The global Greenpeace effort to end deforestation in Indonesia has enjoyed unprecedented success in the last year.  From the world’s largest food company and the world’s largest bank, to a global restaurant brand and one of the largest buyers of palm oil on the planet, it seemed that companies could not cut ties with palm oil from the Sinar Mas conglomerate fast enough.

The news today both results from, and dwarfs those previous announcements: Sinar Mas palm oil branch Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) has unveiled a plan to no longer destroy forests and carbon-rich peatlands.  This move by GAR would have been almost unimaginable just a year ago, and – if properly implemented – could be an historic step towards full forest and peatland protection in Indonesia.  It could also be enormously important for the survival of endangered wildlife like the orangutan and Sumatran tiger that have been pushed toward extinction as their forest habitat disappeared at a record rate.

Of course, this commitment will mean nothing without implementation, and Greenpeace will be watching closely as that process moves ahead.  We understand that words without action are meaningless, and are always on the lookout for corporations trying to greenwash their image.

What does this major announcement mean for the hard-hitting global Greenpeace campaigning to achieve zero deforestation in Indonesia?  While we give GAR time to make its new policy real, we will not be calling on additional companies to cancel business with the company.  Instead, we are challenging other industry players to step up and make similar forest protection commitments.  Now is the time for other palm oil producers and users to stop stalling and start making real moves to change business as usual for the better.

This is also a huge opportunity to advance efforts by the Indonesian government to follow through on commitments to protect forests and slash climate pollution.  Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced a plan in 2010 to significantly reduce deforestation, including a two-year moratorium on forest destruction.  Efforts to formalize the moratorium have recently slowed.  The government should use this major industry announcement to move ahead, suspending new forest and peatland clearance permits, and reviewing activities in areas where licences have already been granted.

This “time out” is essential to cut down on illegal activities, corruption, confusion and to give Indonesia a chance to do sensible long-term land use planning.  By making reforms and improving its land management, the Indonesian economy – and people – will benefit with new investment, higher productivity and a position of leadership in international marketplaces.

Back to Sinar Mas.  The giant conglomerate still has plenty of problems to address.  While we welcome this bold announcement and urge GAR to follow through, this is not an endorsement of Sinar Mas.  The commitments by GAR apply only to its palm oil branch.  So, companies like its paper arm, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), continue with their forest destruction unabated.  That is unacceptable.  If GAR can turn a new leaf, so can APP.  As a whole, Sinar Mas companies could be a remarkable force for positive change; divided, it runs the risk of sending mixed messages, undermining Indonesia’s progress to create a greener, more prosperous future.

While there is much more to do, it is worth taking a moment now to celebrate the tremendous progress we have achieved.  That progress is due to the countless people throughout the country and around the world who took time to raise their voice and contribute their talents to this campaign.  If you are one of them, please accept my deep thanks and appreciation.  If you have not had a chance to participate yet, there is still plenty of work to be done!  You can start by telling fast-food giant YUM! Brands (and their subsidiary Pizza Hut) that it is time for them to take a stand for tropical forest protection.  Without a forest protection policy, they are not only getting increasingly out of date…they are becoming more and more a part of the problem!

for the forest (and climate),

-Rolf

The tangled jungle had grown up and over the pyramid so thoroughly, I didn’t see it until I was standing at its base.  Looking up its steep slopes, I was overcome with a sense of history both human and natural.  How long ago was this ancient Mayan pyramid made? 1,000 years? 1,500 years? More? The thick leaf and litter, the tree roots intertwining with misshapen and tumbled blocks of rock all offered hints of a long history shrouded mostly in mystery.  The forest I was exploring was in the Zona Maya near the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico about a three hour drive south of Cancun. Admittedly, it is not the easiest place for pyramid, a forest, or a people to survive.  Shallow karst soils limit the size and height of trees and provide poor environment for agriculture.  Hurricanes storm the coast on an annual basis, often toppling large swaths of forest.  The poverty common to many rural parts of Mexico makes economic development difficult to start and sustain.  However, the descendants of the people who built the pyramid I saw still thrive, their lives interwoven with the forest like the tree roots wrapping in, around, and through the stone ruin.

But something new is taking root in the community as well.  It is a model of development and forest conservation that is getting attention outside of Mexico.  In partnership with the group Organizacion de Ejidos Productores Forestales (the Ejido Forestry Producers Organization), the community manages forests with a well-planned, three zone system.  In the zone nearest the community, they harvest materials for things like construction and firewood. The second is an “agriculture” zone where crops (including a beautiful array of colorful corn varieties) are grown in patches surrounded by forest.  This is also where white “chicle” sap – an ingredient for natural chewing gum – and selective tree felling takes place to harvest fine tropical woods.  The third area is a permanently protected for ecological and cultural values.  The idea is to protect forests while providing economic activities and forest products to sustain local people.

The model is working.  The trees felled by the community aren’t just shipped to far-away shores as cheap, raw logs.  This community is not interested in being another footnote in the history of boom and bust resource exploitation.  In a new woodshop they make beautiful tropical hardwoods into chairs, tables and other furniture.  This means more local jobs and much more money for the community per tree cut. And, it means they do not have to liquidate the forest their people have depended on for thousands of years.

Of course, community members are the best guardians of the forest you could find.  The illegal logging and land-grabbing common in so many tropical forests cannot thrive with an invested, empowered local community watching over it.

Negotiators from 192 countries at the United Nations climate summit in Cancun should not only learn from this example, they should consider carefully how their decisions could affect Mayas and many other forest dependent communities and indigenous peoples around the world.

Of principle importance are the talks to reduce emissions from tropical deforestation and degradation – what policy experts abbreviate as “REDD.”  The concept is fairly simple: rich, developed countries provide funding to help developing countries protect their forests and invest in clean, green development.  In the process, the world benefits since tropical forests are the greatest storehouse of nature’s diversity on Earth.  They’re also critical to counter climate change since deforestation accounts for more climate pollution than all the world’s cars, trucks, trains, planes, and ships combined.

But, the devil is in the details.  As Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo recently observed, REDD done right can help enrich communities and save forests. Done wrong, it can run over human rights and lead to more climate pollution, amounting to little more than a carbon scam.  Recently, safeguards designed to benefit biodiversity and local and indigenous peoples were watered down by negotiators in Cancun.  This is a huge step backwards.  But, there is still a chance to move forward. Ministers in Cancun must realize that they are not just playing with abstract policies on paper – they are making choices that could affect the lives of millions of forest-dependent people around the world. For the sake of our forests, our climate, and indigenous peoples, let us hope they make the right choices.

As future of a fair, effective REDD agreement hangs in the balance Greenpeace is doing more than just hoping.  I am part of a bleary-eyed, sleep-deprived team in Cancun keeping negotiators informed, motivated and (perhaps most importantly) accountable to the world.  Stay tuned as Greenpeace sprints through the finish of the Cancun climate talks.