Orangutans Online

On January 10^th the European Commission is scheduled to vote on sanctioning the Biomass Action Plan. In a nutshell this would be sanctioning the continuing and increased use of biofuels, promoting it as a green alternative to traditional fuels. However biofuels will conclusively cause ever greater deforestation, biodiversity losses, or evictions and impoverishment of local communities. Of course all these three things will accelerate the extinction of the orangutan, and notwithstanding this unrestrained biofuel expansion will accelerate, not slow down climate change, as peatlands and rainforests across the world are converted to energy crop monocultures and release their carbon in the process.

Please visit the site below to register your opposition to this plan, either by use of the pre-prepared letter or by personal e-mail to the relevant dignitaries mentioned there.

http://www.regenwald.org/protestaktion.php?id=124

Yesterday's Independent featured an article on the plight of the orangutan, see it here http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2081668.ece

Nothing I haven't seen or written about before but at least it gives me hope to see the issue getting national newspaper recognition. But ten years left? We need fast action, and an alternative to the palm oil biofuel solution. As a shamed polluter who drives 500 miles a week alone I'm waiting for the green solution eagerly, but this can't be allowed to be it.

... their plantations minister obviously doesn't sing from the same hymnsheet. Still Malaysian ministers involved in palm oil are blaming foreign NGOs for a "smear campaign" against the industry, as reported here: http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=17&art_id=33956&sid=11311288&con_type=1&d_str=20061213

Do they think that BOSF, SOS and all the others are making it all up? Aren't they choking on the same haze as the rest of Borneo's primates, human and non-human, are choking on?

On a lighter note, please continue to watch "Extinct" on UK television this week and vote for the orangutan, which will channel most of the funds raised to the Heart of Borneo WWF campaign.

This week the Malaysian Government have launched a "RM20mil Palm Oil Wildlife Conservation Fund to promote ideas and proposals to enhance biodiversity linked to palm oil production worldwide". The article is here in the Malaysia Star: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/12/6/nation/16232359&sec=nation

Ostensibly this seems to be a good thing. Campaigning for sustainability, they are also promoting the RSPO. However the focus of the message is also on the economic importance of palm oil to Malaysia. Encouraging more production, whether sustainable or not, introduces more deforestation, more habitat loss and more of the familiar problems. Let's see more about what the fund will be used for ...

So it's been a long time since I posted, with relatively optimistic and triumphant news that major UK supermarkets were being responsible. So are orangutans safer now?

I've been neglecting the news updates - a combination of personal circumstances and an appalling internet connection (now fixed thanks to the removal of a nest full of dead wasps in our BT socket ...) But this is a blog - it should be regular(ish), relevant, and have something to say, so I intend to post weekly, starting now, referring to recent news and issues. Orangutans need our help more than ever.

Last week the Malaysia Star reported on the overcrowding in rehabilitation centres, read about it here: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2006/11/21/lifefocus/15964652&sec=lifefocus. Because of fires burning across the island, and because of palm oil plantations, orangutans are dying, and being forced out of their homes. That's appalling enough, but what's worse is that the overcrowding in the rehabilitation centres means that for orangutans rescued from these situtations, CITES and GRASP are reluctantly recommending euthanasia.

I've praised and encouraged both organisations in the past. CITES have been responsible for the protected status and of ramin hardwood, helping to preserve habitat, and GRASP is the United Nations orgnisation set up specifically to address the endangered great apes. But their respected international status means that there is every danger that they will be listened to. What will start with the blind, the infirm, and the orangutans with viruses, is in danger of becoming every displaced orangutan without a home.

I'll continue to publicise what palm oil is produced unsustainably and the companies responsible, but right now the rehab centers and charities really need help!

Good news today - Morrison's became the last of the major UK supermarkets to sign up to the RSPO. Since my last update, it seems Tesco has also finally done the right thing. Great news for those who have been campaigning, and finally it seems there's unanimity in what the right thing to do is to help save orangutan habitat.

See the press release from Friends of the Earth here: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/major_uk_supermarkets_sign_02082006.html

Belated congratulations to UK supermarket giant Sainsbury's, who officially confirmed their commitment to sustainable palm oil by signing up to the RSPO on May 22nd. Shame on Tesco's - UK readers beware that they continually shun the sustainable palm oil route while leading lights such as Asda, Sainsbury's and M&S have done the right thing. UK readers, like me - you know where not to shop.

Here's a shocking story that never goes away - government officials in some Asian countries are still continuing to smuggle orangutans for their own personal pets. Recently a Cambodian government minister was caught with a baby orangutan, as reported by the BBC here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5050612.stm

Unfortunately the government official involved is not repentent, but hopefully adverse publicity and the good work of environmental activists and the local police forces will one day make this a thing of the past.