Stop Cargill – Stop the fires in the orangutan forest
Rainforest is more important than palm oil profits (© Jason Motlagh/Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting)
Cargill is selling palm oil derived from the destruction of the Sumatran rainforest, home of the critically endangered orangutans. In doing so the company is participating in the deforestation of one of the world's most important ecological systems. Demand that Cargill immediately stop trading with dirty palm oil
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The corporate group Cargill is selling palm oil derived from the destruction of the Sumatran rainforest, home of the critically endangered orangutans.
In doing so this multinational company is participating in the deforestation of one of the world's most important ecological systems. It is only here that orangutans live side by side with other rare species such as tigers, elephants and rhinoceroses. As a result of the greed for profits they could soon be erased by flames. Their last habitat is being cut-and-burned to make way for oil palm plantations.
About 100 orangutans have already perished in the fires, local environmentalists tell us. This population could even become extinct by the end of 2012 if the logging is continued.
The multinational company Cargill is the largest importer of palm oil into the U.S. and controls about 25 percent of the global market for this commodity. The palm oil is refined and used for everyday products and ingredients such as margarine, emulsifiers and candles.
Please write to Cargill's management and ask them to protect the orangutans rather than participating in their eradication.
LetterTo the Cargill management
Dear Sirs,
Cargill trades Sumatran palm oil. For weeks fires have been set by palm oil companies in the Sumatran rain forests to make way for new oil palm plantations.
This practice is threatening the critically endangered Sumatran orangutans with extinction. About 100 great apes have perished in the flames already.
As one of the largest quantity buyers of palm oil your company bears great responsibility as well as having plenty of room to really make a change. Please cut your ties to the destruction of rain forests and the destruction of species.
Call on your suppliers to stop the logging and the expansion of oil palm plantations immediately.
The rainforest and the orangutan habitat have to be restored without delay. Also, the livelihood of the local population has to be sustained and their rights are to be respected.
Yours faithfully
Indonesia: 14 years of impunity for arson in Tripa peat swamp forest
Ten years after the court ruling against Kallista Alam, a palm oil company that torched 1,000 hectares of wetland forest in the Leuser Ecosystem and is responsible for the deaths of orangutans, the company is finally willing to pay its fine – in installments. Environmental groups are demanding the rehabilitation of the Tripa peat swamp forest.
Even more severe critique against Cargill
23,000 hectares of rainforest in a conservation area for orangutans were destroyed – for a palm oil plantation. The concession is held by a palm oil company which also delivers to Cargill. The corporation keeps referring to their apparently sustainable supply chain. Cargill however won´t be able to dismiss the EIA report too swiftly.
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