Video release: “Burning Paradise” One Year Later
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDBCsKt0jkM[/embedyt]
Today, Mighty Earth and KFEM released a new video showing Korindo’s forest destruction for palm oil and highlighting the developments since the campaign launch. This video marks the one-year anniversary of the release of the Burning Paradise report and urges continued action to save the precious, ancient rainforests of Papua and North Maluku from Korindo’s destruction.
In the past year, following the release of Burning Paradise and global media exposure of its deforestation, Korindo lost many of its largest customers, which determined that Korindo’s practices violated their No Deforestation policies. These include the global palm oil traders Wilmar, Musim Mas, ADM, and IOI, the pulp and paper giant APRIL, and dozens of major brands around the world such as Kellogg’s, Nestle, and Unilever, which demanded that Korindo remain excluded from their supply chains. Siemens Gamesa, Iberdrola, Nordex, and other companies that have purchased wind towers from Korindo have urged Korindo to clean up it act. In addition, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a sustainability certification body for the forestry sector, announced that, following a complaint filed by Mighty, it is investigating whether Korindo violated FSC criteria. In response to customer concerns, Korindo announced a moratorium on land development on its palm oil concessions and agreed to conducting sustainability assessments. However, this isn’t enough to ensure the forest remains protected.
A forest the size of New York City (75,000 hectares) remains in Korindo’s concession areas and is at immediate risk of destruction. Korindo still refuses to announce a strong group-wide No Deforestation policy, has already breached its moratorium, and has hired sustainability assessors whose assessments have been rejected by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil for being of “poor quality”. Korindo has agreed to maintain its moratorium until its sustainability assessments have been approved by the industry’s quality review panels (the HCV Resource Network’s Assessor Licensing Scheme and the High Carbon Stock Approach’s Quality Review Panel), yet has paradoxically been angling in recent weeks to begin clearing forest again.
Papua is a rainforest paradise–the third largest intact rainforest in the world–but Korindo is at the forefront of a move by large agribusiness to convert these thriving forests into vast monoculture industrial plantations. Until recently, it was able to operate without much scrutiny due to the remoteness of the location and its inaccessibility for civil society and journalists. We hope this video provides a glimpse of what is at stake, and compels significant action around the world to save this rainforest paradise.
Citizens around the world can join our effort by sharing the video, and signing the petition to Korindo.
