Every hour, 300 football fields of rainforest is cleared to make way for new palm oil production. But for 5 YEARS, Australian and New Zealand regulators have delayed on mandatory labeling rules that could help consumers avoid products tied to rainforest destruction.

For too long, products that source palm oil from plantations that uproot orangutan habitats are marked as generic “vegetable oil.” But consumers deserve to make informed decision to ditch products linked to the palm oil industry’s reckless environmental and human rights abuses.

The Australian and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation has the power to enforce mandatory palm oil labeling. But for years, they’ve failed to take action, enabling more deforestation and orangutan deaths. Before the forum’s next meeting in April, let’s come together to demand regulators finally rein in palm oil industry abuses with a mandatory labeling law.

Tell the ministerial forum: consumers want to make informed choices -- enact mandatory palm oil labeling now!

What’s behind the delay? In part, food industry interests claim labeling rules would hurt their profits. But the EU has had similar rules since 2014, and experts say costs to the industry were negligible. Meanwhile, saving vast expanses of rainforest and orangutans’ lives is invaluable.  

Over 90% of orangutan habitat has been destroyed over the last two decades, prompting the UN to declare it a “conservation emergency.” And when experts estimate up to 5,000 orangutans die each year for the same reason, we can’t waste any time in reining in reckless palm oil expansion.  

It’s up the ministerial forum to do its job and protect what’s left of orangutan habitats by implementing mandatory palm oil labeling. We’ve waited years, and still rainforest devastation continues. It’s time for us to demand the right to make informed choices: consumers want mandatory palm oil labeling!