Community | May 17, 2010 | 28 comments

Victory for Rainforests! Nestle Agrees to Activists' Demands!

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captainplanet71
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20005101-36.html

Sometimes these things might actually work: An aggressive, meant-to-shock Facebook and YouTube campaign on behalf of environmental group Greenpeace has caused food conglomerate Nestle to modify its policies regarding the use of palm oil.

IN THE PHOTO: An activist wearing an orangutan mask protesting at Nestle’s Jakarta offices. Nestle dropped Sinar Mas as a supplier amid Greenpeace accusations that the palm oil producer was contributing to deforestation. (EPA Photo)

Nestle announced early on Monday that it has partnered with The Forest Trust, a non-profit group that helps businesses develop practices that harvest forests sustainably, to tackle the social and environmental impacts of its corporate supply chain by severing ties to companies that contribute to deforestation. The first issue addressed will be its use of palm oil--the harvesting of which has been connected to the loss of rainforests and the animal species that inhabit them, as well as greenhouse gas emissions.

Greenpeace considers this a major victory: Two months ago, the environmental group targeted Nestle's use of palm oil with a purposely unsettling video that compared eating Kit-Kat bars to snacking on the bloodied appendages of orangutans. When Nestle lobbied to have the video removed from YouTube, Greenpeace turned its force up a notch and encouraged supporters to start posting comments in protest on Nestle's Facebook fan page and to change their profile photos to modified versions of the Nestle logo (i.e. "Killer" instead of Kit-Kat"). The whole thing turned into a particularly ugly social-media mess for Nestle when the manager of the Facebook fan page started getting argumentative and rude. The commenters grew even more vocal, even after the page manager apologized.

Nestle's Monday announcement makes no mention of the digital smackdown that pressured it into making this change, but Greenpeace has been quick to highlight the role of social media as well as more traditional forms of grassroots lobbying.

"With nearly 1.5 million views of our Kit Kat advert, over 200,000 emails sent, hundreds of phone calls and countless Facebook comments, you made it clear to Nestle that it had to address the problems with the palm oil and paper products it buys," read a Monday release from Greenpeace's U.K. division. "Greenpeace campaigners have met several times with Nestle executives to discuss the problems with sourcing of palm oil and paper products. It certainly seemed like things were moving forward in these discussions. But we didn't expect Nestle to come up with such a comprehensive 'zero deforestation' policy so quickly."

Nestle says it had already set a goal to make its palm oil products 100 percent sustainable by 2015. Right now, it's at 18 percent.

So is its partnership with The Forest Trust any more than just posturing? Greenpeace is optimistic. The Forest Trust is "an independent organization we've worked with before (and) will be closely monitoring Nestle's progress," the release from Greenpeace read.
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28 comments // Victory for Rainforests! Nestle Agrees to Activists' Demands!

  • GISchmo
    • 0
      GISchmo  

    • Hooray! Our household banned Nestle products since we originally heard of the story (and online ad). Glad to see this company show some moral code.

    • 2 years ago
  • figgdimension
  • twohawks
    • +2
      twohawks  
    • Image

    • Really appreciate your information, links, and enthusiasm there, Cap't, thank you. I am glad GreenPeace has made this successful campaign.

      I am a little loathe to celebrate word from the pulpit though, albeit I am happy to see any progress.
      Here's what I turned up this morning..

      ------------
      Let's remember though that Nestle, of course, is doing what they "have" to do, and anything outside that is fair game....

      http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/NSRGF
      http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dj-update-nestle-ceo-growth-more-influence-from-emerging-mkts-2010-05-07
      "Food and beverage giant Nestle SA (NESN.VX) expects strong growth from emerging markets, where the bulk of the world's population lives,"
      "Emerging markets, which Bulcke said account for roughly 82% of the global population, make for 60% of Nestle's future growth, Bulcke, said. "

      -------------
      http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dj-nestle-executive-may-resume-palm-oil-purchas...

      "(NSRGY), the world's biggest food company, may resume purchases of palm oil from Indonesia's PT Sinar Mas Agro Resources And Technology (SMAR.JK) if deforestation claims made by an environmental group against the company are proven to be false, a Nestle executive said Monday."

      ""If Sinar Mas, or anybody else, does a proper job on quality, traceability, on having a transparent supply chain, of course we will buy from them,""
      "Nestle and fellow consumer-goods giant Unilever suspended purchases of palm oil from PT SMART, which is part of the Sinar Mas Group, following a Greenpeace report on the company's plantation practices in March. "

      ----------
      In other Nestle related news... Child Slave Labor....
      Nestle, Hershey, Cadbury, and others all say they are making efforts to comly, but its all bullshit.

      The BBC did a doco in I think it was 2002. Almost nothing has changed since then (verifiable in the public domain), which supports the "cry bullshit" card.

      To be fair to the efforts put forth by Fair Trade Certified cooperative, it may best to visit this article: http://laborrightsblog.typepad.com/international_labor_right/2010/03/is-the-bbc-... before diving into the BBC's Updated Documentary Mar 27, 2010 if you care to watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njwSEoWyMqc
      Article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8583000/8583499.stm

      I am hopeful about this brand spanking fresh news...
      ====================
      CHECK OUT WHAT's HAPPENING AT THE ILO...
      ***GLOBAL CONFERENCE AGREES ON A ROADMAP TO STEP UP ACTION TO ELIMINATE THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOUR BY 2016
      http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Press_relea...

    • 2 years ago
  • twohawks
    • +2
      twohawks  
    • twohawks:

      Just a little more "snapshot" info..
      ==============
      What google will get you....
      - children are kidnapped and lured under false promise
      - ages 12 to 16 are trafficked and enslaved, but you will discover boys as young as 4 on the plantations,
      - working up to 100 hours a week
      - poorly fed, little to no medical provisions
      - no schooling
      - beaten (brutally with... chains, sticks, whips, etc)
      - sometimes killed (like if they try to leave)
      - its not just children, many adults are enslaved, and there is no voice for them at all pretty much
      - between 2001 and 2008 almost no changes in the number taken or used
      - the players: Hershey's, Mars, Cadbury, Nestle's, ...over 90% of the world's chocolate rests on the shoulders of children taken and enslaved
      - more players: due to the dominant control of cocao by the major players almost all chocolate companies have some cocoa related to child slaver labor, but there are sources that work hard to screen it out.
      - China is the largest and fastest growing chocolate consumer on the planet
      - Nestle non-US based enterprise has greater focused on other-than-US consumer markets, which have greater profit feasability
      ######################
      http://www.newint.org/columns/currents/2009/04/01/corporations/
      - It is more than eight years since the international media first exposed the use of trafficked child labour in cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire. In response, the major chocolate companies signed an agreement that they would stop the worst forms of child labour in their cocoa supply chains. Unfortunately, the complexities of global supply chains have made it easy for them to evade action, even when there is consumer demand for change. Most of these companies have not instituted supply chain management programmes to ensure that they are complying with international labour standards. And so, the problem continues.

      - The U.S. government could simply enforce existing federal laws against the importation of products made with forced child labor, such as Section 307 of The Tariff Act of 1930, which mandates that the U.S. Customs Service refuse entry to any product made "in whole or in part" by forced or indentured labor. BUT THEY DON'T.

      - President Bill Clinton's further Executive Order No. 13126 in 1999 prohibited federal agencies from buying products made by enslaved children, yet the original list did not include cocoa.

      ------------
      - its pretty much about exploitation facilitated by poverty, with no interest in oversight by governments, driven by greedy corporations, with in"sufficient ‘market incentive’ to eliminate slavery from its supply chain".
      I have read many opinions citing references per how the recession is driving, "feeding the global supply", of sex and labor slaves.
      #########################

    • 2 years ago
  • captainplanet71
    • +1
      captainplanet71  

    • After reading the comments, I want to give yall some more perspective on this victory -- and it is a victory -- although Nestle likely has other practices that we should be disturbed by (and certainly no one is telling you to go buy Nestle!). Firstly, we should breathe a little easier knowing that the rainforest isn't all getting chopped down by Nestle's suppliers and that we have this company and suppliers in the hot seat.

      Within hours of the campaign launched by Greenpeace on March 17th, Nestle canceled its direct business contracts with rainforest-destroying Sinar Mas. A few weeks later, Nestle agreed to publicly lobby the Indonesian government to protect carbon-rich peatlands and rainforests. (Here's the perspective part: This doesn't happen very often and it's a good sign!)

      While Greepeace has defeated another major corporate target, this campaign is part of a larger push to achieve zero deforestation in the Paradise Forests by 2015. Ultimately, the market campaigns are directed at both creating financial incentives to change business as usual AND changing political conditions to make new policy goals possible.

      If you want to read what Nestle's got to say about it (pretty interesting actually):

      Nestlé open forum on deforestation, Malaysia

      http://www.nestle.com/InvestorRelations/Events/AllEvents/Nestle_open_forum_on_de...

    • 2 years ago
  • zichi
    • zichi [removed]  
    • This comment was removed as a violation of community guidelines.
  • twohawks
  • CalgarC
  • twohawks
    • +2
      twohawks  

    • @ cclark_productions who said, "nestle still sucks for doing it in the 1st place"

      See, that's the deal now, isn't it... if you think its right, I don't care if you stop doing it, ...if you never changed your mind about it I still want nothing to do with you.

      Perfect point, cclark.

    • 2 years ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • KSirys
  • csmonut
  • Numbz
  • artemis6
  • cclark_productions
  • twohawks
  • twohawks
    • +5
      twohawks  
    • Image

    • A 4 year old in 2008, one of hundreds of thousands of children enslaved by chocolate.
      ==========================
      Now that's some decent and real news.

      Squeeky wheel gets the grease, eh?

      However, lets not forget the skeletons still clattering in the closet...

      Now if people would make a greater noise about their continuing abuse of children thru slave labor, which evidently is still at issue...

      ---------------------
      2008: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/11/the_dark_side_of_choco...
      Four-year-old Alpha, hits an aerosol can with a hammer for its aluminum to be reprocessed in Abidjan. Ivory Coast. Up to 90 percent of Ivorian cocoa supplies are alleged to be produced by child slaves and at least 200,000 children annually fall victim to traffickers in the west and central African slave trade, UNICEF estimates. (Jean-Philippe Ksiazek/AFP/Getty Images)

      ---------------------
      In 2006: http://www.organicconsumers.org/fair_trade/slavechocolate060414.cfm
      The International Labour Organization, part of the UN, estimates 284,000 child laborers work on cocoa farms, most of them in one tiny country, Ivory Coast, source of almost half the world's cocoa. "These are either involved in hazardous work, unprotected or unfree, or have been trafficked," says the ILO.
      2010 Status: Awaiting a ruling on the defendant’s motion to dismiss

      ----------------------
      2010:
      The Chevron case is not the only case of corporate abuse and disregard. Many similar cases have been filled by non-profits on behalf of exploited people, often workers. One non-profit that has championed the rights of workers is the International Rights Advocates. They have filled case against many well known brand names such as Coca-Cola, Bridgestone-Firestone, and Nestlé for abuse of their workers. Hopefully these cases, along with the current Chevron case, demonstrate that corporate accountability and advocacy for people will eventually become the norm.
      Reference: View: Backlash Against Chevron helps to Raise Awareness about the Dangers of “Free Trade Development Models” and Corpor...
      Friday, February 19, 2010 at 8:45am
      http://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=44845920051&start=20&hash=a21bec945...

      ------------------------
      2010: UK/US: Campaigners question Nestle's Fairtrade move
      By: just-food.com | 8 December 2009
      http://www.just-food.com/news/campaigners-question-nestles-fairtrade-move_id1090...
      Nestle's commitment to Fairtrade has been brought into question by human rights organisations after the company announced it had switched its Kit Kat bar to Fairtrade in the UK and Ireland.

      The move, announced yesterday (7 December), is the latest in a growing number of initiatives from the world's chocolate makers as they seek to position their products as more 'ethical'.

      However, human rights organisations have said that while Nestlé's announcement may be a "very small step" toward supporting a more sustainable and labour-friendly system of cocoa sourcing, the company's history and practices around the world raise questions about its commitment to Fairtrade.

      "Nestlé cannot claim to be sourcing responsible cocoa by using a small amount of Fairtrade-certified cocoa when the majority of its cocoa could be produced by forced labour and child labour," said Bama Athreya, executive director of the International Labor Rights Forum.

      2010:
      http://www.laborrights.org/stop-child-forced-labor/cocoa-campaign/news/12301
      Skeletons in the Corporate Closet: Big Chocolate
      Date of publication: April 13, 2010
      Source: Minyanville.com
      In the US, chocolate purchases rose 2.6% in 2009, according to reports by Mintel research group. Sales were even sweeter in the UK, rising 5.9% over 2008 figures. In China, which is not yet known as a chocolate-buying nation, sales of chocolate candy rose by a whopping 18%.

      But all this indulging and unwrapping of fancy foil packages has done little to change a dark truth about the multi-billion dollar industry: It has yet to eliminate the child and slave-like labor used to harvest cocoa in the nations where most of the world’s supply is grown. According to some human rights activists, "Big Chocolate" hasn't even made a noticeable dent in the problem.
      ----------------------
      More links to info:

      http://www.laborrights.org/search/node/nestle
      http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=mozclient&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=Nestle+child+labor
      http://humantrafficking.change.org/blog/view/happy_world_day_against_child_labor

    • 2 years ago
  • CalgarC
  • captainplanet71
    • 0
      captainplanet71  
    • twohawks:

      These resources are really solid. Thanks for posting. I'm reading one of the reports now. I didn't know that "about 70 percent of the world's cocoa comes from the Ivory Coast." On the upside, the geographic concentration of cocoa production may help with fighting corporate abuses. If production is mostly based in one area, it's more likely that human rights organizations will be able to infiltrate the area, interview tons of people about their working conditions, and then sue the sh*t out these companies.

      The site has some good ways of getting involved too:

      "For too long, Nestlé has continued to use cocoa beans harvester by child labor in West Africa. Contact Nestlé at 800-225-2270 or by sending the e-mail below and demand they take responsibility for ending child slavery on their farms and use Fair Trade Certified cocoa."

      http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/Nestle08

    • 2 years ago
  • liberalsNdope
  • BRAVATRAVELS
  • artemis6
  • treewolf39
    • +4
      treewolf39  

    • Something comes to mind about Nestle and bottled water and bottled water plants dropping the water table. Watch what the other hand is doing.

    • 2 years ago
  • BRAVATRAVELS
    • 0
      BRAVATRAVELS  

    • Humans have always accomplished everything by protesting and volunteer and been activist. I am so glad that we finally see the work of many people for the environment recognize. Thanks for the awareness:D

    • 2 years ago
  • jiggajigga89
  • BRAVATRAVELS
    • +1
      BRAVATRAVELS  
    • jiggajigga89:

      Wow Jigga how can you said that? Almost everything that matters to the world have been accomplished by activist, ex... Eradication of slavery , end of wars, women rights, children rights, environmental issues, etc... Activist are always necessary without them many of us will not have accomplished so much in regards to liberty and freedom and all the wonderful stuff that comes from protest and activism. Look it up and you will be surprise at how much more is been done as we speak or write for that matter :D

    • 2 years ago
  • diode
    • 0
      diode  

    • i'll take my bloodied appendages of orangutans medium rare with a side of bbq sauce please

      good for nestle, one company down, many to go.

    • 2 years ago
  • freecrack
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