31 October, 2005

Palm Oil

 Is that an orang-utan in your shopping bag?

 Ealing Friends of the Earth urges Tesco shoppers to help stop rainforest destruction

 

Friends of the Earth campaigners took to the streets of Ealing, outside Tesco on Northfields Avenue, on Saturday 29 October in a bid to stop Tesco and other major supermarkets from contributing towards the extinction of the orang-utan.

 

The much-loved ape is at risk because millions of hectares of rainforest in South East Asia are being destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations. Palm oil is found in one in 10 supermarket products and is usually labelled as just ‘vegetable oil’.

 

To help prevent this destruction, Friends of the Earth wrote to Tesco earlier this year, asking the nation’s biggest supermarket to trace its palm oil and adopt minimum production standards. Tesco refused.

 

Ealing Friends of the Earth campaigner Maria Martin said:

 

“Tesco’s failure to act means that shoppers are unwittingly contributing to rainforest destruction,” she said.

 

“Palm oil is found in one in 10 supermarket products and the industry is threatening the survival of the orang-utan.

 

“We want Tesco to find ways of sourcing palm oil without destroying precious rainforest, and we want the UK Government to stop British companies profiting from the destruction of the environment overseas.”

 

At the weekend, Ealing Friends of the Earth campaigners collected more than 100 postcards -  signed by local shoppers - calling on local MPs Piara Khabra and Steve Pound to support new legislation that would help stop UK supermarkets and manufacturers from buying products from destructive sources.

 

“Customers don’t want to buy products that are linked to rainforest destruction, or be responsible for the extinction of species like the orang-utan,” Ms Martin said.

 

“The growing palm oil industry in Indonesia and Malaysia is going unchecked, and palm oil is now the single biggest cause of rainforest destruction across the world.

 

“If the powerful UK market demands palm oil from sustainable sources, then the industry will green up its act to meet that demand.”

 

Recent research published by Friends of the Earth shows that almost 90 per cent of orang-utan habitat has now disappeared. In the past 15 years, the population has fallen by 50 per cent, and if current trends continue, the orang-utan will be extinct within 12 years.

 

Ninety per cent of the world’s palm oil exports come from plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia, the home of the orang-utan.

UK MPs have the chance to stop UK companies acting so destructively when they introduce new legislation to regulate company behaviour later this year.

 

 

For further information, please contact Ealing Friends of the Earth press officer, Rebecca Holmes, on 0777 629 6627.

 

Photograph:

Ealing Friends of the Earth campaigners Maria Martin and Nic Ferriday call on Tesco to lead action on palm oil and the destruction of overseas rainforests during a day of action outside Tesco on Northfields Avenue.

(Please note: Maria is the woman holding the orang-utan puppet, while Nic is wearing the mask. If you require additional photographs, or alternatives, please contact Rebecca Holmes – details above).

 

Notes to editors:

• For more information, please visit www.palmoil.org.uk (where you can also read Friends of the Earth’s report ‘Palm Oil & Orang-utans – The Oil for Ape Scandal’.

 

• The Company Law Reform Bill is now passing through Parliament. This is the biggest shakeup of company law in a generation. Company directors are required by the draft bill to only ‘consider’ their impacts on the environment. Friends of the Earth is calling on the Government to ensure company directors have to minimise destructive imapacts and not just think about it.