A dozen Greenpeace activists yesterday lashed themselves to a cargo ship in New Zealand to protest its shipment of animal feed produced on palm plantations that they blame for massive deforestation.
The group claims millions of hectares of rain forest are being cut down to make way for the plantations, destroying animal habitats and seriously impacting the climate. The protesters boarded the Hong Kong-registered East Ambition from a motorised dinghy while the ship was anchored off the port of Tauranga,chaining themselves to cargo cranes in an attempt to stop the cargo of palm kernel from reaching shore.
Police later boarded the ship and arrested two protesters.
The activists say the palm kernel animal feed is from Indonesia and is headed for New Zealand dairy farms.
Greenpeace campaigner Simon Boxer called on Prime Minister John Key to halt imports of the product and address intensive dairy farming in New Zealand.After tourism, the dairy industry is the second-biggest foreign currency earner with a 24% share.
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