Friends of the Earth: Press Releases: Friends of the Earth and Ape Alliance's palm oil campaign wins Observer Food Monthly award

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Friends of the Earth and Ape Alliance's palm oil campaign wins Observer Food Monthly award

Mar 22

Friends of the Earth and Ape Alliance have won an Observer Food Monthly (OFM) Award for their campaign to help stop the trade in palm oil from driving the orang-utan towards extinction. The campaign was launched in 2005 in partnership with the Ape Alliance which includes Orangutan Foundation, Sumatran Orangutan Society and the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation.

Palm oil is found in one in ten products on the supermarket shelves including bread, crisps, margarine and cereals to lipstick and soap. The clearance of large tracts of rainforest in Malaysia and Indonesia for palm oil plantations is the primary cause of the orang-utan's decline.

Since its launch the campaign has notched up many successes including:

Attracting global attention to the devastating impact which the palm oil industry has on the Orangutan, their rainforest habitat and the communities who live alongside them.
Highlighting the need to strengthen company law so that UK companies are legally required to report on the social and environmental impacts of their supply chains.
Persuading all the major supermarkets to join a Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. The Roundtable is an association of business and non government organisations seeking to promote sustainable palm oil.
Helping to stop a mega palm oil plantation in Borneo, Malaysia. The plantation would have led to the destruction of two million hectares of pristine forest - an area the size of Wales.

Friends of the Earth is continuing to campaign to ensure UK supermarkets deliver on their pledge to use only sustainable palm oil and is working to ensure that the growing demand for biofuels doesn't lead to even greater destruction of the orang-utan's home forests. The organisation is calling on the UK Government to ensure no palm oil is imported for bio-fuel.

Friends of the EarthPalm Oil Campaigner, Ed Matthew said:

"We are delighted to have won this award. We have achieved a huge amount over the last few years but the sad fact is that the rainforest in Indonesia and Malaysia continues to be destroyed at an alarming rate and the orang-utan is still gravely threatened. Now the use of palm oil as a bio-fuel could push the orang-utan over the edge. The UK Government must ensure no palm oil is imported for use as bio-fuel."

Friends of the Earth's received the award from Alex James of Blur and Nicola Jeal, editor of OFM at a ceremony in London on 22 March. The awards, now in their fourth year, recognise and reward those who have made a contribution to the food industry for the better.

Winners were selected by a combination of OFM (OFM) reader votes and a celebrity judging panel which included: cookery expert Nigel Slater; Ruth Rogers, of the River Café; Tom Conran, restaurateur; Joanna Blythman, food writer; Jay Rayner, Observer restaurant critic; Robbie James, Waitrose; Caroline Boucher, deputy editor OFM and Nicola Jeal, OFM editor and chair of the judging panel.

Notes

Pictures of orang-utan can be downloaded from www.foe.co.uk/resource/images/orangutan_report/

Broadcast quality footage of orang-utans and oil palm plantations is available from the press office at Friends of the Earth with thanks to the Orangutan Foundation.

Further information

The oil for ape scandal report www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/oil_for_ape_summary.pdf

The Ape Alliance www.4apes.com/palmoil/

Contact details:

Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood St.
LONDON
N1 7JQ

Tel: 020 7490 1555
Fax: 020 7490 0881
Web: www.foe.co.uk/feedback.html

Media team