Safe Palm Oil
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Safe the Orangutans

Palm Oil, an ingredient found in many everyday products, is contributing to the rapid destruction of rainforests. Orangutan habitat in Sumatra and Borneo is being clear-felled at an alarming rate for conversion to oil palm plantations. The orangutan, perilously close to extinction, is suffering profoundly as a result.

The Indonesian and Malaysian governments have an obligation to protect the precious wildlife that inhabits their forests. There is a huge amount of degraded land available for planting oil palms in Borneo and Sumatra, but palm oil companies can make a quick profit when they cut down rainforests and sell the timber, so the relentless deforestation continues. The international community must demand that the laws protecting wildlife and forests are upheld, and that oil-palm concessions are not granted in forested areas.

Here in the UK, lawmakers have the power to affect what is happening to orangutan habitat many thousands of miles away. UK manufacturers and retailers dealing in palm oil have thus far failed to prove that they source the palm oil in their products from non-destructive plantations. By supporting the Company Law Reform Bill, which compels companies to minimize the environmental impacts of their business practices, Members of Parliament can set a precedent for corporate responsibility worldwide.

For more information about palm oil and habitat destruction visit http://www.savetheorangutan.co.uk/?cat=12. For more information about how to Save Orangutans, visit  http://www.savetheorangutan.co.uk/?page_id=899.

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