According to a new report by the international NGO Human Rights Watch, illegal logging and mismanagement of Indonesia’s forestry industry may have prevented more than $7 billion being paid in royalties and fees between 2007 and 2011, costing the Indonesian Government more than its health budget. Emily Harwell, a partner at the US firm Natural Capital Advisors, said that “this is a very conservative estimate” as “the calculation does not include any wood that’s been smuggled.” Indonesia is ranked 118 among 176 countries on Transparency International’s 2012 corruption perceptions index and Human Rights Watch claims that weak governance is one of the main causes. Sumarto Suharno at the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry said that the country “does have an illegal logging problem” and that an internal investigation into the ministry was being conducted. Human Rights Watch is calling for greater assessment of government and corporate compliance with laws protecting local land rights and compensation agreements. (Bloomberg)
COP 19: Filipino diplomat goes on hunger strike to demand climate progress
The Philippines' Climate Change Commissioner, Yeb Sano, has called for governments worldwide to take “drastic action” at the two week UN Climate Change Conference (COP 19) in Poland and has pledged to go on a hunger strike for the duration of the conference unless a meaningful deal is agreed to tackle the escalating effects of climate change. Yeb Sano said that there was a direct link between Typhoon Haiyan, which is estimated to have killed more than 10,000 people, and climate change. Mr Sano called on the COP 19 to deliver meaningful progress on a pledge by rich countries to deliver $100 billion from 2020 to help developing countries cope with the impacts of climate change and for more ambitious steps to ensure that global greenhouse gas emissions are stabilised. (Business Green)
Employees
Bangladesh factory owners say they cannot afford minimum wage rise for workers
A protest by garment workers in Bangladesh over demands for an increase in minimum wage has forced more than 100 factories to close, after factory owners said that they could not afford the 77 percent rise in minimum wage for garment workers proposed by the Bangladeshi Government. Garment factory staff have been on protests over wages and working conditions since the summer following a string of fatal factory accidents this year, including the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in March 2013 which killed more than 1,100 workers. According to the International Labour Organisation, the present minimum monthly wage of $38 is approximately half that paid to garment workers in Vietnam and Cambodia and just over a quarter of the wage paid to garment workers in China. One protestor said that there was no other option but to publicly protest as “owners are indifferent to our demands.” (Reuters)
Corporate Reputation
Report: UK regulators’ £500 million fines fail to change corporate behaviour
According to a new report by the European Policy Forum, UK regulators have fined companies more than £500 million but this approach is failing to have an effect on corporate behaviour. The think tank, which brings together competition authorities, regulators and market participants across industry sectors, said that the practice of industry regulators fining companies “no longer carries public credibility” and should be phased out. The report states that regulatory fines are increasingly seen by firms as a cost of doing business and are either budgeted for or are passed onto consumers and shareholders. The report urges regulators to become tougher with companies and implement more schemes to compensate consumers, penalising executives through their bonuses and more naming and shaming of companies that break industry regulations. (Financial Times*)
Consumers
Report: UK public turned off by recycling
According to a new report by the UK recycling behaviour change organisation Greenredeem, 29 percent of the UK public surveyed do not recycle as much as they could because they cannot be bothered. In a survey conducted by the firm, 64 percent of participants said that the UK Government does not do enough to incentivise recycling and 27 percent of participants said that
they do not recycle as there are no recognisable personal gains. The report comes as a survey of 1,000 US consumers across the US conducted by Research Data + Insights on behalf of the Carton Council of North America showed that 86 percent of participants said that they expect food and beverage brands to actively help to increase consumer recycling. (Edie; Sustainable Brands)
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