilever household brands

Ben Webster, Environment Editor

A company that produces many of Britains best-known household brands has been exposed as contributing to the destruction of rainforests by buying thousands of tonnes of illegal palm oil. Unilever, which uses palm oil in its Flora and Stork margarines, Dove toiletries and Persil washing powder among many other products, will today announce that it is cutting links with Sinar Mas, Indonesias largest palm oil company. Unilever is acting after being shown photographic evidence of Sinar Mas clearing rainforest in protected areas, including reserves for the countrys endangered orang-utan population. The Anglo-Dutch company, which claims to be a leader in protecting rainforests and chairs the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), was informed almost two yea rs ago about Sinar Mass illegal activities. It cancelled the 20 million annual contract in the past few days after learning that Greenpeace was about to publish a dossier of evidence. The RSPO, which also includes Sinar Mas, is a self-regulation body that aims to prevent illegal forest clearance. Environmental groups have criticised it as toothless and an obstacle to independent scrutiny.

The growth of the palm oil industry in Indonesia has turned the country into the third-largest emitter of CO2, after China and the US. Indonesia has the fastest rate of deforestation, losing an area the size of Wales every year. Deforestation contributes 15-20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and is one of the key issues being debated at the Copenhagen climate change summit. Sinar Mas is one of dozens of palm oil companies likely to exploit loopholes in proposed new UN rules on protecting forests. Under the draft text of the rules, known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (Redd), palm oil plantations created by clearing rainforests would qualify for payments from a new fund under which rich countries would pay developing countries for storing carbon in trees. Gavin Neath, Unilevers vice-president for communications, said: We have received very serious allegations against Sinar Mas and we had no choice but to suspend future purchases from them. He said that the company had not acted before because it thought it better to work with Sinar Mas to improve its practices. He admitted that this approach had failed. Unilever is the worlds biggest consumer of palm oil and has pledged to buy only from certified sustainable plantations from 2015. This year, 85 per cent of its palm oil was uncertified. Waitrose said this month that all the palm oil in its own-brand products would be from sustainable sources by 2012. The growth of certified palm oil has been held back by a dispute between producers and buyers over the price for the sustainable product. Producers had been asking for an additional 10 per cent to cover the cost of certification. Mr Neath said that Unilever had been unwilling to pay this because it believed that consumers had little understanding of the issues about palm oil and would not accept the extra cost. Unilever negotiated a smaller premium on 180,000 tonnes of sustainable palm oil this year out of its consumption of 1.3 million tonnes. Simon Lewis, research fellow on tropical forests at Leeds University, said: We shouldnt have the companies buying the palm oil being the policemen. We need a strong Redd agreement with independent monitoring and no loopholes for new plantations.

Minggu, 13/12/2009 23:06 WIB

Pipa Minyak PT Conoco Philips Meledak, Perkebunan Warga Tercemar

Taufik Wijaya - detikNews Palembang - Pipa minyak milik PT Conoco Philips di Desa Sukamaju sentral Letang tengah Kecamatan Sungai Lilin Kabupaten Musi Banyuasin (Muba), Sumatera Selatan, meledak. Minyak mentahnya sempat mencemari kebun warga di sekitarnya. Berdasarkan informasi yang dihimpun, empat hari lalu (9/12) warga dikejutkan oleh suara dentuman keras yang berasal dari pipa minyak PT Conoco Philips di Desa Sukamaju. Semburan minyak mentah dengan cepat langsung memasuki kawasan perkebunan karet penduduk. Untuk mengantisipasi semburan minyak tersebut, PT Conoco Philips mengerahkan puluhan mobil tanki bermuatan 1.400 liter ke lokasi untuk mengangkut minyak semburan ini. Kendaraan ini terlihat hilir mudik di lokasi membawa muatan minyak mentah menuju stasiun di Dusun Ramba. Pihak keamanan juga melarang setiap warga dan wartawan yang berusaha masuk ke lokasi ledakan. Staf Humas Lapangan PT Conoco Philips, Zauhari Ali menjelaskan larangan tersebut atas perintah manajemen pusat di Jakarta. Empat hektare kebun karet warga yang tercemar masing-masing milik Zaenal Abidin (39) warga Kelurahan Sungai Lilin dan kebun milik Buyung (40) warga Desa Sukamaju. Kedua warga ini mengaku sudah empat hari tidak bisa menyadap karet karena dihalangi petugas. Hingga Minggu (13/12/2009) lahan seluas empat hektare masih terus diatasi pencemarannya. (tw/mok)