Indiscriminate use of
chemical fertilizers over several decades
has been sucking life out of Indian soils,
and thereby putting the country’s food security
at stake. But the government has continued
to mindlessly promote chemical fertilizers
through their lenient subsidy policy. It
was under those circumstances that Greenpeace
India decided to set out on a journey, seven
months ago, to listen to what the real stakeholders
– the farmers – have to say about the issue.
Surprisingly, we found that they were equally
worried and caught in a vicious cycle of
chemical intensive farming. Their resources
were degraded, their fortunes lost, and
there was no support from the government
to help them tide over the crisis.
We named the campaign
“Living Soils”, and we used the social audit
as a tool to analyze the impact of the government
policies on soil health. It was probably
the first time ever social audits were conducted
on soil health and support systems in India
or elsewhere in the world. The journey started
from Assam, a north eastern state in India
and covered selected districts of Orissa,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. Wherever
we went, the villagers championed the cause.
They were at the fore front, organizing
demonstrations, street plays and public
hearings. It proved to be a celebration
of soils. It was quite evident that farmers
were desperate to get out of the vicious
cycle and keen to adopt an alternative,
ecological fertilization pathway. Not only,
farmers but also other stakeholders of Agriculture,
who participated in the public hearings,
voiced the same views. What was lacking
was support from the government.
Yesterday the Living
Soils report was launched by a noted film
Director, Anusha Rizvi. The report, titled,
“Of Soils, Subsidies and Survival”, captures
the observations, views and aspirations
of the farmers and puts them alongside the
scientific literature available on the topic.
Interestingly, there is a very positive
response from the Finance Ministry. The
main recommendation in the report, creation
of a National Ecological Fertilization Mission,
as a first step to shift subsidies from
chemical fertilizers to ecological fertilization
is well received. We hope that this interest
will get reflected in the Union Budget 2011-12
to be announced towards the end of this
month.
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It’s time that we start
investing in our soils, and not against
it. We have to protect this living ecosystem
for our own existence
Another break for rainforests as palm oil
company reveals plan to halt destruction
A baby orang-utan plays
at the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation
(BOS). Orang-utan habitat is being destroyed
through the clearing of Indonesian rainforest
by the palm oil and pulp and paper industries.
Image: Natalie Behring-Chisholm
Last year Golden Agri
Resources' (GAR) biggest claim to fame was
being the palm oil arm of notorious forest
destroyer Sinar Mas group, Indonesia's largest
palm oil and pulp and paper supplier. This
is the same company who lost their palm
oil contract with Nestlé after the
huge online outcry following the launch
of our Kit Kat campaign. Today Golden Agri
is the first Indonesian palm oil company
to make commitments that could end its involvement
in the forest destruction for which the
industry has become infamous.
Getting to this point
would have been impossible without all the
positive developments that have fueled a
momentum building towards permanent protection
of Indonesia's rainforests and peatlands
– the crucial final step we must reach.
This momentum has been driven by important
research that exposed the role of the palm
oil industry in the devastation of Indonesia's
rainforests, the cancelling of major contracts
with Golden Agri from palm oil buyers like
Unilever, and more recently, Nestlé
and Burger King, and of course - the unrelenting
demand of individuals all over the world:
stop forest destruction now. Last year the
backlash over Nestle's purchasing of palm
oil coming from rainforest destruction,
driven by amazing online supporters, was
the push needed for the largest food and
drink company in the world to cancel its
contract with Golden Agri over its destructive
practices. Now, not even one year later,
Golden Agri has made commitments that show
it too recognizes that the protection of
Indonesian rainforests is good for business.
Today at a press conference
in Jakarta Golden Agri pledged to stop clearing
forest areas that are high in carbon, referred
to as 'High Carbon Storage' (HCS) forest,
and renewed its commitments not to clear
peatlands and forests of High Conservation
Value, which are areas that are important
for local livelihoods and as critical animal
habitat. Golden Agri also announced its
collaboration with The Forest Trust (TFT)
to implement these commitments on the ground,
the same non-profit group working with Nestlé
on implementing its no deforestation commitments.
The destruction of Indonesia's
carbon-rich rainforests and peatlands to
make way for things like palm oil plantations
is a huge source of carbon emissions, and
Golden Agri's new carbon pledge, if properly
implemented, could help tackle climate change
and save large areas of forest. A commitment
to stop this kind of destruction from a
company of Golden Agri's size and influence
within the palm oil industry could also
be the spark that ignites a change in the
operations of the entire industry.
While Golden Agri's
"on paper" commitments announced
today are important, we'll be closely monitoring
its next steps to ensure these commitments
become real action that protects rainforests.
In particular, we will be monitoring Golden
Agri's commitment to not clearing forests
which contain a high amount of carbon. To
achieve this commitment they have set a
provisional threshold of 35 tonnes or more
of carbon per hectare, forests above this
threshold will not be cleared while they
test this threshold figure. The higher the
threshold of carbon, the more important
it is for our climate that this carbon-rich
land isn't destroyed.
Advisors to the Indonesian
government already recommended this same
threshold figure as part of a low-carbon
development pathway for the country. These
further steps towards forest and peatland
protection are also an opportunity for the
Indonesian government to insist on similar
standards across all the industries operating
in forest areas. A critical first step for
the government would be to stop the issue
of new licenses and conduct a review of
already existing ones.
In what seems to indicate
a severe hiccough in internal communication
(or perhaps a severe lack of company cocktail
mixers) within the Sinar Mas group - the
group's pulp and paper arm, Asia Pulp and
Paper (APP), continues its rampant destruction
of rainforests. While Golden Agri takes
positive steps APP is busy gobbling up Indonesian
forests, including areas critical to the
survival of the endangered Sumatran tiger,
while also making time for a healthy dose
of greenwashing of its practices.
Now APP needs to hear
the demands of people all over the world
and feel the pressure from this amazing
momentum that is building towards forest
protection. APP must stop destroying Indonesian
rainforests for pulp and paper.
