translated from Spanish: Greenpeace accuses multinational companies of encouraging deforestation

Jakarta.-Greenpeace today denounced that the multinational companies that in 2010 pledged to end deforestation have not only failed to fulfil their commitment, but up to 2020 will have contributed to destroying some 50 million hectares of forest. The companies grouped in the so-called Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), which meets today in Canada, including Nestlé, Mondelez or Unilever, pledged to achieve a production and supply chain to avoid logging in 2020. 
In a new report, the environmental organization warned that next year will have lost an area of forest equivalent to that of Spain due to agricultural expansion for livestock and crops such as soybeans, palm oil, rubber or cocoa , as well as the paper industry. “Despite commitments, global production of raw materials remains one of the main causes of forest destruction,” Greenpeace said in the “Countdown to Extinction” report. The NGO said that this year it contacted more than 50 companies to check their progress and that none of them could demonstrate a significant effort to eradicate deforestation of their supply chain. 
The palm oil sector would be the main cause of deforestation in southeast Asia, where raw material production destroyed 14.5 million hectares between 2010 and 2015, the NGO said in a statement. “The impression is that the vast majority of the palm oil sector is not willing to reform. That leaves the brands that use palm oil in a difficult position, “said the head of the Greenpeace Forest campaign in Indonesia, Kiki Taufik, in a statement. Greenpeace warned that global demand for raw materials will continue to grow if no changes are introduced, so it recommended limiting agricultural expansion while transitioning to sustainable crops and farms and a diet that reduces products Meat and dairy. Countries that lost a larger extension of primary forest in 2018 were Brazil (1.3 million hectares), Democratic Republic of Congo (400,000) and Indonesia (0.3), according to World Resources Institute. On the other hand, where more accelerated deforestation was in Ghana (with an increase of 60% compared to the previous year), Ivory Coast (26%) and Papua New Guinea (22%).

Original source in Spanish