Fonterra Implicated in Rainforest Destruction

NEW ZEALAND - Greenpeace says that a recent investigation has revealed that New Zealand's dairy giant Fonterra is implicated in Indonesian and Malaysian rainforest destruction and driving global greenhouse gas emissions.
calendar icon 25 August 2009
clock icon 1 minute read

By encouraging the use of palm-based animal feed from cleared rainforests, and by pushing an intensive industrial farming model in New Zealand, Fonterra is actively contributing to one of the world's largest causes of greenhouse gas emissions, claims Greenpeace.

The iconic New Zealand dairy giant is pushing it's farmers to use hundreds of thousands of tonnes of palm-based animal feed from South-East Asia's palm oil plantations planted on land that was, until recently, covered by rainforest.

According to Greenpeace, Fonterra's half-ownership of a company called RD1, a major importer of Palm Kernel Expeller (PKE) for animal feed, and an industry model which is driving New Zealand farmers to an ever more intensive use of animal feeds such as PKE.

Fonterra is helping to fuel the logging of Indonesian and Malaysian rainforests and driving up New Zealand's contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, concludes the report.

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