KLK | Be a Seed for Change

My name is Adelbert Gangai. I am from the Maisin tribe and work with the nine tribes from the Collingwood Bay region of Papua New Guinea. Our culture is intrinsically entwined and our livelihoods are entirely dependent on the primary forest that surrounds us.
But recently there is a threat that the palm oil company KLK will destroy the subsistence life style we have maintained since time immemorial by attempting to illegally develop over 100,000 acres of our customary lands against our will. Fortunately, KLK has a weak spot—HSBC Bank is one of KLK’s principal bankers. Will you take a moment to tell HSBC to use its influence to pressure KLK to stop expanding on our lands?
Our chiefs issued a rare joint communiqué in 2010 voicing the consensus of the residents of Collingwood Bay—who total over 7,000 people from 326 clans in 22 villages scattered across our coastline—that we do not wish to have industrial palm oil plantations established on our land under any circumstances.
Will you stand with us and send a message today to HSBC—a key banker of KLK—asking it to use its influence to urge KLK to stop these misguided plans before this controversy escalates into a full blown conflict?
RAN sponsored a colleague from Collingwood Bay and myself this past month to bring our case to the annual meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in Sumatra. Thanks in large part to the pressure generated by over 12,000 RAN supporters like you, who took action to demand that KLK meet with us and that the RSPO finally take steps to address the formal complaint we filed more than a half a year ago, progress was made on both fronts.
Thank you for making this an issue that KLK and the RSPO can no longer ignore. But no real commitments have yet been made and right now, large earth moving equipment and a KLK barge containing palm oil seeds still sits just off our coastline. The anxiety this has created has driven members of our community to establish a blockade between the ship and the access route to our land.
We would now like to ask our friends and partners in the international community to take up our call and increase the pressure on KLK by asking one of its key bankers, HSBC, to use its leverage with KLK to push for a total withdrawal from our territory. For good.
We have witnessed what has happened to other communities in Papua New Guinea and around the world whose lands have been over-run by industrial palm oil plantations. They have been marginalized and become slaves on their own land. We do not wish this for the people of Collingwood Bay.
Our communities have fought and won against multinational corporations trying to develop our lands before. With your help, we will prevail in preserving this special place once again.
Thank you so much for your support,
Adelbert Gangai

		Thank you,
		Adelbert Gangai Collingwood Bay

Tell Cargill CEO Gregory Page you’re outraged his company is importing palm oil made with child and slave labor

Businessweek has released a groundbreaking article connecting Indonesia‘s palm oil industry to widespread cases of forced and child labor. The stories are truly terrifying, including workers, many of whom are children, being defrauded, abused, and held captive on palm plantations. All to grow a plant and extract its oil for use in junk food, lipsticks and other household items in our supermarkets.
As the Businessweek piece put it: “…[B]ecause palm oil companies face little pressure from consumers to change, they continue to rely on largely unregulated contractors, who often use unscrupulous practices.” The power is ours to change this story. TODAY. It’s time to tell Cargill, the leading supplier of palm oil in the country, that we will not stand for child and slave labor in our food.
The Businessweek piece was instigated by a nine-month investigation of the palm oil industry by the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism. The investigation focused on one of the world’s most significant palm oil suppliers, Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK), a major Cargill supplier. KLK workers—men, women and children—were lured thousand of miles away from their homes with promises of good work. What they found was that they wouldn’t be paid for two years, but only loaned up to $16 a month for health care and company-owned food. Many workers were locked into “stifling, windowless barracks” at night, and their national identity cards and school certificates were confiscated to prevent them from escaping.
So what did Cargill have to say about the practices of its corporate partner KLK? According to Businessweek: “Cargill defended its supplier. ‘At this time, KLK is not in violation of any labor laws where they operate nor are we aware of any investigation of KLK’s labor practices,’ says Cargill spokeswoman Susan Eich in an e-mail.”
This makes me furious. Let’s make sure Cargill doesn’t get away with using a PR flack to dodge its huge role in subjecting laborers and children to horrifying working conditions.
Please take the time today to tell Cargill to get conflict palm oil and slave and child labor out of our food.
Let’s face it, news breaks every day and then disappears into the background. In fact, companies like Cargill count on it. But we’ve all seen stories that break through and facilitate epic changes. The internet really does make it possible for our communities to amplify the news we care about—news that would otherwise go unseen. Today we have the opportunity to make sure palm oil plantation workers are not alone.
In too many ways, Cargill is right at the center of palm oil’s controversial web. Cargill must adopt comprehensive safeguards to prevent palm oil connected to slave and child labor, human rights abuses and rainforest destruction from tainting the world’s food supply.
Please tell Cargill today that you demand the company have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to slave and child labor.
You’ve told us that together we need to do everything in our power to get conflict palm oil off our grocery store shelves. This article needs to become our ammunition for educating our communities and going after the companies most responsible. When you’re done writing to Cargill today please take the time to encourage your friends to do the same. Let’s not let this issue fade from the front page.