Six Greenpeace activists have reportedly been detained by the captain of tanker Stolt Tenacity for staging a rally against forests destruction, particularly in Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of palm oil
ix Greenpeace activists have reportedly been detained by the captain of tanker Stolt Tenacity for staging a rally against forests destruction, particularly in Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of palm oil.
The ship was transporting crude palm oil, owned by the world’s biggest palm oil trader Wilmar International, from a refinery in Dumai in Riau to Europe.
According to a statement released by Greenpeace Indonesia on Saturday, six Greenpeace activists from Indonesia, Germany, Britain, France, Canada and the United States staged the peaceful rally in the Cadiz Bay near Spain. They managed to unfurl banners that read “Save Our Rainforest” and “Drop Dirty Palm Oil” on board the tanker before being detained by its captain.
“We have informed the tanker’s captain through VHF marine radio channels about the peaceful and antiviolence action […] and asked him to free the activists and let them continue the peaceful rally,” said Greenpeace campaigner Hannah Martin.
She said that Wilmar was the main supplier of palm oil to food giant Mondelez. Based on Greenpeace’s recent investigation, palm oil suppliers to Mondelez had allegedly destroyed roughly 70,000 hectares of forests across Southeast Asia in the past two years. Mondelez is the producer of Oreo cookies, among others.
Greenpeace, therefore, urged Mondelez to stop its trading with Wilmar until the later managed to produce palm oil without destroying forests.
Mondelez has dismissed such allegations, saying the company had been prioritizing suppliers that meet sustainability criteria that allow retailers and customers to trace their products back to the mill.
Wilmar had earlier urged Greenpeace to take “collaborative action” with the company if it wanted to improve the palm oil industry. Wilmar also disputed Greenpeace’s claims about the companies it sourced palm oil from.
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