Im in Malaysia and I need your help
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 13 November 2018 03:14
- Written by editor
The palm oil event of the year has kicked off! Pepsi, Nestlé, and all major palm oil producers and traders are in the heart of what’s left of orangutan territory in Borneo. To mingle and discuss sustainable palm oil.
Tweet now to disrupt the small talk. Tell brands to use Thursday’s VOTE to raise the bar on what counts as ‘sustainable’ palm oil and save the orangutans.
A,
LIVE! Right now, palm oil barons and global brands that profiteer... from rainforest destruction are all seated in one room: at the annual palm oil roundtable in Malaysia.
They’re about to vote on whether to strengthen the industry’s rules -- and they’re under huge pressure to finally clean up their act!
Can you tweet now to urge the roundtable to vote the right way? Together, we could give the palm oil guzzlers a harsh wake-up call, and secure a majority of votes for improved industry standards.
It only takes one minute and there’s a template tweet that you can use or edit.
Tweet to save orangutans and the rainforests from the poorly regulated palm oil industry.
Unchecked demand for cheap palm oil has decimated Indonesia and Malaysia’s precious rainforest, and annihilated the birds, orangutans, elephants and tigers that call it home.
More than 69% of Sumatran elephant habitat has been destroyed within one generation, and there are fewer than 100 Sumatran rhinos left in the wild. And unless the industry makes strong commitments to improve the principles it operates by -- using Thursday’s vote -- it’ll only get worse.
That’s why we’re planning to get our people-powered message into the room by sending thousands of tweets using the conference hashtag for everyone in the industry to see! Can you tweet NOW to tell palm oil leaders to vote to finally raise the industry’s standards?
Tweet to help save orangutan habitat and stop the exploitation of palm oil workers!
Anxiety about conflict palm oil is at an all time high. The EU is threatening to cut subsidies for dirty palm oil -- and under pressure from hundreds of thousands of SumOfUs members like you, Nestlé just ended its business partnership with disgraced producer Indofood.
Thursday’s vote is an existential moment for the cowboy industry, when it could finally stop destroying the planet’s last rainforests and orangutans.
If successful, the vote would make it harder for companies that destroy the rainforest and abuse their workers to get a ‘sustainable palm oil’ certificate from the main palm oil governing body, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Can you tweet now to urge RSPO members and industry players to vote to end impunity for conflict palm oil?
Tweet to help save orangutan habitat and stop the exploitation of palm oil workers!
As well as calling for higher standards, we also need to challenge the RSPO to actually enforce its own rules, if it’s to retain any shred of credibility.
Last week, SumOfUs members won important sanctions against Pepsi’s business partner Indofood. But because of the RSPO’s timidity, Indofood wasn’t kicked out of the certification scheme entirely.
That’s despite the RSPO confirming that Indofood:
- Pays female workers less than men, and doesn’t give female workers equal job benefits as men, or maternity leave.
- Imposes overly high quotas, that put pressure on harvesters to bring in their family, including children, or face penalties
- Breaks Indonesian labour laws by over relying on casual workers, who are paid less than minimum wage and denied health insurance and pensions.
The good news is, we’ve had real success recently in driving up standards. This week’s conference could be a turning point, when brands and producers can finally get back on track -- in time to achieve their much-publicised ‘2020’ sustainable palm oil goals.
Tweet now, for the orangutans, for palm oil workers, and for the planet.
Thanks for all that you do,
Fatah and the team at SumOfUs
More information:
Palm oil producers are wiping out orangutans – despite multinationals’ promises, The Guardian, 10 May 2018
Details of the conference, The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, November 2018
The Human Cost of Conflict Palm Oil: Indofood, PepsiCo’s Hidden Link to Worker Exploitation in Indonesia, Rainforest Action Network, June 2016
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