Orangutan Outreach Website - Saving the Orangutan

By Carolyn Giardina
April 21, 2008

Walt Disney Studios has launched a new production banner, Disneynature, to produce nature documentaries for theatrical release.

The worldwide initiative will involve a number of its businesses, including publications, licensing, parks and educational outreach.

Disney veteran Jean-Francois Camilleri, who has served as senior vp and GM of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures France, will head the new unit. Disneynature will be based in France, where Camilleri and his team will oversee the initiation, development and acquisition of feature projects.

Disney also is assembling a team of filmmakers.

Producer-director Alastair Fothergill, whose credits include the “Planet Earth” series for the BBC and Discovery Channel, has entered a multipicture deal with Disneynature. His first release under the new banner is “Earth,” which is produced by BBC Worldwide and Greenlight Media and co-directed by Mark Linfield. Lensed while making “Planet Earth,” the feature “Earth” will be narrated by James Earl Jones and premiere theatrically in the domestic market on Earth Day, April 22, 2009. The film also will be released under the Disneynature banner in Latin America.A hope also is that the features would “encourage people of all ages to play a bigger role in protecting what we now have,” Disney CEO Robert Iger said.

Disneynature projects currently in development or production include:

– “The Crimsom Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos,” co-directed by Matthew Aeberhard and Leander Ward and produced by Paul Webster. This film will take viewers to the isolated shores of Lake Natron in northern Tanzania for a bird’s-eye view of the lives of flamingos. A worldwide rollout begins in France in December.

– “Oceans,” in which French co-directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud set out to capture the full expanse of the waters that have played a crucial and constant role in the history and sustenance of man. Is it set for domestic release in 2010.

– “Orangutans: One Minute to Midnight,” directed by Charlie Hamilton James and produced by Frederic Fougea, centers on a 6-year-old male orangutan and his little sister, who must take a journey to find a home and a family. Worldwide release is in 2010.

– “Big Cats,” co-directed by Keith Scholey and Fothergill and produced by Alix Tidmarsh. The film follow three mothers — a lioness, a leopard and a cheetah — as they explore their world on the African plains. Worldwide release is set for 2011.

See more photos.
Learn more about the new Greenpeace report.
View more on the global campaign.

By David Batty and agencies
guardian.co.uk
Monday April 21 2008

Greenpeace protesters dressed as orangutans demonstrate outside Unilever’s central London headquarters. Photograph: John Melhuish/Rex Features

Environmental protesters dressed as orang-utans today staged demonstrations against the consumer goods giant Unilever to highlight the destruction of the Indonesian rainforest.

More than 50 Greenpeace activists staged protests at two Unilever sites – a factory in Port Sunlight, on Merseyside, and at the Anglo-Dutch conglomerate’s headquarters, Unilever House, on Victoria Embankment, in London.

The protests coincided with the publication of a Greenpeace report linking Unilever to the destruction of the endangered orang-utan’s habit.

The report, called Burning Up Borneo, says companies that supply Unilever with palm oil are destroying the Indonesian rainforest.

Greenpeace links the majority of the largest palm oil producers in Indonesia to Unilever, which it says is probably the largest corporate consumer of the oil in the world.

James Turner, a spokesman for Greenpeace at the Victoria Embankment protest, said eight people dressed as orang-utans had climbed ladders to reach a seven metre-high balcony above the entrance of Unilever House at 7.35am.

“It is going fairly well,” he added. “We have got a lot of staff to talk to and a lot did not know about the destruction of the rainforest.

“Companies supplying palm oil are destroying the habitats of orang-utans and massively accelerating climate change.”

Campaigners at the protest at the Unilever plant on Merseyside claimed to have stopped production of some of the company’s products.

“This is the start of a really big campaign,” Sarah Shoraka, an activist at the protest, said. “We want Unilever to stop trading with companies that destroy the rainforest to supply palm oil used to make cleaning products.

“They buy from suppliers who are trashing rainforest areas and habitats for orang-utans. These areas should really be protected.

“Some of the people here are chained to machinery and we have stopped production for some brands. We will stay here as long as possible before we are moved.”

A spokeswoman for Merseyside police said officers had been called by the company at 6.45am. “We are aware of the protest and we are assessing the circumstances,” she added.

Unilever said it was addressing many of the concerns Greenpeace had voiced about the expansion of palm oil production.

The company heads the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil coalition of organisations, which includes Oxfam, the World Wildlife Federation, plantation owners, manufacturers and retailers.

It has produced criteria for sustainable palm oil production.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/21/wildlife

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Police will launch an internal investigation into the possible role of former West Kalimantan Police chief Brig. Gen. Zainal Abidin Ishak in several illegal logging and timber smuggling cases in the province.

“We will go ahead with the investigation, but as of this moment, we have yet to find any convincing evidence of his involvement in the cases,” National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Abubakar Nataprawira told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

National Police chief Gen. Sutanto on Tuesday replaced Zainal with Brig. Gen. Natakusumah, former head of operational control at National Police Headquarters in Jakarta.

Zainal was removed from his post following police investigations into illegal logging in Ketapang regency, which ended with the detention of three officers, including former Ketapang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Akhmad Sun’an.

Zainal has been accused of negligence that allowed illegal logging and timber smuggling to flourish in the province.

“This (replacement) is punishment for Zainal. The National Police chief will not accept regional police chiefs who are unaware and have no grasp of what is happening in his or her jurisdiction,” spokesman Abubakar said.

Zainal has been transferred to National Police Headquarters, where he will serve as an expert staff member.

“The replacement is expected to encourage a new monitoring system in West Kalimantan to prevent further cases of illegal logging and timber smuggling there,” Abubakar said.

“The National Police chief hopes the cases in Ketapang are the last to happen in the country.”

Police investigating the cases in the regency have confiscated about 12,000 cubic meters of logs with an estimated value of Rp 208 billion (US$22.6 million), along with 19 barges used to transport the logs.

Officers believe the confiscated logs were bound for Kuching in Malaysia, later to be sold in China, Taiwan and Japan.

At least 26 government officials, six from the West Kalimantan forestry agency, have been declared suspects in the cases. (dia)

By Chris Jones

18-Apr-2008 - Canada’s Earthcycle, a producer of palm fibre-based packaging, has confirmed that its source material is made from sustainable sources that have not contributed to deforestation.

Palm fibre is generally considered a waste by-product of the palm fruit, the crop used to produce palm oil, a major vegetable oil and fat.

But increasing production of palm oil in countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia has led to concerns about the impact on biodiversity: according to a recent report, more than 10.7m hectares of land are now devoted to oil palm production worldwide - an increase of 168 per cent on 1960 - and that higher levels of palm oil production are generally associated with a higher number of endangered species.

Sustainability

But Earthcycle said its sources in West Malaysia have been certified as sustainable by SGS Qualipalm, an auditor for the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). This provides a guarantee that they have not replaced any primary forest or converted any environmentally sensitive areas for the purpose of palm oil production.

The RSPO defines and certifies sustainability in the palm oil industry.

Shannon Boase, Earthcycle’s president, claimed that the company’s packaging is doubly environmentally friendly since it is made from a product that is traditionally incinerated as part of the palm oil production process.

“Earthcycle developed an innovative way to turn this former waste product into an environmentally responsible packaging alternative, which turns into healthy, productive humus for the soil in less than 90 days,” Boase said.

“After years of living in South East Asia and being aware of the destructive tendencies of industrial agriculture and the impact of excessive demand, it was important for the assessment to occur,” Boase added.

“Our partners and end consumers expect Earthcycle to provide, whenever possible, the data to confirm its practices are firmly aligned with sustainability. We are proud to have received qualified documentation stating our environmentally-friendly packaging is made from ethically sourced fibre.”

Renewability

The confirmation of the company’s sustainable sources comes hot on the heels of another certification confirming that all the materials used to produce its packaging are certifiably renewable.

Earthcycle’s packaging, which is available in a number of major retailers in the US - Fresh Produce Packs - includes trays for fresh fruit and vegetables and foodservice trays for sandwiches or burgers. The company is also working on trays for fresh meat and poultry and pots for herbs and seedlings.

The company claims that its products could significantly reduce the amount of waste produced by US households.

If the 9.3 billion units of pre-packed plastic produce containers used each year in the US were swapped for Earthcycle’s palm fibre packaging, more than 410 million pounds of waste could be diverted from landfill to compost, the company claims.

It adds that more than 8.4 billion of those plastic containers currently end up being thrown away rather than recycled or reused, at a cost of $10.9bn to the US economy.

Source: http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/ng.asp?n=84759-earthcycle-palm-fibre-palm-oil-sustainable-sources

By Ian Wood
View Photos at the Source: The Daily Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/04/18/eapalm118.xml

Although the impact on deforestation and bio-diversity has been immense, the palm oil industries in Malaysia and Indonesia have become vital to their respective economies.

• Need for cheap palm oil drives deforestation
• Malaysia defends palm oil production
• Biofuel rules ‘could make millions homeless’

Such is their importance that a new approach has been called for in the way that NGO’s and conservationists engage with the palm oil industry.
Speaking at the first international palm oil sustainability conference in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, biologist Dr David S Wilcove said that simply calling for boycotts of palm oil from South East Asia is unrealistic and ineffective in conserving the regions rainforests.

“In the context of its tremendous economic importance, it must be recognised that the notion of boycotting palm oil is impractical and unrealistic. It is simply not an approach that will work,” said Dr Wilcove.

Palm oil is now a huge export industry in both Malaysia and Indonesia and also contributes directly to health, education, and infrastructure in rural areas.

Dr Wilcove believes that the answer is to increase awareness of the environmental issues with the palm oil producers. One of the key problems is converting virgin forest to palm oil plantations, which results in a massive decline in species.

Dr Wilcove and his colleague Dr Lian Pin Koh have been studying the bio-diversity of birds and butterflies in primary forests, logged forests, rubber and palm oil plantations.

“We found a 77 per cent decline in forest bird species upon the conversion of old-growth forest to oil palm plantations. For butterflies, the decline was 83 per cent,” he explained. “By comparison, 30 years after logging secondary forest retained roughly 80 per cent of the original forest species,” Dr Wilcove said.

“The focus of new oil palm establishment should be on degraded and cultivated lands like grasslands and rubber plantations,” he said. “Both primary and secondary forests are important for the persistence of biodiversity.”

Indonesia already has a huge availability of suitably cleared land but new palm oil plants do not produce a crop for 4 years. This leads companies to subsidise these non-productive years by clearing forested land and selling the timber.

However there is an argument that preserving virgin rain forest and bio-diversity could actually benefit the palm oil industry by reducing the need for pest management.

“Doing so may not only lower production costs but could also reduce the damaging effects of pesticides to both plantation workers and the environment, as well as satisfy a growing consumer preference for oil palm products produced through environmentally-friendly practices,” said Dr Wilcove.

“Oil palm producers need biodiversity, and people need palm oil. Therefore, conflicts between oil palm expansion and biodiversity conservation will not be solved by each side portraying the other as villains,” he said. “Instead, both sides must talk to each other and search for innovative solutions to these issues.”

If this new approach could be made to work it would have far reaching benefits to the forests and wildlife of South East Asia. The biggest threat for orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra comes from the deforestation of virgin forests to be converted to palm oil plantations.

Why a Wall Street firm wants to save a forest in Sumatra
By Marc Gunther, senior writer

(Fortune) — The business of “carbon farming” is growing fast — and Merrill Lynch is the latest big company to bet that it will become profitable.

What’s carbon farming, you ask? It’s a business designed to recognize the value created when trees store carbon dioxide and prevent global warming. So people who plant new trees or prevent existing trees from destruction can get paid for doing so.

That doesn’t mean that the tree in your backyard or mine will help pay college tuition or fund a 401(k). For now, the payments are going to villagers in the developing world who agree to protect endangered forests. Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500), Marriott (MAR, Fortune 500) and Rio Tinto (RTP), among others, have all agreed to finance projects designed to deter deforestation.

This week, Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500) announced that it will invest $9 million to help save a tropical forest in Aceh, Indonesia. It’s the first time a Wall Street firm has invested in carbon farming, and let’s be clear: this isn’t philanthropy of public relations; it’s strictly business.

In fact, the man who put the deal together to save the 1.9-million acre forest, called Ulu Masen, believes it could be a very big business. “It will be the biggest carbon project in the history of the world if we can pull it off,” says Dorjee Sun, the 31-year-old founder of an Australian startup company called Carbon Conservation.

Here’s how the deal will work: Merrill will pay villagers in Aceh, a province on the island of Sumatra, to stop logging their forests. Aceh, of course, is the place that was devastated by a tsunami in 2004 and, before that, wracked by civil unrest. It’s also home to Sumatran tigers, clouded leopards and orangutans, and therefore of special interest to environmentalists. The money will be used to train the villagers in alternative livelihoods, like growing coffee, cocoa or palm trees for oil. I

In exchange, Merrill will get carbon credits, which are also known as carbon offsets — that’s the “crop” in carbon farming. The credits will meet quality standards set a group called the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA), whose members include environmental groups Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy and the Rainforest Alliance, and companies as BP, Intel and SC Johnson. The alliance functions as a regulator, albeit without legal clout.

Merrill will pay about $4 per credit for 500,000 credits per year over the next four years –$8 million in all. (The other $1 million buys an option to acquire more credits.) Merrill then hopes to sell them for a profit to companies that want to voluntarily offset their carbon emissions. Currently, these voluntary credits –each one represents a ton of CO2 that is prevented from entering the atmosphere — sell from between $2 and $20 each, according to Andrew Ertel, the president and CEO of Evolution Markets, a leading broker of emissions credits.

The credits will be worth a lot more if they can be sold into regulated markets. Greenhouse gases are regulated in Europe and Japan, and laws to control them are being considered in the U.S. and Australia. So far, though, projects like this one — called “avoided deforestation” or REDD projects, for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation — have not been approved for regulated markets. Deforestation is said to account for about 20% of all global greenhouse gas emissions.

“This is uncharted territory,” says Abyd Karmali, global head of carbon emissions at Merrill Lynch. “That’s part of the risk that Merrill is taking. How much appetite will there be for credits from projects of this type?”

Speaking by phone from Jakarta, Dorjee Sun says he has pitched large-scale avoided deforestation projects to more than 200 banks, hedge funds, pension funds and conservation groups. He’s working with governors in Indonesia and Brazil, and came to the U.S. last fall where he pitch deforestation projects to Howard Schultz of Starbucks and investor George Soros.

Sun, a former Internet entrepreneur, is frank about his motives. “The more hectares we manage, the more land we ‘farm’ carbon on, the more money we make,” he says. “Our goal is to be the amazon.com of the Amazon.”

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/17/technology/carbon_farming.fortune/?postversion=2008041808

UK-based retailing giant Tesco is facing criticism over the sale of biodiesel at its service stations, which according to a Greenpeace investigation, comes from environmentally unsustainable production methods, reported The Times.

The investigation stated that Tesco has made false claims regarding the source of its biodiesel. Around 30% of the biofuel in Tesco diesel reportedly comes from palm oil with every liter of this diesel containing around 5% biofuel, according to the Greenpeace investigation.

The investigation was conducted by researchers who bought biodiesel from a Tesco filling station in Edmonton, North London, and sent it to a German independent laboratory, ASG, for analysis.

The investigation noted that the remaining 70% of the biofuel originated from soya, which is considered more sustainable than palm oil but faces criticism over concerns about the possible rise in global food prices due to fuel producers outbidding other buyers for the feedstock.

The news source noted that Tesco, which owns around 400 petrol stations and accounts for 13% of the British fuel market, had initially denied having used any palm oil in its biodiesel but said that it respects concerns over the environmental damage caused by the use of palm oil.

Other UK fuel retailers including Asda, Morrisons and BP have responded to the investigation by saying that they have sought out only environmentally sustainable palm oil.

Source: http://www.energy-business-review.com/article_news.asp?guid=909F7D1B-233D-4F6C-91A3-DB848AD0FE87

El Zoo de Santillana del Mar mostrará esta Semana Santa por primera vez juntas a Victoria y Juliana, ejemplares de orangután de Sumatra. El Zoo de Santillana es el único lugar de España donde se pueden ver este tipo de orangutanes y el único de Europa donde puede verse a dos hermanas criadas juntas y en proceso de introducción en su grupo familiar

Juliana, que está a punto de cumplir año y medio, y Victoria, un año mayor, pasan actualmente el día en la ‘casita de Victoria’, porque es donde disponen de vídeo vigilancia. Por la noche pasan al dormitorio interior con sus padres, Budi y María

Según explicó el Zoo en un comunicado, el proceso de introducción de las hermanas en su grupo familiar está siendo “todo un éxito”, tanto es así que este año la Fundación Zoo de Santillana ha presentado esta iniciativa, conocida como ‘Proyecto Pongo’, a los Premios Medio Ambiente Cantabria 2008 promovidos desde la Consejería de Medio Ambiente del Gobierno regional

Tras muchos meses de trabajo con los padres de Victoria y de Juliana, los conservadores del Zoológico de Santillana afirman que dentro de poco Victoria pasará ya todo el día con María y Budi, porque hasta ahora sólo convive con ellos por la noche. Después, en unos meses será el turno de Juliana, que “lo tendrá mucho más fácil” porque contará con Victoria “como aliada para apoyarla en su adaptación”

María, la madre de Victoria y Juliana, fue la primera orangután de Sumatra nacida en España, y sus dos hijas han sido respectivamente la segunda y tercera

EL ORANGUTÁN DE SUMATRA

El orangután de Sumatra se encuentra, según la UICN (Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza), en peligro crítico y afronta por tanto “un gran riesgo de extinción en la naturaleza”

También está protegido por el CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) y por la legislación de Indonesia, pero, “a pesar de todas estas medidas, si no se hace algo al respecto, podría extinguirse en los próximos diez o veinte años en Sumatra”

El orangután es un habitante de los árboles, se alimenta, duerme y se reproduce en el dosel del bosque bajando sólo ocasionalmente los machos a tierra. La hembra da a luz en un nido ubicado en la copa de un árbol y la diminuta cría se sujeta a su madre mientras ella se encarama por el dosel. La madre y su hijo permanecen juntos hasta que la cría tiene siete años

Por lo general, y a diferencia del resto de los simios, el orangután es un animal solitario, aunque se puede reunir con otros para comer en los árboles frutales y las hembras adolescentes a veces viajan en compañía de otras jóvenes durantes unos días. Su alimentación es variada, y aunque la fruta es su alimento favorito, también comen hojas, huevos, miel y animales pequeños como lagartijas, polluelos y termitas

Como el resto de los simios, los orangutanes son sumamente inteligentes, sin embargo, esta inteligencia no les permitirá combatir la gran amenaza a la que esta especie se enfrenta debido a la desaparición de su hábitat por la acción del hombre

En el caso de los Orangutanes de Sumatra, la estimación más reciente de la población actual es muy inferior a la de del Orangután de Borneo y quedan unos 7.300 orangutanes que ocupan 20,552 kilómetros cuadrados de bosque de la isla de Sumatra

Source: http://it.passado.com/blogEntry.aspx?entry_id=275058

Escrito por Vandana Shiva
Thursday, 17 April 2008

(Tierramérica) Los compromisos adoptados para mitigar el cambio climático son insuficientes y, en ese marco, una falsa solución son los biocombustibles, alimentos de los pobres transformados en energía.

En 2008 ya nadie puede negar el cambio climático causado por actividades humanas. Sin embargo, los compromisos adoptados para mitigarlo y ayudar a los más vulnerables a enfrentar sus efectos son insuficientes y no incluyen el reconocimiento del desastre.

La mitigación requiere cambios materiales en las pautas de producción y consumo. La globalización ha dado impulso a lo largo y ancho del mundo tanto a la producción como al consumo y por lo tanto a mayores emisiones de dióxido de carbono.

Las normas de la Organización Mundial del Comercio (OMC) sobre liberalización comercial fuerzan a los países a seguir una senda que implica aumentar las emisiones. Lo mismo hace el Banco Mundial al conceder préstamos para superautopistas, usinas termoeléctricas, agricultura industrial y ventas al por menor por parte de las grandes corporaciones. También son responsables empresas gigantes como Cargill y Wal-Mart.

Cargill es un actor importante en la difusión del cultivo de soja en Brasil y de las plantaciones de palmas aceiteras en las selvas de Indonesia, en cuya quema tiene responsabilidad. Y el modelo de Wal-Mart, de comercio centralizado a larga distancia, es una receta segura para el aumento de la carga del dióxido de carbono en la atmósfera.

El primer paso para la mitigación requiere un enfoque sobre las acciones reales de los actores reales.

Acciones reales son, por ejemplo, una actividad contraria a la agricultura ecológica y a los sistemas locales de producción de alimentos, así como las que implican la pérdida de economías rurales, con bajas emisiones, ante la diseminación de urbanizaciones a cargo de empresas constructoras. Incluyen también la destrucción de sistemas sustentables de transporte basados en energía renovable y la promoción de los automóviles privados.

Los actores reales son el gran agro-negocio global, la OMC y el Banco Mundial. También son las compañías petroleras y las corporaciones automovilísticas, que empujan esta transición hacia lo no sustentable en materia de movilidad.

El Protocolo de Kyoto eludió por completo responder a la necesidad de detener las actividades que llevan a mayores emisiones y al desafío político de imponer normas a los contaminadores y de hacerles pagar de acuerdo con los principios acordados en 1992 en la Cumbre de la Tierra.

En lugar de ello, Kyoto puso en marcha el mecanismo de canje de derechos de emisiones de gases invernadero, que de hecho recompensa a los contaminadores al otorgarles derechos sobre la atmósfera y a comerciarlos para contaminar. Hoy en día, el mercado de canjes de emisiones ha llegado a 30 mil millones de dólares y se estima que crecerá mucho más.

Otra falsa solución para el cambio climático es la promoción de biocombustibles elaborados con maíz, soja, aceite de palma y jatrofa (piñón).

Los combustibles producidos con biomasa continúan siendo la más importante fuente de energía de los pobres en el mundo: la energía utilizada para cocinar proviene de biomasas no comestibles tales como el estiércol de vaca, los tallos de mijo y de las legumbres y especies agroforestales.

Los biocombustibles industriales son los alimentos de los pobres transformados en calor, electricidad y transporte.

El presidente George W. Bush ha programado la producción de 132 mil 500 millones de litros de biocombustibles para 2017. Inevitablemente, el aumento masivo en la demanda de granos se producirá a expensas de la satisfacción de necesidades elementales de los seres humanos, con la gente pobre marginada del mercado de alimentos debido al aumento de sus precios.

En primer lugar, la deforestación causada por la expansión de las plantaciones de soja y de palmas está conduciendo al aumento de emisiones de dióxido de carbono.

La FAO estima que mil 600 millones de toneladas o sea de 25 a 30 por ciento de los gases invernadero enviados hacia la atmósfera cada año provienen de la deforestación. Para 2022, las plantaciones destinadas a la producción de biocombustibles pueden llevar a la destrucción de 98 por ciento de los bosques de Indonesia.

Estados Unidos empleará 20 por ciento de su maíz para producir 19 mil millones de litros de etanol, que sustituirá sólo uno por ciento del uso de petróleo. Si fuera usado el 100 por ciento del maíz para producir etanol, apenas sustituiría cinco por ciento del petróleo utilizado actualmente.

Claramente ello no constituye una solución ni para poner tope al uso de petróleo ni para mitigar el cambio climático.

Estas falsas soluciones no harán sino incrementar la crisis climática y, al mismo tiempo, agravarán y profundizarán la desigualdad, el hambre y la pobreza.

Vandana Shiva es bióloga, ambientalista y escritora.

Fuente: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1228/1/

Thomas Russell — Furniture Today, 4/17/2008 2:29:00 PM
Police, forestry officials accused in crime

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesian national police have confiscated some 12,000 cubic meters of illegally logged timber valued at $22.5 million, according to a report in the Jakarta Post.

The raid first occurred around April 5 on Kalimantan Island, otherwise known as Borneo. During the raid, police also reportedly confiscated 19 barges and suspended activity at three sawmills.

All told, 26 suspects were arrested, including local police officers and six officials with the West Kalimantan forestry agency.

The smuggling operation is believed to be run by a so-called Malaysian wood mafia that allegedly sends an estimated 8,000 square meters of tropical woods to Malaysia daily. From there, officials claim, the wood is shipped to Vietnam, China, Taiwan and Japan.

The latest incident is reportedly the first time that Indonesian police and forestry officials have been implicated in helping smugglers of illegally harvested woods. It also is part of the Indonesian government’s plan to put a halt to illegal logging in Borneo.

Source: The Jakarta Post