Sunday, July 12, 2009

Swiss Funding Rainforest Destruction

Two of the largest Swiss banks, Credit Suisse and UBS, are to fund Rainforest destruction through expanding Palm Oil plantations in Indonesia. Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) will develop 1.3 million hectares of land for palm oil plantations with Swiss finance on the island of Indonesia Kalimantan (Borneo) and in Papua on the Western half of the island of New Guinea, as reported by Forest.org

ALERT! Swiss Francs Threaten Indonesian Rainforests
July 9, 2009
Major Swiss banks Credit Suisse and UBS are to further fund Golden Agri-Resources [search] (GAR), the world's largest listed palm oil company, which currently produces 10 percent of Indonesia's palm oil. A further 1.3 million hectares of land are to be developed for palm oil plantations [search] with Swiss finance on the island of Indonesia Kalimantan (Borneo) and in Papua on the Western half of the island of New Guinea. Let these banks and the Swiss government know that their financing of rainforest destruction and climate change is completely unacceptable and will be protested until it ends.
RainForest Protection


The Swiss banks create wealth for themselves and big Agri-Corporations through these kind of enterprises, while at home in Switzerland destruction of the local environment is a big issue. What if the whole plantation game falls into complete disrepair and major financial loss due to climate changes and degradation of the land? Who will pay for that in the future? Will some World Council hold the Swiss accountable, having helped finance the destruction of the environment in Indonesia?

In a strange twist of fate major banks of the world helped finance - through their greed - the current economic collapse. Ecologists and environmentalists know that million hectare mono-plantations are not sustainable long term. They are a short term option, especially when markets change due to coming revolutionary energy developments.

The people on this planet are going to have to take a lot of time to recover that land, and heal what is being destroyed. I foresee a future World Council, in a different world than the one we live in today. They are going to have to redress the balance. People do not want to see that the future of our whole planet is at stake. When you have no water and no food... maybe there is no choice but to face the facts and change the way you live?

My own impression is: why go there? Are people so brain-dead that they don't see the ecological crash coming? What are these people going to eat? Their Agro-dollars? As an example the Blogpost below: Rivers Dry - Crisis Looms is one account of a story of ecological degradation and destruction leading to loss of resources.

*A Scottish firm has been implicated in funding a plan that would destroy the rainforest habitat of critically endangered orangutans in Sumatra. Read More

Credit Suisse, UBS, BNP Paribas to help finance cutting of rainforests for palm oil, say NGOs: Swiss banks, Credit Suisse and UBS, together with the French BNP Paribas, are helping Singapore-listed Golden Agri-Resources raise up to 280 million Swiss francs ($258 million) to finance conversion of large areas of rainforest in New Guinea and Borneo for oil palm plantations, reports the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), a group that campaigns on behalf of forest people in Southeast Asia. Read More

KeyWords: Palm Oil Action - Destroying Ecosystems - Rainforest Action Network - Friends of The earth