By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
telegraph.co.uk
12/07/2007

Scientists have discovered that the high level of extinction among wild species is making human life more precarious than thought.

Humans rely on what scientists call “ecosystem services”: fresh water comes from forest-covered mountains, fish from healthy seas and fertile soils depend on insects, microbes and earthworms.

Losing wildlife, or biodiversity, means pushing these systems closer to collapse. Now a study published in the journal Nature concludes that the loss of wildlife could have a more serious impact on food production, carbon dioxide levels and clean water supplies than previously believed.

As the globe warms, bands of habitat defined by temperature and rainfall will shift from the equator toward the poles. Scientists fear that 25 per cent of all species, plant and animal, could succumb to the rapid pace of change by the end of the century.

Now scientists from Zurich and Oxford universities have found that the number of species required for a fully functioning ecosystem may have been underestimated. The key finding is that different ecosystem services were affected by different groups of species.

“Because different species influence different ecosystem services more species are required for a fully functioning ecosystem than for one managed with a single goal in mind,” said Dr Robert Bagchi of Oxford University.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

June, 2007
By Katelyn Feit
Student, Florida State University

After 28 days in the Samboja Lestari (jungle), a run away sun bear, laughing with ridiculously nice people and losing about a pint of blood due to mosquito bites, I’d say my stay at Samboja Lestari was extraordinary to say the least.

Staying at Samboja Lodge and working with the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation has allowed me to experience the daily work of a large scale non profit, non governmental organization and to get to know the Indonesian culture. The scope of activities at Samboja Lestari is wide and varied. With 53 sun bears, over 100 orangutans, 6 gibbons, the reforestation of an entire rainforest and a comprehensive satellite monitoring system are the major projects that are going on there.

Being in Indonesia on my own and really interacting with the local people has made me realize how easy it was for my parents to fall in love with this place when they lived here 25 years ago. Seeing endangered species first hand and physically keeping them alive by feeding them and cleaning their enclosures really made me feel like I was making a difference in the world.

Although there is so much more that goes into keeping the animals alive and happy; helping them have a full stomach is very gratifying.

Before I arrived I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. To my surprise when I arrived, I found out I would be staying in one of the beautiful rooms at the lodge (with air conditioning no less!). Apart from the occasional weekend guest and large groups of visitors, I was the only person at the lodge. Most would think that would be lonely but I took it as an opportunity to get to know the lodge staff.

I loved the out door atmosphere, the beautiful natural garden and sitting up in the lodge tower over looking what I call the “instant rainforest” and the orangutan islands. Half way through my stay three new girl volunteers came. Two were from California State University in Fullerton and one from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. They were all in their twenties and we got along really well. Often times bordering on obnoxious at the dinner table when we couldn’t stop laughing about something.

Once I had gotten settled in, I got into a daily routine which kept me busy. A traditional breakfast of nasi or mie goreng (fried rice or noodles) and toast was at seven am. After that I would start work at eight am with the technicians. I would eat lunch at the lodge and afterwards teach an English class if there weren’t any other guests. Let’s just say that Indonesians love to laugh and really are eager to learn English. Class was definitely a highlight of the day. At four pm when the work day is over I would go back to the lodge, read, draw and hang out with the staff.

My first week there I worked with the technicians at the Sun Bear sanctuary. Daily jobs included feeding the bears in the large enclosure and the reintroduction cages. We would also spray out cages and care for one of the injured bears. They would eat papaya, coconut, sugarcane, sweet potatoes, snake fruit, pumpkin, watermelon, pineapple, bananas, sour sop, and other fruits which are mostly locally grown.

BOS focuses largely on the development and sustainability of the Samboja village community. BOS provides jobs, opportunities in agro-forestry (growing fruits and vegetables between existing planted trees) and a market for locally produced handy crafts.

Sun bears’ huge claws, long tongue and sharp canines make watching them eat an awesome sight. The first time I saw one rip open a coconut like a human opening an orange, I was in awe. Their long tongues can lick up honey at the bottom of a water bottle and lick up sugarcane juice that dripped on their chests.

After being there for a week someone brought in a new three month old bear that had lost its mother… I don’t want to know how. They named him Hayden after the American MotoGP racer Nicky Hayden. With everyday I could see him getting stronger and stronger. Even though it was sad that he is destined to live in the enclosure for the rest of his life, being able to raise a little bear for a few days was exciting. I was careful not to get too attached so leaving him wouldn’t be as hard.

The rest of my time I worked with the technicians in the orangutan cages. I had to wait to pass a quarantine period to make sure I didn’t have any diseases I could pass on to the orangutans.

On my first day I walked up to what I call the “technician clubhouse” which is where all the supplies and lockers are for the workers. A bunch of young guys were talking and laughing in the smoky shed while they loaded up the motorcycle with bags of fruit to take up to the orangutans.

Mita, the project manager, mentioned to me that all the technicians were young guys and having a girl around would mix things up a little, but she assured me that they were all great friendly guys and wouldn’t give me any trouble. Even with her reassuring words, when I first walked up it felt like I was walking into a men’s club… a little intimidating. But before I knew it they were talking to me, making me bracelets from grass and showing me genuine Indonesian hospitality. I could really feel the sense of community between the technicians and the pride they took in their work.

Each cage has one technician and roughly 10 to 30 orangutans. The more seasoned technicians knew each one of the orangutans’ names and a little bit of their history. After drinking some sugar with coffee and reading the latest MotoGP news the technician would head up to their cage for the morning.

My first encounter with the orangutans was definitely more emotionally moving that I thought it would be, but it was awesome at the same time. As I walked up to their raised cages and saw them close up it felt as if I was the new kid walking into a classroom in one of those teen movies. They were pressed up against the cage and sizing me up.

It shocked me how each one was its own being– like different students in a class. They had different skin colors, body types and even hairstyles. Before, I thought an orangutan was an orangutan but our genetic similarity comes through in ways more than just appearance.

Each morning, jobs include feeding and cleaning the concrete slab underneath the cages. I got chills as I looked down to see a few of them reach their rough hands out to get fallen fruit. They looked like hands of human prisoners trying to grab at my feet. I had to look up to see their bodies to reassure me they weren’t. As I spent more and more time with the orangutans I saw they clearly had different personalities. While cleaning underneath the cages I got a healthy dose of these personalities. A new volunteer for them is a new target for spit, pee, mouthfuls of water, chewed up banana stems and whole banana stems… right on the head. Yeah, those tend to leave a little bump.

After a week in the cages I worked on one of the islands where the orangutans with hepatitis live because they cannot be released into the wild. They were fixing up the island and putting in enrichment which consisted of a system of poles and ropes throughout the island as well as rope nests. I worked with the technicians and the three other volunteers moving– or trying to move– iron wood poles, and swimming in the mote to clear weeds. The technicians had so much energy and kept us laughing the whole time with their flips into the water and Indonesian ballads.

It was hard to leave Samboja but I am definitely going to keep ties there and visit when I’m back in Balikpapan. I can’t thank every one enough for being so nice to me and treating me like family.

For more information go to www.orangutan.or.id

(Kate)

Mon Jul 2, 2007 9:13AM EDT
By Gillian Murdoch

PALANGAKARAYA, Indonesia (Reuters) - It used to be malaria that gave people fevers in Indonesia’s remote, mosquito-infested peatlands.

Now it is carbon.

Investors around the world are dreaming of the billions the festering carbon-rich bogs could bring in as the world battles global warming. Peat bogs are the new black gold, some say.

Science has long known that Indonesia’s 20 million hectares (50 million acres) of dense, black tropical peat swamps, formed when trees, roots and leaves rot, are natural carbon stores, explained University of Nottingham peat expert Professor Jack Rieley.

“They are 50 to 60 percent carbon. Peat stores more carbon than all of the planet’s vegetation combined,” he said.

Now the dots have been joined between peatlands and the massive amounts of climate change-related carbon emissions they release when burnt or drained to plant crops such as palm oil.

Peat is a potential gold-mine, said Marcel Silvius, Senior Program Manager of Wetlands International NGO.

“This science was not available before,” said Silvius, the co-author of a November 2006 report that found Indonesia’s peatlands emit two billion tons of carbon dioxide each year — more than the annual greenhouse gas emissions of Japan or Germany.

Years of lucrative deforestation for timber and palm oil plantations has entrenched the practice of burning vast areas of Indonesian land, smothering neighboring Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei in annual choking smoke clouds, known as haze.

Now, in a sudden reversal, keeping Indonesia’s forest cover intact is a hot investment ticket in a warming world, said Silvius.

“(The world’s peatlands) emit eight percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, equal to what all the Annex One (industrialized) countries need to decrease (under the Kyoto Protocol). Tens of billions could be invested to achieve this,” said Silvius.

Around $30.4 billion of carbon credits — representing 1.6 billion tons of CO2 — were bought and sold last year in Europe by companies seeking to trade off business-related carbon emissions for emissions reductions achieved elsewhere.

Already, investors are knocking on doors in towns close to peat swamps, such as Palangkaraya, in Central Kalimantan.

Within the million hectares of the nearby ex-Mega Rice Project peatlands, Rieley’s scientists have been offered funding from Climate Care for tree planting and fire-fighting. Shell Canada is bank-rolling NGO-led peat rehydration and the Dutch government has invested 5 million euros ($6.7 million) in dam-building.

“They are all coming to visit the same people in Palangkaraya,” said Daniel Murdiyarso of the Bogor-based Centre for International Forestry Research.

“There’s so much interest - we are in the eye of the hurricane.”

DEFORESTATION FEVER

Emissions cuts from forest areas such as peatlands are not yet eligible for trade, because they were excluded from the Kyoto Protocol’s first, 2008-2012, round. But many predict they will be in six months’ time, after the UN climate meeting in Bali hears a report on Reduced Emissions from Deforestation (RED).

“It has to enter the agenda so that developing nations such as Indonesia can benefit,” Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar told Reuters.

“We are ready. We have a grand plan to identify and restore or conserve our forest areas. We have also prepared the financial side of the deal,” he said.

Meanwhile, the voluntary market is “developing rapidly”, as investors hope carbon futures will evolve into tradable credits said Jorund Buen, the director of Point Carbon analysis group.

“Discussions on including avoided deforestation are among the most advanced with regards to post-Kyoto commitments,” he said.

As home to 60 percent of the world’s threatened tropical peatlands, and among the world’s top three carbon emitters when peat emissions are added in, Indonesia is in the spotlight.

“While the details are still in the works, the ‘big story’ is becoming more clear,” said Meine van Noordwijk, principal scientist for the World Agroforestry Centre.

“If this stays outside of the international discussions a huge opportunity will be missed… If accepted in principle, this will become part of the 2012-2017 international regime,” van Noordwijk, who is based in Indonesia, said.

However, speculators descending on Indonesia’s peat-towns are finding locals less up to speed on the intricacies of carbon trading and peatlands protection, said Murdiyarso.

“It’s not easily understood by people — the confusion is overwhelming… The papers here say, ‘Central Kalimantan is clearing up the air of Canada’,” he laughed. “The publicity from the local media is appalling.”

PEOPLE VS. PEATLANDS?

While RED’s exact stakeholders are murky, its plan to help save the planet by making conservation profitable is likely to be nationally based, rather than project-based, and to involve governments, the
private sector and NGOs, analysts say.

But stitching up peat swamp carbon deals without involving local communities risks raising real tensions, said Jutta Kill of FERN, the Forests and the European Union Resource Network.

“Because the focus is narrowly on keeping the carbon stored, the incentive to police is increased,” she said from Britain. “In Uganda, people have been shot at by forest rangers to defend carbon forestry
projects.”

This kind of market-led carbon trading is not the only way to safeguard forest carbon, she said.

“Northern countries could do a lot by not pushing deforestation through (expanding) palm oil and biodiesel (developments)”.

“It certainly is a big policy incoherence if one part of the climate discussion is to reduce emissions from deforestation, and the other leads to an incentive to deforestation,” she said.

Whatever eventuates, if perennial peat land problems such as poverty and fires aren’t tackled, Indonesia’s forests could go up in smoke, taking carbon traders dreams with them, Rieley said.

“A lot of things are supposed to happen at a high level. The problem is the low level — how are you going to stop fires on the ground?”

“None of these schemes will work if the fires aren’t stopped,” he said. “You’ll not only lose your forest, you’ll lose your peat and its ability to function as a carbon store.”

(Additional reporting by Adhityani Arga in Jakarta)

© Reuters

By Claire Heald
BBC News Magazine

What if humans cast aside processed foods and saturated fats in favour of the sort of diet our ape-like ancestors once ate? Nine volunteers gave it a go… and were glad they did so.

Being locked in the zoo and offered bananas to eat is the kind of extreme diet scenario to wake some of us screaming in the night. But that was how a group of volunteers opted to try to cut their blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

EVO DIET: WHAT THEY ATE
5kgs or 2,300 calories of fruit, vegetables, nuts and honey
On a 3-day rota, typically:
Broccoli, carrots, radishes
Cabbage, tomatoes, watercress
Strawberries, apricots, bananas
Mangoes, melons, figs, plums
Satsumas, hazelnuts

One volunteer’s story

They set up home in a tented enclosure at Paignton Zoo, Devon, next to the ape house, in an experiment filmed for TV. The idea, says Jill Fullerton-Smith, who helped organise the trial, was that modern diets, often dominated by processed foods and saturated fats, cause costly health problems.

For example, nearly half Britain’s 117,000 annual deaths from coronary heart disease are linked to high cholesterol, according to the British Heart Foundation. And while the government urges everyone to eat five portions of fruit and veg a day, obesity is still rising.

So could an experiment on ordinary people’s lives deliver the healthy eating message?

Nine volunteers, aged 36 to 49, took on the 12-day Evo Diet, consuming up to five kilos of raw fruit and veg a day.

Hunter-gatherer style

The regime was devised by nutritionist and registered dietician Lynne Garton and King’s College Hospital. It was based on research showing such a diet could have health benefits for cholesterol levels and blood pressure, because it is made up of the types of foods our bodies evolved to eat over thousands of years.

Ms Garton looked for inspiration to the plant-based diet of our closest relatives, the apes, and devised a three-day rotating menu of fruit, vegetables, nuts and honey. The prescribed menu was:

• safe to eat raw;
• met adult human daily nutritional requirements; and
• provided 2,300 calories - between the 2,000 recommended for women and 2,500 for men,

Volunteers could also drink water. In the second week, standard portions of cooked oily fish were introduced - a nod to a more hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

Among the volunteers was Jon Thornton, 36, a driving instructor from Sheffield, who had never eaten vegetables, from childhood upwards.

Weighing in at almost 19-stone, his typical diet read like the children’s book, Mr Strong. Breakfast was four slices of toast; at 10am a bacon sausage and egg sarnie followed; fish and chips for tea and a Chinese take-away before bed.

That was before his wife signed up Mr Thornton for the experiment. Over 12 days he lost 5.7kg (12.5lbs), and reduced his cholesterol by 20%. His blood pressure also fell.

Despite nearly backing out at the start - the first day’s food arrived in a cool-box, was raw and he was distinctly uncomfortable with the idea of broccoli - he was converted to eating vast portions of fresh fruit and veg.

“I didn’t feel any loss of energy, I didn’t feel ill at all,” he says. “It’s not a diet you’d recommend as a diet itself, but it worked to bring my cholesterol and blood pressure down.”

Harmony in camp

With so much food bulk and plenty of calories the subjects did not go hungry - indeed most failed to finish their daily ration. And once they were over the withdrawal from caffeinated drinks and some foods, says Ms Garton, they enjoyed good energy levels and mood.

So the “moments of unhappiness and grumpiness” that the TV crew was primed to capture failed to happen. The proved to be a motivated group, although the one odorous side-effect from all that roughage couldn’t be ignored.

Overall, the cholesterol levels dropped 23%, an amount usually achieved only through anti-cholesterol drugs statins.

The group’s average blood pressure fell from a level of 140/83 - almost hypertensive - to 122/76. Though it was not intended to be a weight loss diet, they dropped 4.4kg (9.7lbs), on average.

The regime provided an education for all, and a permanent change for some.

“The main lesson that they took away was to eat more fruit and veg,” says Ms Garton. They also cut salt intake from a group average of 12g a day, to 1g (against a guideline maximum of 6g) and reduced saturated fat - which makes cholesterol - from 13% to 5% of calories (recommended, 11%).

At the same time, they increased the soluble fibre which binds cholesterol in the gut, so that it is expelled, and increased the intake of plant sterols - which help to lower cholesterol.

For Jon, life has changed since he was “released” from the zoo. He has gained a little weight but now says he only eats when hungry and knows good food can help health and longevity. He can play football because his knees no longer hurt under the extra weight and he goes cycling.

He even managed to hold out at the most tempting time of year. “For the first time in 36 years this year I had vegetables with my Christmas dinner,” he says. “Usually, I say no to them and have a few extra roast potatoes instead.”

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6248975.stm

July 15, 2007
By Clare Rewcastle and Jon Ungoed-Thomas

THE world’s biggest mining company, a supporter of the BBC’s Saving Planet Earth campaign to protect orang-utans, is planning to raze some of the great apes’ rainforest habitat.

Documents obtained by The Sunday Times reveal that the Anglo-Australian group BHP Billiton plans to exploit mining rights across swathes of Borneo’s tropical forests in southeast Asia. It has lobbied for the protected status of some of these areas to be lifted so it can clear the trees and dig for coal.

Details of the proposed open cast mines in the region, known as the Heart of Borneo, have outraged environmentalists and wildlife experts. The company promotes its green credentials and supported work to help save Borneo’s orang-utans, shown on Saving Planet Earth, presented by Sir Richard Attenborough.

Less than two miles from where the orang-utans were released BHP Billiton has plans for a vast open-cast coal mine that conservation experts warn will cause huge damage to the island’s wildlife and ecological systems. It is one of seven “forest mines” the company has secured rights to exploit.

David Chivers, of the Wildlife Research Group at Cambridge University, said: “This is going to be a belt of mines right across rainforest. It will drive out wildlife and will be a disaster for the island.”

BHP Billiton is part of a “coal rush” to develop mines in the rainforest areas of Borneo that previously had protected status. Environmental activists estimate there are mining rights at up to 200 locations.

The company insists it will only mine in permitted zones and use sustainable practices but the British government is concerned by the lobbying campaign to revoke protected status of parts of the rainforest.

Barry Gardiner, the Labour MP appointed the prime minister’s special representative on forestry, is seeking a parliamentary debate on the issue this week.

The Heart of Borneo is one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet, where elephants, rhinos and leopards roam through pristine rainforest. Last January, the three governments that have territory on the island (Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei) signed a treaty to conserve the area.

BHP Billiton has been keen not to publicise its extensive interests in the region but internal company documents show it has concessions that give it mining rights in hundreds of thousands of acres of the rainforest.

Initial work has started at one site, Maruwai, and managers have ambitious plans for the forest mines. Speaking at a coal industry conference in Bali last month, Nurul Fazrie, the company’s community relations and development superintendent, said: “We have the demand for coal and we will be the largest producer of coking coal in Indonesia.”

Environmental campaigners oppose extensive open-cast coal mining in rainforests because it means the loss of wildlife habitat. Deforestation is also thought to contribute to the increase in flooding that has caused havoc on the island in recent years.

BHP Billiton, which has 38,000 employees in 25 countries, first acquired its Indonesian coal concession in the 1990s from the Suharto government. During the dictator’s regime the rainforests were systematically exploited.

When Suharto was finally deposed in 1998 the new government gave the rainforests protected status and outlawed open cast mining. But BHP Billiton and other mining companies successfully fought back, overturning the blanket ban on their mining practices.

The companies have also campaigned to revoke the protected status of some of the rainforest. The impact of this lobbying can be seen in official government maps of BHP Billiton’s operation in Maruwai. The 120,000 acres covered by the company’s concession were once almost entirely protected forest but under the latest plans only a small proportion will be protected and the company hopes to extract more than 5m tons of coal a year.

Farah Sofa, deputy director of Walhi, an Indonesian environmental group, said: “BHP Billiton is a climate dinosaur. A deluge of base camps, roads, and open-cast pits would eat the heart of this island from the inside out.”

Sources close to government officials said the plans to repeal the protected status had already been approved at a local level and were now being considered by more senior officials.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been instrumental in protecting the Heart of Borneo, but has been reluctant to criticise BHP Billiton. It says it is concerned that if the company pulled out of the island it would be replaced by other mining operations that would cause even more damage.

BHP Billiton would not comment on its lobbying to remove the protected status of some of Borneo’s rainforest but said it would develop any mining operations in close consultation with the Indonesian government and conservation groups.

A statement issued by the firm said: “BHP Billiton is mindful of its environmental responsibilities and any development will be in compliance with Indonesian law.”

###

Source: The Sunday Times

By Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR, Jul 13 (IPS) - The annual phenomenon that is oddly called the ‘haze’ is back and beginning to blanket parts of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei in thick, acrid smoke from the forest fires in Indonesia, mainly from the Kalimantan and Sumatra islands.

Experts say the fact that the ‘haze’ has returned indicates that all the promises and plans announced by the ten-nation Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) last year to prevent forest fires and end the annual return of the haze have failed.

“All the urgings, meetings, memoranda and regional plans between the (ASEAN) countries to combat trans-boundary pollution have failed,” said S. M. Mohamed Idris, president of Friends of Earth, Malaysia.

“They have been unable to prevent the fires and are unable to put it out,” he told IPS. “The political will is badly missing.”

One of the latest plans announced after last year’s debilitating haze was for Malaysia and Singapore, two victims, to adopt a fire-prone province in Indonesia to help local authorities prevent fires and if lighted, to fight the fires.

The two countries held numerous meetings and drew up draft plans with local authorities in Jambi (adopted by Singapore) and Riau, under Malaysia’s care. ASEAN also includes Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, Laos, Brunei and the Philippines.

The measures include raising awareness about fire prevention, providing alternative livelihoods for slash-and-burn farmers, and promoting responsible farming and peat land management practices.

Experts had however predicted that the plan will not work because both countries have powerful commercial interests to turn Indonesian forests into plantations for oil palm which currently enjoys a historically all-time high of 700 US dollars a tonne.

Firing the forests during the dry season from June to August is the tested and cheapest way to clear land for oil palm.

Once the land is cleared and its biodiversity destroyed, oil palm is planted extensively turning the entire landscape into a monoculture jungle.

“Besides high prices, the bio-fuel craze is also fuelling the opening up of more land for oil palm plantation,” Idris told IPS.

Cash-flush plantation companies — both Malaysian and Indonesian — have marked out vast tracts of forest and peat land in Sumatra and Kalimantan for new palm plantations.

The peat land in Sumatra and Riau is the main target because it burns fast and is ideal for oil palm.

The statistics tell it all. Indonesia is targeted to produce 17.4 million tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) this year for the first time, outstripping Malaysia as the world’s number one producer. Malaysia, which is expected to take second place with 16.5 million tonnes, is a major developer of Indonesian oil palm.

Malaysian companies, in joint ventures with Indonesian partners, owned 1.3 million hectares of oil palm plantation in 1999, from a mere 6,000 hectares in 1967.

A leading industry expert estimates another three million hectares would come under palm oil in Indonesia by 2020, effectively wiping out the last of the great rainforest.

“Sumatra alone will account for most of the expansion with 1.6 million new hectares under oil palm,” he told IPS.

“Kalimantan will take up another one million hectares and West Papua 400,000 hectares,” said the expert, who declined to be named, citing development plans already approved by Indonesia.

Malaysian companies will play a major role in the opening up of new plantation land in Indonesia given Malaysian expertise and Indonesia’s favourable climate and low labour costs.

The return of the haze has brought out the familiar blame game with Indonesian officials blaming Malaysian and Singaporean companies for firing the Indonesian forest.

For example, Indonesian Consul-General in Malaysia Moeni Soenanda told Malaysian reporters this month that “checks” revealed that “none of the companies” involved in open burning were Indonesian.

“The companies involved in illegal logging and open burning are all foreign,” he said without naming any company.

This is exactly the same script that Indonesia has been giving out every year for the past 20 years.

“It’s always like this when the haze season arrives — Indonesian officials would blame foreign companies for causing the haze,” said Syed Nadzri, chief editor of the semi-official ‘New Straits Times’ daily in a commentary on Jul. 9.

“Malaysia will deny and amid all the hot air, the forests continue to burn and the smoke is blown across the border to the neighbours,” the commentary said.

The newspaper demanded Indonesia take firm action against any and all culprits – ‘’Malaysians, Indonesians, Singaporeans or even Martians.’’

Countries in the region have been pressing Indonesia to ratify the ASEAN agreement on trans-boundary haze pollution which is being touted as the answer to the annual haze from forest fires.

The pact, which came into force at end 2003, among other matters, requires signatories to take legal, administrative and other measures to prevent forest fires and put it out once lighted.

It contains provisions on monitoring as well as simplified customs and immigration procedures for disaster relief.

Parties are also required to cooperate in developing and implementing measures to prevent and monitor trans-boundary haze pollution, and control sources of fires by developing early warning systems and providing mutual assistance.

The agreement also requires the parties concerned to respond promptly to a request for relevant information sought by a state or states affected by such haze pollution.

With public anger rising over this year’s haze, Indonesia quickly assured its neighbours that it is taking “all necessary steps” to ratify the agreement.

Unfortunately, Indonesia also said the same during the 2005 and 2006 haze season.

Environmental experts say even if Indonesia ratifies the agreement it will still be unable to completely eradicate forest fires given the limits of the country’s administrative, technical and financial resources and its huge size.

An example of the challenges Indonesia faces is the decision this month by the local authority in Riau, the most fire prone province, to “legally” allow farmers to burn up to two hectares of land this year for slash-and-burn agriculture.

The local rule flagrantly violates the national environmental law which makes open burning illegal and undermines the national pledge to prevent the fires.

Indonesian environmentalists predict that as a result of this ruling the fires this year, and consequently the haze, could be on a larger scale than before.

In addition, a ‘strange clause’ in Indonesia’s forestry law allows open burning of forests if ‘permits’ are obtained, and according to Indonesian NGOs such permits are easily obtained.

In the end it all boils down to huge profits — first from logging, then from oil palm whose amazing productivity surpasses all vegetable oils.

For the giant plantation companies and their political backers, a spot of haze each year is a small price to pay.

###

Source: IPS Inter Press Service News Agency

The Body Shop call for urgent action from global retailers

The Body Shop International today became the first cosmetics and toiletries retailer to introduce sustainable palm oil into the global beauty industry. The company has made this pioneering move as a response to the continued and rapid destruction of the world’s ancient rainforests caused by irresponsible palm oil production. It will source the sustainable palm oil from a plantation in Colombia.

This move represents a major practical step by a global retailer and equates to 14.5 million bars of soap sold per annum in more than 2,200 stores across 57 countries across the world.

The Body Shop are now calling on other manufacturers and retailers to follow their lead to help slow the drastic environmental and social effects of unsustainable production and ensure that within the next two to three years, the majority of palm oil is produced sustainably.

• Palm oil is one of the world’s most popular vegetable oils. It is used in countless everyday items including cosmetics, household products and foods and is regularly consumed by over a billion people worldwide.
• A huge growth in demand - a six-fold increase since the mid 1980s and still rising - has led to the clearance of vast areas of primary rainforests for plantations, particularly in South East Asia.
• At current rates of destruction, around 1.3m hectares of forest - equating to around six football pitches per minute - will be cleared this year in Borneo alone to allow for new plantations.
• Production impacts on the rights of indigenous populations, often creates poor labour conditions and has severe health implications for women working on the plantations.
• Deforestation’s most drastic effect is on endangered animal species such as orang-utans in Borneo and Sumatra, Sumatran rhinoceros and Asian elephant and tigers, all of which are heading towards extinction due to the loss of natural habitat.

The Body Shop has focused on tackling the palm oil issue for some years and is a leading figure on the global Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). When The Body Shop joined the organising committee of the RSPO in 2004, membership numbered just 10 organisations. Three years later, over 250 organisations have committed themselves to finding solutions to the grave issues posed by palm oil production, including a number of major retailers who now make up a 20 strong group within the RSPO. The Body Shop now calls for more retailers to join the RSPO, and for those who have already made this commitment to begin sourcing RSPO certified sustainable palm oil as soon as it becomes available later this year.

Over the past six months The Body Shop has worked in partnership with Daabon, a certified organic producer in Colombia, which works extensively with local cooperatives, to implement sustainable production of palm oil. Daabon has been audited against the RSPO Principles & Criteria for the Production of Sustainable Palm Oil.

Peter Saunders, Chief Executive Officer of The Body Shop said today:

“The switch to sustainable palm oil is a landmark step forward for The Body Shop and a potentially groundbreaking development for the whole cosmetics industry. Many people who use soap everyday will be unaware that they are contributing to a major environmental catastrophe: the destruction of ancient rainforests and the extinction of endangered species. Our ambition is for the majority of the world’s palm oil production to be sustainable within the next two to three years but this will not be achieved by The Body Shop in isolation - our decision must inspire other businesses to join us and tackle the problem head on.”

Matthias Diemer, palm oil expert, WWF Switzerland, commented:

“The Body Shop is the first global cosmetics company to introduce sustainable palm oil into its product lines. This is the start of the growth of sustainable palm oil in the cosmetics sector and we hope that many more companies will follow suit. We also applaud the pioneering role The Body Shop has taken in helping to formulate strong standards for sustainable palm oil production through the RSPO.”

Background:

• Palm oil is an important and versatile raw ingredient, accounting for more than 29 million tonnes of the world’s annual 95 million tonnes of vegetable oil.
• Palm oil used by The Body Shop will now be sourced from Daabon, in Colombia, South America. Daabon has been at the forefront of both environmental and social responsibility for many years. For almost 20 years, Daabon has focused on certified organic production, and has since started focusing on social standards, such as SA8000, Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance. Daabon works extensively with local cooperatives, providing training and market access.
• Sustainable palm oil production means the use of far less destructive planting methods, and therefore helps protect rainforest biodiversity. Through The Body Shop Foundation, the retailer has provided practical advice to plantations and small-scale farmers, funding projects which will help make this happen in other parts of the world.
• The Body Shop has commissioned an audit of the Daabon operation to ensure that neither environment, people nor wildlife are under threat from the cultivation of palm oil. The audit used the Principles & Criteria developed by the stakeholders of the RSPO, which will form the basis of a certification scheme for sustainable palm oil by the end of 2007.
• The Body Shop will continue to positively engage with the major players in the palm oil supply chain to encourage the switch to an effective sustainable option. The RSPO has developed a set of Principles & Criteria for the Production of Sustainable Palm Oil and a full certification scheme is expected to be finalised in November 2007.
• In the meantime, move to sustainable palm oil by The Body Shop means that the business can ensure that its use of palm oil does not contribute to deforestation and that conditions can begin to improve within the industry.

Enquiries: The Body Shop via Brunswick: Benjamin Ward / Anna Jones / Sarah West +44 (0) 207 404 5959, bodyshop@brunswickgroup.com

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Source: http://www.thebodyshopinternational.com/

The following information, provided by the Center for Orangutan Protection (COP), comes from a survey conducted within the Tumbang Koling area of Central Kalimantan, where primary rainforest is being rapidly cleared to make way for palm oil plantations belonging to Nabatindo Karia Utama.

To date, the company has cleared approximately 80,000 hectares. Alarmingly, their current target is to clear 110,000 hectares. The primary rainforest in the Tumbang Koling area has been preserved since 1972 by a local community group - Pantis Pandelum - formed by Stone Cristoffel. This preservation role is endorsed by the local authorities, attached as Appendix 1 is a letter from the local head district, allowing Stone Cristoffel and Pantis Pandelum to care for the forest and the rich flora and fauna within it, including a list of the flora species which are important for the local community (traditional medicine plays a large role in the lives of the people).

The communities represented in Pantis Pandelum are dependant on the richness and diversity of plant and animal life this forest supports and have protected and preserved the area successfully until October 2006. In October, the company Nabatindo Karia Utama started their campaign to clear the area of forest.

Organisational Profile

The Nabatindo Karia Utama company is a subsidiary of Rimba Lestari. Rimba Lestari is a major palm oil producer in Tumbang Koling, Cempaga Hulu, Kotawaringin Timur, Kabupaten Sampit.

The Company President is Mr Ramil, the Manager is Ketut Sudiatmaja (HP + 62 11 52 79 50). The Head office is in Pekanbaru, Sumatra.

The Burning of the Forest

During the dry season, and without any warning, Nabatindo Karia Utama started to burn the forest area. What the flames did not destroy, the Bulldozers did. Protest letters to the head of the district and other involved parties by Pantis Pandelum remained unanswered and Nabatindo Karia Utama has continued its destructive work. Since October 2006, an estimated 6,000 hectares have been cleared. In May 2007, Pantis Pandelum asked for help and that’s how the Center for Orangutan Protection (COP) became involved in this case.

Following a survey of the remaining forest, COP has witnessed significant destruction and overcrowding of the remaining areas.

The amount of species now forced into small remaining areas of forest is cause stress, territorial disputes and significant competition for food. COP found high numbers of fresh orangutan nests (less than 1 day old) in the areas surveyed, suggesting a dense population of orangutans within the area. This is directly due the negative impact of the palm oil plantations on orangutan habitat. Competition for food and habitat will become a big worry for the future of the orangutans within the surveyed area. The one adult female orangutan we encountered was in poor state and very small for her size.

The clearing of more land for palm oil plantations is a key concern. More land clearing will mean the further loss of habitat, and a decrease in the population of orangutans within the area. But it is not only the orangutan who are suffering, the area is home to many unique flora and fauna species, this forest is in urgent need of protection.

While alarming, the destruction of the forest is only part of it. During the course of the survey, Nabatindo Karia Utama staff offered to sell displaced orangutan to COP. The situation requires urgent attention and cannot be allowed to continue.

“Ganti Rugi”

In Central Kalimantan, palm oil companies have a reputation for illegal land clearing through burning. Once ashes have replaced the forest, the land becomes of low value and the local people are willing to sell the land for rock bottom prices (approx. 450,000 Rupiah/hectare). This is what has happened with the land of Pantis Pandelum. After 5,000 hectares was destroyed, the company has offered to “ganti rugi”, meaning they will pay a low price for the land to the victims of the land loss. Sadly, the compensation doesn’t include all the loss of the many unique and priceless flora and fauna species that have been destroyed as well. Palm trees are planted straight after land clearing, with remaining logs still burning in the area.

Where to from here?

COP will continue to support the efforts of Pantis Pandelum and take all measures needed to end the destruction caused by Nabatindo Karia Utama and other palm oil producers in this area. With their forest cut down, these wonderful animals have nowhere to go and their future is in the balance.

We are seeking your support.

We need international exposure and recognition of the impact of the current destruction. Please circulate this to any group that has the ability to get this issue in the media, or bring it to the attention of governments.

If you would like to find out more about the situation or learn how you can help then please go to the website of COP: Center for Orangutan Protection

CENTRE FOR ORANGUTAN PROTECTION,
PO BOX 2406 JKP 10024 - Jakarta

PHONE : +62 (0) 81398229911,
EMAIL: orang-utan@indosat.net.id

By Nurul Halawati Azhari

BUKIT MERAH, July 9 (Bernama) — The infants drink milk via feeding bottles and wear disposable diapers. They are pampered and sleep in comfortable cots, similar to that available in any paediatric ward, and are watched over by a “nanny”.

However they are not human babies, but Orang Utan infants from the Borneo species (Pongo Pygmaeus) at the Bukit Merah Lake Town Resort’s Infant Care Unit. (ICU).

The ICU took shape in 2004 when the resort, located some 15 km from Taiping, created an Orang Utan island in the middle of Bukit Merah lake.

The facility was established to conduct research and provide visitors with knowledge on this species, now threatened with extinction.

The fact that the resort is the pioneer for such a project is something to be proud of. Especially the success at breeding the Orang Utan at the island.

ISOLATED AFTER BIRTH

According to the resort’s public relations manager Aileen Tan Wan Min, for their own safety, the Orang Utan babies born on the island had to be separated from their mothers.

Tan said these Orang Utan babies were shunned by their mothers, who refused to suckle them. As a result, the Orang Utan babies suffered from severe malnutrition.

Several of them later developed life-threatening diarrhoea.

“If the infants are not separated (from their mothers), we are worried that they may die. They are given appropriate care, treatment and attention according to a schedule drawn out at the unit.

“The Orang Utan babies are cared until they reach four years old when they would be released on the island, to join the other adult Orang Utans,” she said.

At this unit, the Orang Utan babies’ vital signs are monitored.

These include the blood oxygen content, blood pressure and pulse. The infants are given a balanced nutrition including vitamins. For those suffering from diarrhoea, they are clothed in disposable diapers.

The Orang Utan babies are also sponged with an antiseptic body wash every morning and have adequate sleep between of 15-22 hours daily. They are weighed and their stool samples taken for tests.

The infants are monitored round-the-clock by the resort’s trained veterinary personnel led by its resident veterinarian Dr S. Sabapathy.

Tan said researchers are among the visitors at the ICU and Orang Utan Island. They are there to study the Orang Utan’s infants, their habitat, behaviour and other related aspects.

THREE MAIN SECTIONS

The ICU has three main sections — an infirmary, a recovery room as well as a development unit.

The infirmary is equipped with facilities for routine treatment and clinical diagnosis. Treatment is carried out by the veterinary personnel.

The recovery room is the facility where the resident veterinarian administer drugs and other medication to the Orang Utan babies. It is also used for the Orang Utan babies to recover from fatigue.

As for the development section, the Orang Utan babies are trained to acquire basic skills needed to live in their natural habitat. The first step is to introduce the Orang Utan babies to the jungle environment. Equipment like ropes and other necessary materials are provided.

LEARNING TO LIVE IN THE JUNGLE

Visitors to the island will be awed watching 4-year-old Orang Utan Adam and Sonia frolicking and swinging from one branch to another.

According to Tan, both Orang Utans were the pioneers to be born here and they have passed through all development and training stages held at the ICU.

She said, both were suffering from malnourishment and ill health when they were abandoned by their respective mothers four years ago. But after receiving treatment and care at the ICU, they have fully recovered and they are now healthy.

They are now undergoing the final phase of training before being released to join the adult Orang Utans on the island.

Both Adam and Sonia have learnt how to survive in their natural habitat, climbing and swinging effortlessly from tree to tree in search for food and water.

Apart from Adam and Sonia, there are other baby Orang Utans at the ICU. They are 3-year-olds Carlos and Paulina as well as Malik and Ilyas who are two and half years old. They are currently undergoing phase four of their training.

Ilyas and Malik are still shy of visitors. Upon being approached, both are quick to scuttle to the embrace of their minders. At times, Ilyas appeared to be tugging at the shirt of his minder, trying to hide his face in the man’s uniform.

ORANG UTAN ISLAND

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) classifies the Orang Utan as critically threatened by extinction, while according to the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) estimates, there are only some 3,000 Borneo Orang Utan left in the world.

The promate may look sluggish and “dumb”. But looks can be deceiving! Studies have revealed that they are indeed intelligent. In fact, they have 97 percent human DNA.

Take for example the 25-year-old Mike, the dominant male Orang Utan on the island. Due to hormonal changes, Mike has developed cheek-packs on his face.

In a group of Orang Utans, there is only one dominant male. Weighing over 80 kg and with long and reddish hair, Mike stands majestically as the “numero uno” among the Orang Utans on the island.

Mike is nonchalant and appears to be unconcerned with the surroundings. Slowly and calmly, he moved along picking up the fruits placed in his domain.

He is not bothered by the presence of visitors or their calls, occassionally rewarding them with a fleeting glance.

The visitors walk in a 500-metre-long cage-like walkway to view the Orang Utan on the island. The irony is that the visitors appear to be the “show pieces” for the Orang Utans to view.

For those who are keen to watch the Orang Utan, a visit to the Bukit Merah Lake Town Resort is worth the effort.

The package is priced at RM15-RM19. From the resort’s main jetty, visitors will be taken on a 10-minute boat cruise to the island.

The 14-hectare wide Orang Utan Island is formerly known as Pulau Panjang. Two hectares of its area has been converted to become a “sanctuary” for the Borneo species of the Orang Utan who are allowed to move freely within the enclosure.

According to Tan, since it took shape some four years ago, the island now has 22 Orang Utan including 10 who were born there.

However last May, two of these Orang Utan — BJ, a 17-year-old male, and Jerangkong, a 23-year-old female, have been returned to the Sarawak Forestry Department.

This project, fully sponsored by the Emkay Foundation, is hoped to be the catalyst for other corporate entities to be involved in the conservation of the wildlife in Malaysia.

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Source Bernama.com - Malaysian National News Agency

By JACK WONG

8 July 2007 - KUCHING, Malaysia: Sarawak, which has taken a lead role in orang utan conservation work, is carrying out a wide-scope of research on the “wild man of the forest” in Borneo.

The recently established Conservation Centre of Excellence for Orangutan Research is spearheading the comprehensive studies that cover the endangered species’ behaviour (reproduction, diet, foraging, vocalisation and nesting), its ecology, population enhancement, habitat improvement and rehabilitation programmes.

Other activities are to compile an inventory of orang utan population, DNA studies, zoonotic diseases, visitors’ impact study and eco-tourism programme.

Sarawak Forestry said the Conservation Centre of Excellence set up early this year in Nanga Delok, n the Batang Ai National Park in Sri Aman Division, had a research adminstration station to provide various facilities, like a research laboratory, telecommunication installations and accommodation for researchers.

“An allocation of RM3.65mil has been approved for the centre’s development during the Ninth Malaysia Plan,” it added in one of the leaflets published to educate the public on the conservation and rehabilitation programme for the orang utans.

The Batang Ai National Park forms part of a 404,000-ha trans-boundary biodiversity conservation area, comprising the Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Santuary (Sarawak) and Betung Kerihun National Park (Kalimantan).

The conservation area has the biggest concentration of the Borneon orang utan population.

Sarawak Forestry said Malaysia had submitted the Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Santuary and Batang Ai National Park (covering a total area of 232,000 ha) to UNESCO to be inscribed as a world heritage site.

“The Conservation Centre of Excellence is to provide a referral centre for orang utan research work in Borneo, facilitate and consolidate all orang utan conservation efforts and research from the totally protected areas of Batang Ai and Lanjak Entimau,” it added.

It said the orang utan rehabilitation programme was carried out by the Semenggok and Matang Wildlife Centres here where visitors could learn more about the highly intelligent animal of the rainforest.

Sarawak Forestry said the world’s orang utan population had dropped as its survival had been threatened by deforestation, human encroachment into its habitat, indscriminate hunting and the live animal trade.

Source: http://thestar.com.my/