Dunedin sisters Clare and Judith Curran are setting up a
presentation for Parliament on New Zealand's use of palm
products.
Dunedin South Labour member of Parliament Clare Curran told
the Otago Daily Times last night the presentation was
planned for the middle of next month.
It coincides with growing concern that products using palm
oil or palm kernel may be causing the deforestation of jungle
in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Ms Curran said the issue was whether such products came from
"a verifiable sustainable source".
The presentation was designed to find out who in Parliament
was interested in the issue, and it did not seek to put
pressure on anyone.
Invitations would be sent this week.
"It's just something I've got an interest in," Ms Curran
said.
"I know that a number of other members of the Labour caucus
are interested, and I know that there are members of the
Green caucus that are interested, and I'm hoping that members
in other caucuses will be, too."
Judith Curran, who was part of the recent, successful protest
against Cadbury's use of palm oil in dairy milk chocolate,
will be making part of the presentation along with a member
of Greenpeace.
The Green Party yesterday called on the Government and
Fonterra to reduce the importation of palm kernel for use as
feed for dairy cows throughout the country, including Otago
and Southland.
Party co-leader Russel Norman said palm kernel imports went
from 0.4 tonnes in 1999 to 1.1 million tonnes in 2008.
Dr Norman said this was a quarter of all global palm kernel
production, which threatened not only the local grain
industry, but New Zealand's environmental reputation.
He believed the Government and Fonterra had to do something
to stop the "addiction" to the cheap but unsustainable palm
kernel.
Greenpeace NZ climate campaigner Simon Boxer claimed Wilmar
International, the company supplying kernel to New Zealand,
was the world's largest trader of palm oils and kernel and
had a bad reputation for rainforest destruction.
But Fonterra sustainability manager John Hutchings told Radio
New Zealand Wilmar International was a reputable company and
palm kernel was an important feed supplement.
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