Jakarta Globe, Ethan Harfenist, February 26, 2014
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| This file photograph taken on June 7, 2012 shows the boundary between the remaining rainforest and newly developed palm oil plantation over cleared tropical forest land in Central Kalimantan province. (AFP Photo) |
Jakarta.
Greenpeace accused the US-based consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble on
Wednesday of being complicit in environmentally destructive activities in
Indonesia, including encroachment of Sumatran tiger habitats, slash-and-burn
clearing and the presence of an “orangutan graveyard.”
The
environmental NGO slammed the company for sourcing “dirty” palm oil from
allegedly unscrupulous suppliers in a report titled ”Procter & Gamble’s
Dirty Secret.” The report, the result of a yearlong investigation by Greenpeace
International, uncovered evidence that Procter & Gamble-linked palm oil
companies were involved in the destruction of orangutan and Sumatran tiger
habitats and the kind of slash-and-burn land clearing methods responsible for
the region’s annual haze.
“[Procter
& Gamble] needs to stop bringing rainforest destruction into our showers,”
Bustar Maitar, head of the Indonesian forest campaign at Greenpeace
International, said in a press statement. ”It must clean up its act and
guarantee its customers that these products are forest-friendly.”
Greenpeace
urged Procter & Gamble to adopt a “zero deforestation” pledge and undergo a
serious review of its supply chain.
“Procter
& Gamble should follow the lead of other palm oil using companies like
Unilever, Nestlé and L’Oréal, which have already promised to clean up their
supply chains,” Bustar said.
Palm oil is
the world’s most ubiquitous vegetable oil and a main driver of deforestation in
Indonesia. The oil accounted for roughly 40 percent of the world’s vegetable
oil production from 2012-2013, and it is a key ingredient in many household
products, like Procter & Gamble’s Head & Shoulders shampoo and Gillette
shaving gel.
Procter
& Gamble purchased some 462,000 tons of palm oil between 2012-2013, much of
it derived from plantations located in Indonesia. One of the companies
Greenpeace zeroes in on in its report is BW Plantation, a Jakarta-based firm
that is a third-party supplier for Asian Agri — a palm oil company owned by
Sukanto Tanoto’s RGE Group.
BW
Plantation is allegedly responsible for the recent clearance of orangutan
habitats in Central Kalimantan. The company is also linked to a police
investigation into an “orangutan graveyard” next to the province’s Tanjung
Putting National Park, a 416 thousand-hectare nature reserve famous for its
orangutan population.
“We’ve been
confronting P&G over the last eight months with how it’s exposing consumers
to forest destruction,” said Areeba Hamid, forest campaigner at Greenpeace
International. “Instead of taking urgent action, the company has been
greenwashing its actions.”
Procter
& Gamble pledges, according to its website, to “confirm that all palm oil
purchases have originated from responsible and sustainable sources by 2015.” In
its 2012 sustainability report, Procter & Gamble promised to achieve zero
net deforestation, in accordance with the Consumer Goods Forum.
Proctor
& Gamble and BW Plantations were not immediately available for comment.
Greenpeace
has been engaged in a highly vocal campaign against destructive and
unsustainable agricultural business practices in Indonesia for decades. The
group has been successful in forcing corporate change through campaigns raising
awareness of the involvement of large multinational companies in deforestation
in Indonesia and abroad.
In October,
a report titled “License to Kill: How deforestation is driving Sumatran tigers
toward extinction,” focused on questionable sourcing by Wilmar — the world’s
largest palm oil trader. The Singapore-based company has since announced a zero
deforestation policy.
Asia Pulp
& Paper, the world’s largest pulp company, caved to similar pressure after
losing several high-profile clients to Greenpeace’s once-active campaign
against the paper company. APP has now adopted similar sustainability goals and
invited Greenpeace to oversee the process as an independent observer.
“Greenpeace
believes palm oil must make a genuine contribution to Indonesia’s development,”
Bustar said. “Progressive palm oil producers in the Palm Oil Innovation Group,
along with ambitious commitments from big palm oil players GAR and Wilmar,
prove that there is a business case for responsible palm oil.
“There is
no excuse for companies like P&G, Reckitt Benckiser and Colgate Palmolive
to delay immediate action on deforestation.”
Palm oil
production is the largest cause of deforestation in Indonesia, one of the most
biodiverse countries in the world. The country was home to nearly half of the
world’s palm oil plantations in 2006 after years of concession land grabs,
illegal logging and lax law enforcement, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
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