WWF - Transforming Markets News

Revised palm oil standards a positive step forward - but companies now need to perform at the highest level

2013-04-26

Kuala Lumpur: WWF has welcomed revised standards for sustainable palm oil that were endorsed by the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) at its extra-ordinary General Assembly this morning in Kuala Lumpur.

While the revision of the RSPO Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Palm Oil Production (P&Cs) did not result in everything WWF had pushed for, WWF nevertheless believes the revised P&Cs are better than the earlier version at addressing the challenges facing the palm oil industry.

WWF participated in the review, advocating for stronger environmental and social safeguards governing greenhouse gas emissions, planting on peatland and the use of hazardous chemicals among other issues.

Despite some disappointments, WWF fully supports the RSPO and will remain an engaged member of the organization, continuing to help the RSPO to improve its standard and systems.

WWF supports efforts by individual grower members to certify their production and of buyers and users to commit to the use of 100% certified sustainable palm oil.

WWF believes that the new P&Cs create a space within which companies can set their own performance standard.

"WWF now expects progressive RSPO members to set themselves the highest standard within the framework of the RSPO rather than the lowest that they can get away with," said Adam Harrison, who leads WWF's work on sustainable palm oil and represents WWF on the RSPO Executive Board.

Alongside committing to the certification of all their present and future palm oil production to the RSPO P&Cs, WWF expects progressive growers to also take action on immediate public reporting of GHG emissions as well as significant annual GHG emissions reduction targets.

WWF also expects action from progressive growers with regard to zero-net emissions from land use for new developments, an end to the use of hazardous pesticides including paraquat and only buying Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) from known sources.

WWF also asks other parts of the supply chain to reward those leading innovative growers that make these commitments by both buying their certified sustainable palm oil and taking their own parallel actions.

WWF particularly calls on the traders to acknowledge that they have the greatest responsibility to bring more transparency to the market for certified sustainable palm oil so that buyers can be assured that they are buying CSPO from progressive growers.

The RSPO itself must strictly enforce the P&Cs as well as its existing systems for members to report their progress.

WWF is confident that the combined commitment of progressive RSPO members can ensure the credibility of the system moving forward until the next P&C review in 5 years.

WWF urges Indonesian pulp producer APRIL to immediately stop pulping tropical forests

2013-02-12

JAKARTA – Following the announcement by Asia Pulp & Paper that it has stopped all clearance of Indonesian forests, WWF is now calling on its competitor Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) to stop pulping tropical rainforest.

"APRIL is now the single largest converter of natural forest among Indonesia's pulp producers," said Nazir Foead, Conservation Director of WWF-Indonesia. "We urge the company to immediately change their unsustainable business model and stop draining our peat soils and converting our forests".

The Sumatran NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest reported that APRIL has become the Province of Riau's largest agent of deforestation, cutting at least 140,000 ha of tropical forest, mostly located on peat soils, between 2008 and 2011. APRIL was thus responsible for almost 1/3 of all tropical forest loss in Riau during that period.

APRIL's public commitments to sustainable and natural forest fiber free operations after 2009 has been greenwashing. APRIL in Riau knowingly pulped natural forest wood from concessions inside areas that were designated for protection according to national regulations. The company's operations caused serious conflict with local communities especially because of the loss of traditionally owned forests and land, and degradation of natural resources.

Two thirds of the company's supplying concessions in Riau are located on peat soils whose deforestation, drainage and associated decomposition are leading to constant green house gas emissions.

"Despite being in business for 17 years and having access to concessions covering 10% of Riau's landmass, the company still relies on pulping tropical forests," said Nazir Foead. "After their devastating deforestation of Riau in Sumatra, the company now appears to be developing their next epicenter of deforestation on the island of Borneo."

"WWF calls on APRIL to stop pulping tropical forests, solve social conflicts and restore the forests and peatlands it has destroyed," said Aditya Bayunanda, GFTN and pulp & paper manager of WWF Indonesia, "and calls on companies to avoid being associated with the business practices of APRIL and its associated companies."

WWF welcomes APP announcement to halt clearing, urges paper buyers to wait for proof

2013-02-05

JAKARTA – WWF welcomed the announcement that the Sinar Mas Group's Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) have stopped clearing Indonesia's tropical forests and peatlands to allow an assessment of their conservation and carbon values. But the conservation organization urged paper buyers to wait for confirmation of the claims through independent monitoring by civil society before doing business with APP.

"APP today committed to most of WWF's calls. If the company follows through on this, it could be great news for Indonesia's forests, biodiversity and citizens," said Nazir Foead, Conservation Director of WWF-Indonesia.

"Unfortunately, APP has a long history of making commitments to WWF, customers and other stakeholders that it has failed to live up to. We hope this time the company does what it promised. WWF plans to independently monitor APP's wood sourcing and forestry activities for compliance with its commitments and regularly update stakeholders on the findings," Foead added.

APP runs two of the world's largest pulp mills on Sumatra, where it produces the pulp for the toilet paper, tissue, copy paper and packaging that it sells worldwide. The company and its wood suppliers are responsible for clearing more than 2 million hectares of rain forest on the island since beginning operations in 1984, an analysis by the NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest found.

"WWF hopes that APP's new commitments will do more than just stop its own bulldozers, including protecting the natural forests in its concessions from all illegal activities and mitigating the long-term negative impacts its practices have had on all the peat lands, forests, biodiversity and local people in Sumatra and Borneo for which these commitments have come too late," Foead added.

"WWF has long called on responsible businesses to avoid sourcing from APP and until there is truly independent confirmation that APP has stopped draining peat soils and pulping tropical forests with high conservation value, we continue to urge paper buyers to adopt a wait for proof stance," said Aditya Bayunanda, GFTN and pulp & paper manager of WWF Indonesia.

Mr Teguh Widjaya, the patriarch of the family's pulp and paper business, oversaw the announcement today that no member of his APP group operating in Indonesia or China will accept any tropical timber felled in Indonesia after 31 January 2013 until company consultants have completed a full "high conservation value" and a "high carbon stock" assessment of their forest concessions.

However, the company inserted a loophole in the commitment saying that for an indefinite period of time APP mills would accept trees felled before 31 January.

As a sign of good faith and the first demonstrable milestone, WWF calls on APP to have moved the supply of already-cut tropical timber its suppliers cleared before the self-imposed 31 January 2013 moratorium by 5 May 2013, the due date of its next quarterly forest policy report.

A fully implemented moratorium on pulping forests with high conservation and high carbon value would have a profound impact on Indonesia's biodiversity, as well as on Indonesia's carbon emissions. WWF urges all of the country's pulp producers to stop using tropical forests.

WWF joins call for seafood traceability to fight illegal fishing

2013-01-24

Gland, Switzerland: In a groundbreaking statement issued at this week's World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, WWF has joined private and public sector leaders in calling for a new global seafood traceability system to give consumers, businesses, and governments full access to information about marine fishing practices.

The statement is the first multi-stakeholder call for such a system, and could herald an important role for the World Economic Forum in support of sustainable fisheries.

The statement, issued by the Forum's Global Agenda Council on Oceans, recognizes the urgent need for tracing fish products from "bait to plate" as a means for linking markets to sustainable fishing practices, and for ending the illegal fishing that continues to be a major driver of fisheries depletion.

The world is facing an unprecedented crisis of overfishing, with nearly 87 per cent of the world's commercial fisheries now fished to or over maximum levels, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Meanwhile, experts estimate that 20 per cent of worldwide fish catches come from illegal fishing practices. Solutions depend heavily on giving market actors and regulators reliable information to know which fish products are legal and sustainable and which are not. But currently, access to this information and the mechanisms needed to trace wild caught fish to their origins are the exception rather than the rule.

"Making commercial fishing sustainable is a critical global challenge," said Jim Leape, Director General, WWF. "The joint statement released in Davos points the way to one important part of the solution."

Creating a reliable system for seafood traceability will require harmonizing both regulatory and commercial practices across national boundaries and across subsectors of the seafood industry, ranging from small scale producers in developing countries to the major retail chains and brand owners in the European Union, US, and Japan.

"The stakes are high for the global seafood industry, as well as for the hundreds of millions of people around the world who depend on fish for protein and on fishing for their livelihoods," said Leape.

The WEF Global Agenda Council on Oceans brings together an interdisciplinary group of experts and leaders in the fields of oceans conservation, policy and commerce from around the world. WWF, which is represented on the Council, helped craft the Davos joint statement, and has launched a Transparent Seas Project focused on seafood traceability and the fight against illegal fishing.

Tropical pulp still a long way from fiction in German children's books

2012-12-20

Gland, Switzerland – German book publishers have only marginally improved performance in excluding paper pulp sourced through destruction of tropical forests that are home to critically endangered elephants, tigers and orang-utans.

A WWF-Germany survey of children's books found about 30 per cent of books contained significant amounts of mixed tropical hardwood fibres characteristic of natural forest destruction. A 2009 children's book survey found mixed tropical hardwood fibres in 40% of German children's books from one third of the publishing houses sampled.

Children's books linked to forest destruction included titles such as the Rainforests book from The Magic World of Knowledge series and This is the Forest.

WWF attributes the low rate of improvement to increased production of books in China and large scale sourcing of pulp from deforestation in Indonesia and other tropical forest countries.

Indonesia's largest pulp and paper company, Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), linked with its suppliers to the destruction of more than 2 million hectares of tropical forest in Sumatra, directly operates 20 pulp and paper mills in China with an annual production of eight million tonnes.

"Germany's publishers have been amazingly slow to react despite the highlighting of their involvement in forest destruction in 2009," said Emmanuelle Neyroumande, Manager of WWF´s global paper programme.

The global conservation organization renewed its call for responsible sourcing by publishing houses worldwide. "Recycled or appropriately certified pulp and paper sources are all avenues available for companies wanting to end their involvement with tropical forest destruction," said Neyroumande.

WWF applauded the decision of one major publisher to use Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified sources from now on. Some publishing houses, including Holtzbrinck-Group, Kosmos Verlag Lingen Verlag or Oetinger Verlag had committed to recycled or FSC certified paper sourcing since the initial WWF survey, with Random House Germany being a pioneer in responsible sourcing from even earlier.

"Offering books to children is a great gift, but no parent and grandparent wants to place books contributing to forest destruction under the Christmas tree and therefore the publishing houses need to source responsibly and influence their suppliers," said Neyroumande.

Banks and funds put on notice on Sumatra pulp mill investment risk

2012-11-14

Banks and other financial institutions have been asked for assurances they will not provide investment support to Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) plans for additional pulping capacity in already massively deforested Sumatra.

A letter to financial institutions, signed by 60 environmental and social non-governmental organisations, highlights that APP's record on keeping promises to investors is as bad as its record on keeping to a series of commitments to abandon its assault on native forests housing critically endangered Sumatran tigers and elephants.

"We believe that potential investors should be as concerned with APPs practices as the major companies no longer buying paper and packaging materials from the company," said WWF International Forest Programme director Rod Taylor.

"If potential reputational risk is not enough, alarm bells should ring over the company's default on nearly $US14 billion of debt in 2001 and the company's current conduct in US courts over meeting obligations to some of its former investors."

APP's new mill would produce between 1.5 and 2.0 million tonnes per year of bleached hardwood pulp, making it the largest single pulp line in the world. Respected Sumatra NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest has estimated that APP and supplier companies have already pulped more than two million hectares of natural rainforests in Riau province Sumatra alone.

The letter highlights APP's failures to honor environmental covenants given during restructuring of some of its debt and to the continuing loss of major customers (such as Disney, Hasbro, Mattel, Unilever, Nestle, Danone, Xerox, Mondi) as a result of concerns about its deforestation practices, community conflict and business and reputational risks to buyers.

"Indonesia is a potentially promising place to conduct investment in pulp and paper, with its humid climate and year-long sunlight which enables pulp wood to mature much quicker compared to subtropical countries, unfortunately this is being brought into disrepute by the destructive practises of APP which continues to rely on natural forest clearing for its pulp supply," said WWF Indonesia's Conservation Director, Nazir Foead.

RSPO members need to match performance to promises to speed palm oil sustainability

2012-11-01

Singapore: A lack of commitment by many Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) members is holding back vital progress towards environmental and social sustainability, cautioned WWF as the organisation concluded its 10th anniversary conference.

"While RSPO is quite rightly celebrating impressive growth in members and volumes of certified palm oil produced and bought, there are many who are looking for equally impressive progress in the number of RSPO members taking action. At the same time we want progress protecting wildlife and communities in the path of the rapid expansion of palm oil cultivation," said WWF delegation leader Adam Harrison.

WWF acknowledged grower concerns about market uptake of certified sustainable palm oil lagging behind production, now at a commendable 14 percent of global supplies of what is sometimes described as the world's most traded and one of its most diversely used agricultural commodities.

"But the real problem is not that only half of certified sustainable palm oil is being bought but that only half of us in this room are taking the action at all," Harrison told the RSPO general assembly.

Only 15 per cent of palm oil processor and trader members of RSPO are trading any certified palm oil and none of the bankers and financial institutions have made any time bound plans to clarify how they will help the transition to sustainability.

WWF echoed a plea from conference keynote speaker Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-At-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore, for increased involvement by investors, who have the potential to be major drivers for sustainability. Professor Koh noted that Singapore, a major centre of investment in palm oil in the centre of the world's major palm oil producing region, could not boast a single financial institution member of the RSPO.

Harrison however commended RSPO on the considerable improvement in the quality and timeliness of the reporting requirements on members, noting this represented increased transparency and accountability for the industry. But Harrison noted that there were still members who had not reported at all and others not meeting the new requirements.

WWF is looking for improvements in RSPO's certified sustainable palm oil standard as a result of an inaugural review expected to conclude in March next year, particularly in introducing requirements to slash palm oil related carbon emissions, ending planting on peat and curbing hazardous chemical use.

Harrison urged stakeholders in palm oil related issues, whether members of RSPO or not, to take available of a consultation period on the current draft of principles and criteria for the standard which ends on 30 November.

Concerned at the impact of rapidly growing palm oil production in some of the world's most sensitive environments, WWF was one of the instigators of the RSPO. The organisation concluded its first decade with more than 1000 members, 175 certified mills, covering nearly 1,500,000 hectares and producing over 7600,000 tonnes of CSPO.

Poorly managed fisheries impact food security and livelihoods

2012-10-30

Gland, Switzerland: A report released by the UN's independent food expert, Olivier De Schutter, "Fisheries and the right to food" highlights the devastating impacts of industrial overfishing on coastal communities, small-scale fishers, the marine environment, and the right to food of millions.

"Yet again we have an authoritative report which shows us that overfishing and the damaging effects of poorly managed fisheries is seriously impacting vulnerable communities' food security and livelihoods" said John Tanzer, Marine Director, WWF International.

"The fact that the number of boats and fishermen has increased eight fold between 1970 and 1990 yet they are not seeing anything like the equivalent increase in catch numbers speaks volumes about the consequences of overfishing and the effects this will have on food security in the near future."

"Yet we are still seeing relatively wealthy governments putting public funds into subsidising boat building and industrial fishing activities. It makes no sense because we are essentially mining the oceans instead of nurturing their capacity to support people's ongoing needs." he said.

Fish accounts for 15 per cent of the animal protein consumed worldwide, over 20 per cent in Asia and the fishing sector provides over 54 million people with jobs. In developing countries many of these jobs are as small-scale fisheries employing a high proportion of women.

Weak governance and capacity gaps mean the current approaches to combat illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing are failing. The lack of investigation and prosecution of irresponsible distant water fleets by the flag states also contributes to this.

Coastal communities are limited in their contribution to reduce overfishing or IUU fishing without adequate social protection, fair prices and having fair access to fish resources. The report points out the importance of sound management and early and ongoing involvement of local artisanal fisher's in the management of local fisheries and the need to support them in maintaining improved market access for their catch.

Increased globalisation of the fishing industry has meant in 2010 the value of traded fish products was estimated at US$102 billion, up from US$8 billion in 1976. Many developing countries have benefited from this increase in the form of export revenue and state revenue from selling access to their fishing ground to distant water fleets.

"Without any safeguards and in the absence of effective fisheries management, these access agreements could prove harmful to local communities in the form of loss of fish for people, especially in places where food shortages occur" said Alfred Schumm, Leader of WWF's global Smart Fishing Initiative.

RSPO has much to celebrate, much to do at critical 10th Anniversary meeting

2012-10-30

Singapore - Representatives from the global palm oil industry find themselves at a critical crossroads as they gather in Singapore for the 10th anniversary meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO RT10), founder member WWF said today.

"There is much to celebrate 10 years along the journey of sustainable palm oil, but it is no time for RSPO membership to rest on its laurels, " said WWF delegation leader Adam Harrison.

"On our agenda are the first round of planned major upgrades to the standard that defines sustainable palm oil and the challenge of increasing the uptake of certified palm oil."

At the meeting, starting tomorrow, WWF is seeking agreement to ambitious measures to reduce the climate change impacts of palm oil production and tighter rules on hazardous chemicals. It will also be seeking more support for the standard from trade and retail members of RSPO.

Some of these issues will be discussed rather than decided at the 10th anniversary meeting as consultations continue on the first scheduled major review of the Principles and Guidelines for Sustainable Palm Oil. WWF is urging RSPO members and non-members alike to feed their comments into the multi-stakeholder consultation on upgraded Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Palm Oil which remains open until November 30.

"WWF would like to see the RSPO standards include best practices on reducing greenhouse gas emissions" Harrison said. "WWF is seeking an effective end to planting on peat which releases massive quantities of carbon dioxide.

"We are also looking for the RSPO membership to commit to the effective elimination of the most hazardous chemicals used in the industry."

Since the RSPO started in 2004 and the standards were set in 2007 it has been remarkably successful and has gone on to certify more than 9 million tonnes of palm oil production – more than 14% of the world's total.

This market share makes the RSPO the world's most successful sustainability standard for a single commodity, with nearly 1000 members from producers through to manufacturers and retailers and environmental, social and development NGOs.

"However, more of a push is needed from buyers of palm oil to match the hard work growers have put in since 2007 on getting so much of their production to a certified level," said Harrison. "Only 40% of the palm oil used by manufacturers in the RSPO is certified and less than 8% handled by traders is."

In 2012 the RSPO strengthened its annual membership reporting process and now asks members to reveal how much palm oil they use and when they plan for it to be 100% certified. This year's reports show an increased level of commitment from buyers and a welcome move to greater transparency. But, commitments are empty unless backed by concrete action – and that is still below par.

"Traders are particularly significant as RSPO members account for almost half of global palm oil trade – if they took concerted action they really could transform the industry," Harrison said. "We look forward to some outstanding 10th anniversary commitments for uptake of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil in the next Annual Communications of Progress Reports."

WWF releases groundbreaking guide to commodities investing

2012-09-25

WWF today unveiled a groundbreaking new guide to responsible investing in 10 major commodities sectors.

The 2050 Criteria: Guide to Responsible Investment in Agricultural, Forest, and Seafood Commodities comes amid accelerating global interest, and controversy, around the financing of food and agricultural commodities. The 2050 Criteria is designed as a field guide for mainstream investors, in particular banks, investors, and financial analysts, to help navigate this complexity and identify responsible companies and projects in the agricultural, forest and seafood industries.

Most significantly, The 2050 Criteria provides "Key Performance Criteria" for identifying responsible practice, helping to mitigate the primary sources of environmental and social risk for investors in these sectors. The 2050 Criteria "connects environmental science with the sustainability practices and policies of leading firms in each sector, resulting in both credible and practical recommendations."

"Food security is the challenge of the 21st century. We absolutely need more investments in agriculture, not less," says Joshua Levin of World Wildlife Fund. "Yet at the same time that allocation targets are rising, investors are awakening to a quagmire of material, reputational, and systemic risks. There is a clear need to untangle some of this complexity and provide clear and credible guidance for identifying responsible mainstream performers.

"Current land, energy, water, and weather constraints are placing unprecedented pressure on humankind's ability to access its most basic goods—food, fuel, and fiber. These shocks are already posing severe challenges for industry, investors, and society. Yet humanity must now produce more food in the next four decades than we have in the last 8,000 years of agriculture combined. There is no choice but to do so sustainably."
The 2050 Criteria addresses 10 global commodity sectors that are in high demand, yet also generate some of the world's most severe impacts on biodiversity, water, and the climate. These industries include: aquaculture; beef; cotton; dairy; palm oil; soy; sugar; timber, pulp, and paper; wild-caught seafood; and bioenergy.

By adopting the guidance in The 2050 Criteria, financiers will be able to:

Manage critical business and reputational risks
Reduce transaction costs and simplify decision making by aligning investment criteria with leading industry practice
Contribute to improved risk adjusted returns
Shape responsible practices on the ground in these high-impact sectors

The 2050 Criteria was launched at the Global AgInvesting Asia conference in Singapore. The conference brought together hundreds of allocators, fund managers, and industry executives to discuss the burgeoning asset class of agriculture and its surrounding themes.

APP's latest promise no more than protecting already protected forest

2012-07-25

Pekanbaru, Sumatra; Gland, Switzerland: The "sustainability roadmap" issued recently by controversial Indonesia deforester Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) dramatically backtracks on a series of promises it has made – and broken - previously, an analysis by the Riau NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest has found.

"We were abundantly justified in not trusting their 2004 Sustainability Action Plan promise to cease native forest pulping by 2007 and responsible paper buyers or consumers should be dismayed that nearly a decade later, APP's latest Sustainability Roadmap doesn't even promise to go that far by 2015," said Muslim Rasyid, coordinator of Eyes on the Forest member Jikalahari (Forest Rescue Network, Riau).

Part of the giant Sinar Mas Group (SMG), APP announced in early June that it would temporarily halt clearing of natural forest in only its "own" concessions while it conducts assessments for forests of high conservation values, an industry practice that conservation groups have long called for APP to do.

"Our analysis found there is no natural forest left to apply their new policies to in Riau Province, since all natural forest in their 'own' concessions had either already been cleared or protected under Indonesian law or APP showcase commitments which are also mostly nothing more than confirmation that the company would obey the law," said Rasyid. "We believe that APP's new policies offer no conservation benefit for any forest outside Riau either."

The Eyes on the Forest analysis APP/SMG: The pulping continues finds "the fate of up to 1.2 million hectares, more than half of Riau's remaining forest, remains in danger of being cleared by APP/SMG's so-called "independent suppliers" who can continue to deliver natural forest wood to the company's mills unaffected by the new forest policies."

These forests include some of the last refuges of the critically endangered Sumatran tiger and elephant, as well as forests on carbon-rich deep peat, whose clearing will lead to very high carbon emissions for decades to come.

"This so-called roadmap to sustainability is just another element of APP's investment in greenwashing, rather than greening," said Rod Taylor, Director of the WWF International Forests Programme. "This is not a roadmap to sustainability, but a roadmap to pulp more of Indonesia's forests."

Not only is APP backtracking from the broken sustainability commitments of 2004 and 2007, it also appears to be moving back from commitments made just a year ago in its "Vision 2020, a roadmap to guide sustainability principles, goals and program."

In this announcement, APP said it would "source 100 percent of its pulpwood supply from sustainable plantation stock by the end of 2015". The 2012 roadmap switches terminology from "100 per cent sourcing" to "100 per cent capability" with the introduction of a new loophole for "Mixed Tropical Hardwood (MTH) waste & residues".

"APP/SMG: The pulping continues" includes photographic evidence of clearfelled rainforest areas APP calls "waste and residues.

Eyes on the Forest members including WWF and Walhi Riau are calling on APP and SMG to immediately stop natural forest wood from forest conversion entering any of its pulp mills.

"Until APP makes this commitment and finds a way to demonstrate it is not just yet another empty promise, its financiers, paper buyers and paper consumers need to maintain and extend their own growing moratorium on dealing with APP," said Hariansyah Usman, Executive Director of Walhi Riau.

Sustainable palm cooking oil goes on sale to Indonesian consumers

2012-07-20

Jakarta – Indonesian consumers, residents of the world's largest palm oil producing nation and second biggest consuming market, can now buy sustainable palm oil for themselves.

WWF has welcomed the introduction this week by global retailing giant Carrefour of "Ecoplanet Cooking Oil", as it is the first consumer product to be labeled with the trademark of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in Indonesia.

Indonesia is the world's second largest consumer of palm oil after India, with consumption of 7.2 million tonnes annually, with cooking oil accounting for around 80% of the total. Indonesia overtook Malaysia as the world's largest palm oil producer in 2007, and produced over 25 million tonnes in 2011.

Concern that rocketing palm oil plantation establishment was pushing up deforestation rates, threatening tiger, elephant and orangutan habitat, displacing forest communities and contributing to massive greenhouse gas emissions through the exploitation of peat soils in the region led WWF and other partners to form the RSPO in 2005. A multi-stakeholder initiative devoted to transforming the palm oil business to one that is sustainable, the RSPO has developed a set of strict environmental and social standards that ensure that palm oil can be produced without harming people or the planet.

Sustainable Palm Oil Production

RSPO certified palm oil has made major inroads into European and American markets, but it is only now that it is available directly to Indonesia's over 250 million consumers. The oil will be available in 84 Carrefour stores covering Java, Bali, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

"With palm oil playing such a central role to both the economy of Indonesia and also the daily lives of its people, it is doubly exciting that cooking oil produced according to internationally recognized sustainability standards is now available here," said Irwan Gunawan, WWF Indonesia's Deputy Director of Market Transformation. "Now Indonesian consumers are empowered to make a daily choice at the market that contributes to sustainable development in their own country."

All of the EcoPlanet oil has been produced on a plantation certified according to RSPO guidelines by the Musim Mas company in Riau, Sumatra. In order to achieve its certificate, the company demonstrated that it had adhered to RSPO defined standards for responsible plantation management, which require, for example, that high conservation value areas are mapped and managed, use of pesticides is reduced, and smallholders, workers and communities are respected. Not only has the fruit that bears the palm oil been grown in a sustainable way, but all the companies along the palm oil supply chain have also been certified, guaranteeing that the sustainable oil has not been mixed with conventional oil along the journey from plantation to supermarket shelf.

This product launch by Carrefour is one step in a global effort. The retail giant made a global commitment to source 100% RSPO oil by 2015, and since 2010 has been buying certificates that support the growth of sustainable palm oil to cover all the products it sells in France. "With the launch of this product, Carrefour is ultimately showcasing its commitment to its consumers who are increasingly becoming more discerning and ethical in their choices, " said Adji Srihandoyo, Corporate Affairs Director, PT Carrefour Indonesia. "The product is good for the future of palm oil industry, good for the future of Indonesia, and good for the people as it is offered at an affordable price."

Carrefour's commitment to the development of sustainable palm oil in Indonesia extends to its support of smallholders, which produce approximately 40% of the country's output of palm oil. The Carrefour

Foundation recently launched a project in Riau, Sumatra that aims to help 250 small farmers to become the first RSPO certified smallholder collective.

WWF-Indonesia, which has been committed to transforming the palm oil industry in Indonesia for over a decade, hopes this sends an encouraging signal to big producers and smallholders alike.

"WWF hopes this commitment can inspire other manufacturers and retailers in Indonesia to commit to sustainable palm oil," said Gunawan. "It also sends a powerful signal to the country's palm oil growers that there is a burgeoning market for sustainable palm oil in Indonesia as well as abroad."

AfDB and WWF to launch Africa Ecological Footprint Report

2012-05-31

Arusha, Tanzania: The African Development Bank (AfDB) and global conservation group WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) have launched today a joint report on the state of Africa's environment.

The Africa Ecological Footprint Report: Green Infrastructure for Africa's Ecological Security takes stock of the health of Africa's ecosystems, as well as trends in resources use patterns. It also lays out recommendations on implementing green development pathways for Africa.

This report is intended to stoke up thinking on greener development in Africa and to rally action by policy-makers and investors in the lead-up to Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development taking place later this month in Brazil.

"Africa has choices", underlines AfDB President, Donald Kaberuka. "Embracing a more sustainable approach to development can generate benefits in terms of environmental security, human wellbeing, and increased competitiveness."

The Africa Ecological Footprint Report 2012 outlines two alarming trends, which if not addressed by policy-makers and investors are likely to lead to important social and economic impacts. First, by tracking the changes in wildlife populations as a proxy for ecosystem health, the Africa Living Planet Index shows a decline of nearly 40% in biodiversity in the last four decades. This decline reflects a degradation of the natural systems upon which Africa's current and future prosperity depends.

Second, rapid population growth and increasing prosperity are changing consumption patterns, with the result that Africa's ecological footprint – the area needed to generate the resources consumed by the people who live here – has been growing steadily. While Africa's total ecological footprint is set to double by 2040 in a business-as-usual scenario, the good news is that Africa is in an advantageous position to act. It is endowed with tremendous natural resources, which, if managed properly, will be able to meet the needs of a growing population. And its relatively low footprint may be maintained if forward-looking and large-scale solutions can be mobilised in the areas of renewable energy, urban planning, and sound management of forests, water and marine resources.

The opportunity and urgency to act to ensure adequate and equitable access to water, fuel and food in the coming decades is highlighted by Jim Leape, WWF Director General.

"Our ecological infrastructure – terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems – is as essential to human development as are industrial and social infrastructures such as roads, schools, hospitals and energy provision," said WWF's Jim Leape. "The Africa Ecological Footprint Report showcases successful and scalable initiatives across Africa in renewable energy, integrated water resource management, ecotourism and forest conservation. The report offers concrete recommendations for maintaining Africa's natural capital as the foundation for sustainable and inclusive development and I urge decision-makers to act on them."

Donald Kaberuka and Jim Leape launched the report together on 1 June as part of the AfDB's Annual Meetings in Arusha. The event, attended by AfDB senior staff, government ministers, NGO representatives, African business and financial leaders, and the African and international media, is intended to inspire interest and action from these key decision-makers. The report will also be featured at a side event of the Rio+20 conference in June.

AfDB and WWF formally entered into a partnership last July, agreeing to initially focus on three areas of cooperation: developing win-win partnerships with emerging economies and strengthening South-South cooperation; catalysing knowledge sharing and knowledge products for green growth and sustainable development; collaborating on energy and water resource management; and climate change. This report is the first joint product of this partnership.

With a recent tripling of its capitalisation to USD 100 billion, the AfDB is the most important multilateral institution financing development in Africa. As the continent faces rapid economic and population growth, and growing resource and climate pressures, the AfDB plays an essential role in ensuring sustainable and equitable development.

WWF is the world's largest environmental non-governmental organisation and has been active in Africa since its foundation more than 50 years ago. WWF works together with governments, businesses and local communities to deliver conservation and sustainable development worldwide.

To download the report, and to find out more, go to: www.panda.org/lpr/africa2012 or www.afdb.org.

Poor environmental performance seen as risk in palm oil investment

2012-04-29

Singapore - Environmental and social impacts of palm oil plantations could pose a material risk to investment in the fast growing sector, according to an investor survey released by WWF to a recent high-level meeting of investors and producers.

WWF's first-of-its-kind Palm Oil Investor Review 2012 underlines how growing concern over deforestation, biodiversity loss and community conflict could impact the industry and shows the intensifying spotlight being placed by investors on the sustainability of the palm oil industry.

More than 50 million tonnes of palm oil are used worldwide each year in everyday products including food and cosmetics. From 2010 to 2020, this volume is projected to increase by over 65%. The growing demand for palm oil has resulted in rapid and poorly managed expansion of production, causing deforestation, species loss, greenhouse gas emissions and social conflicts with local communities.

"Investors are increasingly aware of the strong link between sustainability and long term investment success," said WWF's Jeanne Stampe, co-author of the report. "Investee companies that integrate sustainability into the core strategy and operations are better able to mitigate risks and exploit opportunities, thereby deriving business benefits and delivering better investment performance."

WWF surveyed 35 key palm oil sector investors to assess their views and management of the sustainability challenges inherent in the palm oil industry.

Nearly two thirds of the investors surveyed are experiencing increasing demand for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) screens from their institutional clients and this is magnifying their focus on ESG issues. Even passive investors such as index funds are starting to show interest in new ESG overlays.

While a larger majority of investors (69%) already apply a responsible investment policy, many of these policies do not extend beyond governance, however over 50% of investors would consider creating dedicated policies e.g. a broader sustainable land-use policy.

Investors do face internal organizational constraints in addressing ESG risks such as the lack of internal ESG capabilities or firm-wide access to internal ESG analysts, but several are actively looking at internal strategic options to address these constraints, for example formulating centralised ESG risk functions and boosting internal ESG analyst teams.

"The palm oil sector presents an attractive growth proposition for investors, but ESG issues and the lack of company disclosure still cloud the ability of many to invest," said Stampe.

According to investors, reputational risk, poor environmental performance and lack of company ESG disclosure pose the greatest challenges to greater investment into the sector and the key factors to overcome these are availability of key data, the strengthening of the RSPO, demonstrable progress by its members toward certification and legislative changes that support the RSPO.

Investors see the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) as the most influential initiative and the de facto standard for investment screens, but want it to cover more issues such as corruption and have "more teeth", to ensure that members make and meet their commitments towards sustainable palm oil.

WWF support

WWF sees the financial sector as an important driver of sustainable palm oil production and trade. "Investors are uniquely placed to influence investee companies to adopt sustainable practices through active engagement and exercise of proxy voting rights, and through directing their investment capital towards sustainable palm oil producers," said Stampe.

The report provides in-depth recommendations to assist investors to overcome some of these challenges so as to maximise their ability to guide the industry. WWF will continue to support the financial sector by providing information and guidance through tools, research updates, and workshops with finance sector partners.

"If we all – investors, the RSPO and stakeholders such as WWF – work together, we can ensure that the palm oil industry expands in a sustainable way, so that long-term investment returns are enhanced and emerging economies benefit from sustainable development." said Jeanne Stampe.

For further information:

Chris Chaplin - Media Officer Asia Pacific, WWF International,
+86 10 6511 6272, Mobile: +86 13911747472, cchaplin@wwf.sg

"Breakthrough" as plantation expansion rule sees palm oil company hand back community land

2012-03-01

Pontianak, Borneo – An Indonesian palm oil company has relinquished over a thousand hectares of its plantation back to the community marking a breakthrough with respect to the workings of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

PT Agro Wiratama which is a subsidiary of the giant Musim Mas group and a member of the RSPO had obtained a government permit to develop an oil palm plantation on 9,000 hectares of land in West Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo but agreed to relinquish more than 1,000 hectares following interventions by the local community and NGOs.

Deputy Director of Market Transformation at WWF Indonesia, Irwan Gunawan said the case shows how the RSPO can be successfully implemented, "This is a real example of how the New Plantings Procedure was designed to work. Early warning of expansion plans and a real willingness by PT Agro Wiratama and parent company Musim Mas to engage with the community and other stakeholders has resulted in a win-win-win for everyone, including the environment.

"It shows that with careful planning and the right attitude palm oil can be sustainable. It can respect communities, generate income and protect wildlife."

He added, "Equally significant is the fact that the company gave back the land even though they had a legal permit to develop it – showing that the RSPO goes further than the law to protect local people and that Musim Mas is keen to foster a constructive relationship with its neighbours."

Under RSPO's "New Planting procedures" member companies are required to publicly announce plans to expand their operations. This ensures that the social and environmental requirements of RSPO are considered before new operations begin.

PT Agro Wiratama's plans were spotted on the RSPO website by the international human rights group, Forest People's Programme, who alerted their partners in Borneo.

The local Indonesian NGO, Gemawan was then able to alert the local community to what was being proposed and assisted them in discussions with the local government and PT Agro Wiratama.

Following a series of meetings that involved the mapping of land use and discussions on land claims the reduction of the concession area was made official by the local regent (bupati).

One of the leaders of the local Kuayan community, Kamarudin said, "We are very pleased that our land is secure now because we've now got a chance to make choices about our lives.

"We now ask all the other parties involved in this decision to respect our choice."

The Head of Mekar Jaya Village, Azim Kitung said, "Our community has been trying very hard for so long to refuse admittance to palm oil plantation developers in our village. We believe that we already had enough with the rubber, timber and rice paddies that we already own."

According to KONTAK Rakyat Borneo, a Pontianak based NGO that also assisted the community in the case; there are 19 palm oil plantations in Sambas Regency, 17 of which are members of RSPO.

Despite the RSPO's standards requiring member companies not to take over the lands of local communities without prior consent, Indonesian laws and land administration do not recognise most communities land rights resulting in permits being routinely handed out to companies even though they overlap areas basic to people's livelihoods.

The National Land Agency statistics show that there are some 3,100 land conflicts in Indonesia between palm oil developers and local communities.

WWF welcomes China's green credit guidelines

2012-02-24

Beijing, China – The green credit guidelines issued today by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) provide a leading regulatory framework in green lending, says WWF, the global conservation organization.

"This is a transformative development for China. The guidelines, which apply to both national and overseas credit by Chinese financial institutions, acknowledge the essential role of the banking sector in promoting a green and sustainable economy, as well as the risks presented by activities that are detrimental to the environment and local communities," said Jim Gradoville, CEO of WWF China.

These guidelines place green credit strategies at the highest level, as the bank's Boards of Directors will have the responsibility to "promote green credit concepts, including resource efficiency, environmental protection and sustainable development."

WWF welcomes the new requirements for effective environmental and social risk management, where "banks shall effectively identify, assess, monitor, control and mitigate environmental and social risks" and "disclose information as required by laws and regulations and subject themselves to market and stakeholder supervision."

This provides a clear direction for green lending policies and represents a significant milestone in transforming China's economic development and China's growing overseas investments. Based on the CBRC guidelines, banks will "publicly commit to adopt international best practices or standards for overseas projects."

"China has become the second largest economy in the world and its growing influence needs to be matched by responsibility of its investments," added Dr. Li Lin, Leader of WWF's China for a Global Shift Initiative. "This means not only reducing lending to high polluting industries, but also paying more attention to better management of natural resources and biodiversity protection. From this perspective, it will be important in the future to quantify the impacts of credit policies in terms of reduced pollutants and increased resource efficiency."

APP certifiers distance themselves from sustainability claims

2012-02-15

Pekanbaru, Sumatra – Gland, Switzerland: Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) claims of independent sustainability certification for its operations aren't supported by the certification schemes and assessors it has nominated, a WWF survey has found.

None of these certifications cover the most controversial operations of the APP's wood suppliers – mass clearing of native forests which are home to critically endangered tigers, elephants and orang-utans and clearing and drainage of peat areas which result in massive greenhouse gas emissions.

The certification schemes cited by APP cover some, but far from all, supplier timber plantations – but none considered whether plantation establishment involved the clearing of high conservation value forest or whether traditional forest owners had given their "free, prior and informed consent" to forest clearance or plantation establishment.

Another blow to APP global greenwash campaign

"None of the certifiers are prepared to back APP's claim that their certifications demonstrate its sustainability. This is another blow to the credibility of APP's massive global greenwash campaign," said WWF International forest programme director Rod Taylor.

On a weekend APP announcement that they would implement measures to ensure US consumers did not have to choose between tigers and toilet paper, Taylor said the company had a long record of broken promises and he would wait for actual evidence of a company halt to natural forest clearing.

"No amount of public relations can change the fact that APP has bulldozed through their own 2004, 2007 and 2009 deadlines to stop feeding Sumatra's natural forests through its pulp mills.

"Recent revelations that APP is developing the world's biggest pulp mill in South Sumatra does not inspire any confidence of the company meeting its 2015 deadline for sustainable sourcing."

Following a recently issued published analysis of the reality behind APP's global greenwash campaign from Sumatra NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest, the company cited several forms of certification and assessment to back its claims of sustainability, stating that: "In fact, APP is regularly assessed and certified by many of the world's leading authorities on sustainable forest management and environmental auditors - including Geneva-based SGS, TUV, AFNOR, the official French auditors for the European ' EcoLabel', PHPL, Indonesian sustainable forest management standard, LEI, Indonesian voluntary sustainable forest management standard, and PEFC Chain-of-Custody, the world's largest forest certification program."

WWF asked the nominated certification schemes and assessors whether they supported the APP claim and also asked for detail of what specific APP products or operations were covered by their certifications. The survey covered the key social and environmental measures of free prior and informed consent by landowners and protection of high conservation value forests for forest operations and forest clearance for plantations.

None of the schemes or assessors endorsed the APP statement, with major certifier SGS noting that "None of the TLTV (legality) evaluations conducted by SGS and the statements issued by SGS provide the company with the right to claim that their operations are 'sustainable forest management' " and "The SGS certificates/statements do not support the claim of 'sustainability'."

No certificate or assessment issued evaluated the sustainability of the APP group as a whole. The Indonesian voluntary certification scheme LEI said it "did not have data of all APP operations".

Imported pulp gets certified, Sumatra forests get pulped

Limitations also apply to PEFC Chain-of-Custody certification, often mentioned in APP claims of sustainability. " The PEFC CoC certificates they hold also do not provide any assurance of their own sustainability since these are simply chain of custody and nothing more," said SGS which conducts the PEFC certifications. "The PEFC certified material they use in their production, thus enabling them to make PEFC certification claims, is all imported from outside Indonesia as by our understanding there are no PEFC certified forests in Indonesia."

Key but neglected dimensions of sustainability were whether conversion to plantation involved the clearing of High Conservation Value (HCV) forest or whether those with traditional forest rights or tenure had given their "free, prior and informed consent" to the conversions. The LEI standard, for example confirmed that "The decision to establish forest plantation in certain area, either it was converting natural forest with HCV forest or deep peat and how it was conducted in relation to Free, Prior and Informed Consent is beyond LEI's standard coverage."

APP suppliers have a record of clearing areas of HCV forest and of neglecting to recognise or do rigorous HCV assessments. There is also a persistent record of land tenure issues around APP operations.

Sumatra has lost more than half its forests

The WWF survey found that none of the certifications demonstrated the legality of the APP wood supply as a whole. Additionally, SGS noted that some plantations had been established on deep peat (more than three metres deep) but Indonesian law lacked clear definition of the conditions under which this was prohibited.

As well as being legally contentious, clearing and drainage of deep peats is a key factor in elevating Indonesia to the leading ranks of carbon emitters globally and opens coastal areas to the risk of seawater incursions.

Sumatra has lost more than half of its native forests in the last 25 years. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature recently upgraded the Red List of threatened species status of the Sumatra elephant to "critically endangered", citing habitat loss as the main reason. The island's orang-utans and tigers are also under extreme pressure, with recent documented incursions by APP suppliers into reserves for tiger conservation designated by the company itself and featured in its international greenwashing campaign.

"APP's claims of sustainability are not convincing to a host of major companies that have ceased to buy paper products from them," said Taylor.

"APP should realise that performance, not promises and propaganda will get the world off its back. A key performance indicator would be for APP pulp mills to immediately halt all use of wood sourced by clearing tropical forests."

Notes
Analysis and details of the responses from the certifying schemes and certifying companies can be found at : http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/app_collated_certifier_responses_final_13_february_2012.pdf
APP uses four sources of materials to manufacture their products: Indonesian wood obtained from large-scale clearance of natural forest, Indonesian wood obtained from harvesting of plantations, pulp purchased from external sources and recycled materials. The truth behind APP's greenwash, the latest report by Eyes on the Forest (www.eyesontheforest.or.id), a coalition of Sumatra NGOs including WWF Riau, compares APP claims of sustainability and responsibility to its actual practices. See http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?202809/Massive-APP-greenwash-campaign-is-mostly-hogwash-finds-new-report
WWF-US last week detailed retailers who had dropped and retailers still stocking APP toilet tissue in the US. To download the report and learn more about WWF's tissue campaign, please visit www.worldwildlife.org/tp
PHPL - Pengelolaan Hutan Produksi Lestari – was not included in the survey as it is a mandatory government regulatory tool to verify legality rather than an independent voluntary third party certification of sustainable forestry.

High-level call for green revolution should be heeded, says WWF

2012-01-30

Gland, Switzerland: The UN High-Level Panel for Global Sustainability call for a radical redesign of the global economy for a healthy environment and social well-being deserves a wide audience and the full attention of all governments before this year's Rio+20 Earth Summit, global environment organization WWF said today.

Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future worth Choosing, more than a year in preparation by a panel co-chaired by South African president Jacob Zuma and Finnish President Tarja Halonen, is a useful successor to Our Common Future, the 1987 Brundtland Report that became the reference text on sustainable development and the basis of the original 1992 Rio Earth Summit, for many considered the start of the global environmental movement.

"The Global Sustainability report gives the highest level political signal yet of greater readiness to take the bold steps needed to build a prosperous future," said Jim Leape, Director General of WWF International.

"This report makes the alarming point that while we are already exceeding the Earth's capacity to support us, by 2030 we will need 50 per cent more food, 45 per cent more energy and 30 per cent more water than we do today.

"The High-Level Panel report offers a vision for meeting those challenges. As negotiators develop the text for the Rio Summit in June, we look to them to embrace the urgency and commitments needed to turn this vision into reality."

Convened by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in 2010, the panel was charged with providing a vision for sustainability, growth and prosperity in the years to come, along with a framework for moving past political and economic hurdles that put progress at risk. The panel, comprising current and former political leaders, was urged to make bold, practical and concrete recommendations reflecting the scale and urgency of the challenges faced by our planet.

Global conservation organization WWF welcomed the report's call for responsible consumer choices and sustainable resource management, and urged political leaders to create the enabling conditions to allow for the "21st century Green Revolution" called for in today's report.

Wanted urgently - a sustainable economy
The Global Sustainability report focuses on a number of essential measures to create a "green economy". WWF welcomes the wide-ranging recommendations which include:
●incorporating social and environmental costs in the regulation and pricing of goods;
●the phasing out of counter-productive subsidies (particularly fossil fuel subsidies);
●a requirement for business groups to work with governments and international agencies to report annually on environmental practices;
●the establishment of a "beyond GDP" Sustainable Development Index or set of indicators to be developed by 2014.
A coherent institutional framework
The second important area covered by the report relates to the strengthening of institutional governance at all levels. Recommendations include:
●the establishment of universal Sustainable Development Goals to compliment and succeed the Millennium Development Goals post-2015;
●the establishment of a new UN Global Sustainable Development Council;
●a peer review mechanism to enable states to share experiences and lessons learned.
Other notable areas of the report include:
●the recognition of the links between food, water and energy and the fact that they should not be treated as separate issues;
●the need to give priority to challenges facing marine and coastal ecosystems;
●funds for transition to sustainable development to developing countries;
●increased resources for disaster risk reduction.

Report's weaknesses
Much like the Rio+20 first negotiating draft issued earlier this month, the report is weak on binding commitments.

WWF did have concerns that while the recommendations for economic and institutional reform are positive, the report fails to suggest any concrete, time-bound commitments for progress, leaving policies open to governments to implement as they saw fit.

WWF urged the discussion at Rio to reflect the need for obligations and commitments in the recognition that this is about everyone's future prosperity.

While the report focuses strongly on environmental concerns the Rio negotiations need to further integrate social issues which are core to sustainability.

For real change, we need to take into account social issues such as poverty eradication, gender equality, fair distribution of resources, advancing of education and employment creation. Recommendations must make the link between social welfare and environmental health.

For more information contact:
Natalie Boudou, WWF International, nboudou@wwfint.org, +41 79 820 2898
Gemma Parkes, WWF International, gparkes@wwfint.org, +41 79 253 6386

Link to Global Sustainability report: http://www.un.org/gsp/sites/default/files/attachments/GSPReport_unformatted_30Jan.pdf
WWF's reaction to the Rio+20 first negotiating draft:
http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?203096/Future-We-Want-proposals-are-not-the-future-we-need-WWF

About WWF
WWF is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with over 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the earth'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, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

www.panda.org/news for latest news and media resources

Sustainable business edges up Davos agenda

2012-01-26

The World Economic Forum, meeting this week in Davos, Switzerland, is the biggest annual gathering of influential thinkers and leaders from the worlds of business, politics, media and civil society. WWF Director General Jim Leape explains why WWF is there.

What are the main environmental issues on your mind going into this year's World Economic Forum in Davos?

There is an ever greater need for a sustainable approach to business – especially regarding resource use, in a world of rapidly increasing consumption. Humanity is already using the equivalent of over 1.5 planets – yet for life we all rely on clean air and healthy freshwater resources, abundant forests and thriving natural ecosystems.

WWF is active in preserving freshwater systems, ocean life and forests; encouraging the use and development of renewable energy; reducing the impact on natural resources of major commodity supply chains like paper, palm oil and soy; and generally lightening humanity's footprint on the natural world. We envision a future where humans live in harmony with nature, and we partner with major players on the world stage – politicians, civil society, faith groups, labour unions, businesses and many others – in achieving that goal.

The theme of this year's Davos event is 'The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models', and this links closely with WWF's vision of change that makes room for both social and environmental sustainability. We only have one planet, and a finite bank of precious natural resources. But with bold and thoughtful solutions, there is ample room for green businesses to thrive within a model of global sustainable development.

In recent years, WEF has proved to be an increasingly important place to engage with companies on sustainability. Good initiatives have started to emerge regarding water, agriculture and sustainable consumption – and I look forward to see how these good intentions can become more concrete in the coming days and weeks.

The WEF event in Davos is an opportunity to catch up with business and corporate contacts. How important is WWF's work with the private sector, and why should businesses care about the environment?

Business and industry have a massive impact on natural resources, and companies have a duty to ensure that they use those resources sustainably. We all benefit from products and services in our daily lives, but the private sector should be encouraged to conduct its business in a way that entails a minimum impact on the natural world and the ecosystems on which we all depend.

Companies that want to be competitive today and tomorrow should be concerned about sustainability. Licence to operate is being increasingly influenced by environmental and social performance – and this trend will only continue.

WWF engages with corporate partners to bring about real change on the ground – supporting responsible businesses to reduce their ecological footprint.

The next big event this year is the Rio+20 summit on sustainable development in Brazil in June. What does WWF hope will come out of that global gathering?

Two decades after the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this year's Rio+20 conference is a major opportunity for the world to commit to charting a course for creating shared prosperity within the limits of this one planet. Twenty years ago the term 'sustainable development' came into currency, but this has still not been followed by sufficient action in making the concept a reality. Rio is an opportunity to put things back on track.

I am hopeful that Rio+20 will prove a catalyst in sparking new commitments and urging major players – including governments, businesses and others – to stretch themselves in aiming for a more sustainable approach to what they do. The WEF in Davos this week is an ideal platform to inspire governments, corporate players and others to step up and prepare the road to Rio.

For more information:
Gemma Parkes, WWF International, Executive Communications Manager - gparkes@wwfint.org, +41 79 253 6386

"Future We Want" proposals are not the future we need: WWF

2012-01-12

Gland, Switzerland – The first negotiating draft for the Rio+20 summit on sustainable development has the direction right, but the magnitude wrong, global environmental organization WWF said today.

"The Future We Want" Zero Draft acknowledges the need for poverty eradication, food security, and measures of progress towards sustainable development, but has few practical measures to enable the world to meet challenges in balancing competing global food, water and energy needs over the next 10 years.

"This document recognizes that countries have failed to act effectively on the environment and development over the last two decades but its lack of binding commitments risks setting us up for another decade of failure," said Lasse Gustavsson, Executive Director, Conservation at WWF International.

"The proposed "Register of Voluntary Commitments" just will not get the world where it needs to be," he said.

WWF has identified the need to solve the "Food, Energy, Water" equation as crucial to the success of such a critical global conference intended to give the world a new sense of purpose in achieving sustainable development 20 years after the original Earth Summit. But this first negotiating draft for the Rio+20 summit is especially weak on water-related ambition.

"Rio 2012 could fail solely on the basis of what it does – or doesn't do – on freshwater," said Gustavsson. "At this point, the document isn't offering much more than a recommitment to sanitation systems."

"What we need is water management based on natural, not political boundaries; a commitment to protect and restore vital freshwater systems; protection for the forests that safeguard our water supplies; and to prepare the world for the major water supply impacts of climate change."

WWF welcomes the commitment to the sustainable management of marine and ocean resources, but is concerned there is no commitment to a sorely needed system of high seas protection, no workable safeguards for the sustainability of dwindling fish stocks, and no proposals for curtailing criminal exploitation of marine living resources.

"We welcome the fact that a number of priority issues have been addressed, including the need for government and business frameworks to develop green economies, a move towards low carbon development and the elimination of environmentally harmful subsidies," said Gustavsson.

Other WWF concerns:

· The proposals for change are based on "voluntary national commitments" – which are not legally binding and will not commit countries to meet any targets or to work within a given timeframe. Countries need to agree targets, timelines and funding that match the challenges they are tackling.

· The text on developing green economies fails to require bringing social and environmental costs into national accounts, tax measures and certification schemes.

· Proposals to tackle food, water and energy security need specific targets, concrete implementation measures and a clear funding agreement.

· The text fails to take into account the critical role of climate change, and of ecosystem services which are key factors underpinning the production of food, energy and water.

· Many of the proposals for change are vague and open-ended. For example there are no targets for stopping deforestation or goals for effective water management.