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In 2018, the Indonesian government issued a Palm Oil Moratorium. The moratorium is ending September this year. Sawit Watch, IUCN NL partner in Indonesia and the lead CSO in Indonesia concerning palm oil issues, in collaboration with other Indonesian CSOs is calling upon the Indonesian government to extend the current moratorium. This call is substantiated by an assessment of the strategic opportunities gained from policy extension and the consequences of policy termination. According to the CSOs, extending the current moratorium provides both environmental benefits as well as socio-economic opportunities.

Over 100 organizations have sent a letter to Malaysian timber giant Samling asking the timber giant to withdraw its legal suit against GLA Malaysia partner SAVE Rivers and its board members. Samling was also asked to provide the communities of its Gerenai and Ravenscourt concessions in Sarawak’s Baram and Limbang region with all of the environmental and social impact assessments conducted for certification by the PEFC-endorsed Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme.

ING, Rabobank and ABN AMRO have provided credit worth €3.1 billion over the past 5 years for commodities that often result in deforestation, such as soy. At the end of 2020, pension funds, insurance companies and banks had investments totalling €362 million in these commodities. This came to light as the result of research carried out by Friends of the Earth Netherlands and Profundo. Dutch financial institutions also invest in companies such as the agribusiness and soy trading company, Bunge, which has repeatedly been linked to deforestation and human rights violations. Friends of the Earth Netherlands wants rules for financial institutions to ban climate damage, including deforestation from their portfolios.

Sustainable Development Institute and Milieudefensie call upon the Government of Liberia to ensure agri-business in Liberia halts deforestation and rights violations. New analysis from community excersizes indicate palm oil company Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) structurally fails to comply with obligations and commitments from the Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) that were signed in 2014 with affected communities. The findings exemplify broken promises and lack of development during a decade of oil palm plantation development in Liberia.

Monoculture acacia plantations intended for wood pulp are disastrous for biodiversity in Vietnam. Our local partner organisation VietNature saw that things could be done differently: with gains for plantation owners from the community as well as for nature. With the support of IUCN NL, it set up a profitable project for FSC certified timber production. In 2020, the first investor came forward.

Header photo © VietNature

The Green Livelihoods Alliance (GLA) in the Philippines denounces the resumption of mine operations in Brooke’s Point, Palawan, and the Office of the Ombudsman’s suspension order on Brooke’s Point Mayor Maryjean Feliciano for her actions protecting the forested watershed from destructive mining. The GLA calls on government agencies to instead listen to the community voices who have long stood against the destructive mining in forested watersheds of Palawan.

Community-based Non-Timber Forest Product Enterprises (CBNEs) will take the spotlight for the inaugural Forest Harvest CBNE Forum taking place this 1-5 June to highlight their untapped potential in contributing to community well-being and forest conservation.

Much of the deforestation that takes place in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America is the result of the European consumption of commodities, such as soy, cocoa and palm oil. Stricter EU-level regulations could go a long way to put an end to deforestation. Such regulations are a contentious political issue, but at the end of 2020, after years of concerted lobbying by TBI and partners, there was a breakthrough.