GC Supports Rainforest Action Network in Fight Against Conflict Palm Oil

Introduction

Since 2017, Global Conservation has been supporting the critical work of Rainforest Action Network (RAN) in the Leuser Ecosystem of Sumatra, Indonesia.

The Leuser Ecosystem is the last place on earth where Sumatran orangutans, elephants, tigers, sun bears, and rhinos exist together in the wild. However, although Leuser is protected under Indonesian law, human development and deforestation threaten this incredibly diverse ecosystem and the well-being of millions of people who depend on it.

Primary rainforests are burned to make way for palm plantations.

What is Conflict Palm Oil?

One of the leading causes of deforestation in Leuser is Conflict Palm Oil: palm oil that has been produced illegally, in violation of human rights or labor laws, or by the destruction of rainforests or carbon-rich peatlands. 

Palm oil has become the world’s most widely used vegetable oil; imports into the US have leapt by 485% in the past decade. Palm oil is present in many fast foods and roughly half of all package goods in your local supermarket, from lipstick and shampoo to cookies and bread. 

Palm oil kernels among a clearcut forest.

Due to massive global demand, many palm oil producers in developing countries are doing whatever they can to produce as much as they can, including forcefully removing indigenous communities from their land, using forced or child labor, and destroying primary rainforest that stores hundreds of years of carbon and is home to some of the world’s most endangered creatures. Approximately 85 percent of palm oil is grown in Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia, home of the Leuser Ecosystem and a whole host of species that live nowhere else.

According to Global Forest Watch, Indonesia has destroyed over 10 million hectares of primary forest, an area bigger than the island of Ireland, over the last two decades. Indonesia is the third largest carbon emitter in the world; 80% of those emissions come from deforestation.

Heavy machinery makes way for a palm oil plantation in the Leuser Ecosystem.

This rampant destruction not only threatens wildlife, but also the livelihoods of tens of millions of Indonesian people who rely on the forests for clean water, clean air, and renewable resources. The ecosystem services that come from the Leuser Ecosystem and surrounding forests are valued at $1 billion per year.

Fortunately, our partners have made great progress in Leuser. Funded in part by Global Conservation, Rainforest Action Network and Indonesian NGOs like the Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL) have slowed the annual destruction of the Leuser Ecosystem in the past five years; less than 0.3% of Leuser’s forests were destroyed in 2018-2019, and since 2015, deforestation in the Leuser Ecosystem has been reduced by 65%.

A young Sumatran elephant in the Leuser Ecosystem.

Working toward Solutions

We are funding the RAN Palm Oil Team in Asia to analyze, monitor and lobby against expansion of illegal palm oil production in Sumatra and Papua. As a long term goal for their work, RAN aims to secure protection for nearly 20,000 hectares of primary forests allocated for palm oil conversion, and the protection and restoration of High Carbon Stock forests in critical habitat corridors that stretch through 40,000 hectares of lands in the regency of Aceh Timur. RAN will also contribute to efforts to halt encroachment in the 80,000 hectare Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve and the surrounding 1.75 million hectares of lowland rainforests––home to the largest density of Sumatran orangutans on the planet, and breeding populations of Sumatran rhinos, tigers and elephants.

A Sumatran rhino in the Leuser Ecosystem. Only 30-100 of these rhinos are left in the wild, and most of them live in the Leuser Ecosystem.

Reducing Deforestation for Palm Oil Expansion

Over the past year, RAN has made major progress on both sides of the palm oil supply chain: production and consumption. Firstly, they have received commitments from several major palm oil companies to improve their practices, including:

1. PT Dua Perkasa Lestari has committed to no new land clearing in its concession in Tripa peatland. However, thereafter, Golden Agri Resources (GAR) announced a suspension of PT Dua Perkasa Lestari after they were deemed non-compliant with GAR Social and Environmental Policy.
2. PT Agra Bumi Niaga has committed to set aside 7,777 hectares of important lowland rainforests for conservation adjacent to the new Sumatran rhino sanctuary in Aceh Timur. Most of that area had been zoned for conversion to palm plantations and forestry. 
3. PT Indo Sawit Perkasa has committed to stop work involving land clearing in its concession in the Leuser Ecosystem, adopt a “No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation” (NDPE) policy, protect over 330 hectares of forests, and restore other areas following independent studies by environmental professionals. 

   Oil palms being removed during a forest restoration project.

4. Permata Hijau group has confirmed suspension of problematic producers and committed to improve NDPE compliance systems.
5. Musim Mas, a supplier of palm oil, developed a stratedy to achieve NDPE implementation across their supply shed, and implemented interventions that protect lowland rainforests and peatlands from palm oil expansion.
6. Several suppliers adopted No-Buy policies for conflict palm oil mills, and required other mills to invest in adequate traceability and NDPE compliance.

Consumer-Facing Brands Adopt and Implement Responsible Policies

In 2019, RAN engaged with eight brands who were being investigated for sourcing Conflict Palm Oil: Unilever, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Mondelez, General Mills, Kellogg’s, Mars, and Hershey’s. PepsiCo, Nestlé, Hershey’s, and Unilever made public commitments to protect the forests and peatlands of the Leuser Ecosystem. In 2020, RAN received the following commitments from these brands:

1. Unilever revised its suspended supplier list and its grievance tracker to include new producers that were exposed for clearing rainforests.
2. Unilever, Nestlé, Mars and Mondelez all confirmed No-Buy policies for producers involved in deforestation in the Leuser Ecosystem and for three conflict palm oil mills associated with illegal producers.
3. PepsiCo and Unilever established cooperative forest monitoring systems in June 2020, which send alerts about deforestation.
4. PepsiCo, Unilever and Nestlé are implementing their public commitments to protect the Leuser Ecosystem by investing in sustainable trade initiatives by IDH that aim to protect and restore forests, improve the production capacity of smallholders, and secure regulations that support legal protection of the Leuser Ecosystem.

A truck transporting palm fruits, engulfed by smoke from the fires used to clear primary forest to make way for new palm plantations.

Conducting Supply Chain Investigations

RAN has also been conducting investigations to document and expose producers expanding into intact forest in Indonesia, and publishing the results on Leuser Watch. RAN's undercover team of field investigators continues to document cases of producers expanding plantations into intact lowland rainforests. As a result of these investigations, RAN named and exposed consumer-facing brands, including Unilever, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Mars, Mondelez, Colgate Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, Nissin, Kao, General Mills, Kellogg’s, and Hershey’s, and banks that are implicated in clearing forests and peatlands.

You can read more about the incredible work that our other partners are doing in the Leuser Ecosystem by reading the 2019-2020 progress report.