Disney Agrees It Shouldn’t Contribute To Destroying The Jungle For Paper To Make ‘The Jungle Book’

Leave it to triumphant activists to make the best puns! After Walt Disney pledged it will change its paper purchasing policies  for the supplies it gets to make children’s book, including cutting ties with two controversial companies criticized for harming endangered rain forests, a member of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) put the news this way: “The Jungle Book will no longer be destroying the jungle.”

Environmentalists had been campaigning for two years to push Disney to stop doing business with two Asian pulp and paper manufacturers, claiming that the companies were destroying the Indonesian rainforest. Disney says now it will do everything it can to safeguard endangered forests and their ecosystems, reports The Guardian, which also reported the aforementioned Jungle Book quip.

“Disney is adding its voice to the growing chorus of companies demonstrating that there’s no need to sacrifice endangered forests in Indonesia or elsewhere for the paper we use every day,” RAN’s executive director Rebecca Tarbotton said in a statement.

From now on, Disney won’t use mixed tropical hardwoods that come from the rainforest and will instead try to use recycled paper and wood harvested according to the recommendations of the internationally recognized Forest Stewardship Council. It also won’t work with Asian Pulp and Paper or Asian Pacific Resources International Holdings, both companies which have been blamed by activists for the destruction of the Indonesian rainforest.

Instead, Disney will “work with non-governmental organizations to identify and prioritize regions with poor forest management and high rates of deforestation.

RAN’s campaign has seen plenty of success since it revealed scientific evidence that pulp from endangered trees was turning up books with glossy, colored pages, like children’s books and coffee table books. Including Disney, nine publishers have switched their paper purchasing policies as a result.

Disney breaks ties with paper makers over Indonesian rainforest concerns [The Guardian]

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