possible where this is stated. After recycled paper, second-best is to look for FSC certification. The American NGO Rainforest
Alliance has its own certification system, featuring a green frog symbol, for a wide range of food and non-food products. This covers a range of issues including deforestation, other environmental considerations, and benefits to workers. Downsides include the FSC-linked timber certification, permission to use the logo where only thirty per cent of an ingredient is certified, and the possibility that certification applies to just one ingredient rather than to the whole product.
PALM OIL AND SUSTAINABILITY Palm oil is widely found in food and personal care products. The enormous growth in this industry over such a small space of time has resulted the deforestation of previously untouched rainforest to make way for new palm oil plantations. Currently, palm oil is not required
to be labelled as such in Australia. The 2011 Labelling Logic: Review of Food Labelling Law and Policy report recommended that additional sugars and vegetable oils in food be labelled individually. However, following a meeting of Australian and New Zealand ministers in November 2016, the recommendation has still not yet been implemented, and is pending ‘further work to consider the potential impacts’. Until then, a precautionary approach
would assume that it may be found in all generic ‘vegetable oil’. One avenue adopted by some
consumers is to avoid palm oil and its derivatives such as those found in soap. Another is to demand certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO), produced under a system that precludes production on recently cleared high conservation value forest land, but which does allow for the loss of regrowth forests. The CSPO logo has a green palm leaf
with writing around the outside and ‘RSPO’ at the bottom. Products may contain the logo, and if not, it is worth asking the companies involved whether their palm oil is certified. A less credible option is the GreenPalm offset-based system that is used by some companies claiming sustainability for their palm oil.
GOOD NEWS ABOUT SOYA For soya, which is used for candle wax and biodiesel in addition to a wide range of food products, there is a small amount of good news. In 2006, Brazil began a moratorium on the cultivation of soya beans on recently deforested land, and this marked its tenth anniversary this year. For neighbouring Paraguay, Argentina, and Bolivia, soya-driven deforestation remains a serious problem. In terms of moves towards
sustainable cultivation, the Round Table on Responsible Soy has set up its own certification system, but at present certified soya appears to be hard to track down with confidence.
When looking at how to cut down on unsustainable soya intake, it is important to realise that about 70-90 per cent of global production goes to feed animals and fish. Some of Australia’s soya animal feed is domestically grown, but much is imported. Australian-grown soya ingredients are GM-free, and avoid the likely use of GM in their imported counterpart.
THE ROLE OF CONSUMERS The global rate of deforestation, most of which has been taking place in the tropics, has fortunately halved over the past 25 years. Despite this encouraging trend, consumers need to take a proactive stand to help curb further losses. n
RESOURCES Forestry Stewardship Council Australia
http://au.fsc.org Rainforest Alliance certification
www.rainforest-alliance.org/business/ certification-verification Certified sustainable palm oil
www.unmaskpalmoil.com/cspo- explained RTRS certified soya
www.responsiblesoy.org/certification/ nuestra-certificacion
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www.livingnow.com.au
Martin Oliver is a writer and researcher based in Lismore.
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