At the start of November, Greenpeace threw down the gauntlet to 15 top Italian and French luxury fashion brands, challenging these companies with 25 ‘uncomfortable’ questions about their supply chains. Continue reading
Tag Archives: forests
TIMELINE: How you persuaded Asia Pulp & Paper to stop cutting down Indonesia’s rainforests
This morning, Asia Pulp and Paper – the world’s third largest paper and packaging company – announced that it was turning over a new leaf. It’s promised to stop chopping down Indonesia’s rainforests, home to the last tigers and endangered orangutans.
This breakthrough wouldn’t have happened without your help. Thanks to you, we persuaded over 100 of APP’s biggest customers to take their business elsewhere. Here are some of the highlights from the last two years. Continue reading
Breakthrough! One of the largest paper companies commits to end deforestation
One of the 400 wild Sumatran tigers
What do a Barbie, Xerox and National Geographic have in common? Well, after years of hard work, this should finally become clear. Much of the Indonesian rainforest has been chopped down by pulp and paper supplier Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) to make everything from toy packaging to office supplies to glossy magazines. When you’ve helped us win campaigns against brands like Mattel, it’s sent a signal to their supplier, APP, that we’re not willing to buy rainforest destruction. So today, after pressure from you and the businesses that buy from them, APP has announced a ‘Forest Conservation Policy’ aimed at ending its involvement in deforestation. If APP actually comes good on what it’s promised, this is great news for the Indonesian rainforest. Read below to hear from Greenpeace’s forest campaigner in Indonesia about this remarkable and unprecedented win for the forests.
Today was a day I have at times feared might never come, but I’ve just emerged from a packed press conference in Jakarta for the launch of Asia Pulp & Paper’s new ‘Forest Conservation Policy’ aimed to end its involvement in deforestation. Continue reading
Force of nature: Celebrate the life of environmental leader Rebecca Tarbotton
This Saturday in San Francisco, friends and family of Becky Tarbotton, the Executive Director of the Rainforest Action Network, will come together to celebrate her life and mourn our loss of a dear friend, a powerful woman, and a passionate leader. Continue reading
Greenpeace calls for a halt on logging in five key areas in the Boreal Forest
Today, Greenpeace draws the line in the sand with the release of the “Boreal Alarm”, a report identifying five endangered Boreal forest areas that require immediate conservation planning and protection. Greenpeace is calling for the immediate suspension of logging in these forests of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba and is advising wood products customers to check their supply chain to ensure they are not sourcing from these forests. Continue reading
Indigenous community clashes with loggers in the Amazon
Timber on a truck near indigenous lands, Maranhão state. Logging in and around Indigenous Land is common. ©Greenpeace/Ismar Ingber/Tyba
Trucks filled with timber from illegal logging operations in the Amazon have been stopped in their tracks by an indigenous village protesting the continued exploitation of their lands.
With little or no support from the local or federal authorities, the Pukobjê-Gavião people in Maranhão state, Brazil, are refusing to stand aside as their forests are destroyed by illegal loggers.
The Pukobjê-Gavião have blocked four trucks and a tractor filled with fresh timber from leaving their lands.
Frederico Pereira Guajajara, a member of the neighboring Indigenous Land “Arariboia”, says he was assaulted as he began filming the Pukobjê-Gavião protests as the trucks were trying to leave their land.
“Loggers beat me on my head, pushed me, broke my phone and wanted to throw me in the fire, but did not because the other Indians started to leave,” he said. Continue reading
The Amazon pays the bill for forest destruction
Amazon River in Brazil
Lack of governance and amnesty allow large-scale Amazon deforestation to continue.
Seven years ago, Leonardo Andrade Gomes was considered to be the single biggest forest destroyer in the Amazon. In addition to other infractions, he was found responsible for the deforestation of 12,500 hectares of Amazon forest and fined more than 18 million reais (US$8.6 million). Continue reading
JBS recommits to Cattle Agreement in the Amazon
According to the Brazilian government, 62% of deforested areas become grasslands to feed cattle.
This week, Brazilian cattle giant JBS is recommitting to its promises made in the Cattle Agreement of 2009 to help fight Amazon destruction.
JBS has finally published an audit of its supply systems and a work plan to ensure it delivers on the outstanding commitments within the Cattle Agreement.
The work plan reaffirms the objectives of the Cattle Agreement, outlining methodology, dates and the publication of annual audits. JBS has made the workplan available on their site.
Cattle ranching is currently the main driver of deforestation in the Amazon. According to the Brazilian government, 62% of deforested areas become grasslands to feed cattle. Continue reading
Still hope for Papua New Guinea’s forests
With logging and clearing for oil palm threatening many forests in Papua New Guinea, some communities are still standing strong and protecting their forests.
This week I’ve been out with a Greenpeace team filming and photographing ‘Ecoforestry’ as a solution for a community in the province of East New Britain.
Tavolo community and two neighbouring village communities are protecting 32,000 ha of forest in a Wildlife Management Area together with 4,000 ha for ecoforestry.
Ecoforestry protects the forest ecosystem while at the same time providing an income for the community from small-scale portable sawmilling. Continue reading
Doha climate talks: Any signs of life?
Originally posted to Aljazeera.
All governments participating in COP18 should put “people and the planet before the polluters and their profits”.
The World Bank needs to "stop financing" coal power plants that make their clients' "problems worse" and turn their attention to investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency [EPA
I’m talking about the climate in the corridors of power at the CIA and the World Bank, the International Energy Agency and some of the biggest consultancies in business, such as PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Alarms are finally ringing in the offices of the bureaucrats and “conservative” businessmen. Continue reading