Support Indonesia forest protection Apr 06
Fri, 04/07/2006 - 01:52
ACTION ALERT PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!
Indonesia's Rainforests and Orangutans Still Gravely Threatened
By Rainforest Portal, a project of Ecological Internet, Inc.
http://www.RainforestPortal.org/
April 6, 2006
TAKE ACTION
Initial progress must be consolidated, and further rainforest
protections established
http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=indonesia
The Indonesian government recently announced it was abandoning
plans to destroy 1.8 million hectares of rainforest by
establishing oil palm plantations in prime orangutan habitat.
While political maneuvering continues by those supporting the
project, this strategic victory is encouraging and important. We
believe the Indonesian government should be taken at its word,
even as we work to consolidate this initial victory and to
otherwise protest the state of Indonesia's rainforests which are
in dire crisis. Ecological Internet asks that you send the
Indonesian President a congratulatory email making further
policy requests. It is important the project cancellation is
formalized and permanently laid to rest, and the ancient
rainforests that were threatened are given permanent protected
status that is effectively enforced. Please also express
support for the Indonesian government's recent preliminary
announcement of its participation in the "Heart of Borneo" tri-
country conservation initiative which aims to preserve one of
the most important centers of biological diversity in the world,
covering approximately 220,000 km2 of rainforests and numerous
wildlife species including the critically endangered orangutan.
To be maximally effective the rainforest movement must
acknowledge progress, however tentative and inadequate, even as
we intensify our efforts.
Take Action!
http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=indonesia
Fri, 04/14/2006 - 18:27
#2
European demand for palm oil threatens rainforest
ALERT UPDATE
***********************************************
FOREST CONSERVATION NEWS TODAY
European Oil Palm Market Causing Indonesian Rainforest Loss
***********************************************
Rainforest Portal a project of Ecological Internet, Inc.
http://www.rainforestportal.org/ -- Rainforest Portal
http://www.rainforestportal.org/news/ -- Rainforest Newsfeed
April 13, 2006
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by Dr. Glen Barry, Forests.org
Below is an important update on the global campaign to protect
Indonesia's ancient rainforests from unfettered oil palm
plantation development. It comes from WALHI (Friends of the
Earth Indonesia), an important Indonesian NGO. Their new report
importantly links the rapidly expanding European market for oil
palm for biofuels (which Ecological Internet was amongst the
first to publicize) and other products with wholesale Indonesian
rainforest destruction from oil palm plantations. They are
demanding - as is Ecological Internet in our recent alert at
http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=indonesia -
that the Indonesian government officially cancel the proposed
mega oil palm plantation along the Malaysian border that
threatens the orangutan and other species with extinction.
Earlier loose assurances that the project will not proceed must
be followed by formal government statements, and the area given
permanent protected status that is enforced. Please continue to
take action on this important issue.
g.b.
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: European hunger for palm oil triggers expansion of
plantations
Source: Copyright 2006, Friends of the Earth Indonesia (WALHI)
Date: April 12, 2006
MEDIA ADVISORY
Friends of the Earth Netherlands * Sawit Watch * Friends of the
Earth Indonesia (WALHI) * Friends of the Earth England, Wales
and Northern Ireland *
INDONESIA: EUROPEAN HUNGER FOR PALM OIL AND TIMBER TRIGGERS
EXPANSION OF DESTRUCTIVE PALM OIL PLANTATIONS
JAKARTA (INDONESIA), LONDON (UK), AMSTERDAM (THE NETHERLANDS),
12 April 2006 -- A new report released today shows how the
Indonesian government might develop up to 3 million hectares of
oil palm plantations on the island of Borneo, threatening
wildlife and local livelihoods to cater for international demand
for cheap palm oil. [1]
One of the justifications given for this huge plantation project
is the increasing international demand for palm oil to be used
in food, feed and biofuels.
The report reveals how earlier plans to develop a 2 million
hectare plantation on the Indonesian side of the border with
Malaysia, are not yet off the table. Indonesia's initial
proposals to develop the border area had met with international
protest.
The Indonesian president Yudhoyono acknowledged there were
conservation concerns to be taken into account. But the
Indonesian Ministry of Public Works appears to have responded to
this in January 2006 by simply enlarging the area defined as the
"border zone". In this broader area, up to 3 million hectares of
oil palm could be planted, according to the Ministry.
The project still threatens mayhem, damaging wildlife and the
livelihoods of local people in the Kalimantan region. Friends of
the Earth Indonesia (WALHI) and local palm oil organisation
Sawit Watch ('Oilpalm Watch') are calling on the Indonesian
government to officially cancel the border mega-plantation plan.
The new report reveals that the area deemed suitable for oil
palm includes forests used by thousands of people who depend on
them for their livelihoods. In new larger border zone, a special
regulation (Presidential Decree No. 36/2005) would allow the
government to take land away from communities that do not want
oil palm plantations in the name of 'public interest'.
The report shows that those communities who are aware of the new
proposals are strongly opposed to the plans.
Evidence shows that in the last decade, many areas have been
deforested supposedly to make way for oil palm plantations but
have then been abandoned after the timber has been sold. In East
Kalimantan alone, 3 million hectares of forest disappeared for
oil palm concessions. Of those, only 300.000 hectares have
actually been planted with oil palm.
Sixty per cent of the forests converted into oil palm
plantations in 2004-2005 were still good forests, despite the
commitment made by the Indonesian government in 2000 that no
more forests would be converted to palm and pulp plantations.
"Communities should not be forced to change their livelihoods
simply for the benefit of oil palm companies and consumers
overseas. They have not been consulted on these proposals and
certainly have not agreed to abandon their land," said Rudy
Lumuru of Sawit Watch, in the Netherlands to present the report.
'European importing countries should not increase their imports
of palm oil until environmental and social issues are solved,'
added Anne Van Schaik of Friends of the Earth Netherlands. 'This
also means we should be very hesitant to embrace palm oil as a
biomass-solution to the current energy crisis. To start with,
companies and governments should ensure that palm oil used in
food and feedstock is in line with the criteria laid out by the
so-called Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil as soon as
possible," said Van Schaik.
[1] The report "The Kalimantan Border Oil Palm Mega Project" can
be downloaded as pdf from www.milieudefensie.nl/globalisering
and from www.foenl.org
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A more upbeat email from rainforest portal:
Indonesian Rainforest Victory as Large Orangutan Habitat Safe
for Now from Oil Palm
Ecological Internet's Earth Action Network Spearheads Major
Victory for Rainforest Movement
May 15, 2006
By Rainforest Portal, a project of Ecological Internet, Inc.,
http://www.RainforestPortal.org/
Under intense international pressure the Indonesian government
has virtually abandoned plans to convert large areas of ancient
rainforests, prime habitat for the endangered Orangutan, into a
massive oil palm plantation. The original plan called for 1.8
million hectares (nearly 7,000 square miles or 18,000 square
kilometers) of mainly native forests to be converted into a mega
oil palm plantation along over 850 kilometers of the Indonesia-
Malaysia border.
In an abrupt about-face, the Agriculture Minister (formerly the
project's chief advocate) last week announced only 180,000
hectares are now deemed suitable for oil palm development. Given
long-standing objections by the Forestry and Environment
ministries, the larger project is effectively dead for now.
International protest in support of local rainforest peoples and
conservationists is responsible for reducing the project's
expanse by 90%.
"Destruction of ancient rainforests and other habitat worldwide
is now an international as well as local issue, as the Internet
has globalized movements for rainforest conservation and global
ecological sustainability," notes Dr. Glen Barry, President of
Ecological Internet. "Those that participated in the campaign
must celebrate; because of their action, millions of year old
ancient rainforest treasures have been given a reprieve."
While many groups are active in orangutan conservation and
protection of the "Heart of Borneo", Ecological Internet was the
first to launch a major Internet campaign on the matter. In
Ecological Internet's largest email protest ever, their network
bombarded the Indonesian government with several hundred
thousand protest emails. Ecological Internet's international
network grew by over 20% as the campaign surged across the
Internet. Several other organizations carried out letter writing
campaigns based upon their campaign strategies and information.
"Indonesia's rainforests remain critically endangered, and their
continued widespread loss threatens regional ecosystem
sustainability and development potential. But for the time
being, a huge swathe of very special and important ancient
rainforests will remain intact. Our next immediate priority is
to continue protesting China's plans to log other Indonesian
rainforests for Olympic construction." See
http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=olympic_timber
The announcement does not mean vital orangutan habitat has
achieved meaningful permanent protection. Ecological Internet's
network will continue to protest any oil palm development there
and anywhere in primary rainforests, remain vigilante against a
resurrection of the project as originally conceived, and monitor
logging concessions and illegal logging in the area. And
Indonesia's informal commitment to fully protect the "Heart of
Borneo" with Malaysia and Brunei will continue to be supported.
Dr. Barry notes "this successful international protest shows
what is possible when grassroots organizations seek an end to
ancient forest destruction, rather than the big groups
negotiating acceptable logging volumes. The age of industrial
development of ancient forests is over - even governments and
loggers are getting the message."