We started writing about the vicious link between palm oil and land grabbing back in 2010 (1). Highlighting the emptiness of the commitments undertaken by the gang of large producers, traders and users, who tried to dye the image of the bloody tropical oil green (cd greenwashing), without taking into account the impact of land robberies on local communities (2). TO at the end of 2010 we launched a petition against the use of palm oil in the food supply chain, collecting 115 thousand signatures in 4 months. And right now, one week after the inauguration of Expo, the crocodile tears of its colossal sponsor Mc Donald's, which manifests new commitments to come true in the next three decades. It is inevitable to comment on the situation.
Palm oil and land robbery
Between 2008 and 2014 at least 56 million hectares of land (equal to the extension of France) in the countries in Via di Sviluppo were hoarded by foreign investors (3). At the end of 2014, the international NGO Grain has surveyed 66 macro-operations of robberies of lands in tropical countries exclusively aimed at cultivation mono-intensive oil palm (4). Sub-Saharan Africa - Ethiopia, Uganda, Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, Guinea and Guinea Bissau, Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Senegal, etc. - was the epicenter of the most recent predatory instincts, thanks to the instability of local governments and to the consequent ease of acquisitions and clearings of huge plots of forest areas at cost laughable (5).
The voracious demand for palm has not neglected Southeast Asia. 8 million hectares of habitat natural are 'endangered palm' in the Philippines, 5,5 million hectares of land already under foreign rule in Papua New Guinea, 5 million hectares in the hands of 25 large investors in Indonesia (6).
From Southeast Asia to Latin America, palm craving has spread to the Amazon area of Peru, as well as Honduras and Colombia (7).
Palm oil and deforestation
The "Corporations, Commodities, and Commitments that Count" report, published in March 2015 by the Supply-Change organization (8), attributes at least two thirds of tropical deforestation to irresponsible forest management for speculative agricultural purposes, in response to growing demand palm oil in the first place, soybeans and cattle to follow. All that is needed by the first public chain shops on the planet, Mc Donald's, and its 36.000 fast food outlets.
The entire production of palm oil on a global scale takes place in countries that once hosted forests tropical. But the uncontrolled expansion of such crops threatens the environment as well as human rights, continue the Supply-Change researchers, according to whom to date only 10% of the market is covered from the “certified tonnes of palm oil” which, moreover, for 69%, are expressed through transactions of credits or certificates (sigh!).
Grain in turn has recently denounced the immensity of European “food” imports commodities ”whose production derives from land subject to illegal robbery and deforestation (9).
Mc NOT lovin'it
The world's first fast-food chain, with 36.000 eateries in a hundred countries, was the subject of numerous protests over the past few years. Not just because of the low wages and pace hard work (10) and for its nutritional irresponsibility and the use of GMO ingredients without it inform consumers (11), but also for the enormous and serious socio-environmental impact of its supply chains. Because of the massive use of beef, whose production it requires about 15 thousand liters of water for every kg of food, as well as doubts about animal welfare e the use of growth hormones (12). The responsibilities related to robberies fall within this context of land and deforestation, aggravated in the Mc Donald's supply chain by the use of both supply chains of palm and soy.
In 2006 - following a Greenpeace report on the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest caused from endless soybean crops - the Yankee giant had been forced to make some early commitments in this direction (13). But the commitments undertaken on the palm front, beyond appearance, are the results of all unsuitable and incomplete in the 'Global Palm Oil Scoreboard' of 2014. Big numbers, little substance (14).
And in these days, under the 'hydraulic pressure' of NGOs and conscious consumers, Mc Palm has finally resolved to boast new intentions, postponing the interruption of its own to 2030 significant contribution to global deforestation. Without even mentioning, ça va sans dir, the robbery of the lands (15). But will the planet really be able to withstand another three decades of ecocide?
(Dario Dongo)
(2) http://www.ilfattoalimentare.it/olio-palma-rspo.html, http://www.ilfattoalimentare.it/i-produttori-di-olio-di-palma-sostengono-di-voler-salvare-le-foreste-ma-e-davvero-cosi.html, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23477
(3) http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/publications
(4) http://www.grain.org/article/entries/5031-planet-palm-oil.pdf, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23973, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24423
(5) Africa, between palm trees, land robberies and (in) environmental sustainability, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24593, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24343,
http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24519.
More information about:
- Ethiopia, http://www.ilfattoalimentare.it/land-grabbing.html,
http://www.ilfattoalimentare.it/land-grabbing-catherine-ashton.html, http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/engineering-ethnic-conflict,
- Congo, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/21696, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/22141,
- Uganda, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24785-criticism-of-gar-and-wilmar-african-oil-palm-projects-highlight-global-no-deforestation-challenges, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24606, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24556,
- Cameroon, 73 thousand hectares robbed to cultivate palm from the American fund Herakles, on http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/herakles-exposed.
- Nigeria, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24206, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24172
- Gabon, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/21237, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24608,
- Guinea, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23778,
- W. In just 9 Bénin countries, Burkina Faso, Côte-d'Ivoire, Guinée, Guinée-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Sénégal and Togo, at least 2,3 million hectares of land looted between 2000 and 2012, with palm as first goal, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24703-si-les-populations-se-battent-laccaparement-des-terres-sarretera,
- Liberia, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23743, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24785, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24468, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24645,
- Sierra Leone, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24212.
- Sao Tome and Principe, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/21240
(6) Southeast Asia:
- Philippines, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24737-caraga-eyed-for-oil-palm-amid-1-m-hectare-target-for-mindanao, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23547,
http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24176, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24679-malaysian-firm-to-develop-1-000-hectare-for-oil-palm, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24385,
http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24051,
- Papua New Guinea and Borneo, http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/our-land-modern-land-grabs-reversing-independence-papua-new-guinea, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23840, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24252.
Stanford University study on http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/21122,
- Indonesia, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24725-in-indonesia-local-communities-lose-out-as-oil-palm-expands, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23419, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24644,
http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24562). Video on http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24467.
(7) Latin america:
- Perù, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24762-peru-palma-aceitera-amenaza-devastar-la-amazonia.
Again, come on http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24626,
- Honduras, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24312, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23827,
- Colombia, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24397,
(8) http://forest-trends.org/releases/uploads/Supply%20Change_Report.pdf
(11) http://johnrobbins.info/resource-center/documentaries/supersize-me/,
(12) https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/121-foundation-on-economic-trends
(13) http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/McVictory-200706
(15) http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/22/3649784/mcdonalds-commits-to-deforestation-policy
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
