The world’s most untouched rainforest obliterated for palm oil while the world watches and does nothing. Located in Indonesia, Borneo is the third largest island in the world. It’s home to some of the rarest species on earth, including the pigmy elephant, clouded leopard, and the Sumatran rhinoceros.
The country is undergoing break-neck economic development, and environmental laws are weak to the point of unenforceability. Palm oil is used in crackers, chocolate, ice cream, pastries, crackers, Nutella, etc.
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KFC’s chainsaw colonel visits Indonesian rainforest destruction
When you think of KFC most people think of buckets of fried chicken. So what does KFC have to do with Indonesia and why did Greenpeace Indonesia take action against the company on Wednesday?
Well, KFC is one of the most popular fast food chains in the country, with more than 400 stores, and if KFC gets its way, the company will have more than 1,000 stores by 2015. That’s a lot of potential rainforest destruction.
In fact, there are now more KFC stores in Indonesia than there are Sumatran tigers in the wild, and tragically, KFC sourcing practices are making the prospects for Indonesia’s one remaining tiger species even worse.
KFC is using Indonesia’s rainforests in its packaging and napkins. It’s heartbreaking to think that Indonesia’s precious rainforests will end up in KFC’s trash can, but if the company continues to source from Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), this is exactly what will happen.
So to show what KFC really means in Indonesia, Greenpeace Indonesia took action on Wednesday by placing a giant KFC fries packet into an area that was until recently rainforest. We were accompanied by two activists dressed as Sumatran tigers.
The area in question had been recently cleared of its trees by APP suppliers and pulped to make paper products for its customers, one of which is KFC.
This recently destroyed peatland forest area is located in Senepis, Sumatra. In 2004 the region’s Forestry Agency proposed a National Park for tiger conservation in Senepis as it recognised the area’s importance for Sumatran tiger conservation. [carry on reading | images via greenpeace]
(via randomactsofchaos)
