Two percent of the planet’s arable land, about 26 million hectares, has been grabbed by foreign operators in recent years, with a thousand giant land deals. Indigenous peoples have often been violently deported from their habitats, then ravaged with fires to make way for intensive monocultures. It is so-called ‘land grabbing,’ in 44 percent of cases functional for oil crops, palm in primis (1).
The need to help curb this phenomenon-which involves unacceptable violations of basic human rights, as well as irreparable ecocide-has led us to carry out a public information and awareness campaign over the years. With one basic idea, to stimulate the reduction of international demand for palm oil so that disasters slow down. While waiting for FAO member states to finally decide to implement the 2012 Guidelines for Responsible Land Management (2).
The petition launched in 2014 by ‘Great Italian Food Trade’ together with Fatto Alimentare garnered unexpected support from Italian consumAtors, and so did the one promoted in France (3). The industry and ‘retail’ were quick to respond, with the extraordinary result of reformulating a huge number of food references in less than two years. What seemed impossible has become reality, Italy is emerging as the first ‘palm-oil-free’ country. Public health in turn will benefit, as this will drastically reduce the intake of saturated fat in people’s diets.
There has been no shortage of comebacks; on several occasions we have witnessed disinformation campaigns that are an outrage to the common sense and intelligence of Italians. Most recently, the Alba-based giant, now alone against all, proudly asserted its determination to continue the use of palm in its most famous product, Nutella. And the most servile journalists have gone so far as to theorize hypotheses of international conspiracies, attributed no less than to American soybean and canola (?) producers.
Instead, the idea is to help our national champions seize the extraordinary opportunity to ensure long life for renewed growth. It takes courage to move beyond outdated logics, it is certain, but times have changed and consumAtors will know how to reward every effort in the direction of ‘Good and Fair’. Palm-free, ça va sans dir. In this sense lays the letter from Mirko Busto, ‘Ferrero Think Again’.
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) “Land Matrix Analytical Report II: International Land Deals for Agriculture.”
(2) http://www.fao.org/nr/tenure/voluntary-guidelines/en/
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
