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Tackling deforestation – it’s a dirty job but someone’s gotta do it
Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) had a history of greenwashing – remember its former Rainforest Realities website? | To address concerns of its stakeholders and customers, APP asked independent auditors Rainforest Alliance to spend several months in the field to see how it was really doing against its Forest Conservation Policy – warts and…
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Tropical deforestation is bad news – the science keeps telling us
Deforestation is very bad news for the environment and for the climate. Deforestation is very bad news for the environment and for the climate. It is bad news for biodiversity and releases greenhouses gases into the atmosphere – we know that. But the science is increasingly certain that deforestation is bad for agriculture too. It…
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Palm oil companies say they’ll put forest destruction on hold. But what happens next?
Some of the world’s biggest palm oil companies have suspended their forest destruction. Is this a ceasefire or the end of their war on forests? | We refuse to stand by while palm oil companies turn forests to plantations. We started with Indonesia’s largest palm oil company, Golden Agri Resources (GAR). When GAR agreed to…
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Arrest of forest rights activists symbolic of what’s wrong in India
It was just past midnight when Indian police hauled two Greenpeace India activists out of their sleep and arrested them this week as a crackdown on protests against a planned coal mine in the Mahan forest intensified. The arrests are the latest example of intimidation tactics used in India to quell unrest over the plans by…
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Activists mark two years of taking FLaC in the Leard
Activists in the Leard Forest in north west NSW are today celebrating two years fighting against the Maules Creek Coal Mine. It was six months ago when it finally dawned on me just how special FLaC (Frontline Action on Coal) Camp is. I was at the Leard in February when the original FLaC Camp was…
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6 myths this Indonesian logger didn’t want busted
Recent large-scale clearance of peatland forest inside a PT. Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (PT RAPP) pulpwood concession on Pulau Pedang, Bengkalis Regency, Riau Province. PT RAPP is a subsidiary of APRIL, the pulp & paper division of the RGE Group. On 28 January 2014, APRIL announced that it intends to continue to use rainforest…
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How to halt a bulldozer army while overcoming a fear of heights
This might seem like an unlikely thing for someone with vertigo to sign up for. But, on Monday night, I volunteered to spend a night high in the canopy of critically-endangered Box Gums in the Leard Forest. It was a unique spot to witness the majesty of this place. I was suspended nine metres above…
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Sydney rallies parliamentarians to save Leard Forest from Whitehaven Coal’s bulldozers
It was an inspiring, empowering example of what our movement stands for. Today, hundreds of Sydney-siders joined a snap rally outside of the offices of NSW Planning Minister Pru Goward and NSW Environment Minister Rob Stokes asking them to immediately halt bulldozers tearing down Leard Forest. We were there to deliver a 30,000-strong emergency petition…
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The gentle caress of the bulldozer
Right now, a handful of brave folk are doing all they can to stop Whitehaven Coal from razing the ancient Leard State Forest in order to build a coal mine – currently the largest under construction in Australia. Greenpeace activist taking action in the Leard State Forest. The Forest is rare, precious and home to…
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Johnson and Johnson: the path to ‘No More Tears’ in Indonesian rainforests
It’s frustrating to think about the link between forest destruction and that bright yellow shampoo that miraculously allowed parents to wash their babies hair without igniting a burning-eyes meltdown. While human babies splashed around on their little tubs, baby orangutans cried for their lost forests and families. Well, that’s about to stop. After months of…