Who is invested in forest destruction?
Interview with Jeff Conant, senior international forests program manager
by Theo Constantinou, contributing writer
In his work Jeff fights for the health of our planet and is a champion to those around the world whose livelihoods and wellbeing depend directly on forests. His current project, the Deforestation Free Investment campaign, allows pension holders and other investors to see which of their mutual funds are invested in palm oil — so they can make ethical choices to align their money with their values.
I asked him about his take on the struggle to protect nature and nature’s defenders.
Theo Constantinou: What do you think would happen if you confronted a hedge fund manager with the dangerous reality of how his fund’s investment in Palm Oil impacts local communities?
Jeff Conant: First, he would challenge our facts and sources; then call our perspective extreme or emotional; then argue that his job is merely to provide maximum returns to his clients and insist that they haven’t expressed concerns about the social or environmental consequences of their investments. In other words, he’d say it’s not his problem.
At the same time, he’d be wondering silently if there could be any legal consequences if what we are arguing is in fact true.
The problem is that, for the most part, there are no laws that require investment firms to respect environmental or social guidelines, so funds and fund managers can go ahead exploiting people and the planet to enrich
themselves and their clients and with no consequences.
Some of us — many of us — are moved by ethical and environmental concerns, but to our great peril, the dominant ideology of our society is that money rules, and if my short-term pursuit of profit happens at your expense, or at the expense of people and places that are remote to me, well, I’m sorry, that’s just how it is. This is what we’re up against.
Fortunately, there is an increasing awareness that environmental and social issues have real financial consequences, and, to use the parlance of the investment world, increasing recognition that financial managers’ fiduciary duty includes a responsibility to address environmental and social impacts. Friends of the Earth is trying to reach out to the clients of fund managers, to
help them understand this issue, so they will pressure the decision makers to change business as usual.
TC: What is the Deforestation Free Investment campaign and how can I get involved?
JC: The palm oil industry is the fastest growing cause of rainforest destruction today. It fuels social conflict and human rights abuses in tropical countries like
Indonesia, Liberia, Nigeria, Guatemala and Malaysia. It’s driving orangutans, Sumatran tigers and other endangered species to the edge of extinction. So, Friends of the Earth is campaigning to slow the expansion of this industry. Our campaign is using the tried and true approach of following the money — we’ve found that between 6 and 10 percent of the entire financing of the palm oil industry comes from U.S. investment firms, including public pension managers. This means that palm oil is not only in our donuts, cookies and shampoo — and other consumer products — it’s also in our pension funds, our mutual funds and our schools’ endowments.
We are putting pressure on three of the top U.S. investors in palm oil — Vanguard, TIAA-CREF and Dimensional Fund Advisors, as well as on CalPERS, the largest pension fund in the U.S., whose funds are managed by
Dimensional — to adopt policies that prevent them from investing in companies that cause tropical deforestation and land grabbing.
In conjunction with that we’ve just launched Deforestationfreefunds.org — a database where you can see in real time what mutual funds are invested in palm oil, and then can take action to move your money, or inspire your fund manager to adopt a no deforestation investment approach.
This campaign uses the tools of investment and individual economic power to put the brakes on a really destructive industry. So, for those of us lucky enough to have retirement funds or pensions, we can now use deforestationfreefunds.org, and take action that will go towards defunding deforestation. I think it’s a valuable contribution and I hope folks make good use of it.
The palm oil industry is the fastest growing cause of rainforest destruction today. It causes social conflict and human rights abuses in tropical countries like Indonesia, Liberia, Nigeria, Guatemala and Malaysia. It’s driving orangutans, Sumatran tigers, and other endangered species to the edge of extinction.
TC: The Seventh Generation principle taught by Native Americans says that in every decision, be it personal, governmental or environmental, we must consider how it will affect our descendants seven generations into the future. Do you agree with this sentiment and what are some immediate actions that individuals could start taking to protect our planet from rampant exploitation for the sake of profit?
JC: I agree wholeheartedly. Intact indigenous and tribal cultures have always understood that to be human involves causing an undue burden on our Mother Earth, and therefore we need to live lightly, we need to make offerings to give back some of what we take, we need social systems that constrain our tendency to eat ourselves out of house and home.
In that sense, in terms of actions individuals can take, while I have the privilege of working full time on environmental issues, I believe that all of us can try to arrange our lives to rebuild connection: grow some of your own food, walk and bike instead of driving, make things with your hands, talk to your neighbors, have solar panels installed, run for city council, and generally, find ways to live lightly and to give back.
Learn more about the campaign and take action at deforestationfreefunds.org.
Stay tuned for parts two and three of this interview.
