Nestle responds to forest degradation

US firm queries Indonesian palm oil supplier

Jakarta, 25 March - US food company Cargill has become the latest multinational to demand answers from Indonesian palm oil giant Sinar Mas about claims it is devastating forests rich in carbon and wildlife.

Sinar Mas rejects claims of environmental vandalism but has been hit hard by image-conscious buyers Unilever and Nestle deciding to drop the company as a supplier in recent months in response to protests by Greenpeace.

Cargill said it had asked Sinar Mas to respond to Greenpeace’s allegations and had sought an investigation by the industry body, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

“Cargill is keenly aware about the allegations made in December 2009 by Greenpeace about illegal forest clearance and the Indonesian palm oil company, Sinar Mas,” it said on its website.

“When we became aware of the Greenpeace report we contacted Sinar Mas?s senior management and we have communicated to them that we are looking to them to address the issues in the Greenpeace report.

“Additionally, we urged the RSPO board to review this issue. We are pleased the RSPO Board has instructed the RSPO secretariat to get a response from Sinar Mas to the allegations in the Greenpeace report.”

It said it expected answers from the company “by the end of April, 2010”.

“If the RSPO validates the allegations of improper land conversion or illegal planting in deep peat land as alleged in the Greenpeace report and Sinar Mas does not take corrective action, we will delist them as a supplier,” it added.

Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology (SMART) president director Daud Dharsono said the company was trying to “verify” Greenpeace’s report.

“We are in touch with Cargill to assure them that we do not develop on high carbon stock and high conservation value areas,” he said.

Clearing for palm oil plantations is contributing to the rapid destruction of vast tracts of Indonesian jungle, making the country one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world.

Nestle contributing to deforestation

Have a break? from Greenpeace UK on Vimeo.

This is an excerpt from a Greenpeace website:

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/index.html?utm_source=monkeyemailupdate&utm_medium=email&utm_term=palmoil&utm_campaign=forests#action

We all like a break, so it's time to give orang-utans one. Nestlé uses palm oil in Kit Kat and many other products which is bought from suppliers that destroy rainforests in Indonesia to grow their plantations.

As a result, threatened species like orangutans are being pushed into extinction and huge quantities of greenhouse gases are being released, accelerating climate change.

Despite suspending direct contracts with Sinar Mas, Nestle continues to be involved in the destruction of Indonesia's precious rainforests by using Sinar Mas palm oil via other suppliers such as Cargill. You've also said that you can't yet rule out being supplied paper products from their notorious subsidiary Asia Pulp & Paper via third parties.

Sinar Mas continues to destroy rainforests for palm plantations despite the negative impact on the people and wildlife that depend on it for their survival, and despite the fact that it is accelerating climate change.

You use over 320,000 tonnes of palm oil every year, which goes into a range of well-known products, including KitKat. In the last three years, your use of palm oil has almost doubled according to your own figures.

As the world's largest food and drink company, Nestle should be using its influence to insist on changes in its supply chain that would have a real benefit for the rainforests of Indonesia.

Other multinational brands like Kraft and Unilever are working to exclude Sinar Mas products from their entire supply chain and are calling for peatland protection and a halt to further rainforest destruction. Nestle must now do the same, which means insisting that your suppliers, like Cargill, stop trading with Sinar Mas.

Nestlé have so far refused to stop buying palm oil from the worst suppliers, so it's time to make them change their minds.

Enough with the affairs

Ok so Tiger Woods and Jack Neo had multiple affairs. And before that, the hyper-conservative British politician in Northern Ireland cheated on her husband with a boy half her age.

It happens, and it happens a lot because people marry the wrong person, married on a whimp, married on social pressure, or they plain and simple changed (or didn't).

This is life and this is human nature. You marry with both eyes open, and after that you keep one closed if you want it to last.

A friend once told me that guys marry the woman hoping she doesn't change, and women marry men hoping they will. There in lies the root of disappointed expectations and inevitable failure in marriage.

But who am I to speak. I'm not married. I'm not close to it and I certainly am not going to.

What's with marriage anyway? It's like marking your territory in the eyes of the law. What has the law to do with my personal life? As it is it's invaded enough of my personal space. It's unnecessary pressure to make sure the relationship works, otherwise there will be FINANCIAL penalties, as if the emotional ones are not enough.

In the past I can understand why the law had to step in because women were financially dependent on men. But we live in different times. In fact I know of many women who use the law to milk their ex-husbands for money.

This of course is not to say there aren't genuine cases. But seriously, if you want to be with the person, then be. Why let something that's meant to be between 2 people, become the State's business...and for the unfortunate Woods and Jack, it's now the whole damn world's business.

Give 'em a break. There are bigger things happening in this world.