The negotiations for an
agreement
EU-Indonesia
(
CEPA
) continue apace, in the wake of CETA
and theunderstanding just reached by the European Commission with Japan
. The main trouble here relates to the liberalization of trade in palm oil. Before it is too late, let us all join the petition launched by the‘NGO Rainforest Rescue (Save the Forest), out l‘Palm oil from free trade agreements!
Palm oil, devastation and
greenwashing
L’Indonesia è the world’s leading producer of palm oil and Europe is its second largest market, after the‘India. But palm plantations are expanding continuously at the expense of the equatorial forests and their populations. In Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Borneo, Papua New Guinea, Philippines) as in Central America and theSub-Saharan Africa.
A monstrous production
, responding to a demand that is still growing. Despite the gradual emergence of a European front
opposed to the use of this tropical fat in food, is in fact advancing its demand as a raw material for ‘biofuels’ (17 percent of global demand) and in various other sectors, from cosmetics to household products
.
Greenpeace, in his latest investigation, shows how only in Indonesia 4 thousand hectares of rainforest (an’area equivalent tolla metà of the Paris metropolis) were destroyed – between May 2015 and theApril 2017 – to supply giants of Big Food as Nestlé, Mars, PespsiCo e Unilever. (2)
The magnitude of RSPO’s greenwashing. and its members-who for the past dozen years have been trying to cloak in ‘sustainability’ a crop that is the leading cause of land robbery planetwide, and contends with South American soybeans for the lead in deforestation-was, after all, already emerging in a previous report of ‘Zoological Society of London’.
The ‘Zoological Society of London‘, in the report ‘Hidden lands, hidden risks‘ (2017) has in fact shown how one million hectares of crops-equal to the size of the entire Abruzzo region (!)-escape the claims of the top 50 palm oil producers registered with RSPO (Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil production). Meanwhile, Indonesian peatland forest fires continue to emit greenhouse gases
in amounts up to 200 times greater than those caused by fires in other forest areas, which last for 7-8 decades.
E
l’
Indonesia remains the world’s third-largest emitter.
(3)
‘The introduction of oil palm plantations is causing large-scale forest fires, drying up of rivers, soil erosion, peatland drainage, pollution of waterways, and general loss of biodiversity.à, consequently causing the loss of many ecosystem services and generating major impacts on climate, natural resource conservation and global environmental protection for present and future generations‘. (European Parliament, resolution 4.4.17
bearing
invit
o the Commission to eliminate the
‘Palm oil from biofuels. Gradually, starting in 2020). (4)
Palm oil, the
‘
EU-Indonesia Economic Agreement (CEPA)
La European Commission, with CEPA, will once again betray the determinations of the Strasbourg Parliament. ‘One of the interests of the‘Indonesia is to overcome the obstacles faced by the‘Indonesian palm oil in the European market‘, said the Indonesian Minister of Trade’. (5)
The executive
led by
Paolo Gentiloni
is an active part of this process, despite the plebiscite vote of citizen-consumers against the horrors linked to the
palm
, as well as against the government itself. The minister outgoing Charles Calenda yes è so declared ready to support the‘Indonesia also on this ignoble issue, which he says must ‘be resolved in the‘scope of free trade agreements’. (6)
Carlo Calenda
, who thanks to the voters of March 4 will soon leave office, has been careful not to consider the impact of monocultures riddled with
pesticides
neurotoxics on the health of local populations and children
. The concepts of
land robbery
(
land grabbing
) then completely elude the newly-minted member of the once-democratic party.
Everything is explained
– in terms of the priorities of the former office-bearer of Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, then president of Confindustria – considering that Italy and Spain are the top users in Europe of palm oil destined for the production of
biodiesel
.
(7)
E
l’Eni has made large investments, in Italy, precisely on biorefineries. Which, moreover, are also able to use less unsustainable raw materials. (8)
Palm oil and neo-colonialism
Land robbery
– i.e., the violent deportation of local communities from their territories – is the first international crime against humanity systematically perpetrated by the
palmocrats
. Who then proceed to destroy the rainforests and the
biodiversity
,
causing, among other things, the genocide of countless
species endangered animals. Over 100,000
orangutan
– equal to the entire population of cities such as Bolzano, Udine, Novara, Piacenza, Cesena, Ancona, Pesaro, and Lecce-have been slaughtered in Borneo alone in the past 16 years.
(9)
Oil palm crops
require the massive use of poisonous pesticides such as DDT and paraquat
, which is banned in the West but is produced in Europe to poison the peoples of former colonies. Who are still forced to work-even on the plantations of palmocrats who join RSPO-in conditions of slavery, even child slavery. In defiance of the ILO (International Labor Office) Convention and the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. The production cycle ends after 25-30 years, when soils degraded by agrotoxics for 25-30 years are completely unusable.
The Commission of
Jean-Claude Juncker
move forward quickly, with the goal of signing CEPA before it is removed by the new Parliament in 2019. It is time to move now, say
Enough!
to
neo-colonialism
disguised as economic development, Enough! to the globalization of exploitation of human beings and workers, Enough! to ecocides.
Let’s all sign this petition, spread the word, collect signatures. Out of our food, out of our fuel tanks and everywhere else. Palm oil, never again!
Dario Dongo
Notes
1)
Negotiations began on 18.7.
16
and are scheduled for their fourth
round
within the next few months
.
3) One hectare of incinerated peatland forest emits the
‘equivalent of 55 tons of carbon, largely released as methane (CH4). The polluting potential of methane, compared to the‘
greenhouse effect, is 25 times higher than that of the
‘
carbon dioxide (CNR, Institute of Biometeorology)
4) European Parliament resolution 4.4.17 on palm oil and the deforestation of rainforests (2016/2222(INI)). To learn more about the content of the resolution: https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/risoluzione-del-parlamento-europeo-su-olio-di-palma-stop-al-biodiesel-serve-una-certificazione-attendibile
7)
V.
http://europa.today.it/ambiente/olio-di-palma-solo-Italia-Spagna-lo-difendono.html
9)
V.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42994630
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/10/palm-oil-orangutans-multinationals-promises-deforestation
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
