UK authorities thwart FAO partner Danone’s ‘destruction’ of community woodland

 ROME - Following fierce public backlash from the local community, North Yorkshire Council has rejected plans by FAO partner Danone to expand a water bottling plant by clearing an area of community woodland, according to official sources.

 The controversial plans by Harrogate Spring Water, a subsidiary of French dairy giant Danone, would have felled up to 1000 trees in Rotary Wood, ‘destroying’ a much-loved community woodland planted by schoolchildren decades earlier, said environmental activists.

 Receiving over 1300 objections from local residents, the application attracted the ire of local politicians and interventions from high-profile British environmental campaigners, including actors Dame Judi Dench and Dame Joana Lumley.

 “You cannot call yourself ‘forest positive’ while cutting down a thriving community woodland planted by children” said environmentalist and author Sir Jonathon Porritt, arguing that “if Danone wants credibility on climate and nature, the simplest, most powerful step it can take is to leave these trees standing.”

 The French multinational, which says it aims to eliminate deforestation from its supply chains to become ‘forest positive’ by 2030, has for decades sought to portray itself as a corporate leader in sustainability, including through its partnership with the FAO.

 Speaking to the Insider, a Danone source who asked not to be identified claimed the water plant expansion plans were “consistent with Danone's commitments globally to sustainable, responsible development, including its Renewed Forest Policy.”

 The UN agriculture agency’s decision to partner with private corporations has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, with critics arguing such relationships risk damaging the organisation’s credibility and make it vulnerable to corporate influence.

 On a page dedicated to stopping deforestation on its website, the FAO claims it is committed "to helping countries halt deforestation, forest degradation and achieve high-quality emissions reductions from the forestry and land use sector.”

 Danone has not yet disclosed whether it plans to appeal North Yorkshire Council’s decision.

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