Expo 2015, affinities and divergences. The McDonald's case

We started writing about the vicious link between palm oil and land grabbing back in 2010  (1). Highlighting the emptiness of the commitments made by the clique of large producers, traders and  users, who tried to greenwash the image of the bloody tropical oil (so-called  greenwashing), without taking into account the impact of land grabs on local communities (2). 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 before the inauguration of Expo, the  crocodile tears of its colossal sponsor McDonald's, who is showing new commitments to be fulfilled  in the next three decades. It is inevitable to comment on the situation.

Palm oil and land grabbing

Between 2008 and 2014 at least 56 million hectares of land (equal to the size of France) in Developing Countries  have been grabbed by foreign investors (3). At the end of 2014, the international NGO Grain recorded  66 major land grabbing operations in tropical countries aimed exclusively at the cultivation  of intensive monoculture oil palms (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. – has been the epicenter of the most recent predatory instincts, thanks to the instability of local governments and  the consequent ease of acquisitions and evictions of huge plots of forest areas at negligible costs  (5).

The voracious demand for palm has also not spared Southeast Asia. 8 million hectares of habitat  are 'at palm risk' in the Philippines, 5.5 million hectares of land already under foreign control in  Papua New Guinea, 5 million hectares in the hands of 25 large investors in Indonesia (6). 

From Southeast Asia to Latin America, the palm greed has extended to the Amazon area of Peru, in addition to  Honduras and Colombia (7). 

Palm oil and deforestation

The report “Corporations, Commodities, and Commitments that Count”, published in March 2015  by the organization Supply-Change (8), attributes at least two-thirds of tropical deforestation to  irresponsible management of forests for speculative agricultural purposes, in response to the growing demand  for palm oil primarily, soy and livestock following. All that is needed for the world's largest chain of public  establishments, McDonald's, and its 36,000 fast food outlets. 

The entire global production of palm oil takes place in countries that once hosted forests  tropical. But the uncontrolled expansion of such plantations threatens the environment and human rights,  continue the researchers at Supply-Change, according to whom to date only 10% of the market is covered  by “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 imports of “food  commodities” whose production derives from lands subject to robbery and illegal deforestation (9).

Mc NOT lovin’ it

The world's largest fast-food chain, with 36,000 outlets in about a hundred countries, has been  the subject of numerous protests over recent years. Not only for the low wages and the pace  of intense work (10) and for its nutritional irresponsibility and the use of GMO ingredients without informing  consumers (11), but also for the enormous and serious socio-environmental impact of its  supply chains. Due to the massive use of beef, whose production  requires about 15,000 liters of water per kilogram of food, as well as doubts about animal welfare and  the use of growth hormones (12). In this context are the responsibilities linked to robberies  land and deforestation, aggravated in McDonald's supply chain by the use of both supply chains  of palm and soy.

In 2006 – following a Greenpeace report on deforestation of the Amazon forest caused  by vast soy plantations – the Yankee giant was forced to make some initial commitments in  this direction (13). But the commitments made on the palm front, beyond appearances, proved to be  entirely inadequate and flawed in the 2014 ‘Global Palm Oil Scoreboard’. Big numbers, little substance (14).

And precisely these days, under the 'hydraulic pressure' of NGOs and conscious consumers, Mc  Palm has finally resolved to boast new intentions, postponing to 2030 the end of its  significant contribution to global deforestation. Without even mentioning, ça va sans dir, the plundering  of lands (15). But can the planet really bear another three decades of ecocides? 

(Dario Dongo)

(1)  http://www.ilfattoalimentare.it/nasce-un-nuovo-colonialismo-agricolo-le-potenze-emergenti-rapinano-territori-in-africa-caraibi-e-pacifico.html

(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, land grabs and environmental (un)sustainability,  http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24593, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24343,

http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24519.

More information on:

– 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 stolen to cultivate palm by the American fund Herakles, on  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,

– West Africa. In the only 9 countries Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger,  Senegal and Togo, at least 2.3 million hectares of land grabbed between 2000 and 2012, with palm as  primary target, 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 Tomé 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:

– Peru, http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24762-peru-palma-aceitera-amenaza-devastar-la-amazonia.

Again, 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

(9)  http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24664-eu-agricultural-imports-linked-to-illegal-deforestation-study-claims

(10) http://www.ibtimes.com/mcdonalds-workers-strike-2015-employees-plan-us-protests-after-publicity-stunt-wage-1867746,

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/mcdonalds-workers-strike-over-pay–just-weeks-after-a-payrise-was-announced-10178137.html

(11) http://johnrobbins.info/resource-center/documentaries/supersize-me/,

http://supersizemeapp.com

(12)  https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/121-foundation-on-economic-trends

(13)  http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/McVictory-200706

(14)  http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/stop-deforestation/palm-oil-scorecard-company-profiles.html#mcdonalds, http://blog.ucsusa.org/palm-oil-deforestation-and-the-fast-food-industry-would-you-like-a-side-of-forests-with-that-543

(15)  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/22/3649784/mcdonalds-commits-to-deforestation-policy