Rainforest Preservation Can Be More Profitable Than Palm Oil Plantations: New Study Shows

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY

photo: chem7 via flickr

Though Indonesia and Malaysia seem hell bent on chopping down their rainforests and replacing them with palm oil plantations, a new study in the journal Conservation Letters shows that selling carbon credits from the intact forests could be just as profitable as converting them to agriculture, and go a long way towards preserving biodiversity (not to mention stopping the orangutan from going extinct):

In the article, report lead author Oscar Venter of the University of Queensland says that oil palm plantations currently threaten some 3.3 million hectares of forest in Kalimantan (the Indonesian part of the island or Borneo).

However his estimates for carbon payments for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) program could offset the lost profits from palm oil production, at prices of $10-33 per tonne of CO2, or $2-16 per tonne if forest conservation targets only cost-efficient areas.

Proposed Plantations Home to Many Threatened Species
The report points out that some 40 globally threatened mammal species are found within the areas due to be deforested for palm oil, including the Bornean orangutan and the Borneo pygmy elephant.

Deforestation Takes Indonesia Into the Top Tier of Carbon Emitters
It's also worth reminding people that conversion of forest into cropland in Indonesia is such a large source of greenhouse gas emissions, that when these emissions are taken into consideration alongside those from burning fossil fuels, Indonesia is in the top five emitters in the world.

Globally deforestation amounts to almost 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the entire transportation sector.

Adapted from Treehugger.com

WWF to Publish Palm Oil Buyer's Scorecard: Will Out Companies Not Meeting Their Sustainable Oil Commitments

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY

That palm oil plantation used to be forest... photo: Achmad Rabin Taim via flickr

Saying that only 1% of the sustainably produced palm oil supplies available on the market are actually being purchased, WWF has announced that over the next six months it will be assessing the state of sustainable palm oil, whether companies that have committed to purchasing sustainable oil are doing so, and release a palm oil buyer's scorecard:

This scorecard will,

...rank the commitments and actions of major global retailers, manufacturers and traders that buy palm oil. Companies will be scored on a variety of criteria relating to their commitments to, and actions on, sustainable palm oil. The resulting scores will not only help consumers evaluate the performance of these companies but will also encourage the companies themselves to better support the use of sustainable palm oil.

WWF points out that though some 1.3 million tonnes of certified sustainable palm oil has been produced by members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, less than 15,000 tonnes have actually been sold.

Why Sustainable Palm Oil, In a Nutshell
In case all of this fuss about palm oil is new to you: Indonesia and Malaysia are the two largest producers of palm oil in the world. In the drive to produce more palm oil, for use in food and health products or in biodiesel, more and more forest is chopped down—in the process releasing vast amounts of stored carbon in the soil and reducing the carbon storage potential of the region, as well as destroying habitat for orangutans and other endangered species.

But you don't have to grow oil palms in vast plantations and in an unsustainable manner; which is where the RSPO comes in. Though there has been some controversy surrounding its effectiveness, the RSPO works with some 300 member companies to help ensure that no more rainforest is chopped down for palm oil plantations, that all plantations minimize their environmental impact, and that the rights of local people and plantation workers are respected in producing palm oil.

Adapted from Treehugger.com

Five years to save the orang utan

By David Smith

A shocking UN report details how the booming palm oil industry is wiping out one of man's closest relatives as its forest habitat disappears. David Smith asks if it's too late to save them

The Orang Utan, one of man's closest and most enigmatic cousins, could be virtually extinct within five years after it was discovered that the animal's rainforest habitat is being destroyed even more rapidly than had been predicted.

A United Nations report has found that illegal logging and fires have been overtaken as the primary cause of deforestation by a huge expansion of oil palm plantations, which are racing to meet soaring demand from Western food manufacturers and the European Union's zeal for biofuels.

Palm oil is seen by critics as a cautionary tale about good intentions. As a vegetable oil it can enhance a healthy diet, and as a biofuel it can reduce carbon emissions which contribute to climate change. Yet it transpires that humans' pursuit of an ethical lifestyle could inadvertently mean a death sentence for one of the great apes.

The paradox was brought to world attention by Friends of the Earth, whose ongoing campaign for producers, manufacturers and retailers to commit to sustainable palm oil was recognised at last week's Observer Food Monthly awards with the honour for best ethical contribution to the industry.

The UN's environment programme report, 'The Last Stand of the Orang Utan: State of Emergency', says natural rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia are being cleared so rapidly that up to 98 per cent may be destroyed by 2022, and the lowland forest strongholds of orang utans much sooner, unless urgent action is taken. This is a full decade earlier than the previous report estimated when it was published five years ago. Overall the loss of orang utan habitat is happening 30 per cent more rapidly than had previously been thought.

Responding to the findings, the Borneo Orang Utan Survival Foundation UK, a charity which works to rescue, rehabilitate and release the animals into protected forest, warned that at the current rate of deforestation by the palm oil industry, orang utans in the wild could be close to extinction by 2012.

Sir David Attenborough, the broadcaster and naturalist, told The Observer: 'Every bit of the rainforest that is knocked down is less space for orangs. They have been reduced very seriously in the past decade. Western governments and companies need to be proactive.'

Satellite images reveal that illegal logging is now taking place in 37 out of 41 national parks in Indonesia and is probably still on the increase. The report says: 'At current rates of intrusions, it is likely that some parks may become severely degraded in as little as three to five years, that is by 2012.'

The UN also highlights the growing threat posed by palm oil harvesting, noting that large areas of Indonesian and Malaysian forest have been cleared to make way for plantations. As consumer awareness about healthy eating and ethical shopping grows, palm oil is an increasingly popular alternative to trans fatty acids - more closely associated with heart disease - and is found in one in 10 supermarket products including margarine, baked goods and sweets, as well as detergents and lipsticks.

There has been much soul searching among environmentalists because palm oil is also in demand for biofuels, seen as one of the best ways of reducing dependence on fossil fuels and so combating global warming. Palm oil is currently considered the most productive source of biodiesel fuel, and Indonesia and Malaysia account for 83 per cent of its global production.

Since 2003 the European Union has been among the chief culprits. Its biofuels progress report earlier this year specified Indonesia among the list of countries for cheap biofuel production, prompting Greenpeace to warn: 'Booming EU demand for biofuels could kill Indonesian forests.' Britain imports one million tonnes every year, double what it did in 1995.

But the new UN report warns: 'Today, the rapid increase in [oil palm] plantation acreage is one of the greatest threats to orang utans and the forests on which they depend. In Malaysia and Indonesia, it is now the primary cause of permanent rainforest loss. The huge demand for this versatile product makes it very difficult to curb the spread of plantations.'

Displaced from their rainforest habitat, the orang utans struggle to survive in the oil palm plantations and are regarded as an agricultural pest. Mindful of the potential loss in profits, farmers have carried out a vicious extermination programme.

Michelle Desilets, director of the Borneo Orang Utan Survival Foundation UK, said: 'They are left hungry so they go in search of food in the plantations and destroy the plants. They become easy targets. Some plantation owners put a bounty of $10 or $20 on the head of orangutans, which is worth a few weeks' salary for the workers.

'Workers don't usually have guns: the orang utans that get shot are the lucky ones. We've seen them beaten to death with wood sticks or iron bars, doused in petrol and set on fire, trussed up in nets or tied up with wire which cuts through their flesh. Often a mother is killed and eaten while its baby is sold on or kept as a pet. In the local plantations where we're working, the managers have now agreed not to offer the bonus. But there's still a macho thing about bringing down an adult male.'

The foundation's struggle to save the animals will be shown in the series Orang Utan Diary starting on BBC2 on 2 April. Desilets said that the palm oil industry was now a severe threat to orang utans' very existence. 'The plantations are huge, the size of a county in England: you can drive for two hours and you're still in one. In the UK, when a product says "vegetable oil" it might mean palm oil, so you're not aware that you might be party to this killing. We put the functional survival of orang utans in the wild at no more than five years. There will always be some remote pockets but the population will be too small to reproduce and in one or two generations it will die out. When the last orang utan dies I will give up all hope in humanity. But for the time being we still have hope.'

Campaigners will move up a gear this week. Hardi Baktiantoro, director of Indonesia's Centre for Orang Utan Protection, has flown to Britain to work with the group Nature Alert to push for greater accountability. He said: 'With my own hands I have rescued countless baby orang utans orphaned by palm oil companies. With my eyes I have witnessed these same companies extinguish all natural life where pristine rainforests once stood. The situation is so desperate in Indonesia that I have come to Great Britain to ask for help with introducing Orang Utan Friendly palm oil into food and other household products.'

After a year of hard campaigning, including demonstrations outside stores, Friends of the Earth persuaded Tesco and other supermarkets to work with producers and manufacturers on a scheme for certifying sustainable palm oil which should include labelling products so consumers can be sure they are not buying from a source which harms orang utans.

Supermarkets said they were trying to tackle the issue although they have been criticised for moving too slowly. A spokesman for Tesco said: 'We are deeply concerned about the loss of rainforest - and the orang utans it supports - and believe that we can make a real contribution to work on this important area. It is a complex problem.'

Sean Sutcliffe, chief executive of the Biofuels Corporation, the biggest biofuels company in the UK, said: 'The existing deforestation is driven by demand from food and cosmetics. Palm oil should be part of the solution: the key is to make sure that standards are put in place.'

Adapted from Guardian.co.uk

Pay No Attention to the Whining Indonesian Palm Oil Industry: The Deforestation, Climate Change & Biodiversity Concerns Are Genuine

by Matthew McDermott, New York

Sometimes you read an industry statement that is so ludicrous that you you can't help but laugh. Such are the remarks in Reuters by the head of the Indonesia Palm Oil Growers Association that environmental NGOs pointing out the unmitigated climate change and biodiversity nightmare of plantation palm oil production might be pawns of Western business interests wanting to gain an advantage in the international biofuels market:

Joefly Bahroeny said,

It's all about business. Palm oil has become a competitor as biofuel not only with rapeseed products but also a real competitor to fossil fuels controlled by Western interests. Do these other people truly care about global warming? Or do they also want to get rich with the excuse of climate change?

Bahroeny went on to say that first is was concerns about orangutans and biodiversity, and now it's climate change. You wonder if Bahroeny inhabits the same planet as the rest of us.

In fact it's all of those things which make the ongoing and accelerating wholesale rape of Indonesia's forests (largely for agriculture, of which palm oil plantations make up a large part) such a pressing problem.

Not to mention that many of the same NGOs criticizing Indonesia's palm oil industry also take issue with the biofuel industries in Western countries on similar climate change and biodiversity grounds. Or that (as in the photo above) they criticize Western companies for dealing with palm oil.

Planting Plantations on Peat a Climate Change Nightmare
A new piece in Mongabay lays out the situation of planting palm oil plantations on the peaty soils underlying the forests of much of Kalimantan in more specific terms, in case you don't already know the story.

But this is the really short version in regards to climate change: When you chop down the forests grown on peat and drain the land to depths sufficient for oil palm cultivation, the soil starts oxidizing and releasing massive amounts of CO2. The plantations replacing the forest do absorb some carbon, but at a vastly lower rate than an intact forest. When all of this is taken into consideration, biodiesel from palm oil grown in these areas has net carbon emissions 8-10 times greater than fossil fuel-based diesel.

Preserving Forests More Profitable Than Palm Oil
Mongabay also points out another twist on why preserving these forests is better than producing palm oil:

conversion of Indonesia's most carbon-dense ecosystems reduces the country's potential to earn compensation under the proposed REDD mechanism for reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Forest conservation for REDD could prove to be an attractive form of land use on peatlands, competitive economically with returns from palm oil production.

Adapted from Treehugger.com

A Little Bit About Palm Oil

-It is the cheapest cooking oil in the world.

-It is incredibly productive, yielding 3.6 tonnes per hectare

-Borneo is home to 13 primate species, 350 bird species, 150 reptiles and amphibians, and 15,000 plant species, according to Auckland Zoo figures.

-Sumatra is home to Sumatran rhinos, clouded leopards, Sumatran tigers, Asian tapirs, Sumatran elephants, and thousands of other species.

-The wild population of Bornean orangutans is optimistically estimated at 45,000 – 50,000.

-There are about 7,300 Sumatran orangutans in the wild; they are on the list of the top 25 most endangered primates in the world.

The Case Against Palm Oil

By MICHAEL FOX - Stuff.co.nz

PALM OIL: A worker arranges palm fruit harvested in a plantation in Bogor, West Java province. Indonesia is the world's largest palm oil producer.Public concerns over palm oil were highlighted when Cadbury revealed it had started using palm oil in its chocolate, prompting a consumer backlash.

The company finally bowed to consumer pressure today when it announced it would go back to using cocoa butter instead.

But Cadbury's use of palm oil is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the product's use in New Zealand.

Palm oil is reported to be used in as many as one in ten products on our supermarket shelves.

Conservation advocates say its production is responsible for intensive deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia, leading to the slaughter of around 50 endangered orangutans a week and making Indonesia the world's third highest man-made carbon emitter, according to Greenpeace.

As bad as the move to palm oil and subsequent negative publicity was for Cadbury, some conservation advocates say it has highlighted their cause.

Auckland Zoo has been campaigning against the use of unsustainable palm oil since 2002, ridding their premises of almost all products containing palm oil and attempting to educate the public about which products contained the ingredient.

Conservation officer Peter Fraser said the Cadbury affair put the spotlight on what is considered one of the world's worst cases of environmental degradation.

"It's been fantastic in that it's bought this to the public's attention. A few years ago no one even knew they were eating palm oil let alone in at least every 10 products," he said.

Palm oil has the highest yield of any oil or oil seed crop, according to WWF, producing 3.6 tonnes a hectare, is cheaper than other oils and is healthier than hydrogenated fats.

But, the problem conservation groups have with palm oil is that it's bad for the environment.

A 2007 United Nations Environment Programme reported that between 1967 and 2000, the total palm oil area in Indonesia grew from less than 2000km2 to more than 30,000 in 2000 and demand for palm oil is expected to double this area by 2020.

To produce it, vast swathes of land must be deforested and replanted, leaving behind a barren l

andscape unsuitable for 90 percent of the areas plethora of wildlife. According to a 2007 Greenpeace report, over 74 million hectares of Indonesia's carbon-intensive forests have been destroyed in the last 50 years – ostensibly for palm oil plantations. As a result of the destruction, around 50 orangutans are dying every week according to Greenpeace.

Orangutans are considered an umbrella species – the poster-species for the fight against the deforestation.

Mr Fraser said that if the habitat of the orangutan could be saved, all the other species which call the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo home too would also be saved.

Other animals which live in the forest include the endangered Sumatran Tiger, the Sumatran Rhinoceros - the smallest and hairiest of the five rhino species, and the Asian elephant.

"The biggest threat is deforestation and the biggest reason for deforestation is palm plantations," he said.

"Our concern is the pace at which the forest is being replaced. We're going to have orangutans and all the other species that exist in those forests functionally extinct within 10 years."

While Cadbury's move was roundly condemned, with a Facebook group dedicated to boycotting its products gathering over 3000 members, it is not the only company using palm oil.

Statistics New Zealand figures show that last year New Zealand imported 1,104,187 tonnes of palm kernel, a high quality by-product of palm oil extraction, for stock feed.

New Zealand's palm oil comes from Malaysia and Indonesia and is used by dairy farmers in Manawatu, Taranaki, Wairarapa and Wanganui.

Auckland Zoo staff have been putting together a list of all products which do not contain palm oil.

But general estimates show it is present in one in ten products on our supermarket shelves - including cosmetics, shaving creams and sweets. It is often labeled only as "vegetable oil" leading to it being dubbed the "invisible ingredient".

However, it could be even more widespread. A two-month investigation by UK newspaper The Independent said it was confirmed or suspected to be present in 43 of the UK's top-100 grocery brands.

There is a sustainable source for the oil – but that is so far proving to be unpopular and accounts for only one and a half percent of global supply.

WWF vice president of Agriculture David McLaughlin said he was disappointed with the response to the sustainable: "This sluggish demand from palm oil buyers, such as supermarkets, food and cosmetic manufacturers, could undermine the success of sustainability efforts and threatens the remaining natural tropical forests of Southeast Asia, as well as other forests where oil palm is set to expand, such as the Amazon," he said.

According to Mr Fraser from Auckland Zoo the best way to preserve the Indonesian forests was to encourage more sustainable harvesting and clear labeling – and to do that consumers needed to vote with their wallets.

"The consumer is actually a very savvy person and gets information quite quickly and understands complex issues reasonably well," he said.

New Scientist magazine reports that an unprecedented meeting between palm oil producers, conservationists and local government in October is to try and figure out a way to save the orangutan.

Adapted from Stuff.co.nz

Media Release from Cadbury

Cadbury Dairy Milk in New Zealand returns to Cocoa Butter only recipe.

Cadbury New Zealand today announced it is responding to consumers by returning Cadbury Dairy Milk to a recipe containing only cocoa butter.

The move follows hundreds of letters and emails in which consumers told the company they didn’t approve of a new recipe where a small proportion of the cocoa butter was replaced with vegetable fat, including palm oil.

Cadbury New Zealand Managing Director, Matthew Oldham, said the decision to go back to using only cocoa butter in Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate was in direct response to consumer feedback.

“At the time, we genuinely believed we were making the right decision, for the right reasons. But we got it wrong. Now we’re putting things right as soon as we possibly can, and hope Kiwis will forgive us. Cadbury Dairy Milk's quality is what’s made it one of New Zealand's most trusted brands for many years. Changing the recipe put that trust at risk and I am really sorry.”

Mr Oldham said that Cadbury remains committed to its product quality and environmental and ethical sourcing commitments.

“Cadbury is a responsible business and we purchase certified sustainable palm oil – one of the few companies in New Zealand to do so. But Kiwi consumers have told us they don’t want palm oil in their Cadbury Dairy Milk, so it’s going.” he said.

Production will begin within a few weeks and Cadbury Dairy Milk will shortly, once again, contain only cocoa butter. The wholesale price of Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate will not be affected as a result of this decision.

Cadbury stops using palm oil in chocolate

By MICHAEL FOX - Stuff.co.nz

Cadbury has bowed to consumer pressure and stopped using palm oil in its dairy milk chocolate.

The confectionery giant caused a furore when it was revealed it had substituted cocoa butter with vegetable fat including palm oil.

Palm oil is a contentious ingredient with reports blaming its plantations for huge contributions to global warming and intensive habitat destruction leading to the deaths of orang-utans in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Cadbury New Zealand managing director Matthew Oldham said he was "really sorry" and that the decision was in direct response to consumer feedback, including hundreds of letters and emails.

"At the time, we genuinely believed we were making the right decision, for the right reasons. But we got it wrong,” he said.

"Now we’re putting things right as soon as we possibly can, and hope Kiwis will forgive us.

The change will be made within the next few weeks, he said.

Members of the nearly 3500-strong Facebook group 'Take palm oil out of Cadbury chocolate bars' were jubilant at this morning's news.

"Power to the people", said one member.

"Well done NZ! Excellent... but a shame for Cadbury as I have learnt that other chocolate is good too!” another commented.

Auckland Zoo director Jonathan Wilcken also congratulated Cadbury on their decision.

He said they had met Cadbury and made their position clear. They would now be restocking Cadbury products in the zoo.

Mr Wilcken said it was an issue they had been trying to raise the profile of for some time and they would continue to do so, calling it the “single biggest threat to the survival of orang-utans in the wild”.

Palm oil is derived from the fruit and kernels of the oil palm and is used in cosmetics, cleaning products and many processed foods.

Much of the oil comes from land where existing rainforest has been slashed and burned to make way for Palm oil plantations.

Three quarters of all palm oil comes from Malaysia and Indonesia where rainforests - housing the Bornean and Sumatran orangutans and other flora and fauna - are being destroyed.

Adapted from http://www.stuff.co.nz/

Shopping can save them !

Calling all the human beings out there especially female,do you know that our buying decisions have an impact on the health and survival of the planet?


The following products are produced at great social and environmental cost to Borneo's forests and indigenous communities.


1. TROPICAL PLYWOOD
Lauan, the generic term for tropical plywood, refers to wood from any of hundreds of Dipterocarp tree species. Found in home improvement centers and lumberyards, it is often cheaper and more readily available than domestic hardwood plywood. Lauan is commonly used in: facing for interior hollow-core doors; backing of shelving units, dressers, and drawers; sub-flooring and sub-roofing; and various small plywood needs in general construction. In Home Depot stores, lauan is often falsely labeled as Red Oak. In most other stores, it is labeled 'lauan', 'meranti', or simply as 'Made in Malaysia' or 'Made in Indonesia'.

Tropical plywood production has devastated the forests of Southeast Asia, resulting in 80% deforestation in Thailand and 90% in the Philippines. In Malaysian Borneo, over 50% of Sarawak and Sabah has been logged. Indonesia is the world's top producer of tropical plywood, holding approximately 90% of the global trade.

There are a growing amount of non-wood alternatives currently on the market. Visit Rainforestweb for details.

2. DOWELS

Dowels are almost always made of ramin, an endangered tree that grows in Borneo's peat (swamp) rainforests. Most tool handles - from rakes to brooms, mops, plungers and paintbrushes - are made of ramin dowels. A blond wood that at times is stained with a dark finish, ramin is widely used in furniture such as futon frames and garden furniture.

Indonesia is currently the world's largest producer of ramin dowels. Logging is driving this species, as well as the Bornean orangutan, to extinction. (Ramin is an essential part of orangutan habitat). Alternatives to ramin include products made with plastic handles or metal frames. Even if a ramin product has a 'Made in the USA' label, the wood is most likely imported from Borneo and assembled in the U.S.

3. RAYON

Rayon, made from wood pulp, is used to make clothing. Rayon mills are rapidly destroying native rainforests and coastal mangroves, and causing grave water and air pollution problems in many places.

4. PALM OIL

Malaysia and Indonesia are the world's top two producers of palm oil, and most global palm oil production comes from Borneo. Palm oil plantation development involves clear cutting native forests and has contributed to Borneo's frequent and devastating fires. Palm oil is an ingredient in many foods, although it is sometimes listed generically as 'vegetable oil'.

5. TEAK, IRONWOOD, EBONY AND SANDALWOOD

These valuable hardwoods from Borneo are disappearing rapidly. Each is valued for its special properties such as fragrance (sandalwood) or durability (ironwood species ulin or belian). It can take decades for these species to reach maturity. Community reforestation by Borneo Project partners is working to reestablish native trees in areas degraded by logging. Given the species' slow rate of growth, it will be some time before populations of these species recover.

6. PRIMATE PETS


Trade in exotic and endangered species is illegal and a violation of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Among common Borneo species traded as pets are the orangutan, the long-tailed macaque, and the pig-tailed macaque. On average, several animals die during capture or transit for each animal sold. Exotic species trade has also been linked to organized crime.


So people, please consider your purchases carefully and opt for alternatives whenever possible =D

Help save the orang utan

2009/06/05

SOME of the people trying to champion environmental issues seem unable to grasp the true meaning of protection, conservation, restoration and rehabilitation, particularly with regard to the orang utan ("Orang utan nursery draws flak" -- NST, June 1).

These ill-informed people should refer to Article 9 of the Convention on Biological Biodiversity (CBD) dealing with the ex-situ conservation that signatory nations, including Malaysia, should as far as possible implement in respect of their endangered species.

The orang utan (Pongo pygmaeus) is our iconic species and could be considered as being at the top of the global list of endangered species. They are facing an uncertain future, and without our help this great ape will soon be extinct.

Unfortunately, of the four great apes, the orang utan is the least studied species (compared with the chimpanzee, the bonobo and the gorilla). By having ex-situ conservation at Tasik Merah, Malaysia is meeting its obligations under the CBD.

Obviously, safeguarding the orang utan in its natural habitat is the best option. However, if their habitats are aggressively intruded, what are their chances of survival? They cannot depend on degraded and fragmented forests, not to mention logged forests.

As frugivores, they forage mainly on wild fruits. Their habitats need to include various species of fruit trees, including fig trees. Due to habitat destruction, their populations are dwindling at an alarming rate.

Education and research are the main issues that can guarantee the future of our orang utans. Schoolchildren and university students who have visited the orang utan island near Bukit Merah have become more knowledgeable about this endangered species. It has also enlightened other visitors, including foreign tourists.

Therefore, I urge those people who have a negative perception of the orang utan island and what is being done there to pay a visit to this sanctuary to learn about the true nature of the conservation effort.

I sympathise with the orang utan centre's chief veterinarian, Dr D. Sabapathy when he asks, "People say the species is close to extinction but what are they doing about it?". I have heard enough from some quarters who are unnecessarily trying to politicise this environmental issue.

MASHHOR MANSOR,Professor School of Biological Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia

Adapted from NST Online

Love it?

Are you obsessed over


this?

Do you know every time you pay for this chocolate and melt it in your mouth, you have already contributed in destroying orangutan's home? Don't believe? Read the article.


Target:
Cadbury
Sponsored by:
Carly Day

Cadbury have long been a household favourite throughout New Zealand, even recently being voted NZ's most trusted brand last. Unfortunately they rapidly dishonoured this title with the introduction of Palm Oil into their chocolate.(Check out here)

Palm Oil is labelled as Vegetable Fat on their chocolate labels. It decreases the quality and pleasant taste of the chocolate, it is higher in saturated fat, and the Palm Oil industry is one of the leading causes of deforestation in Indonesia.

Orangutans are on the brink of extinction due to this industry. Both the Bornean and Sumatran subspecies will be extinct in 12 years unless the slash and burn of rainforests to create Palm Oil plantations is slowed. Countless other endangered plants, animals and local people are also suffering.

Many responsible companies are looking for ways to decrease their use of Palm Oil due to the difficulty in finding a truly sustainable source.It has been shocking to countless numbers of Cadbury fans to find that Cadbury have gone the opposite direction and increased their usage!

Although Cadbury claim to be using Sustainable Palm Oil we question this claim as they have yet to back it up with details and proof.

They justify their use of this product by touting their membership of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) but as yet being on the RSPO does not require any commitment other than paying a fee.

There are a number of companies that belong to the RSPO who continue to destroy rainforest while using their membership as a cover.

Cadbury has the ability to become pioneers and lead the way for other global corporations by expending the extra effort and money required to make positive changes.

Cadbury - we implore you to remove Palm Oil from your NZ chocolate products. We will boycott your products as long as they contain Palm Oil that is not 100% CSPO.

Adapted from Care2petitionsite

Meet Elmo =D

He's gonna be good friend of Koko I guess=D

Malaysia opens orangutan safe heaven

A new heaven has been built in Malaysia for North Borneo Orangutans in an attempt to save them from extinction. Reuters Sonia Legg reports.

Can Koko and family swim?

Posted on 17 March 2009

Kota Kinabalu – Desperate times calls for desperate measures. Wild orang-utans spend 90% of their time on treetops, and very rarely descend to the ground, unless disaster strikes.

A WWF-Malaysia field staff in Lower Segama recorded this series of photographs illustrating the rescue of a wild orang-utan mother and her baby who had been hanging on to a laran tree for a week due to flood in the area. A unit from the Sabah Wildlife Department was rushed to the site and a rope bridge was immediately set up about four metres from the shore.

The orang-utan mother grabbed the rope bridge as soon as the rope bridge was thrown across to her direction.

She began her descent from the tree while still holding onto the rope. Her baby was seen to be tightly clinging onto her.

The mother made sure heads were above water while she swam across. At the shore, the orang-utans fed for about 30 minutes before heading back into the forests.

Previous documentation had stated orang-utans to be non-swimmers, supposedly due to their fear of water. However, this new discovery shows that orang-utans are actually able to swim in desperate situations, with the help of a tool.

Last month, Sabah received a high record of rainfall which undoubtedly affected the wildlife in some lowland areas. Like this orang-utan, some were able to save themselves to higher ground. Floods caused by excessive rainfall are likely to intensify under future climate change scenarios. But how many can escape in the future?

Adapted from WWF Malaysia

Sumatran orangutan Karta escapes her enclosure at Australia's Adelaide Zoo

10:00 AM, May 11, 2009

Zookeepers at Australia's Adelaide Zoo believe that Karta, a 27-year-old Sumatran orangutan, was driven to make an incredible escape attempt by grief at the loss of her longtime mate.

Karta's mate, 31-year-old Pusung, was known as the "gentle giant" of the Adelaide Zoo. He died last month of a respiratory infection, and since his death Karta has been understandably out of sorts. Keepers think that's why she used a stick to short-circuit an electric wire in the zoo's orangutan enclosure and escape, forcing the zoo to be evacuated Sunday.

"She climbed over those disabled hot wires, built up a mound of leaf litter and then used a branch to climb out of the exhibit and on to the surrounding wall of the exhibit," zoo spokesperson Emily Rice told the Australian.

The brilliant move wasn't the first time Karta has impressed those close to her with her intelligence. "We've had issues with Karta before, where she's tried to outsmart the keepers," curator Peter Whitehead said of the orangutan in an interview with the Guardian. "She's an ingenious animal." She's even shorted wires at the zoo in the past, but never in an escape attempt -- just to get food.

It seems, though, that Karta didn't quite know what to do once she'd made her escape.

She sat peacefully for about 30 minutes before allowing zoo staff to return her to the enclosure. From the Australian:

Ms. Rice said Karta was not aggressive and did not pose an immediate threat to the public.

"As soon as she realized she was in a foreign area, she was very uncomfortable and just wanted to get back in," she said.

"She was sitting on the enclosure fence and could have jumped down, but did not."

Zoo staff decided not to reopen yesterday afternoon as they tried to coax Karta into her night den and "clean up the damage she has done and reassess the exhibit."

While Karta didn't seem to pose a threat to zoo-goers and was never close enough to the public to do any harm, vets were on hand with tranquilizer guns just in case.

Karta has lived at the Adelaide Zoo since 1992, but she's a native Southern Californian: She was born at the San Diego Zoo in 1982. Sunday's incident was the first time an orangutan has escaped the enclosure, and the zoo says it will conduct a full review to ensure it will be the last.

For many years, scientists didn't think orangutans were particularly intelligent primates, according to PBS' "Nature." But in the 1960s, researchers observed them using tools, like twigs to pry insects from trees. (They were also seen using twigs to collect honey before eating them in much the same way a human would a lollipop.)

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Karta has lived at the Adelaide Zoo since 1992, but she's a native Southern Californian: She was born at the San Diego Zoo in 1982. Credit: Adelaide Zoo

Adapted from Los Angeles Times

Controversial palm-oil plan may save the orang-utan

THE mournful eyes of the orphaned baby orang-utans held in Borneo's sanctuaries would tug at the stoniest of hearts. But while rehabilitating abandoned orang-utans is admirable, it seems increasingly clear that it will not help to conserve a species in danger of extinction through habitat loss.

Instead, orang-utan researchers and conservationists in Sabah, in Malaysian Borneo, may have to do what had until recently been unthinkable: join forces with the palm oil industry whose plantations have eaten into much of the orang-utan's habitat. October this year will see an unprecedented meeting of Malaysia's palm oil producers, conservationists and local government to figure out how to protect the world's last orang-utans.

Such collaborations will be especially important given the poor start for the international Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), set up in 2002, which is supposed to address the issues of environmental damage and wildlife conflict by encouraging producers to ensure their plantations are certified as sustainable. This includes undertaking environmental assessments before planting, and not planting in forests of high conservation value.

The conservation group WWF wants palm oil to be 100 per cent sustainable by 2015, but the initial results have been dispiriting. A WWF report released in May showed that just 1 per cent of the 1.3 million tonnes of sustainable palm oil produced since November 2008 had been sold - in part because it is more expensive.

Just 1 per cent of the sustainable palm oil produced since November 2008 had been sold

Many believe that if the orang-utan is to have a chance of surviving anywhere, it will be in Sabah. Both the industry and the government say there is virtually no suitable land left there for new plantations and there are just about enough wild orang-utans to ensure the survival of the species. The key now is to join up their remaining habitats.

Until recently, rehabilitating orang-utans hurt through conflicts with plantation workers, or kept as pets, had seemed like the most obvious way to boost the species' dwindling numbers. In practice, however, this approach is riddled with problems. A key risk is transferring diseases such as the malaria parasite, which orang-utans in rehabilitation are prone to, into wild populations. Furthermore, because orang-utans learn their survival skills from their mothers, "not all of the [rehabilitated] animals will be able to adapt to the wild", says Marc Ancrenaz, who co-founded the Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project near the Kinabatangan river in Sabah.

Many rehabilitation centres are becoming overcrowded, partly because some orang-utans can never be rehabilitated but also because the release criteria are stringent. The centres want to release animals into protected rainforest, with no risk of poachers, loggers or plantations, but few of these areas now exist in either Malaysia or Indonesia.

It is also impossible to know how rehabilitated animals fare after release, as orang-utans remove electronic tracking devices. David Chivers at the University of Cambridge argues that rehabilitated orang-utans "are becoming an increasing proportion of the whole gene pool of the species, and reintroducing [them] will significantly increase the prospects of the orang-utan avoiding extinction". Ancrenaz disagrees: "Rehabilitation is a welfare approach, not a conservation one; it's not necessary for the sake of the species".

Sabah's 26,000-hectare Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary is home to about 1000 orang-utans (see Map). The sanctuary has been heavily fragmented by oil palm plantations, and is now an archipelago of animal "islands". For large animals like orang-utans and pygmy elephants, these fragments are unnaturally restricted habitats.

An offshoot of Ancrenaz's organisation, The Nature Heritage Conservancy, has joined up with a local NGO called LEAP and the UK-based World Land Trust to raise funds and buy up pieces of land to link the sanctuary's fragments as wildlife corridors. So far they are negotiating to buy and maintain about 200 acres, at a total cost of over $566,000. These are tiny patches of land in the grand scheme of things, but highly strategic in location.

Benoît Goossens at the Danau Girang Field Centre within the sanctuary has undertaken research that shows why wildlife corridors are so important. He has mapped the orang-utans' genetic diversity - important for the health of a population - and modelled future changes in diversity. Though Sabah's populations are fairly diverse, this will change drastically for the worse within the next 100 years if the forest fragments are not joined up, he says.

Genetic diversity will change drastically for the worse if the fragmented forests are not joined up

Connecting the sanctuary's fragments will also link Sabah's central forest reserve with the coastal mangroves, creating a more comprehensive habitat (see map). Two other forest reserves, Kulamba and Tabin, now need to be linked to the sanctuary, but the gaps between them are so heavily planted with oil palms that buying small segments of land will not do. In October, conservationists will seek a commitment from palm oil growers to create corridors within their plantations. Part of the debate will centre on what constitutes a viable wildlife corridor.

Corporate collaborations are also vital for the Sabah government (see "Banking on biodiversity"). Its forests have been so heavily logged that there is no more revenue from logging. In the long term, the government plans to create sustainable logging reserves that can house wildlife too. Results from a 55,000-hectare trial area called Deramakot suggest the approach is feasible, but growing suitable forests will take decades. In the meantime, palm oil will be vital to see the government through its economic famine, says Sam Mannan, the head of the forestry department. Let's hope the orang-utans see it through, too

Banking on Biodiversity

Biodiversity-rich, cash-poor countries are coming up with ways to make conservation sustainable.

In 2008, Malaysia became the first such nation to launch a scheme to allow private investment in the rainforest that would generate "conservation dollars" - money specifically set aside for conservation. The scheme is voluntary, but the government is considering making such investment a requirement for land developers.

The Malua Biobank, which differs from the biobanks established in other countries to bank genetic material, covers a 34,000-hectare forest reserve in Sabah, in Malaysian Borneo, which buffers virgin rainforest from palm oil plantations. It sells conservation certificates for 100 square metres of forest at $10 each, making a total possible fund of $34 million. Of this, 20 per cent will create an endowment fund to restore the previously logged forest, says Darius Sarshar of New Forests, an international environmental investment management group with offices in Malaysia that advises Malua Biobank.

Buyers can either "retire" their certificates, effectively making a donation, or put them into a trading account. Once the endowment fund is secured, any additional profits will be split between the investors and the government.

The scheme is unlikely to compete with traditional stock markets, however, and so far the biobank has relied on companies wanting to reinvent their environmental image. Initial sales have been sluggish - it has sold 21,500 certificates for a total of $215,000, all to logging companies - but that will change if the government makes the scheme mandatory.

Habitat quality is likely to be a factor, says Sarshar. "So if you trash a degraded forest, you have less of an offset obligation than if you trash a pristine forest."

Adapted from New Scientist

Nearly Half of Sabah is Protected Forest

by Ruben Sario
sario@thestar.com.my

KOTA KINABALU: Nearly half of Sabah’s 7.6 million hectare land area is now under permanent forest cover following amendments to a state law that has seen the creation of 12 new forest reserves.

Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Nasrun Datu Mansor said at the state assembly that 3.6 million ha were now preserved as forests – ranging from the unique Karangas jungles in the south western Sipitang districts to mangroves at islands along the east coast.

“It is our intention to leave our forests untouched as much as possible for our future generations,” he said.

In this regard, he said, Sabah has exceeded the national forestry policy requiring the states to preserve 47% of their land under forest cover.

Tabling the amendments to the Forests (Constitution of Forest Reserves and Amendment) Enactment 1984, Nasrun said the acreage of Class 1 Forest Reserves had been increased by more than 22,000ha, nearly the size of Penang island.

He said the state now had more than 3.6 million ha of such forests compared to about 3.5 million ha previously.

Nasrun said the size of mangrove and virgin forests had also increased by 4,647ha and 486ha respectively following the amendments.

The state now had more than 320,000ha of mangrove forests while its virgin jungle reserves now stood at more than 92,000ha.

The size of forest reserves for recreational use had also increased by 344ha to more than 21,000ha.

Nasrun said Sabah was also reducing the size of commercial forest reserves by 17,594ha from 2.63 million ha so that the acreage for the Class 1 Forest Reserves could be increased.

Adapted from TheStar