Forests are vital for clean air and water, providing the earth with an ability to breathe and us with a healthy future. They also provide a place that endangered species like Orang-utan, tigers and elephants call home.

Sadly these homes are at risk, with rainforests around the world experiencing devastating losses, being cleared to make way for ever-expanding oil palm plantations. Luckily it doesn’t have to be this way.

We all know the importance of using environmentally-sustainable products, and palm oil is no different. Unsustainable palm oil can cause devastating impacts on the environment and local people; the problem lies with how and where it has been produced. That is why we advocate for Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO), which is palm oil that has been grown on a plantation managed and certified according to the principles and criteria of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). If it’s grown sustainably, palm oil can help protect valuable species and forests.

Taronga has joined alongside seventeen leading Zoo-based conservation and wildlife organisations across Australia and New Zealand to urgently drive the transition to Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) to protect the homes of endangered species like orang-utan and tigers.

Today, on World Orang-utan Day, we launch the Responsible Palm Oil Network, with the release of a Position Statement calling for urgent action from companies and consumers alike. Orang-utans are one of many species threatened by habitat loss driven by unsustainable palm oil, with the Bornean Orang-utan recently joining their cousins, the Sumatran Orang-utan on the list as Critically Endangered.

Our aim is to mobilise the community, work with Australasian manufacturers to move to 100% segregated certified sustainable Palm Oil use, introduce clear palm oil labelling and support the genuine achievements of companies who are leading the market.

The organisations include Unmask Palm Oil, the Jane Goodall Institute, the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia, the Borneo Orang-utan Society, Orang-utan Foundation International Australia, Orang-utan Land Trust and the Orang-utan Project.

You can read the full Joint Statement here.