Lismore activists against the wide-scale destruction of south-east Asia’s rainforests for palm oil plantations are hoping consumer power will save the day – and the endangered orangutans affected by loss of habitat.

Local members of the Palm Oil Action Group (POAG) held a three-hour direct action outside Woolworths in Keen Street, Lismore, last Tuesday in a bid to educate shoppers about palm oil, which they say is often not labelled and is estimated to be in 10 per cent of supermarket products.

The group says palm oil costs the lives of 50 orangutans every week and its cultivation is a major cause of global warming.

POAG spokesperson Wren McLean said hundreds of Lismore people had signed their petition urging Woolies to label all products containing palm oil ingredients and to “weed out unsustainable palm oil products”.

POAG says that as the world’s hunger for palm oil grows, huge monoculture plantations are fast replacing the last wilderness areas of Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, threatening species such as orangutans, Sumatran tigers, rhinos and Asian elephants with extinction.

Indonesia, they say, is setting the world record for its rampant deforestation, at a rate of 300 soccer fields an hour, and is the world’s third largest carbon dioxide emitter.

“In the last analysed year, 23 per cent of accumulated greenhouse gasses were a result of deforestation and biomass burning,” Ms McLean said.

Ms McLean said the campaign followed a similar, successful one in Europe where consumer demand led to businesses such as Sainsburys and The Body Shop adopting policies for the responsible retail of palm oil.

She said Woolworths was targeted because POAG felt it was “most receptive to consumer pressure for ethical products” and praised the company for taking the first step by phasing out palm oil from their Home Brand products.

“We hope that once one supermarket chain changes its policy others will follow suit,” she said. “They (Woolies) now need to take a couple more in the same direction that ripple down the line, effecting suppliers, manufacturers, importers and producers of unsustainable palm oil.”

Meanwhile, a Woolworths spokesperson told The Echo that the decision by the retailer to ban the use of palm oil in its private-label products was based on both nutritional and environmental reasons.

“We have been able to exclude palm oil from our Select products and are in the process of phasing it out from all Home Brand products and in-store baked goods where we have direct control,” the spokesperson said. “There are still challenges for us in terms of in-store bakery goods where various baking margarines and ingredients are supplied by third parties. Our private label team is monitoring this aspect to understand these issues and find a suitable solution.”

A spokesperson for Coles said the retailer was “critically concerned” about palm oil and its associated issues such as habitat destruction and was currently exploring joining the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil – a not-for-profit association for major players along the palm-oil supply chain, including growers, processors, traders and retailers, concerned about the issue.

The retailer was also in the process of identifying all its Coles-branded products containing palm oil, their origin, suppliers and volumes and once completed, it would develop and implement a purchasing policy to ensure palm oil is sourced from responsible and sustainable sources.

“We would also unambiguously support the introduction of clear labelling so consumers can make an informed decision about the origins of the ingredients in the products they are purchasing,” the spokesperson said.

For further information on palm oil visit www.palmoilaction.org.au.