Palm oil project launched
The private sector has been commended for their contribution to import substitution through the escalation of the growing of oil palm.
The private sector has been commended for their contribution to import substitution through the escalation of the growing of oil palm.
(New York) – Thai authorities should immediately investigate the killing of Somsak Onchuenjit, a lawyer and land rights activist, in Trang province in southern Thailand, Human Rights Watch said today. Successive Thai governments have failed to prevent or adequately respond to attacks against human rights defenders who represent landless farmers.
The Congo Basin’s forests and peatlands are a major component of Earth’s life-support systems, and it is a key supplier of vital minerals needed to build a low carbon economy. The case for the people of the Congo to benefit from not exploiting these resources is irrefutable.
Few people, if asked to name the most strategic countries in the world, would place the Democratic Republic of Congo at the top of the list. But the natural resources of the DRC will be critical to the existential battle to save the planet.
The Congo Basin contains the world's second-largest rainforest, crucial for regulating the world's climate. Inside it, a plan to halt the forest's decline is bearing fruit.
With a gentle tug of his left hand, Patrick Wasa-Nziabo eases dozens of kernels from a sun-dried cob and into a large plastic bucket brimming with lemon-yellow corn at his bare feet.
Main photo: Bidco Africa group co-founder and chairman Vimal Shah said the uncultivated land mass could cater for a longer term perspective with wide open opportunities available for both countries. — Reuters pic
Malaysian palm oil companies have been invited to enter the African market by utilising available unused land mass of 600 million hectares for palm oil cultivation in the continent.
Main photo: young oil palms await planting on land deforested by South Korea’s Korindo in the Indonesian province of Papua (Image: Mighty Earth)
In 2019, South Korea imported 745,000 metric tonnes of palm oil, up from 194,000 metric tonnes in 2005. It is one of the fastest-growing markets for the commodity in the world, driven by government policies to boost palm oil as a lucrative green industry and to secure food and energy supplies from overseas.
From 9-12 November 2020, 450 finance institutions from around the world will gather(link is external) for the first international meeting of public development banks, dubbed the “Finance in Common” summit, hosted by the French government. The institutions, which range from the World Bank to the China Development Bank, collectively spend $2 trillion a year on so-called development projects — roads, power plants, agribusiness plantations and more.
A Korean palm oil giant has been buying up swathes of Asia's largest remaining rainforests. A visual investigation published today suggests fires have been deliberately set on the land
Petrus Kinggo walks through the thick lowland rainforest in the Boven Digoel Regency.
"This is our mini market," he says, smiling. "But unlike in the city, here food and medicine are free."
Communities being able to participate on an equal basis in land governance is key to food security and inclusive development. How can securing land rights pave the way for responsible investments and what can we learn from experiences with the palm oil industry? To answer these questions we turn to West Africa where two activists are fighting for their communities’ right to land. ‘If we want to move forward, we need to share the wealth that the land brings.’
Greenpeace slams Indonesia for lack of action against the palm oil sector as vast areas of forests burned in five years.
Main photo: Burned land is pictured next to a palm oil plantation after fires near Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province, Indonesia [File: Willy Kurniawan/Reuters]