Friday 11 September 2009

Twitter and Procter&Gamble

Social media's a fabulous thing - it allows you to get in touch with all sorts of people, from all sorts of places, both to learn something new and also to share what you have in common. I'm a huge fan of Twitter - and since signing up I've made a great network of people who are passionate about the environment and in particular the plight of the orangutan and the devastation caused by palm oil.

Today I 'met' a new friend @RikaNauck who has kindly forwarded me a response she received from Proctor & Gamble regarding their thoughts on palm oil. Thank you Rika! Here it is:

"We can confirm that Procter & Gamble (P&G) supports a moratorium on the illegal conversion of High-Conservation-Value (HGV)-designated forests for the production of palm oil. This approach is consistent with the principles and criteria set forth by the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which has been largely-embraced as an industry-accepted, responsible practice.

P&G remains fully-committed to the sustainable sourcing of palm oiil and its by-products. We have followed the work of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) since its inception, through FELDA, our joint venture partner in Malaysia.

We share our sustainability guidelines with our suppliers, which can be found on our website at http://pg.com/company/our_commitment/sustainability.jhtml We also encourage and reward sustainable and responsible behaviour on behalf of our suppliers. P&G buys its palm products from a variety of reputable sources with the majority of these products originating in Malaysia and Indonesia, the world's two largest palm oil producers with the majority of suppliers being members of the RSPO.

We agree that illegal deforestation and land usage remains a pivotal issue for all stakeholders associated with palm oil supply and utilization. Our partners and suppliers have strict policies in nplace ensuring they do not initiate nor contribute to illegal deforestation practices and/or behaviour, based on the laws in place in the specific country or region in which they operate. They are also strictly adhering to RSPO-specifed criteria in the selection, designation and protection of HCV forests in both existing and proposed plantation sites. In addition, our suppliers also have "zero burn" polices in place, forbidding the use of fire for site-clearing, andselection, use and allowable depth of peat-lands for use in the planting of palm plantations.

In summary, we share your conerns regarding illegal deforestation practices and continue to support and advocate the need for sustainable behaviour as it relates to the sourcing of palm oil and its by-products with all of our suppliers and partners moving forward."

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