Mars joins forest-friendly palm-oil push

[unhappycamper]

http://atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-01-130314.html



Mars joins forest-friendly palm-oil push
By Carey L Biron
Mar 13, '14

Multinational food giant Mars has unveiled a new set of guidelines aimed at ensuring that its palm oil supply lines are completely traceable and sustainable by next year. Global demand for palm oil has increased substantially in recent years, for use in both foods and household goods. Yet the industry, overwhelmingly centered in Malaysia and Indonesia, has been rife with environmental and labor problems.

Recent months, however, have seen a cascade of major reform commitments from both palm oil suppliers and well-known consumer brands such as Mars.

"Rapid expansion of palm oil plantations continues to threaten environmentally sensitive areas of tropical rainforest and carbon-rich peatlands, as well as the rights of communities that depend on them for their livelihoods," Barry Parkin, chief sustainability officer at Mars, best known as the maker of M&Ms and other candies, said this week.

"We believe that these additional measures will not only help build a genuinely sustainable pipeline for Mars, but will also help accelerate change across the industry by encouraging our suppliers to only source from companies whose plantations and farms are responsibly run."

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. If true, a good step.

which could encourage others to follow.

if true.