Forest Conversion News
WWF’s newsletter on forest conversion focusing on the expansion of palm oil and soy • No 12, September 2006
Second Round Table Conference on Responsible Soy
he second international Round Table Conference
on Responsible Soy was held in Asunción, Paraguay from 31 August to 1 September. The outcome
of the conference was the agreement to found the Round
Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) as an international
membership organisation.
The new organisation will bring together soy producers, processors and traders, as well as financial institutions and nongovernmental organisations. The organisation’s immediate
task within the first 18 months will be to develop principles,
criteria, and indicators for responsible production, processing
and trading of soy around the world. The 200 participants discussed draft principles to protect biodiversity, to improve agricultural practices, and to comply fully with labour laws.
“The formal creation of RTRS and the commitment of key global players to adopt principles and criteria for responsible soy
is a landmark. The private sector is beginning to understand
that it needs to do its homework to avoid less desirable outcomes such as product boycotts or the establishment of nontariff barriers to eradicate irresponsibly produced soy,” said
Leonardo Lacerda, Manager of WWF’s Global Forests
Programme. “Major steps still have to be taken, but we have
made substantial progress over the last two days,” added
Martin Tielen, President of the European Feed Manufacturers’
Federation (FEFAC).
The so called Asunción Declaration with the draft principles
can be commented on the RTRS website.
Links: WWF Press Release, 1 September 2006
T
Asunción Declaration
“Leaders for a Living Planet” award given
to the the government of Paraguay
Round Table on Responsible Soy
The day before the RTRS conference started, WWF gave the
government of Paraguay a “Leaders for a Living Planet”
award. The award recognizes Paraguay's Zero Deforestation
Law, in force since 2004, that prohibits the conversion of native forests in certain parts of the country. Deforestation in the
Upper Parana Atlantic Forest has decreased by more than 85
per cent since the law was passed.
Alarmingly, the Zero Deforestation Law is due to expire in
December 2006. WWF is urging the government to extend the
law until measures are in place for responsible soy cultivation
and sustainable forest management.
The Upper Parana Atlantic Forest in Paraguay is one of the
world's most ecologically important regions, containing plant
and animal species that are found nowhere else on earth. But
it is also one of the world's most endangered tropical forests.
The major threat is deforestation which occurs primarily to
enable soy production. In many areas, more than 95 per cent
of the natural forest cover has been lost.
Contact: Lucy Aquino (WWF-Paraguay), [email protected]
Link: www.wwf.org.py/LLP.aspx
Organizing Committee member Alberto Yanosky of Guyra
Paraguay, Luis Alberto Castiglioni, Vice President of Paraguay,
and Chairperson Sheila Abed of the Institue for Environemntal
Rights and Economy
Lucy Aquino of WWF-Paraguay, Leonardo Lacerda, WWF International and Luis Alberto Castiglioni, Vice President of Paraguay
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WWF Forest Conversion News No 12 • September 2006
Forest Conversion News
WWF-Canon/WWF-Germany/M. Radday
“Nothing can replace forests and the role they play”
INTERVIEW
Why is the Round Table on Responsible Soy
(RTRS) important around the world and in
Paraguay?
The RTRS is important because it connects different sectors along the supply chain.
Stakeholders can meet and exchange views,
opinions and experiences. I hope that our soy
exporters here in Paraguay took the time during
the conference to develop and improve their
contacts.
forests. Nothing can replace forests and the role
they play.
How do you view the expansion of soy in
Paraguay?
We can't allow any more forest in Paraguay to be
cut down to expand soy cultivation. But we can
try to increase the yield from existing soy fields.
Smallholders, for example, could switch to
organic soy and crop rotation.
Why is there a need for responsibility in the
How can the RTRS help to set up criteria for
“It is urgent
soy industry?
more sustainability in the soy sector?
We have been in Paraguay for 28 years now and
I hope that discussions between different actors
to take action
have experienced how the climate has changed
in the soy supply chain lead to the instalment of
to protect
due to deforestation. It is raining less now than
new criteria and more responsible behaviour
in the past. One important driver of deforesta- the last remaining regarding the use of chemicals. The RTRS can
tion in our area is the expansion of soy cultivaalso help to increase understanding and respect
forests!”
tion. Due to poor soy harvests in recent years,
between different sectors.
Christine Hostettler
farmers have cut down even more forests to sell
the wood and make more profits with soy.
Christine Hostettler, a Swiss national, has lived
The San Rafael conservation area here in the southeast of
with her family in Paraguay for more than 25 years. After once
Paraguay is one of the last remaining linked forest areas where
having cleared forests and planted soy herself, she is now the
animals are able to find enough food. But some are already
driving force behind the effort to conserve the Cordillera San
facing extinction, as are certain plant species, like orchids.
Rafael reserve. She is the coordinator of the NGO ProCosara.
Contact: [email protected]
Therefore it is urgent to take action to protect the last remaining
WWF
Criteria may become an important step towards developing
standards of responsible soy production around the world
through the Round Table on Responsible Soy.
Fenaco's efforts to increase the import of eco-friendly soy
mean that nearly one-third of all soy needed to feed animals
in Switzerland will now meet the Basel Criteria. Fenaco has
committed itself to not increasing the price of certified soy in
the near future.
Link: WWF Press Release, 27 June 2006
Responsibly produced soy arriving in Switzerland
First ever eco-friendly soy arrives in
Switzerland
WWF
The first ever shipment of environmentally sound soy, 1’000
tons of soy pellets, arrived at the Swiss port of Basel on the
Rhine on 27 June 2006. It was brought in by Fenaco,
Switzerland’s largest soy importer. The soy was produced in
compliance with the Basel Criteria for Responsible Soy
Production, a series of guidelines to ensure the ecologically
and socially responsible production of soy. Set up in 2004 by
the Swiss retailer Coop in cooperation with WWF, the Basel
Thomas Vellacott, Programme Director of WWF-Switzerland
shovelling responsibly produced soy
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Forest Conversion News
P U B L I C AT I O N S
Denmark’s global footprint for food
WWF-Denmark recently published an analysis of Denmark's
footprint regarding food production and consumption. The
concept of the ecological footprint is to compare human consumption of the earth’s renewable natural resources with
nature’s ability to sustain these resources.
About one third of the Danish footprint is related to food production. The biggest share, 90 per cent, is used for meat production. Danes eat almost three times as much meat as the
average world citizen. In 2004, 1.8 million tons of soybean
meal were imported to feed livestock. To cultivate this amount
of soy, an area of 1.3 million hectares in Argentina and Brazil
was utilised. Danish Crown, the world's second largest pork
producer, dominates the Danish meat industry. However, the
company does not currently ask farmers to feed their pigs with
sustainable soy.
Contact: Søren Ring Ibsen (WWF International), [email protected]
Link: Danish footprint report (in Danish, with English summary)
Realising Sustainable Oil Palm
Development in Indonesia
This paper by Fitrian Ardiansyah, WWF-Indonesia’s Program
Coordinator for Forest Restoration and Threats Mitigation was
presented in June at the International Oil Palm Conference
2006 in Bali, Indonesia. The paper provides an overview of the
social and environmental impacts of palm oil production and
discusses possibilities for more sustainable palm oil production.
Links: Paper on Sustainable Palm Oil
Contact: Fitrian Ardiansyah (WWF-Indonesia), [email protected]
Globalization of the Amazon Soy and Beef
industries: Opportunities for Conservation
Published in Conservation Biology, this article by Daniel C.
Nepstad, Claudia M. Stickler and Oriana T. Almeida describes
how agroindustrial certification could lead to major gains in
Amazon conservation. Cattle ranchers and soy farmers are
realising that good land stewardship, including compliance
with legislation, may increase their access to expanding
domestic and international markets.
Read the article
Two-year moratorium on buying soy
from deforested areas
Facing pressure from several international businesses, Cargill,
ADM, Bunge, Dreyfus and Amaggi, the 'big five' soy traders,
recently agreed to a two-year moratorium on buying soy from
deforested areas. Earlier this year, Greenpeace had heavily criticised several international businesses, McDonald’s among
them, for being involved in deforestation, land-grabbing, slavery and violence related to soy production (report “Eating up
the Amazon”).
McDonald's has agreed to stop selling chicken fed with soy
grown in newly converted areas of forest. Greenpeace is
demanding that the moratorium stay in place until a long-term
protection scheme for the Amazon rainforest is effective.
WWF sees the Greenpeace campaign to protect the Amazon
as complementary to the Round Table on Responsible Soy,
which aims to establish global criteria for responsible soy production. WWF also stresses that the Brazilian Amazon is
threatened not only by soy cultivation. In addition, soy puts
pressure on biodiversity in other regions too, such as the
Cerrado and the Atlantic Forest.
Links: Greenpeace News, 25 July 2006, The Guardian, 24 July 2006
RSPO annual reports on progress
Members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
are expected to report annually on the progress they have
made in the production and use of sustainable palm oil. Some
progress reports have been recently published.
Link: RSPO Progress Reports,
MEDIA REVIEW
Transforming palm oil production
to conserve biodiversity
Arborvitae, June 2006
Palm oil plantations are on the rise. WWF reports on recent
developments in the palm oil industry to make production
more sustainable.
Read the article (page 6)
Forest encroachment investigated
in Jambi
Fourth Roundtable Conference
on Sustainable Palm Oil
The Jakarta Post, 4 July 2006
The Jambi prosecutor's office (Indonesia) is investigating the
encroachment of 2’275 hectares of state forest by plantation
company Muaro Kahuripan Indonesia (Makin) Group.
Directors of the firm are suspected of having illegally converted forests into oil palm plantations.
Read the article
The Fourth Roundtable Conference on Sustainable Palm Oil
(RT4) will take place in Singapore on 21/22 November 2006.
Participants will share their experiences with applying the
Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Palm Oil Production.
Link: www.rspo.org/rt4.htm
HCVF concept endorsed in West Kalimantan
Faced with soaring oil prices,
Indonesia turns to biodiesel
At the beginning of September, the Governor of the West
Kalimantan Province in the Indonesian part of Borneo endorsed the HCVF (High Conservation Value Forest) concept. With
this endorsement, it will be possible for both provincial and
district governments in West Kalimantan to fully adopt the
HCVF metodology.
Contact: Fitrian Ardiansyah (WWF-Indonesia), [email protected]
Christian Science Monitor, 5 July 2006
As global oil prices rise, Indonesia is intensifying its efforts to
produce alternative fuels such as biodiesel from palm oil. The
major obstacles are high costs and environmental and social
concerns. "The government and country see palm oil as one
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WWF Forest Conversion News No 12 • September 2006
Forest Conversion News
WWF-Canon/WWF-Germany/M. Radday
Promoting biofuel to alleviate poverty
promising sector to develop," says Fitrian Ardiansyah, WWF's
Programme Coordinator for Forest Restoration and Threat
Mitigation. "We have to balance the demand for alternative
fuels and economic growth of the country with environmental
and social concerns."
Read the article
The Jakarta Post, 29 July 2006
The Indonesian government plans to pursue the development
of biofuels as a way of alleviating poverty in Indonesia. The
government refers to small-scale biofuel businesses that are
managed by and directly benefit ordinary people, mostly in
rural areas. The government hopes that the biofuel industry
will employ a total of 3.6 million people by 2010 and substitute
some 10 percent of Indonesia’s oil-based fuels.
Read the article
Biofuel era has arrived
The Jakarta Post, 7 July 2006
In July, the Indonesian government announced its plan for biodiesel production. The plan includes the establishment of 11
biodiesel plants, with biodiesel production targets of 187 million litres next year and 1.3 billion litres by 2010, or the equivalent of three percent of the country's total fuel consumption.
However, the experiences of other countries such as Brazil,
the U.S., Germany and China, which have developed biofuel
industries much earlier than Indonesia has, demonstrate that
biofuel development should be part of a comprehensive energy diversification and conservation programme.
Read the article
Brazil’s soy fields shrink
as farmers turn away
Dow Jones Newswire, 9 August 2006
According to early estimates of soy planting intentions for the
next season, the area to be planted with soy in Brazil will
decrease by at least six per cent to 20 million hectares.
Argentina is expected to compensate for the reduction in
Brazilian soy production. Brazil is losing its competitive edge
due to high transportation costs, high taxes and an unfavourable exchange rate between the dollar and the Brazilian real.
Read the article
Biofuel expansion in Malaysia
The Malaysian government recently approved 32 biodieselrelated projects that will produce three million tonnes of biodiesel. The palm oil producer Golden Hope Plantations in June
commissioned what is probably Asia’s first commercial biodiesel plant. It aims to produce almost 400’000 tonnes of biofuel a year, starting in 2008.
Brazil’s agribusiness seen
as victim of own success
Dow Jones Newswire, 11 August 2006
Agricultural commodities such as soy make up over a third of
Brazil’s export revenue, boosting the local currency. According
to some economists, this makes Brazil’s agribusiness sector a
victim of its own success.
Orangutans in Indonesia
on its brink of extinction
Partnership to promote soy consumption
According to an Indonesian non-governmental organisation,
the 65,000 orangutans surviving in Indonesia might disappear
within the next two decades if the Indonesian government fails
to take measures protecting the animals' habitat. The biggest
threats are posed by forest fires, illegal logging and the clearance of the orangutans' habitat to make way for palm oil
plantations.
Links: The Jakarta Post, 14 July 2006, The Jakarta Post, 25 July 2006
Gazeta Mercantil, 18 August 2006
Following a U.S. initiative, Brazil, the United States, Paraguay
and Argentina are discussing a partnership for jointly opening
the world market for conventional, transgenic and organic
soybeans. The goal is to promote the increased consumption
of soy.
Indonesia and Malaysia launch joint move
to defend palm oil industry
Business and investment – government allocates big chunk of land to biofuel projects
Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to allocate € 500’000 to
hiring a consultant or joint spokesman to counter campaigns
launched by NGOs against palm oil production in both countries. According to the two governments, criticism from several foreign and local NGOs in recent years was based on
unfounded accusations.
Environmental groups are objecting to this plan and argue that
the money would be better spent on efforts to overhaul the
country's oil palm industry, and promoting the use of better
seedlings rather than expanded planting to increase output.
Links: The Jakarta Post, 19 July 2006
The Jakarta Post, 25 July 2006
The Indonesian government has announced that 6.5 million
hectares of idle land will be allocated for investors interested
in planting biofuel crops.
Read the article
Forest fire haze hits major city on Sumatra
AFP via Channel News Asia, 27 July 2006
Haze caused by the burning of forests to make way for crops
in Indonesia and some parts of Malaysia is an annual problem
that afflicts the whole region. Most fires appear to have been
started to clear land for commercial timber or palm oil plantations. While the government has banned the practice of using
fire to clear land, enforcement remains weak.
Read the article
Reforestation program launched in Riau
The Jakarta Post, 14 August 2006
Following the launch of a national reforestation program in
Indonesia in April, the Indonesia Planting Campaign in Riau
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WWF Forest Conversion News No 12 • September 2006
Forest Conversion News
WWF-Canon/Michel GUNTHER
will rehabilitate 4’000 hectares of the Sultan Syarif Hasim
National Park which were damaged or converted into oil palm
plantations by local smallholders.
pany executives and green campaigners say that the global
biofuel boom may have the opposite effect.
Read the article
Companies act on palm oil concerns
Palm oil power – no thanks
Financial Times Deutschland, 21 August 2006
As a result of campaigns run by different environmental organisations, supermarkets and producers are now increasingly
aware of the problems associated with palm oil production. All
large supermarket chains in the U.K., for example, are now
members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.
Read the article
Green Building Press, 25 August 2006
Friends of the Earth criticises proposals made by RWE
npower to run the Littlebrook power station in Kent on palm
oil. The environmental NGO warns that the use of palm oil as
a biofuel could worsen climate change because it would lead
to even more destruction of rainforest to make way for palm
oil plantations.
Read the article
Biofuel rush risks gasoline hike,
forest damage
WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s
natural environment and to build a future in which humans
live in harmony with nature, by:
• conserving the world’s biological diversity
• ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable
• promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.
The Forest Conversion News is edited
for WWF International by the Coordination
Office of WWF’s Forest Conversion
Initiative in Zurich, Switzerland.
All issues of the Forest Conversion News
can be downloaded at
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Free subscription: [email protected]
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WWF Forest Conversion News No 12 • September 2006
© 1986, WWF – World Wide Fund for Nature ® WWF Registered Trademark owner
Reuters, 25 August 2006
Supporters of biofuels hope that biofuels can bring down high
pump prices and help halt climate change. However, oil com-