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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/commodity-roundtables/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Commodity Roundtables</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/commodity-roundtables/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil must halt Liberian palm oil company’s abuses (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/roundtable-on-sustainable-palm-oil-must-halt-liberian-palm-oil-companys-abuses-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/roundtable-on-sustainable-palm-oil-must-halt-liberian-palm-oil-companys-abuses-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Oct 2025 13:33:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gaurav Madan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/09/12005717/aceh_0825-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307689</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Liberia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Commentary, Commodity agriculture, Commodity Roundtables, Corporate Social Responsibility, Governance, Human Rights, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, and Palm Oil]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the forests of southeastern Liberia, fear is resounding over what the future may hold. For more than a decade, communities in Sinoe county have struggled against palm oil company Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL), which has razed more than 1,000 hectares (almost 2,500 acres) of rainforest, destroyed sacred sites, and violated local land rights. GVL’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the forests of southeastern Liberia, fear is resounding over what the future may hold. For more than a decade, communities in Sinoe county have struggled against palm oil company Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL), which has razed more than 1,000 hectares (almost 2,500 acres) of rainforest, destroyed sacred sites, and violated local land rights. GVL’s abuses were affirmed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the industry certification body, and by the High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA), a multistakeholder initiative aimed at protecting forests. Following years of community resistance and a formal complaint, the RSPO issued a stop-work order for GVL to halt plantation expansion. But this past June, the RSPO announced it was lifting the moratorium, raising concerns over the fate of globally significant forests and the communities that live there. Today, Liberian civil society and international allies are urgently demanding that the RSPO reverse its decision and maintain its stop-work order on GVL’s expansion to prevent further deforestation, protect communities’ rights, and ensure accountability for the company’s environmental and human rights violations. Notably, GVL is controlled by Indonesian palm oil giant Golden Agri Resources (GAR), a member of the RSPO, with its own history of alleged illegal forest clearance, corruption and human rights abuses. A Golden Veroleum Liberia oil plantation abuts a forested buffer. Image by Jonathan H. Timperley. For years, the RSPO has faced criticism for providing cover to member companies engaged in abuse. By reversing its decision on GVL — despite research showing the company&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/roundtable-on-sustainable-palm-oil-must-halt-liberian-palm-oil-companys-abuses-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/roundtable-on-sustainable-palm-oil-must-halt-liberian-palm-oil-companys-abuses-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307689</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>EU law to reduce deforestation is on a knife&#8217;s edge, will leaders act? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/eu-law-to-reduce-deforestation-is-on-a-knifes-edge-will-leaders-act-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/eu-law-to-reduce-deforestation-is-on-a-knifes-edge-will-leaders-act-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Apr 2024 14:41:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Etelle Higonnet]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/23134025/Agribusiness-in-Matopiba-768x449.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=281397</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Governance, International Trade, Palm Oil, Rubber, Soy, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[We are now in a make-or break-moment for the landmark law to halt imported global deforestation into the European Union. Global forest defenders watch with bated breath as in the next few days, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will either decide to support the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), or to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[We are now in a make-or break-moment for the landmark law to halt imported global deforestation into the European Union. Global forest defenders watch with bated breath as in the next few days, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will either decide to support the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), or to hollow out this vital law. This is happening while recent developments in Brussels threaten the EU Green Deal at its core. Brussels’ current political climate is taking an unprecedented turn against EU environmental policies, including first to withdraw the proposals for a pesticides law by the Commission, second the blockage of the Nature restoration law in the Council, and third the reopening of the Common Agriculture Policy to withdraw environmental provisions. A fourth threat looms now: a few elements in the coffee lobby, soy and other industries activated Austria and a few other agricultural ministries in EU member states to weaken the EUDR. These companies and ministries are lobbying to delay and water down the EUDR, though the regulation was already adopted and entered into force in June 2023. Oil palms inside a concession in Boasom, Jayapura district, Papua Province, Indonesia. Image © Oscar Siagian / Greenpeace. Many NGOs who are standing firm to defend the EUDR have tried to convince von der Leyen that this recent wave of corporate whinging should be balanced against the thousands of corporate leaders who have spoken out repeatedly for the EUDR over the years. Indeed, investors worth $6 trillion supported such regulation in Europe, whilst&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/eu-law-to-reduce-deforestation-is-on-a-knifes-edge-will-leaders-act-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/eu-law-to-reduce-deforestation-is-on-a-knifes-edge-will-leaders-act-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-281397</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To ease deforestation, natural rubber industry must &#8216;paddle hard&#8217; (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/to-ease-deforestation-natural-rubber-industry-must-paddle-hard-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/to-ease-deforestation-natural-rubber-industry-must-paddle-hard-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jan 2024 00:07:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aidan Mock]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/22053938/rubber-thailand-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278165</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Commentary, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Products, Forests, Green, International Trade, Rubber, Sustainability, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Last October, I took some time off work at the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) to learn how to surf. Surfing has always been a dream of mine and one of the more advanced surfing techniques is learning how to ride green waves (also known as unbroken waves). The image of surfers carving [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Last October, I took some time off work at the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) to learn how to surf. Surfing has always been a dream of mine and one of the more advanced surfing techniques is learning how to ride green waves (also known as unbroken waves). The image of surfers carving fearlessly across the gaping maw of the ocean is one of the pinnacles of surfing, which is all about riding green waves. To successfully ride a green wave, you first have to assess the incoming “bumps” in the water that wash in from the open sea. Is this wave going to be big enough? Am I in the right place to catch it? Is someone else better set up to ride the wave? These questions are important both while sitting on a 8-foot piece of foam in the middle of the sea and in an office chair working on supply chain sustainability in downtown Singapore. After finding a desirable wave, you have to angle your board in the right direction and paddle like your life depends on it. There is a sweet spot to start paddling. If you start too early, your arms will tire by the time the wave arrives and the wave is lost. If you start too late, you might be able to stand up, but you won’t have enough time to adjust and the water will wash you off your feet, dumping you into the salt spray. Timing is key, in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/to-ease-deforestation-natural-rubber-industry-must-paddle-hard-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/to-ease-deforestation-natural-rubber-industry-must-paddle-hard-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278165</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>U.S. and U.K. lawmakers must wake up to the coffee problem (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/u-s-and-u-k-lawmakers-must-wake-up-to-the-coffee-problem-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/u-s-and-u-k-lawmakers-must-wake-up-to-the-coffee-problem-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Dec 2023 01:19:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Etelle Higonnet]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/11/09112559/coffeecup2-683x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=276892</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Britain, Europe, European Union, Global, United Kingdom, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Coffee, Commentary, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Deforestation, Food, Food Industry, Forest Products, Forests, Green, Human Rights, International Trade, Slavery, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Coffee. Nectar of the gods. Lifesaving energy booster that helps many of us start our days. Ubiquitously consumed around the world by people like me – without my beloved morning brew I am something of a discombobulatedgrumpyhedgehog. And yet, this top, globally traded agri-commodity is also a major driver of deforestation, mass extinction, child labor, slavery, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Coffee. Nectar of the gods. Lifesaving energy booster that helps many of us start our days. Ubiquitously consumed around the world by people like me – without my beloved morning brew I am something of a discombobulatedgrumpyhedgehog. And yet, this top, globally traded agri-commodity is also a major driver of deforestation, mass extinction, child labor, slavery, and other abuses. Few consumers realize that only 10% to 1% of coffee&#8217;s retail price ends up in the coffee farmers’ hands, most of whom do not earn a living wage, and are subsisting in grinding poverty. (Sorry for this downer, please don&#8217;t read any further till you&#8217;ve had a good strong cup to brace for the rest!) Coffee is thought to be one of the top seven commodities driving deforestation worldwide – not as bad as cattle, but right up there with cocoa, rubber, and wood fiber; sometimes even nipping at the heels of the notorious palm oil industry. Coffee replaced about 1.9 million hectares of forest from 2001 to 2015. Coffee doesn&#8217;t just kill forests though. Pesticide-soaked monoculture coffee is a significant contributor to the mass extinction we are in, especially the insect apocalypse. Forest area replaced by commodity crops. Table via World Resources Institute. Bizarrely, almost no NGOs work to document abuses in the coffee industry, but thanks to some fearless journalists, we know quite a bit about abuses in coffee supply chains from Mexico to Vietnam, Guatemala to Ethiopia, Brazil to Cote d&#8217;Ivoire, Honduras to Indonesia. Despite valiant efforts by some pioneering investigators though, not much is said however about horrific conditions in the coffee industry, compared to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/u-s-and-u-k-lawmakers-must-wake-up-to-the-coffee-problem-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-276892</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Everything is traceable – unless you don’t want it to be (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/everything-is-traceable-unless-you-dont-want-it-to-be-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/everything-is-traceable-unless-you-dont-want-it-to-be-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2021 21:19:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aida Greenbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/08/18203932/ca_tuolumne_21227_16x9-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=246088</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Certification, Commentary, Commodity Roundtables, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Green, Supply Chain, Sustainability, and Transparency]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a book published in 2016, Henrik Ringsberg of Chalmers University of Technology, wrote that &#8220;Product traceability to ensure quality, safety, and sustainability of goods has become a worldwide societal concern.&#8221; This statement encapsulated a widespread sentiment of the time. Yet five years on, I can’t believe we are still having arguments about product traceability. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a book published in 2016, Henrik Ringsberg of Chalmers University of Technology, wrote that &#8220;Product traceability to ensure quality, safety, and sustainability of goods has become a worldwide societal concern.&#8221; This statement encapsulated a widespread sentiment of the time. Yet five years on, I can’t believe we are still having arguments about product traceability. Traceability is a simple matter really. Consumers have the right to know where the products they buy come from, and to trace them back to the source of the raw materials to ensure that they are not linked to anything dodgy, such as deforestation and human rights violations. Consequently, brands, retailers, and manufacturers have the responsibility to provide this traceability information to consumers. I remember sitting in a meeting room in central London eight years ago. The chief of sustainability of a major consumer goods company sat in front of me. She inhaled deeply before starting a ten-minute lecture about how difficult it was to trace the commodities she was dealing with back to their sources. &#8220;It’s impossible,&#8221; she said with an exasperated expression on her face. That was eight years ago. Today, her organization still claims that they are not able to be fully traceable and transparent with their products. Aida Greenbury I studied wood technology back in university, where I spent months staring at tiny wooden cells with their wild and wonderful shapes under the microscope in laboratories. What’s fascinating about the wood cells is that every wood, or plant, has a different&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/everything-is-traceable-unless-you-dont-want-it-to-be-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-246088</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What stops the rubber industry from being sustainable? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/what-stops-the-rubber-industry-from-being-sustainable-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/what-stops-the-rubber-industry-from-being-sustainable-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 May 2021 15:46:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Stefano Savi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/05/26152523/colombia_3224-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=243029</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Business, Commentary, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Rubber, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every time I meet someone new and tell them I work on defining sustainability for the rubber industry, a range of questions follows. The most important of these typically is, &#8220;What’s stopping the industry from being sustainable right now?’’ I often fall back on metaphors to explain this, it’s how my brain works. However, today, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every time I meet someone new and tell them I work on defining sustainability for the rubber industry, a range of questions follows. The most important of these typically is, &#8220;What’s stopping the industry from being sustainable right now?’’ I often fall back on metaphors to explain this, it’s how my brain works. However, today, almost two years into the inauguration of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber, I’ve decided to be straightforward with you. This is mostly because no example or metaphor can come close enough to describing what a rollercoaster the last two years have been. But first, here’s a little something about me. After working with the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) for almost six years, I shifted gears to rubber. While the new challenges excited me, the most interesting part was the new opportunity; the opportunity to prevent the rubber of today from becoming the palm oil or plastic crisis of tomorrow. Rubber plantation in Colombia. Image by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay. Two years into the job, I can promise you that the opportunity still exists. In fact, I can see it more clearly than ever, especially as GPSNR grows from strength to strength. In a short span of time, almost 100 members from all across the rubber value chain have become part of the platform, and most are very actively engaged. Our most recent achievement is a policy framework that all members have committed to and are currently incorporating in their own&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/what-stops-the-rubber-industry-from-being-sustainable-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-243029</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Despite flaws, commodity eco-labels contribute to sustainability (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/despite-flaws-commodity-eco-labels-contribute-to-sustainability-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/despite-flaws-commodity-eco-labels-contribute-to-sustainability-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2021 17:02:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Matthias Diemer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2014/12/22163317/sabah_2201-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=241614</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Certification, Commentary, Commodity Roundtables, Corporate Social Responsibility, Drivers Of Deforestation, Palm Oil, Plantations, Supply Chain, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a recent report entitled “Destruction: certified” Greenpeace concluded that “certification is not a solution to deforestation, forest degradation and other ecosystem conversion”. Although Greenpeace acknowledges some positive impacts of labels, such as organic food or FSC, the overall conclusion is: “many of these certification schemes enable destructive businesses to continue as usual.” Is all [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a recent report entitled “Destruction: certified” Greenpeace concluded that “certification is not a solution to deforestation, forest degradation and other ecosystem conversion”. Although Greenpeace acknowledges some positive impacts of labels, such as organic food or FSC, the overall conclusion is: “many of these certification schemes enable destructive businesses to continue as usual.” Is all hope lost for FSC, RSPO or Rainforest Alliance? Clearly, there is room for improvement for all eco-labels, which is why many embrace continuous improvement in their theories of change. And it is true that some have become seemingly complacent or unwilling to sanction members that violate rules. That is why watchdogs such as Greenpeace are so important. Forest illegally cleared for oil palm in Riau Province. Photo by Rhett A Butler However, the criticism of certification’s apparent inability to put an end to deforestation and exploitation raises three fundamental questions: 1. Are certification schemes able to stop deforestation and exploitation? Looking at palm oil, the short answer is: Perhaps. The success of an eco-label is often measured by its share of the global market. The RSPO certification scheme has a market share of 19% of global palm oil production. However, both certified production volumes and production area of RSPO certified operations seem to be leveling off. Explanations for this trend could be that palm oil producers are discouraged by the stagnating demand for certified palm oil or by the more demanding sustainability requirements of the 2018 Principles and Criteria. Contrast this with POIG, which Greenpeace&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/despite-flaws-commodity-eco-labels-contribute-to-sustainability-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/despite-flaws-commodity-eco-labels-contribute-to-sustainability-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-241614</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report: Soy, cattle industries trail palm oil, timber on deforestation risk</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/report-soy-cattle-industries-trail-palm-oil-timber-on-deforestation-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/report-soy-cattle-industries-trail-palm-oil-timber-on-deforestation-risk/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Nov 2020 11:17:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Ashoka]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/12/19173204/brazil_1261-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=236483</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Commodities]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Certification, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Deforestation, Forests, Industrial Agriculture, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Soy, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Corporations that trade in four forest-risk commodities are failing to do enough to prevent deforestation in their supply chains, according to new analysis by the Climate Disclosure Project (CDP), an NGO that works with businesses and governments to track their environmental impacts. The paper points an accusing finger at the cattle and soy industries in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Corporations that trade in four forest-risk commodities are failing to do enough to prevent deforestation in their supply chains, according to new analysis by the Climate Disclosure Project (CDP), an NGO that works with businesses and governments to track their environmental impacts. The paper points an accusing finger at the cattle and soy industries in particular, saying that their practices lag far behind those of companies that trade in other commodities. “The focus on deforestation today has been on timber and palm oil despite the fact that cattle has been one of its major drivers between 2005 and 2015,” said Ling Sin Fai Lam, lead analyst at CDP and one of the authors of the report. According to the report, companies operating in the agriculture and logging industries drive more than 80% of global deforestation, with soy, palm oil, cattle, and timber being largely to blame. Lam says that a combination of consumer pressure and certification schemes have forced changes in the timber and palm oil sectors, while soy and cattle companies continue to operate with few checks and balances despite their heavy footprint in the Amazon and other forest regions. “A lot of these companies have no visibility on where the cow might have been reared or if at some point in its life cycle it may have grazed on deforested land,” Lam told Mongabay. “And our analysis shows that all the cattle and soy companies in our sample continue to operate in the Amazon, which has the highest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/report-soy-cattle-industries-trail-palm-oil-timber-on-deforestation-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/report-soy-cattle-industries-trail-palm-oil-timber-on-deforestation-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-236483</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Qualified success: What’s next for Peru’s Operation Mercury?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/qualified-success-whats-next-for-perus-operation-mercury/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/qualified-success-whats-next-for-perus-operation-mercury/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Mar 2020 10:05:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/03/19084251/peru_166225-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=228039</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, data, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Industry, Land Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Mining, National Parks, Natural Resources, Parks, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Resource Conflict, Resource Curse, Satellite Imagery, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than a decade of illegal gold mining around the upstart town of La Pampa in the Peruvian Amazon has tainted local water supplies, razed forests adjacent to a world-class wildlife preserve and fostered illegal child labor and human trafficking. The region has become &#8220;what is essentially the poster child for environmental destruction,&#8221; said Luis [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than a decade of illegal gold mining around the upstart town of La Pampa in the Peruvian Amazon has tainted local water supplies, razed forests adjacent to a world-class wildlife preserve and fostered illegal child labor and human trafficking. The region has become &#8220;what is essentially the poster child for environmental destruction,&#8221; said Luis Fernandez, a researcher with decades of experience researching the impacts of gold mining in the tropics. But when Peru launched Operation Mercury in February 2019, the tangible effects were immediate and considerable. According to the NGO Amazon Conservation’s Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP), the military- and police-led Operation Mercury drove down deforestation by 92% in the area bounded by the Malinowski River, the edge of Tambopata National Reserve and the Interoceanic Highway. However, concern arose that the operation would just force miners to set up shop elsewhere, said Fernandez, also executive director of the Center for Amazonian Scientific Innovation at Wake Forest University. What’s more, it&#8217;s unclear whether miners will resume their activities if the police and the military back off their campaign. The goal of Operation Mercury 2019, which began on Feb. 19, 2019, is to eradicate all illegal activity in La Pampa, located in the buffer zone of Tambopata. Nevertheless, it has also put defenders at further risk, since the miners hold them responsible for the arrival of the authorities. Image by Vanessa Romo/Mongabay Latam. &#8220;Going in with an iron fist in La Pampa, that stops the problem for the time&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/qualified-success-whats-next-for-perus-operation-mercury/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/qualified-success-whats-next-for-perus-operation-mercury/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-228039</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tropical forests&#8217; lost decade: the 2010s</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/tropical-forests-lost-decade-the-2010s/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/tropical-forests-lost-decade-the-2010s/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Dec 2019 15:48:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/12/16232627/kaltim_190887_COVER-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=225375</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Bolivia, Brazil, Central Africa, Colombia, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Indonesia, Latin America, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Peru, South America, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Avoided Deforestation, Cattle, Certification, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystem Services, Endangered Environmentalists, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Land Rights, Old Growth Forests, Palm Oil, Parks, Payments For Ecosystem Services, Plantations, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Pulp And Paper, Rainforests, Ranching, Redd, Soy, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, and Year-end review]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The 2010s opened as a moment of optimism for tropical forests. Widely available satellite imagery via platforms like Google Earth brought new levels of accountability which, for the first time, meant the world couldn&#8217;t use ignorance as an excuse for not addressing the destruction of tropical forests. Deforestation in Earth&#8217;s largest rainforest — the Brazilian [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The 2010s opened as a moment of optimism for tropical forests. Widely available satellite imagery via platforms like Google Earth brought new levels of accountability which, for the first time, meant the world couldn&#8217;t use ignorance as an excuse for not addressing the destruction of tropical forests. Deforestation in Earth&#8217;s largest rainforest — the Brazilian Amazon — was in the midst of a historic plunge, while governments around the world were pledging billions of dollars in new money toward a mechanism to compensate tropical countries for protecting their forests. Several countries closed out the decade with important new conservation initiatives, while activists, empowered with a new set of tools, pushed the private sector to begin adopting a new type of sustainability commitment: the zero deforestation policy for commodity production and sourcing. Some of the largest consumer-facing companies adopted these forest-friendly policies with near-term implementation targets. The world looked like it was on track to significantly reduce tropical deforestation by 2020. By the end of the 2019, however, it was clear that progress on protecting tropical forests stalled in the 2010s. On the climate front, a decade of science has mostly confirmed what we already knew 10 years ago: Tropical forests are deeply threatened by the current pace of climate change. Combined with ongoing deforestation, degradation, and fragmentation, the outlook for some of the planet&#8217;s largest forests, from the Amazon to Indonesia, is increasingly bleak. The 2010s were also marked by mixed progress for tropical forest conservation. Advances in remote sensing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/tropical-forests-lost-decade-the-2010s/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/tropical-forests-lost-decade-the-2010s/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-225375</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In surprise move, Brazil has removed restrictions on Amazon sugarcane production</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/in-a-surprise-move-even-to-the-sugarcane-industry-president-bolsonaro-has-removed-restrictions-on-sugarcane-production-in-the-brazilian-amazon-experts-expect-land-speculators-to-benefit/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/in-a-surprise-move-even-to-the-sugarcane-industry-president-bolsonaro-has-removed-restrictions-on-sugarcane-production-in-the-brazilian-amazon-experts-expect-land-speculators-to-benefit/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Nov 2019 12:46:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naira Hofmeister]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/11/13123443/2396791310_7455b24a21_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=224390</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation and Global Commodities]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Cerrado, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Clean Energy, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Ethanol, Forest Destruction, Forests, International Trade, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Sugar, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a surprise move even to the sugarcane industry, the president has removed restrictions on Amazon sugarcane production; land speculators could benefit.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A decree issued by President Jair Bolsonaro that would allow the cultivation of sugarcane in the Amazon — where it currently isn&#8217;t allowed —  has surprised even the local sugarcane industry, which has previously rejected the notion as unfeasible, unnecessary, and a minefield of reputational risk. The decree was published in the government&#8217;s official gazette on Nov. 5. Since then, no representatives from UNICA, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association, have commented on the change. In its only statement on the matter, published on its website, UNICA described the zoning regulation repealed by Bolsonaro’s decree as an “instrument of the past.” But it also emphasized that under the RenovaBio bioethanol initiative, Brazil&#8217;s national biofuels policy that comes into force in 2020, that the industry had “decided that it would be [committed to a] zero … deforestation policy.” The industries most closely associated with deforestation in the Amazon are cattle ranching and soy cultivation. The sugarcane industry, which has made Brazil the world’s No. 2 producer of bioethanol fuel after the United States, has avoided that association for several reasons. The first is that the crop is simply unsuited for that particular environment; heat or drought stress causes the plant to stop growing. The industry has also seen no justification for expanding into protected areas when available land is plentiful elsewhere. The newly repealed Sugarcane Agroecological Zoning regulation provided for the possibility of planting sugarcane on approximately 60 million hectares (150 million acres) outside forest areas, in degraded or pasture areas, without&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/in-a-surprise-move-even-to-the-sugarcane-industry-president-bolsonaro-has-removed-restrictions-on-sugarcane-production-in-the-brazilian-amazon-experts-expect-land-speculators-to-benefit/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/in-a-surprise-move-even-to-the-sugarcane-industry-president-bolsonaro-has-removed-restrictions-on-sugarcane-production-in-the-brazilian-amazon-experts-expect-land-speculators-to-benefit/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-224390</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How rubber farmers can reduce risk and help the environment (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/how-rubber-farmers-can-reduce-risk-and-help-the-environment-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/how-rubber-farmers-can-reduce-risk-and-help-the-environment-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Sep 2019 12:53:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Arlene Chang]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/09/06120923/rubber-farmer_1210px-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=222208</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Certification, Commentary, Commodity Roundtables, Environment, Research, and Rubber]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Since as far back as the early 1990s, Thailand has been the world’s largest exporter of natural rubber, responsible for as much as 35.1 percent of rubber exports in 2016. That year, Thailand globally sold more than 3,610 metric tons of natural rubber with an export value of $4.9 billion — its top export partners [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Since as far back as the early 1990s, Thailand has been the world’s largest exporter of natural rubber, responsible for as much as 35.1 percent of rubber exports in 2016. That year, Thailand globally sold more than 3,610 metric tons of natural rubber with an export value of $4.9 billion — its top export partners being China, United States, Japan and Malaysia. However, the country’s rubber producers have not had it all smooth sailing and, as the largest producer of the commodity, this has had a severe effect on Thailand’s rubber industry and its farmers. While the export quantity has mostly stayed in a constant range between 3,150 and 3,740 metric tons, the export value had dipped significantly from its 2011 heyday. In 2011, 3,330 metric tons of natural rubber was valued at $14.66 billion. Compare this to 2016 when 3,610 metric tons was valued at just $4.92 billion — a plunge of almost 70 percent. This price decline has resulted from a sharp increase in global supply and the changing dynamic of the global economy. Since the cost of natural rubber, unlike synthetic rubber, is determined by markets and mostly driven by commodity exchanges like that of Singapore, Tokyo, and Shanghai, Thailand’s rubber farmers — mostly made up of small landowners who hold 95 percent of the planting area — don’t have safeguards against the seesawing econometrics of the business. They have also traditionally cultivated rubber as a monoculture — a practice often criticized for its environmental effects on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/how-rubber-farmers-can-reduce-risk-and-help-the-environment-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-222208</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can jurisdictional certification curb palm oil deforestation in Indonesia? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/can-jurisdictional-certification-curb-palm-oil-deforestation-in-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/can-jurisdictional-certification-curb-palm-oil-deforestation-in-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2019 16:31:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dan NepstadJohn WattsSilvia Irawan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/07/10161058/indonesia_20151829-2001-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=220298</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Commentary, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Jurisdictional Approaches, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Research, Saving Rainforests, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[2018-67916]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The fall of the Suharto regime and the beginning of the democratic or reformasi era in Indonesia coincided with a massive surge in deforestation. One of the central reasons for this surge was the decentralization of authority for land and forest management to the district level in the early 2000s. Local governments were both ill-prepared [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The fall of the Suharto regime and the beginning of the democratic or reformasi era in Indonesia coincided with a massive surge in deforestation. One of the central reasons for this surge was the decentralization of authority for land and forest management to the district level in the early 2000s. Local governments were both ill-prepared and unequipped to deal with this sudden delegation of responsibility. Plantation companies, eager to expand their holdings, were able to benefit from this new political environment, which consequently led to the massive expansion of plantation areas. The environmental and social consequences of this mostly unmanaged and unplanned expansion were extensive, and the effects of this era continue until today. The rapid expansion of oil palm plantations during this era cemented the negative impression of oil palm in the minds of activists, non-government organizations and consumers around the world. Oil palm, in itself, is neither good nor bad. As one of the most efficient oil crops in the world, its derivatives are used in a seemingly endless array of products, from cooking oils to cosmetics and confectionary, to biofuel. Consequently, it is the best placed crop to meet the increasing global demand for consumer goods while minimizing the expansion into forest areas. Despite these advantages, it remains one of the most maligned crops in existence today. Although the negative social and environmental effects of oil palm expansion reflect a failure of decentralized governance, local governments have not yet been a major part of the efforts to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/can-jurisdictional-certification-curb-palm-oil-deforestation-in-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-220298</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chinese banks risk supporting soy-related deforestation, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/chinese-banks-risk-supporting-soy-related-deforestation-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/chinese-banks-risk-supporting-soy-related-deforestation-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 May 2019 22:43:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/05/30050224/brasil_087.1b92d2338ae344f9a0654d0e2be331da-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=219048</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Agribusiness]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Central America, China, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Agriculture, Avoided Deforestation, Carbon Emissions, Cattle, Certification, Climate Change, climate finance, Climate Science, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Deforestation, Ecology, Economics, Environment, Finance, Forest Carbon, Forestry, Forests, Green, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Impact Of Climate Change, Mitigation, NGOs, Palm Oil, Politics, Pollution, Primary Forests, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Soy, Supply Chain, Threats To Rainforests, Trees, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The homegrown banks that back the flood of soy into China have with little knowledge of the deforestation their funding is potentially supporting, according to the nonprofit CDP, an international platform for the disclosure of environmental risks. As negotiations to end a trade war between China and the U.S. remain scuttled, the report raises the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The homegrown banks that back the flood of soy into China have with little knowledge of the deforestation their funding is potentially supporting, according to the nonprofit CDP, an international platform for the disclosure of environmental risks. As negotiations to end a trade war between China and the U.S. remain scuttled, the report raises the concern that China may increasingly turn to Latin America, and Brazil in particular, where vast tracts of the Amazon have been razed to make way for soy plantations. “Chinese companies and financial institutions operating within the soy sector demonstrate extremely limited awareness and action to mitigate forests-related risks with potentially grave consequences for forests,” Morgan Gillespy, the director of forests at CDP, said in an email to Mongabay. Soy fields meeting riparian forest in Brazil. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. In a report published May 31, CDP traces the funding to some 30 Chinese soy-related companies, ranging from importers to animal feed manufacturers to livestock breeders. The organization’s analysis of the supply chain to China, which imports nearly two-thirds of the soy on the international market, revealed that more than 40 percent of loans to these companies, worth $2.1 billion, bear the risk that they may have financed deforestation. More than $7 billion of bonds and shares to underwrite these companies also carry similar risk. What’s more, Gillespy said, “These figures are only set to grow with China’s increasing reliance on soy imported from Brazil.” According to CDP’s research, in 2017, Brazilian soy exported to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/chinese-banks-risk-supporting-soy-related-deforestation-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-219048</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The biggest rainforest news stories in 2018</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/the-biggest-rainforest-news-stories-in-2018/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/the-biggest-rainforest-news-stories-in-2018/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2018 20:48:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/12/29232144/sarawak_2015539-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=214091</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Australia, Bangladesh, Borneo, Brazil, California, Colombia, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Ecuador, Honduras, Indonesia, Kenya, Latin America, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Myanmar, New Guinea, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Republic of Congo, South America, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Avoided Deforestation, Biodiversity, Biofuels, Cacao, carbon, Certification, climate finance, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Dams, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Drought, Ecosystem Services, Energy, Environment, Fires, Forestry, Forests, Fossil Fuels, Gold Mining, Green, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Jurisdictional Approaches, Land Rights, Logging, Mining, Orangutans, Palm Oil, Payments For Ecosystem Services, Peatlands, Plantations, Politics, Protected Areas, Pulp And Paper, Rainforests, Redd, Rubber, Sustainable Forest Management, Technology, Threats To Rainforests, timber trade, Tropical Forests, Wildtech, Year-end review, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[2018 was a difficult year for the world&#8217;s tropical rainforests. Below are of some of the biggest rainforest storylines for the year, but we couldn&#8217;t cover everything, so if there are important things missing, feel free to add them via the comment function at the bottom. The outlook for 2019 will be covered in an [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[2018 was a difficult year for the world&#8217;s tropical rainforests. Below are of some of the biggest rainforest storylines for the year, but we couldn&#8217;t cover everything, so if there are important things missing, feel free to add them via the comment function at the bottom. The outlook for 2019 will be covered in an upcoming post: Rainforest storylines to watch in 2019 [1/2/19]. Summary With rising deforestation and/or the election of anti-environmental administrations, things went generally downhill for rainforests in Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Madagascar. Peru had a mixed year for rainforests, declaring a huge new national park, but also having some conservation setbacks. Indonesia had some bright spots between last year&#8217;s decline in deforestation, a three-year renewal &#8212; and strengthening &#8212; of a palm oil moratorium, and the release of One Map. Malaysia&#8216;s rainforests did even better with new conservation areas and a log export ban in Sabah and a conservation commitment from Sarawak (albeit unlikely to be met). But Colombia led major rainforest countries in terms of positive developments, with outgoing president Juan Manuel Santos working to leave a conservation legacy. Outside the tropics, Trump Administration undermined rainforest conservation between his trade war with China that boosted the profitability of deforestation for commodity production in the Amazon; his attacks on science, scientific institutions, and intergovernmental bodies; and his tacit approval of regimes that murder journalists, human rights advocates, and environmental defenders. Europe was more supportive of rainforest conservation with various initiatives to eliminate or&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/the-biggest-rainforest-news-stories-in-2018/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/the-biggest-rainforest-news-stories-in-2018/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-214091</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>RSPO adopts total ban on deforestation under sweeping new standards</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/rspo-adopts-total-ban-on-deforestation-under-sweeping-new-standards/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/rspo-adopts-total-ban-on-deforestation-under-sweeping-new-standards/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Nov 2018 12:30:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/29093940/zami16-IMG_20180817_165052_HDR-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=212326</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Malaysia, Sabah, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Certification, Climate Change, Commodity Roundtables, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Fires, Forests, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Rainforests, Sustainability, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[2017-65500]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The world’s leading certification body for ethically sourced palm oil has ordered a total ban on deforestation by its members, amid growing pressure from both companies and consumers. Members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) voted overwhelmingly in favor of the ban at the group’s annual general assembly in Kota Kinabalu, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The world’s leading certification body for ethically sourced palm oil has ordered a total ban on deforestation by its members, amid growing pressure from both companies and consumers. Members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) voted overwhelmingly in favor of the ban at the group’s annual general assembly in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, on Nov. 15. The ban is now part of the RSPO’s new core standards, the Principles and Criteria (P&amp;C), which member companies must comply with for their product to be certified “sustainable.” While the RSPO’s previous standards prohibited the clearing of primary, or virgin, forest to make way for palm plantations, they did allow for the cutting of secondary forests and peat forests with a peat layer less than 3 meters (10 feet) deep. While not as thick and lush as primary forests, secondary forests are still vital for wildlife, carbon storage, and the livelihoods of local and indigenous communities. Peatlands, meanwhile, are rich in carbon, and their destruction by palm oil companies in Indonesia, the world’s top producer of the commodity, releases significant quantities of greenhouse gases. Annual greenhouse gas emissions from converting a single hectare (2.5 acres) of peatland to oil palm plantation equal those from driving six times around the world in the average passenger vehicle. The RSPO’s new standards mean palm oil growers must ensure future land clearing doesn’t cause deforestation or damage areas especially rich in carbon, including peatlands and high carbon stock (HCS) forests. This means no more&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/rspo-adopts-total-ban-on-deforestation-under-sweeping-new-standards/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/rspo-adopts-total-ban-on-deforestation-under-sweeping-new-standards/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-212326</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nestlé suspended from RSPO for failing to pay dues, submit progress reports</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/nestle-suspended-from-rspo-for-failing-to-pay-dues-submit-progress-reports/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/nestle-suspended-from-rspo-for-failing-to-pay-dues-submit-progress-reports/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jul 2018 13:53:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Daniel Pye]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/07/01195456/indonesia_20150580-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=208232</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commodity Roundtables, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Environment, and Palm Oil]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[2017-65500]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Food and drinks giant Nestlé was suspended from the world’s largest association for ethical palm oil production late last month and can no longer use the group’s stamp of approval to claim its products are sustainable. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has come under frequent criticism for giving its members who violate sustainability [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Food and drinks giant Nestlé was suspended from the world’s largest association for ethical palm oil production late last month and can no longer use the group’s stamp of approval to claim its products are sustainable. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has come under frequent criticism for giving its members who violate sustainability rules a pass, but suspended Nestlé for “breaches of the RSPO statues and code of conduct for members.” The RSPO was established by environmental groups and industry representatives in 2004 in an attempt to push back against destructive practices by oil palm growers, such as deforestation and land grabbing. But some environmental groups, such as Greenpeace, say the suspension of Nestlé does little to allay wider concerns in the sector. “You&#8217;d expect us to support action like this. but you have to put it in context,” said Sol Gosetti, a Greenpeace spokesperson. “RSPO has repeatedly ignored deforestation and human rights abuses by its members, including sustained destruction of primary forest.” “In the past year alone, Greenpeace has raised at least five cases with RSPO and got nowhere. Then suddenly they decide to suspend Nestlé for procedural violations. Obviously, we want RSPO to enforce its rules but that has to start with growers that destroy forests and abuse people.” A Bornean orangutan in Indonesia. The critically endangered species is threatened by the unbridled expansion of oil palm plantations into their forest homes. Image by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay. The RSPO said Nestlé’s suspension was due&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/nestle-suspended-from-rspo-for-failing-to-pay-dues-submit-progress-reports/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/nestle-suspended-from-rspo-for-failing-to-pay-dues-submit-progress-reports/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-208232</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tropical deforestation: the need for a strategy adjustment (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/tropical-deforestation-the-need-for-a-strategy-adjustment-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/tropical-deforestation-the-need-for-a-strategy-adjustment-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Mar 2018 12:49:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dan Nepstad]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/03/08125358/rainforest_sabah_1454_nice-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=204468</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Borneo, Brazil, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Cattle, climate finance, Commentary, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Forest Carbon, Mitigation, Rainforests, Ranching, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Soy, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[We are in the midst of the greatest global effort in history to end tropical deforestation, driven largely by the importance of tropical forests for tackling climate change. An exciting new dimension of this effort is the announcement by hundreds of businesses that they intend to shift to “zero deforestation” sourcing of the commodities they [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[We are in the midst of the greatest global effort in history to end tropical deforestation, driven largely by the importance of tropical forests for tackling climate change. An exciting new dimension of this effort is the announcement by hundreds of businesses that they intend to shift to “zero deforestation” sourcing of the commodities they import from the tropics. Unfortunately, progress has not been as rapid as many had hoped; the chances of avoiding catastrophic climate change are smaller as a result. Winning the battle, losing the war? Supply chain strategies are working, slowing deforestation from soy bean and palm oil expansion. Regional deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon and Indonesia are not going down. The Indonesia peak in deforestation in 2015 includes some forest loss caused by fire. &nbsp; In one respect, we are winning battles but losing the war. In the two mega-deforestation countries, Indonesia and Brazil, the forest loss associated with the expansion of palm oil and soybean production has declined. Regional rates of forest loss are flat or climbing (Figure 1), however. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon region in 2017 was 64% lower than its average from 1996 to 2005, but reached its lowest level in 2012 and has climbed steadily since then. In Indonesia, there is not yet a downward trend in national deforestation or deforestation in Kalimantan. Strategy adjustments are urgently needed, as we concluded previously. The goal of ending and reversing tropical deforestation must be woven into a broader agenda and narrative that can&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/tropical-deforestation-the-need-for-a-strategy-adjustment-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/tropical-deforestation-the-need-for-a-strategy-adjustment-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-204468</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rainforests: the year in review 2017</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/rainforests-the-year-in-review-2017/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/rainforests-the-year-in-review-2017/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jan 2018 11:30:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/04111306/indonesia_sulawesi_171067-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=202601</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Australia, Borneo, Brazil, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Global, Indonesia, Latin America, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Guinea, Nigeria, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, South America, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Carbon Emissions, Cattle, Commodity Roundtables, Community Forests, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Dams, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Land Rights, Logging, Mining, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Technology, Tropical Forests, Wildtech, Year-end review, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Between America&#8217;s abandonment of leadership on conservation and environmental policy, Brazil&#8217;s backtracking on forest conservation, massive forest fires worldwide, and the revelation of a sharp increase in global forest loss in 2016, 2017 was a rough year for tropical rainforests. Still, there were bright spots, including the establishment of new protected areas, better forest monitoring [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Between America&#8217;s abandonment of leadership on conservation and environmental policy, Brazil&#8217;s backtracking on forest conservation, massive forest fires worldwide, and the revelation of a sharp increase in global forest loss in 2016, 2017 was a rough year for tropical rainforests. Still, there were bright spots, including the establishment of new protected areas, better forest monitoring and research, and continued progress in recognizing the critical role local and indigenous communities play in forest conservation. The following is a short review of some of the more notable developments and trends for tropical forests in 2017. This review is not exhaustive, so feel free to add developments we missed via the comment function at the bottom. Reviews from past years: 2018 [Update 12/30/18] | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2009 Forest loss As reported in Mongabay&#8217;s last year-end review, there wasn&#8217;t a major update on global forest loss in 2016. In 2017 however, we got updates for both 2015 and 2016, and the numbers weren&#8217;t pretty: last year global forest loss hit the highest level on record (the dataset goes back to 2000). While much of that &#8220;loss&#8221; — which includes all tree cover loss, ranging from deforestation to harvesting of plantations to instances where blocks of forests have lost all their leaves from, for example, fire and beetle infestation — occurred outside the tropics, Brazil, Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malaysia, Bolivia and Laos made the top 10 list for 2016 in terms&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/rainforests-the-year-in-review-2017/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/rainforests-the-year-in-review-2017/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-202601</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Jurisdictional certification approach aims to strengthen protections against deforestation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/04/jurisdictional-certification-approach-aims-to-strengthen-protections-against-deforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/04/jurisdictional-certification-approach-aims-to-strengthen-protections-against-deforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Apr 2017 08:56:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tara MacIsaac]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/03/30123511/Canicollos-768x462.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=194473</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, carbon, Certification, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Farming, Forests, Jurisdictional Approaches, Palm Oil, Payments For Ecosystem Services, Rainforests, Redd, and Soy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Many companies that deal in commodities linked to heavy tropical deforestation, such as soy or timber, have made commitments to significantly reduce or end deforestation in their supply chains by 2020. About 82 percent of such companies rely on deforestation-free certification to ensure products meet their standards, according to CDP, a London-based NGO formerly known [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Many companies that deal in commodities linked to heavy tropical deforestation, such as soy or timber, have made commitments to significantly reduce or end deforestation in their supply chains by 2020. About 82 percent of such companies rely on deforestation-free certification to ensure products meet their standards, according to CDP, a London-based NGO formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project. But traditional certification methods have shortcomings. Usually, certifying bodies — like the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) or Bonsucro, which certifies sugarcane — deal individually with mills or plantations. The onus is on each farmer or each company to invest in meeting the standards for certification. This is especially difficult for small-scale farmers. The jurisdictional approach streamlines some of the processes with all stakeholders involved, from local governments to large mill owners to small-scale farmers. In general, the jurisdictional approach is much broader than jurisdictional certification. For example, the government and larger companies pay for mapping and monitoring. This ensures that farms are not in protected areas and that farmers are not cutting down trees to expand their fields. It also takes the financial burden off smallholders to meet this requirement for certification. The government also helps with making permitting less costly and time-consuming. A few regions have led the way in the jurisdictional approach, including the Brazilian state of Acre, which began using it almost 20 years ago. As a result, from 2002 to 2010, Acre reduced deforestation by 60 percent while still increasing its real gross domestic product&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/04/jurisdictional-certification-approach-aims-to-strengthen-protections-against-deforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/04/jurisdictional-certification-approach-aims-to-strengthen-protections-against-deforestation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-194473</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Almost 1M hectares &#8216;missing&#8217; from land holdings of major palm oil companies</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/almost-1m-hectares-missing-from-land-holdings-of-major-palm-oil-companies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/almost-1m-hectares-missing-from-land-holdings-of-major-palm-oil-companies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Mar 2017 18:19:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Benji Jones]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/03/30123522/Female-Sumatran-Tiger-CZSL-765x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=194455</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Global, and Indonesia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Commodity Roundtables, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Loss, Forests, Habitat Loss, Industrial Agriculture, Infrastructure, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Sustainability, Transparency, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nearly a million hectares are “missing” from landbanks of the world’s top palm oil producers, a new report shows. While most companies disclose the area of planted land they manage, many fail to reveal the size, location, and use of many other areas in their portfolio, defying corporate accountability and concealing potential social and environmental [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nearly a million hectares are “missing” from landbanks of the world’s top palm oil producers, a new report shows. While most companies disclose the area of planted land they manage, many fail to reveal the size, location, and use of many other areas in their portfolio, defying corporate accountability and concealing potential social and environmental risks. “This misreporting potentially excludes vast areas of land at environmental and social risk – such as undeveloped land that, if converted into plantations in the future, could be at risk of environmental damage, including deforestation,” Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the non-profit that produced the report, wrote in a press release. Where information is disclosed by palm oil companies, ZSL found it’s often inconsistently reported, making it difficult for investors and certification bodies to hold them accountable. “It’s a murky world that we’re finding,” Izabela Delabre of ZSL’s Sustainable Palm Oil Transparency Toolkit (SPOTT), told Mongabay. “In one place the companies are saying one thing and in another place they’re saying something else.” The footprint of the palm oil industry is large in many dimensions, research has shown. Plantations of palm oil trees, the fruit of which is processed to make products ranging from peanut butter to shampoo, are not only expansive – covering up to 27 million hectares globally, according to ZSL – but are also known to supplant rainforests. Indeed, palm oil is one of the leading drivers of tropical deforestation. Cross-section of an oil palm fruit. Photo by Rhett A Butler&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/almost-1m-hectares-missing-from-land-holdings-of-major-palm-oil-companies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/almost-1m-hectares-missing-from-land-holdings-of-major-palm-oil-companies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-194455</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cattle industry lags behind in addressing impact on deforestation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/cattle-industry-lags-behind-in-addressing-impact-on-deforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/cattle-industry-lags-behind-in-addressing-impact-on-deforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Mar 2017 07:54:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tara MacIsaac]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/03/30124248/Cattle2_edit-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=193815</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cattle, Commodity Roundtables, Deforestation, Forests, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In almost every aisle of the grocery store, you can find products from the palm oil, soy, wood, and cattle industries. Together, these industries are responsible for more than a third of tropical deforestation annually, according to the non-profit organization Forest Trends. While strides have been made by all four industries toward establishing deforestation-free commodity [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In almost every aisle of the grocery store, you can find products from the palm oil, soy, wood, and cattle industries. Together, these industries are responsible for more than a third of tropical deforestation annually, according to the non-profit organization Forest Trends. While strides have been made by all four industries toward establishing deforestation-free commodity supply chains, the cattle industry has lagged behind the others. In a 2016 survey of more than 550 major companies with ties to these commodities, Forest Trends found that 61 percent of companies active in palm oil made commitments to cleaning up their chains, compared to only 15 percent of those active in the cattle industry. Yet cattle products are responsible for at least ten percent more deforestation than palm. Beef cattle are the largest commodity driver of deforestation globally, according to the think tank Global Canopy Programme (GCP) in its report “Sleeping Giants of Deforestation,” released in December 2016. GCP also highlighted the cattle industry’s inertia compared with other forest-linked industries. According to the report, the cattle industry remains the largest commodity driver of deforestation, but only about a quarter of companies that operate within the cattle product supply chain have policies in place regarding environmental impacts. The Union of Concerned Scientists has also pointed to the massive deforestation caused by cattle beef &#8211; more than twice as much as the other major industries of soybeans, palm oil, and wood products. According to some NGOs and industry players, this inertia may be connected to the complexity of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/cattle-industry-lags-behind-in-addressing-impact-on-deforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/cattle-industry-lags-behind-in-addressing-impact-on-deforestation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-193815</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Will there really be enough sustainable palm oil for the whole market?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/02/will-there-really-be-enough-sustainable-palm-oil-for-the-whole-market/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/02/will-there-really-be-enough-sustainable-palm-oil-for-the-whole-market/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Feb 2017 03:05:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tara MacIsaac]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/04/01215118/FEATURED-Orangutan-RAB-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=192986</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, Indonesia, and Malaysia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Commodity Roundtables, Deforestation, Economics, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Sustainability, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the summer of 2016, two of the world&#8217;s largest producers of palm oil, which is found in everything from lipstick to margarine, lost the ability to market what they sold as certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, the world’s largest association for ethical production of the commodity. The companies had been responsible for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the summer of 2016, two of the world&#8217;s largest producers of palm oil, which is found in everything from lipstick to margarine, lost the ability to market what they sold as certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, the world’s largest association for ethical production of the commodity. The companies had been responsible for nearly a fifth of the global supply of RSPO-certified palm oil, which is increasingly sought after as corporate palm oil users commit to purge their operations of environmental destruction and human rights abuses, ills often associated with the industry. The subsequent strain on supply sent prices for the premium stuff soaring. A report (pdf) released in December by London-based nonprofit CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, found that last summer’s spike in prices could be just a taste of what’s to come. CDP surveyed 187 of the world’s largest and most impactful companies in relation to deforestation risk. Although 75 percent of companies reporting on palm oil said they have identified sufficient sources of sustainable oil for future operational needs, CDP concluded that “this confidence may be misplaced.” “It is not clear, at this point, that sufficient supplies of sustainable commodities will be available to meet all of these targets, raising risks that some companies will be in breach of their commitments, or will otherwise face spiralling costs as demand races ahead of supply,” the report said.   As the rapid expansion of oil palm plantations in Southeast Asia and, increasingly, in Africa&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/02/will-there-really-be-enough-sustainable-palm-oil-for-the-whole-market/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/02/will-there-really-be-enough-sustainable-palm-oil-for-the-whole-market/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-192986</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The year in tropical rainforests: 2016</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/the-year-in-tropical-rainforests-2016/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/the-year-in-tropical-rainforests-2016/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2016 20:40:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/12/31204320/indonesia_1610231-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=192051</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Colombia, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Ecuador, Gabon, Global, Guyana, Indonesia, Latin America, Liberia, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Guinea, Nigeria, Peru, Republic of Congo, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Cattle, Certification, Coal, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Dams, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecology, Energy, Fires, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Hydroelectric Power, Indigenous Rights, Indonesia^s Forest Moratorium, Land Rights, Law Enforcement, Logging, Mining, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Remote Sensing, Rubber, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Soy, Traditional People, Wildtech, Year-end review, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Massive forest fires in the Congo and Amazon, surging deforestation in Brazil, and tentative steps toward reform in Indonesia and Myanmar: there were no shortage of major happenings in tropical forests around the world in 2016. Here&#8217;s a laundry list of some of the biggest rainforest stories from the past year. Please note that this [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Massive forest fires in the Congo and Amazon, surging deforestation in Brazil, and tentative steps toward reform in Indonesia and Myanmar: there were no shortage of major happenings in tropical forests around the world in 2016. Here&#8217;s a laundry list of some of the biggest rainforest stories from the past year. Please note that this post does not cover developments in sub-tropical, temperate, or boreal forests. Additionally, this list is by no means exhaustive, so feel free to highlight stories we missed via the comment section at the bottom of the post. Reviews from past years: 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2009 The big picture | Latin America | Africa | Asia | Commodities | Rights and governance | Conservation and ecology THE BIG PICTURE After 2015&#8217;s radical advancements in transparency around tropical forests between improved forest cover monitoring systems and corporate policies on commodity sourcing, progress slowed in 2016 with no major updates on tropical forest cover, resistance from several governments in releasing forest data, and some notable backtracking on zero deforestation commitments. But even without the pan-tropical updates, we know that deforestation increased sharply in the Brazilian Amazon, which accounts for world&#8217;s largest area of tropical forest. Whether that trend was mirrored in other countries is presently unclear, but low commodity prices may have bought some relief for forests. The global commodity price index in 2016 was the lowest since 2004 and several commodities often produced at the expense of rainforests — beef,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/the-year-in-tropical-rainforests-2016/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/the-year-in-tropical-rainforests-2016/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-192051</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Complaint against a palm oil company in Papua held in limbo by RSPO</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/complaint-against-a-palm-oil-company-in-papua-held-in-limbo-by-rspo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/complaint-against-a-palm-oil-company-in-papua-held-in-limbo-by-rspo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Nov 2016 05:10:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alice Cuddy]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/02/02182353/Aceh-oil-palm-canopy-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=190564</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Commodity Roundtables, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Deforestation, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Palm Oil, and Plantations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A complaint lodged earlier this year about alleged abuses by a palm oil company in Indonesian Papua has raised questions over the credibility of the industry’s largest certification scheme in investigating member violations. In April, indigenous rights NGO Pusaka wrote to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) with detailed allegations that PT Nabire Baru [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A complaint lodged earlier this year about alleged abuses by a palm oil company in Indonesian Papua has raised questions over the credibility of the industry’s largest certification scheme in investigating member violations. In April, indigenous rights NGO Pusaka wrote to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) with detailed allegations that PT Nabire Baru — a subsidiary of Goodhope Asia, which is owned by Sri Lankan palm oil giant Carson Cumberbatch — had violated “both legal regulations and the customary law” of the Yerisiam Gua people, as well as the RSPO’s own principles and criteria, which ban unsustainable practices like the conversion of virgin rainforests and land grabbing that aren&#8217;t necessarily illegal in countries where palm oil is produced. Central to the complaint were claims that Nabire Baru took communal land belonging to the indigenous group in Papua’s Nabire district without a collective decisionmaking process. “The company only ever met and managed to gain the support of a small group of community members, causing disharmony to emerge within the Yerisiam indigenous community,” the letter states. Nabire Baru was also accused of using guards from the police special forces to intimidate the local community as it expanded its operations, destroying “ecologically important” and “sacred” sago forestland relied on by the Yerisiam people for food and trade. “The sago groves in question have existed naturally since ancient times, and are sacred sago groves which have provided food for the people of Sima village from generation to generation up to the present&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/complaint-against-a-palm-oil-company-in-papua-held-in-limbo-by-rspo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-190564</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>RSPO loses key backer in Australia: ‘We just can’t trust them anymore’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/rspo-loses-key-backer-in-australia-we-just-cant-trust-them-anymore/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/rspo-loses-key-backer-in-australia-we-just-cant-trust-them-anymore/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Oct 2016 10:26:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/04/01215118/FEATURED-Orangutan-RAB-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=190469</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Australia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Certification, Commodity Roundtables, Environment, Palm Oil, and Plantations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The cachet of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil has taken a hit with the withdrawal of support for the organization by an Australian watchdog that had pushed some of the country’s biggest firms into the RSPO’s fold. The group, Palm Oil Investigations (POI), had played a key role in pressuring companies like Snack Brands [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The cachet of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil has taken a hit with the withdrawal of support for the organization by an Australian watchdog that had pushed some of the country’s biggest firms into the RSPO’s fold. The group, Palm Oil Investigations (POI), had played a key role in pressuring companies like Snack Brands Australia and Arnott&#8217;s to join the RSPO and to only buy oil the roundtable had certified as ethically produced. The RSPO is a global organization whose members include firms up and down the palm oil supply chain as well as NGOs and banks. But in a statement posted to its website last month, POI announced it had lost faith in the roundtable’s ability to reign in an industry tainted by environmental destruction and human rights abuses. POI’s announcement follows the resignation from the RSPO in May by the PanEco Foundation, which is known for protecting orangutans in Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil producer. While PanEco had been an RSPO member, POI had simply promoted RSPO-certified palm oil to consumers. The watchdog has a massive Facebook following of nearly 200,000 people. “The whole RSPO system is broken,” POI founder Lorinda Jane told Mongabay. “We just can’t trust it anymore.” A worker on an oil palm plantation on Indonesia&#8217;s main western island of Sumatra. Photo by Rhett A. Butler RSPO-certified palm oil, known as CSPO, is supposed to be free of any link to land grabbing, labor abuses and the destruction of virgin forests and deep&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/rspo-loses-key-backer-in-australia-we-just-cant-trust-them-anymore/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-190469</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Voluntary certification standards have far to go, say experts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/09/voluntary-certification-standards-have-far-to-go-say-experts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/09/voluntary-certification-standards-have-far-to-go-say-experts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Sep 2016 07:41:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fidelis E. Satriastanti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/09/01190744/Tambopata_1028_4256-751x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=189471</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Certification, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Rainforests, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Forest Management, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An expert assessment of a globally popular alternative to regulation &#8211; voluntary certification standards systems &#8211; has found that results are not always effective. Of the increasing number of voluntary certification standards (VCS) for materials in forestry, palm oil, and fisheries, many are proving ineffective at achieving comprehensive protection and conservation of biodiversity. Scientists with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An expert assessment of a globally popular alternative to regulation &#8211; voluntary certification standards systems &#8211; has found that results are not always effective. Of the increasing number of voluntary certification standards (VCS) for materials in forestry, palm oil, and fisheries, many are proving ineffective at achieving comprehensive protection and conservation of biodiversity. Scientists with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) explored why the effectiveness of VCS systems are getting such mixed reviews. In a collected publication of 10 peer-reviewed papers, “Policy Matters: Certification and biodiversity – How voluntary certification standards impact biodiversity and human livelihoods”, the scientists investigated the impact of VCS in protecting biodiversity and people dependent on nature. Compiled from authors with expertise in the certification field, Policy Matters was released on Sept. 4 during the IUCN World Conservation Congress. The congress is held once every four years. “After decades of developing certification schemes to protect the environment and ensure better conditions for producers, these standards still lack a comprehensive framework that takes account of biodiversity and the cultural diversity of the people who most depend on these resources,” said Diana Shand, co-coordinator of the Policy Matters editorial team in a statement. Shand also chairs the IUCN’s Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP)’s Theme on Social and Accountability of the Private Sector. The study was led by Pavel Castka, a CEESP member from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and Danna Leaman, a member of the Plant Conservation Sub-Committee of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/09/voluntary-certification-standards-have-far-to-go-say-experts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-189471</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>$90M to decouple food production from negative environmental impacts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/decoupling-food-production-from-negative-environmental-impacts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/decoupling-food-production-from-negative-environmental-impacts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Mar 2016 16:06:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/03/01220321/marine_0289-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=185281</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Drivers Of Deforestation, and Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Just days after pledging $100 million over five years to support efforts to protect the Amazon, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has announced $90 million in grants to improve the sustainability of food production. The new funds will go into three of the philanthropy’s programs: Forests and Agriculture Markets Initiative, Conservation and Financial Markets Initiative, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Just days after pledging $100 million over five years to support efforts to protect the Amazon, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has announced $90 million in grants to improve the sustainability of food production. The new funds will go into three of the philanthropy’s programs: Forests and Agriculture Markets Initiative, Conservation and Financial Markets Initiative, and Oceans and Seafood Markets Initiative which are working to decouple food production from negative environmental impacts, as the foundation puts it. “The anticipated global population growth and related demand for richer diets, including more protein, sugars and oils, will place unprecedented pressures on our natural resources,” said Aileen Lee, incoming chief program officer for environmental conservation at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, said in a press release. “Now more than ever, the need to produce food without causing severe environmental degradation is essential to maintaining the productive capacity and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystems.” “Forward-thinking businesses already recognize the imperative to change, and are taking steps toward cleaning their supply chains. To do this work with sufficient speed and at a meaningful scale, the core collaborations formed through these grants will build upon and amplify this momentum, to help to transform the markets for top traded commodities including beef, soy, tuna and shrimp — by changing the purchasing practices of major buyers, setting and strengthening standards for production, and shifting practices on the ground.” Mahi mahi. Photo by Rhett A. Butler While some environmentalists have balked at the notion of allocating resources toward the commodities&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/decoupling-food-production-from-negative-environmental-impacts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-185281</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia&#8217;s oil palm maps remain hidden from public view. Why?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/indonesias-oil-palm-maps-remain-hidden-from-public-view-why/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/indonesias-oil-palm-maps-remain-hidden-from-public-view-why/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Mar 2016 07:31:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/02/02182431/Oil-palm-riau-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Jokowi Commitments]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Riau, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Agriculture, Air Pollution, Certification, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fires, Forestry, Forests, Law Enforcement, Mapping, Monitoring, NGOs, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Politics, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Sustainable Development, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the summer of 2013, as Indonesian fires enveloped the region in a toxic haze, public ire settled on plantation firms as prime culprits in the disaster. Burning land to clear it, while cheap, was heavily restricted, yet satellite data was said to place half of the hotspots on company land. Greenpeace linked 39% to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the summer of 2013, as Indonesian fires enveloped the region in a toxic haze, public ire settled on plantation firms as prime culprits in the disaster. Burning land to clear it, while cheap, was heavily restricted, yet satellite data was said to place half of the hotspots on company land. Greenpeace linked 39% to the concessions of oil palm growers belonging to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a global association for ethical production of the commodity. In response to the accusations, the RSPO Secretariat defended its members, claiming most had done little to bring about the crisis and chiding Greenpeace for basing its analysis on “incorrect” concession maps. Only boundaries associated with the final stamp of approval a grower must obtain from the state in Indonesia, the HGU, could be considered valid, the roundtable contended. But the HGU was not a public document, and Greenpeace argued that it had no choice but to employ a smattering of non-HGU maps that had entered the public sphere through piecemeal means. “While the RSPO claims [the HGU] maps differ from Greenpeace&#8217;s, it has not yet publicly released these, which makes verification impossible,” Greenpeace campaigner Bustar Maitar said at the time. “It would be in the interests of the industry and the people affected by the forest fires that the RSPO be a model of transparency.” Those words did not fall on deaf ears. Later that year, at the RSPO’s 10th General Assembly, its members, which also include refiners, traders, banks and NGOs,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/indonesias-oil-palm-maps-remain-hidden-from-public-view-why/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-183057</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New Rainforest Alliance head: technology could improve commodity certification</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/new-rainforest-alliance-head-technology-could-improve-commodity-certification/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/new-rainforest-alliance-head-technology-could-improve-commodity-certification/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Mar 2016 15:27:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/03/01220624/costa_rica_siquirres_0578-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
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											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Certification, climate finance, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Interviews, Palm Oil, Rainforests, Redd, Reforestation, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In January, Rainforest Alliance, one of the world&#8217;s most influential environmental groups for its work in developing eco-certification as a mechanism for raising social and environmental standards for commodity production, announced it had hired Nigel Sizer as its new President. Sizer previously headed up World Resources Institute&#8217;s Global Forest Watch, a forest monitoring platform that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[In January, Rainforest Alliance, one of the world&#8217;s most influential environmental groups for its work in developing eco-certification as a mechanism for raising social and environmental standards for commodity production, announced it had hired Nigel Sizer as its new President. Sizer previously headed up World Resources Institute&#8217;s Global Forest Watch, a forest monitoring platform that has radically improved transparency around forest management and use, deforestation, and commodity production. Before that, he worked for years on forest ecology and conservation, including extended stints in Africa, the Amazon, and Indonesia. Given that background, it is unsurprising that Sizer is embracing technology in his new leadership role at Rainforest Alliance. In an International Forest Day interview with Mongabay, Sizer said that technology like Global Forest Watch will boost the effectiveness of certification. &#8220;We do expect to embrace technology far more. For example, Global Forest Watch can provide better quality assurance for companies and reduce the costs of providing those services,&#8221; he told Mongabay. Nigel Sizer But while monitoring gives companies a far better understanding of how the commodities they source are being produced, other tools are needed to support the transition toward greener consumption. For example, most &#8220;zero deforestation&#8221; policies being adopted by companies include labor and social safeguards that aren&#8217;t captured by satellite images. Certification offers an effectiveness mechanism for gauging progress on these fronts, he said. &#8220;There’s a danger that as more companies make these commitments that there won’t be sufficient independent oversight on policies are actually being implemented and whether&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/new-rainforest-alliance-head-technology-could-improve-commodity-certification/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-184568</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia could collaborate with RSPO, official study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/02/indonesia-could-collaborate-with-rspo-official-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/02/indonesia-could-collaborate-with-rspo-official-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Feb 2016 05:38:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jonathan Vit]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/02/02182431/Oil-palm-riau-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
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											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Avoided Deforestation, Certification, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Law Enforcement, Mapping, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Politics, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Indonesian government’s sustainable palm oil certification program announced the findings of a joint study with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil on Wednesday that details how the two systems might collaborate in the country’s problem-fraught oil palm industry. The study, which took two years to complete, marks a significant step in developing a working [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[The Indonesian government’s sustainable palm oil certification program announced the findings of a joint study with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil on Wednesday that details how the two systems might collaborate in the country’s problem-fraught oil palm industry. The study, which took two years to complete, marks a significant step in developing a working relationship between the agriculture ministry and external sustainability schemes like the RSPO,  an industry-led association whose members agree to adhere to more stringent standards than those dictated by Indonesian law. “Findings from the joint study showed how ISPO and RSPO could complement each other and offer robust solutions for all stakeholders beyond what each could accomplish alone,” said Tiur Rumondang, head of the RSPO’s Indonesia office. The ministry’s own certification scheme, the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil Standard (ISPO), is running as a pilot program with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Riau province that hopes to certify 5,000 smallholders by the end of this year. ISPO aims to rein in illegal practices in the production of what has become the world’s most controversial edible oil by requiring plantations to comply with the rules and regulations of the various ministries, agencies and levels of government.  It is also seen by experts as the best chance the country has at engaging its sizable contingent of “smallholders” — a term used to reference the small and medium-sized growers which together account for at least 40 percent of Indonesian palm oil production. Oil palm fruit in Aceh, Indonesia. Photo&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/02/indonesia-could-collaborate-with-rspo-official-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-179894</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How can banks spur the palm oil industry toward sustainability?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/02/how-can-banks-spur-the-palm-oil-industry-toward-sustainability/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/02/how-can-banks-spur-the-palm-oil-industry-toward-sustainability/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Feb 2016 00:19:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Pek Shibao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/02/02181731/Oil-palm-fruit-motorbike-basket-riau-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
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											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Global, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Malaysia, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Air Pollution, Business, Certification, Commodity Roundtables, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Economics, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Green, Palm Oil, Plantations, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Sustainability, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Part five in a five-part series on the attitudes of palm oil financiers towards company sustainability. Read the first, second, third and fourth installments. Banks and investors are increasingly looking for ways to hold companies accountable for their actions. Previous articles in this series looked at how financiers might deny capital to palm oil companies with poor environmental performance. On the other side [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Part five in a five-part series on the attitudes of palm oil financiers towards company sustainability. Read the first, second, third and fourth installments. Banks and investors are increasingly looking for ways to hold companies accountable for their actions. Previous articles in this series looked at how financiers might deny capital to palm oil companies with poor environmental performance. On the other side of the coin, some leading banks are exploring a more positive approach, by introducing incentives that encourage firms to perform better. Among the commercial banks with environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies – these entail screening companies for unsustainable practices – a significant number also have standalone policies on financing palm oil. Many require their clients in the sector to either be members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) or have a timebound plan to achieve this.[142] At present, banks are moving toward a more collaborative model: working with clients to identify gaps, and providing the necessary financing for them to fully adopt sustainable palm oil. One of the most important agreements in this direction is the Soft Commodities Compact, developed as a collaboration between the Banking Environment Initiative (BEI) and the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF). Signatory banks to the compact agree to use “appropriate financing mechanisms” to help non-RSPO certified clients achieve certification, such that by 2020, all their corporate and investment banking clients in the palm oil sector will be RSPO-certified.[143] The compact&#8217;s signatories are Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds, Rabobank, RBS, Santander, Standard Chartered, UBS, and Westpac.[144] A few banks have&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/02/how-can-banks-spur-the-palm-oil-industry-toward-sustainability/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-178013</doi>				</item>
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