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Source: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/11/205249/850/242/494014

The production of palm oil is one of the most ecologically destructive practices on the planet. Before it is processed and distributed to countries around the world, palm oil originates in tropical regions, where land is converted from rain forests to monoculture plantations. These industrial plantations, which harbor little of the biodiversity of the ecosystems that they replace, are the result of rural development policies instituted at a variety of scales, from the local to the international level. Supported by strong financial interests within both core and peripheral regions of the global economic system, these plantations having been exploding in number and extent since the mid-1960’s, with devastating ecological consequences. The rapid rise of oil palm, its increasing importance in meeting the cooking needs of the developing world, and the variety of other commercial and industrial uses to which the tree is put merits further investigation. It is therefore worth examining how the process of ecological transition plays out from start to finish, with the goal of shedding light on a common, if often overlooked, component of the human diet for billions of people around the world.

Several facts are worth stating at the outset in order to provide context to the importance of palm oil as an agricultural commodity. First, palm oil accounted for 49% of world trade in vegetable oils as of 2003 (FAO, 2006). It is second only to soybean oil as a foodstuff and just passed soybean oil to become the most commonly produced vegetable oil in the world (FAO, 2006). It is also relatively inexpensive to grow, producing yields three to twenty times greater than other oil crops (FWI/GFW, 2002; FAO, 2006).

The expansion of the palm oil industry has been phenomenal; since the mid-1960’s, production has grown 3600% in Indonesia alone (FWI/GFW, 2002). In Malaysia, the amount of cultivated land used for palm oil production rose from 54,638 hectares in 1960 to 3,376,664 hectares in 2000, a 61-fold increase (WWF, 2002). Malaysia and Indonesia today account for 81% of world palm oil production (Basiron, 2002).

From an economic perspective, these statistics and growth rates are astounding. When one considers the ecological consequences, however, the analysis is more sobering. Behind the rosy numbers lies a destructive pattern of large-scale land conversion. Tropical rain forests in Malaysia and Indonesia have undergone unprecedented and permanent changes as a result of degradation and deforestation. Rates of deforestation in Indonesia have been so severe that it is believed that only remnant patches of tropical lowland rain forest still exist in Sumatra today (FWI/GFW, 2002). In Kalimantan, the region of Borneo that falls under Indonesian jurisdiction, most tropical lowland rain forest will cease to exist by 2010 if current rates of deforestation continue unabated (FWI/GFW, 2002).

Implicit in these changes is the loss of critical habitat for flora and fauna in a region that is home to some of the planet’s most impressive biodiversity and the outright extinction of several species of large animals (CSPI, 2005). Several large species at high risk are the Sumatran tiger, both the Sumatran and Bornean orangutans, and the Asian elephant. Harvard biologist E. O. Wilson referred bleakly to the Sumatran rhinoceros as belonging to the “Hundred Heartbeats Club,” a species whose living population currently numbers less than 100 individuals (Wilson, 2002). These charismatic megafauna are very often the focus of international conservation groups, but countless other unique lifeforms of intrinsic value are endangered or already extinct as the result of rain forest conversion to palm oil plantations.

Physical changes in the non-human environment often accompany the severe effects of palm oil plantations on biodiversity. Closed canopy forests regulate heat, moisture, and wind regimes, creating local microclimates. When forests are degraded or deforested, increased sunlight, dryness, and wind create conditions that lead to a gradual recession of the remaining forest edge (Gascon, Williamson, and da Fonseco, 2000.)

On a regional level, large-scale deforestation can result in decreased evapotranspiration, reducing cloud formation and rainfall. In Southeast Asia, Epstein (2002), notes that global warming may be a contributor to the increased frequency, duration, and intensity of El Niños since 1976. Since rain forest conversion to palm oil plantations is normally followed by the use of fire to release nutrients into the soil, carbon dioxide emissions from recurring fires on Sumatra and Borneo are themselves a major contributor to global climate change (Aiken, 2005).

Oil palm agriculture has important implications for water quality as well. Sedimentation from soil erosion can degrade drinking water and destroy aquatic ecosystems. Inputs of petrochemical herbicides, insecticides, and fertilizers often pollute local waterways in areas that have already been converted to industrial plantation agriculture. Additionally, effluent from industrial wastewater creates massive amounts of untreated sewage. In 1999 alone, palm oil mill effluent in Indonesia produced the equivalent of the amount of domestic sewage generated by 20 million people (CSPI, 2005).

Land conversion from rain forest to industrial monoculture plantations typically begins when logging concessions are granted to timber companies, often as a result of pervasive corruption or nepotism at the national level. The Suharto regime in Indonesia was particularly infamous for awarding such concessions to its political favorites (FWI/GFW, 2002). Logging companies then take advantage of the immensely profitable practice of harvesting tropical timber, extracting high-value trees and sending them to sawmills and eventually overseas to export markets. In some cases, particularly in Indonesia, where decentralization following the Suharto era led to less government intervention in hinterland areas, illegal logging networks have been formed at the local level with the tacit approval of provincial governors (McCarthy, 2002).

Once the forest has been cleared, the remaining brush and detritus are normally burned to release nutrients into the soil. The land is then surveyed, and leguminous cover crops are planted to encourage nitrogen fixation in the soil and prevent erosion (WWF, 2002). The final step in the establishment of monoculture plantations involves transplanting year-old oil palm clones or seedlings from nurseries in neat rows that often stretch as far as the eye can see (WWF, 2002).

A two to three year process of field maintenance then takes place before the newly planted oil palm trees become productive and begin to yield fruit. This maintenance involves weeding, pruning, and the application of fertilizers and various forms of pest control (WWF, 2002). The oil palm industry uses over 20 different kinds of herbicides and pesticides, including the herbicide paraquat dichloride, which has been found to be responsible for nosebleeds, nail loss, and abdominal ulcerations amongst female plantation workers in Malaysia (CSPI, 2005).

Harvesting of fresh fruit bunches is accomplished with the aid of hand chisels when the trees are young, and later occurs with the help of mounted sickles when the trees are older and the fruit is out of reach (WWF, 2002). Tractors with mounted arms then go around collecting the fruit bunches, transporting them in wagons to processing plants on the plantations, where they are turned into palm oil and a variety of other commercially significant products (WWF, 2002). These include fatty acids used in the making of soaps, fragrances, cosmetics, and candles, fatty alcohols used to make washing and cleaning products, fatty nitrogen compounds used to prevent rust, and glycerols used in lubricants, stabilizers, solvents, and other industrial applications (WWF, 2002).

Palm oil today is used in a number of food products, including shortenings, margarines, ice cream, cookies, crackers, biscuits, cake mixes, icing, dough fat, and instant noodles (WWF, 2002). Almost all large transnational food conglomerates use palm oil as an additive for their products; examples of well-known foods containing palm oil include Cadbury chocolate, Oreo cookies, Kraft Vegetable Thins, and Pilsbury dough. When occidental consumers buy these products, they unknowingly participate in the destruction of tropical rain forests.

One of the reasons that palm oil is so widely used is that it is inexpensive relative to other vegetable oils. Since 1986, palm oil has been consistently cheaper than peanut, soybean, canola, sunflower, and rapeseed oils (FAO, 2006). Its cheap price makes it affordable to consumers in the developing world, particularly in India, Pakistan, and China (USDA, 2002). This is an important fact to consider when thinking about the process of ecological destruction that accompanies palm oil production.

The role that various national and transnational corporations play in fueling the oil palm boom cannot be overstated. In both Malaysia and Indonesia, the very same conglomerates that are granted logging concessions often own the saw mills that process the tropical timber, the trading companies that export the value-added sawn wood, and the subsidiaries in charge of establishing plantations, processing oil palm, and exporting its derivative products (FWI/GFW, 2002). These conglomerates thus profit in numerous ways from the conversion of rain forests to monoculture plantations. A financial incentive exists at each step of the process, from the initial clearing of the rain forest to the eventual export of palm oil and other oil palm products.

The role that Dutch banks have played in financing these operations has drawn increased scrutiny in recent years as groups concerned with the ongoing cycle of destruction have investigated the complicity of Western business interests in supporting tropical land conversion in Southeast Asia. ING Bank, ABN AMRO Bank, Rabobank, MeesPierson, and Nederlandse FMO are five major lenders who have provided equity and insurance to Malaysian and Indonesian companies with oil palm holdings (Greenpeace, 2000). It is therefore worthwhile to keep in mind that foreign banks are at least in part responsible for the deforestation that has resulted from the establishment of oil palm plantations, in addition to the conglomerates themselves and consumers in both the developing and industrialized world.

Global palm oil production, concentrated largely in Malaysia and Indonesia, has increased at an explosive pace since the 1960’s due to the large-scale conversion of tropical rain forests into industrial plantations practicing intensive monoculture. Devastating ecological consequences have accompanied this transition. The loss of critical habitat for many forms of life in a region known for the splendor of its biodiversity, the release of massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as a result of forest clearance, and severe water pollution from pesticides and effluent originating from palm oil plantations have resulted from an insatiable thirst for profits, the high demand for cooking oil in the developing world, and the use of cheap additives in goods manufactured by transnational food conglomerates. Billions of people on the planet consume foods made with palm oil today, most of them unaware of the destructive practices of timber concessionaires who, aided by Western financiers, profit at every stage of the land conversion process. Ultimately, almost everyone bears some responsibility for the continuing destruction of rain forests to create palm oil. It will be important to heighten awareness of this complex issue moving into the future if further destruction of these irreplaceable ecosystems is to be averted.

El zoo de Fuengirola ha recibido a una hembra de orangután de Borneo (Pongo Pygmaeus), llamada Siera, de 12 años de edad y procedente del zoo de San Petersburgo, en el marco de uno de los 35 programas de reproducción europeos (EEP) de especies en grave peligro de extinción en los que participa el recinto.

El objetivo de este traslado es aumentar el grupo reproductor de orangutanes de Borneo formado en 2005 en el zoo fuengiroleño, que ya cuenta con Nakal, un macho adulto de 19 años que procedía de Paignton (Inglaterra) y Mukah, hembra de 10 años procedente del zoo de Hong-Kong y que ya ha tenido una cría, Banggy.

El nuevo ejemplar se encuentra en fase de adaptación a su nuevo hogar, por lo que, para verla, los visitantes deben acercarse al zoo por las mañanas. Así, aunque Siera aún no ha tenido descendencia, los veterinarios del recinto creen que pronto podría quedar preñada.

Según indicaron en un comunicado, iniciativas de este tipo son “muy necesarias”, ya que la tasa de natalidad de los orangutanes es muy baja, tan sólo una cría cada ocho o nueve años, siendo una especie en grave peligro de extinción.

Durante los últimos 20 años se ha deforestado cerca de un 80 por ciento del hábitat del orangután, por lo que los investigadores prevén que dentro de un decenio se habrá extinguido la mayor población natural de orangutanes. Se calcula que quedan aproximadamente 12.000 orangutanes de Borneo y sólo 9.000 de la especie de Sumatra.

Se trata de los más arborícolas de todos los grandes simios, pasando casi todo el tiempo en los árboles y únicamente se encuentran en los bosques tropicales de las islas de Borneo y de Sumatra.

Poseen un alto nivel cognitivo y se ha demostrado que los padres se ocupan de transmitirles “saberes” a sus hijos. De hecho, les enseñan cómo utilizar hojas como si fueran guantes o cómo emplear un palo como herramienta para sacar insectos de troncos o para extraer semillas de frutos espinosos.

http://www.diariosur.es/20080411/local/marbella-costa/fuengirola-recibe-hembra-orangutan-200804111921.html

Baby orangutans are sought after by wealthy families as high status pets. There is only one way to get a baby orangutan: BY KILLING THE MOTHER. A mother will NEVER voluntarily give up her baby. Her instinct simply will not let her. ~ Rich

By STEPHEN THEN

Malaysia — Powerful towkays (tycoons) in Sarawak cities are paying good money to native trappers to capture endangered animals to put on display in their homes as “status symbols.”

Their demand has resulted in an increasingly active black market in exotic wildlife in certain parts of Sarawak, according to information received by environmental-conservation and native rights group Borneo Resources Institute.

Its Sarawak coordinator Raymond Abin told The Star that middlemen pay trappers well to hunt and capture the wild endangered animals alive and unhurt to be sold at high prices to rich men in towns who wish to display the animals in cages and chains.

This new trend only worsens the plight of wild animals already on the protected and endangered list after being hunted for their meat, especially those believed to have medicinal properties, he said.

Among the most sought after exotic animals for display are endangered mammals such as bears, rare monkeys, rare birds and even rare reptiles.

Abin was commenting on The Star’s reports about a sun bear that died after it was kept in a tiny cage for more than six months for display to tourists at a private farm along the Miri-Bintulu Second Coastal Highway recently.

A private farm was said to have a variety of animals including sun bears, macaques and gibbons.

He said the Sarawak Wildlife Department and Sarawak Forestry must find out how the farm owner got the sun bear.

“Unless the link is uncovered and severed by the authorities, this wildlife trade will not stop.

Miri Wildlife Department enforcement chief Abang Arabi Abang Imran said investigations failed to uncover the sun bear’s remains as farm workers refused to disclose what happened.

Sources said yesterday the farm belonged to an influential property developer and the wildlife department officers were afraid to interrogate him.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/13/nation/20915516&sec=nation

Orangutan Towan of Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo, made national news on the recent broadcast of “Weekend Edition” with Scott Simon. Gigi Allianic, the zoo’s PR manager, noted Towan’s interest in painting and his intensity in creating his “art.”

You can hear the piece at the following link to NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89583858

The EEA Scientific Committee has made public an opinion on the environmental impacts of biofuel use in Europe. The Scientific Committee recommends a new, comprehensive scientific study on the environmental risks and benefits of biofuels, and that the EU target to increase the share of biofuels used in transport to 10 % by 2020 should therefore be suspended. The Scientific Committee assists the EEA Management Board and the Executive Director by providing scientific advice and delivering professional opinions on any scientific matter in the areas of work undertaken by the Agency. The committee is composed of 20 independent scientists from 15 EEA member countries, covering a variety of environmental fields relevant for the Agency’s areas of activity.

Opinion of the EEA Scientific Committee on the environmental impacts of biofuel utilisation in the EU Greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector are rising steadily, caused by the continuing growth of transport volume. More than 90 % of the total transport emissions are due to road transport.

Policies and measures have so far not been sufficient to stop further emission growth.

Owing to the increasing urgency of these problems, mandatory biofuel quotas have been introduced in the expectation that in the medium term the growth in transport emissions can be reduced and that the emissions can be subsequently stabilised. In 2003, the Biofuels Directive set the objective of replacing 2 % of vehicle fuel supply by 2005 and 5.75 % by 2010. The 2005 target was not met and it seems unlikely that the 2010 target can be reached. Nevertheless in 2007 the EU target for biofuels was increased to an ambitious 10 % level by 2020, under the conditions of production being sustainable and second generation technologies being commercially available.

Despite the fact that the first targets were missed, the pace of biofuel production in the EU and of biofuel imports from third countries is picking up. This gives rise to increasing concern by the Scientific Committee regarding additional environmental pressures inside and outside the EU. Our concerns can be summarised as follows:

• Biofuel production based on first generation technologies does not optimally use biomass resources with regard to fossil energy saving and to greenhouse gas reduction. Technologies for direct heat and electricity generation should be preferred because they are more economically competitive and more environmentally effective than biofuel production for vehicles.

• Biomass utilisation implies combustion of very valuable and finite resources from our living environment. These resources ought to be preserved wherever possible. Therefore biomass utilisation must necessarily go hand in hand with energy efficiency improvements. This is not yet the case for the majority of applications in the automotive and residential sectors.

• The EEA has estimated the amount of available arable land for bioenergy production without harming the environment in the EU (EEA Report No 7/2006). In the view of the EEA Scientific Committee the land required to meet the 10 % target exceeds this available land area even if a considerable contribution of second generation fuels is assumed. The consequences of the intensification of biofuel production are thus increasing pressures on soil, water and biodiversity.

• The 10 % target will require large amounts of additional imports of biofuels. The accelerated destruction of rain forests due to increasing biofuel production can already be witnessed in some developing countries. Sustainable production outside Europe is difficult to achieve and to monitor.

The overambitious 10 % biofuel target is an experiment, whose unintended effects are difficult to predict and difficult to control. Therefore the Scientific Committee recommends suspending the 10 % goal; carrying out a new, comprehensive scientific study on the environmental risks and benefits of biofuels; and setting a new and more moderate long-term target, if sustainability cannot be guaranteed.

©1999-2008 Environmental Expert S.L.
Source: European Environment Agency (EEA) via Environmental Expert

JAKARTA (AFP) — Three Indonesian police officers have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in illegal logging on Borneo island, the national police chief said Friday.

The arrests followed a series of raids on illegal logging operations on Borneo in which police confiscated around 24 million dollars’ worth of logs bound for China, Japan and Taiwan.

“Three police officials of Ketapang city in West Kalimantan, one of them a head of investigations, have been in police custody since yesterday (Thursday) evening,” national police chief Sutanto told reporters.

National police spokesman Nataprawira said 19 people were under investigation in connection with the case.

Illegal logging is rampant in Indonesia, with environmental watchdog Greenpeace estimating that more than 72 percent of the country’s ancient forests have been lost.

Much of the rest is threatened by commercial logging and clearance for palm oil plantations.

Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i7SKufK44gBoR45qRzYK3qfaGZeQ

View the source of this story and listen to the audio broadcast.

10 April 2008 - Indonesia’s forestry minister, MS Kaban, has accused Malaysian companies of buying illegal timber to fuel the booming furniture industry.

In an interview with Radio Australia’s Connect Asia program, the minister says smuggled timber from Indonesia is also exported to China, Vietnam and other Asian countries through Malaysia.

As Enny Sobana reports, World Research Institute data shows Indonesia has lost 72 per cent of its forests, and some estimates place illegal logging as costing the Indonesian government more than $US3.2 billion a year.

Now, Indonesia’s forestry minister, MS Kaban, is calling on the Malaysian government to set harsh sentences on businessmen buying timber illegally from Indonesia.

“With documents obtained by the Indonesian police there is enough evidence to show the delivery of illegal timber from Indonesia to a company in the Malaysian state of Sarawak,” he said.

“Therefore we are sending a protest note to the Malaysian government through the department of foreign affairs.”

Mr Kaban describes forestry crime in Indonesia, notably in Kalimantan and Sumatra, as well organized and like a mafia network, involving elements at the highest local level.

In March, the Indonesian National Police intercepted 19 boats carrying 12,000 cubic metres of timber at Pawan River, in Ketapang, east Kalimantan, suspected of being smuggled to Malaysia.

The forestry minister is calling for closer cooperation between the Customs Office, Police and Forestry to stamp out timber smuggling from Indonesia.

“There needs to be sanctions on countries taking illegal timber,” he said.

“As long as the market’s there, timber theft will always exist.”

The latest arrests have been welcomed as a daring, move, with the environmental group WALHI Indonesia saying up until now, the destruction of a large part of Indonesia’s forests is the result of slack law enforcement.

WALHI says the Indonesian forestry department talks more about sanction than action, Rully Syumanda, a forest campaign officer with the group, says consequently illegal logging is out of control.

“More than 10 million metre cubics timber goes to Malaysia illegally every year so far, based on the data on the year 2006,”he said.

“The problem also because the weakness of Indonesian government itself to prevent or to protect everything goes to Malaysia by land or by sea.”

Mr Syumanda says the flow of illegal timber from Kalimantan or Sumatra to other parts of Indonesia has declined in the past few years, amid a government crackdown on the area.

But he says that’s only temporary, and corruption is still allowing loggers to move more timber in to Malaysia.

“Any particular area, the police or the minister involved in this muzzling practice, for example in Saba or in West Kalimantan the illegal logger bribe the military so that they can move to Malaysia,” he said.

Mr Kaban says the Indonesian government is taking a tough stance against those smuggling within Indonesia, but the Malaysian government needs to to do more to stop the flow of illegal timber into its country.

“The market in Malaysia is so close to the Indonesian border, and usually the boats say they’re trading timber locally when leaving, but then in the middle of the sea they change course towards Malaysia…and then they’re taken care of by securities, by Malaysian companies, given some sort of protection,” he said.

“In this current operation, all involved will be investigated, including the port master who gives the permission for the boats to sail.”

A West Kalimantan newspaper reports Malaysia’s director of forestry for the Malaysian state of Sarawak, Datok Lan Talif Saleh, as saying because the violation occurs in Indonesia, his country has no legal right to interfere, and will leave the handling of illegal loggers fully to Indonesia.

He says Malaysia is committed to stamping out illegal logging, when it happens in Malaysia.

But Mr Kaban is calling for increased international support in the fight against illegal logging, urging Malaysia and others to not accept illegal timber or products they know have been made from Indonesia’s forests.

“You can ask them which of their forests are being logged, how can they export timber?” he said.

“Malaysia should be introspective and not just protect itself with the formal legalities performed by its institutions, stamping any documents that enters the country.”

This feature is based on a story by Enny Sobana, originally broadcast on the Connect Asia program on April 9, 2008.

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Apr. 10, 2008

Two animal keepers at zoos in Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture hope to help extinguish the threat facing orangutans in Malaysia with a novel item–old fire hoses.

Hidetoshi Kurotori, of Tama Zoological Park in Hino, western Tokyo, and Shigekazu Mizushina, at Ichikawa Zoological and Botanical Garden in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, will place lengths of used fire hoses among trees and across rivers to help orangutan bands that have become isolated in deforested areas to migrate to other forests.

Kurotori, 55, and Mizushina, 41, plan to leave Monday for Malaysia. Their project will start around the Kinabatangan River, which runs through northeast Borneo Island.

Forest development is expanding in the area to produce palm oil, resulting in a rapid decrease of orangutan food sources, including fruits, tree bark and leaves. The decrease in trees also limits the orangutans’ activities, leaving some bands isolated in the forests as the ape, which does not like water, cannot swim across rivers to move to other areas.

Researchers are concerned that the great ape might become weaker as a species if such bands remain isolated and unable to interact with each other.

The idea of using fire hoses to save orangutans came first to Isabelle Lackman-Ancrenaz, a French researcher who had been based on the island to study and protect the species.

In October, when she came to Japan to give lectures on orangutans, she observed orangutans at the Tokyo zoo moving around in their captive space by hanging from fire hoses that were provided for them. She thought the hoses also could be introduced on Borneo, as a bridge to cross rivers and assist mobility in the forests.

In February, Lackman-Ancrenaz and local researchers placed two fire hoses over the Kinabatangan River. However, the cautious orangutans did not use it, so she asked Kurotori and Mizushina for advice.

The two zookeepers are planning to place used fire hoses on trees in Borneo’s forests, allowing orangutans to gradually get used to the hoses by having the animals play freely with them.

The pair also plans to stretch hoses over the 10-meter-wide river to act as a bridge between trees on both banks.

For the project, they have sent 38 10-meter lengths of fire hose to the island. The hoses, which had been used at a fire station in Osaka, were donated by a Japan-based nonprofit organization.

If the project proves successful, a local support group in Malaysia will increase the locations where hoses are placed.

According to Kurotori, it is not unusual for zoo-captive animals to play with hoses and other artificial items, but he “had never imagined it could be used in the wild.” He added, “I’d be so happy if Japanese zoos’ know-how can help to save orangutans.”

The term orangutan means “a person living in the forest” in the Malay tongue. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ Red List, the wild orangutan population is thought to have decreased to less than half the numbers of 60 years ago.

The number of the orangutans living on Borneo Island is estimated to range from 45,000 to 69,000.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080410TDY03301.htm 

Jakarta - More than a dozen senior police officers have been grilled for their alleged roles in illegal logging in West Kalimantan province on the Indonesian portion of Borneo island, local media reports said Wednesday.

National police chief General Sutanto had vowed to take legal action against any police officer involved in illegal logging or log smuggling in the country.

‘We want to deal with illegal logging activities conclusively. Whoever is suspected to be involved will be investigated,’ the state-run Antara news agency quoted Sutanto as saying.

At least 14 police officers in West Kalimantan province were being held at the national police headquarters in Jakarta for questioning, he said.

‘The investigations are being conducted by the National Police general supervisory inspector,’ Sutanto said, adding that they were questioned on suspicion of having colluded with log smugglers in West Kalimantan.

Sutanto, who like many Indonesians goes by only name, said he supported the forestry ministry’s plan to cooperate with neighbouring countries, such as Malaysia, in an attempt to stop log smuggling from the country.

West Kalimantan police last month named 26 people as suspects in illegal logging cases, including 14 boat crew members, six officers of the Ketapang transportation service, eight illegal log owners - with two of them still at large - and one mediator between illegal logging financiers and loggers.

Police continued their manhunt for four Malaysians who have been named suspects in connection with illegal logging in West Kalimantan province.

In March, police seized around 12,000 cubic metres of illegal logs worth about 208 billion rupiah (22.6 million dollars), which were about to be smuggled to Malaysia from the province’s Ketapang district, the report said.

According to the environmental watchdog Greenpeace, Indonesia had the world’s fastest rate of deforestation between 2000 and 2005, with the equivalent area of some 300 football pitches cut down every hour. Deforestation is regarded as the main factor for Indonesia turning into the third largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the world.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono declared a crackdown in 2005 against deforestation in the country, and promised harsh penalties for officials involved in illegal logging which has been blamed to have triggered flash floods and landslides in several regions in the country.

Source: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/asiapacific/news/article_1399023.php/Indonesian_police_officers_grilled_in_illegal_logging_case

By Rita Farrell
Mon Apr 7

Global warming has plunged the planet into a crisis and the fossil fuel industries are trying to hide the extent of the problem from the public, NASA’s top climate scientist says.

“We’ve already reached the dangerous level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” James Hansen, 67, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, told AFP here.

“But there are ways to solve the problem” of heat-trapping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, which Hansen said has reached the “tipping point” of 385 parts per million.

In a paper he was submitting to Science magazine on Monday, Hansen calls for phasing out all coal-fired plants by 2030, taxing their emissions until then, and banning the building of new plants unless they are designed to trap and segregate the carbon dioxide they emit.

The major obstacle to saving the planet from its inhabitants is not technology, insisted Hansen, named one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2006 by Time magazine.

“The problem is that 90 percent of energy is fossil fuels. And that is such a huge business, it has permeated our government,” he maintained.

“What’s become clear to me in the past several years is that both the executive branch and the legislative branch are strongly influenced by special fossil fuel interests,” he said, referring to the providers of coal, oil and natural gas and the energy industry that burns them.

In a recent survey of what concerns people, global warming ranked 25th.

“The industry is misleading the public and policy makers about the cause of climate change. And that is analogous to what the cigarette manufacturers did. They knew smoking caused cancer, but they hired scientists who said that was not the case.”

Hansen says that with an administration and legislature that he believes are “well oiled, our best hope is the judicial branch.”

Last year Hansen testified before the US Congress that “interference with communication of science to the public has been greater during the current administration than at any time in my career.”

Government public relations officials, he said, filter the facts in science reports to reduce “concern about the relation of climate change to human-made greenhouse gas emissions.”

While he recognizes that he has stepped outside the traditional role of scientists as researchers rather than as public policy advocates, he says he does so because “in this particular situation we’ve reached a crisis.”

The policy makers, “the people who need to know are ignorant of the actual status of the matter, and the gravity of the matter, and most important, the urgency of the matter,” he charged.

“It’s analogous to an engineer who sees that there’s a flaw in the space shuttle before it is to be launched. You don’t have any choice. You have to say something. That’s really all that I’m doing,” he explained.

Hansen was in Wilmington to receive a 50,000 dollar Common Wealth Award for outstanding achievement, along with the former prime minister of Australia John Howard, the US actress Glenn Close, and NBC news anchor Ann Curry.

The awards are provided by a trust of the late Ralph Hayes, a former director of Coca Cola and Bank of Delaware, now PNC. In 29 years, 165 former honorees in seven fields have included former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, former US newsman Walter Cronkite, French marine biologist Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Howard, who would not sign the Kyoto protocol when he was in office, told AFP: “I thought it was the right policy at the time because the major emitters” were not on board.”

He added: “You need a new Kyoto protocol with all the major emitters committed to it. Then you are cooking with gas.”

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080407/sc_afp/usclimateenvironmentnasa_080407051048;_ylt=AsRMgpnbVV.ZCLxRXfaLWQvPOrgF

Tropical forests are disappearing at an excessive speed and with them the last populations of great apes. All specialists are unanimous: if we do nothing gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos will have disappeared by the middle of the 21st century. The situation of orangoutans is even more dramatic; in 20 years time, they might only exist in zoos. Today, it is important to become active in order to stop this Ecocide! We, citizens of the Earth, ask our governments and international authorities to accept as their superior duty to save and protect primates.

Sign the Manifesto!
http://www.apesmanifesto.org/index.php

Please note– if the Nortons are reading this– we would love to speak with you. Please contact us: info@redapes.org ~ Rich

Ann & Edward Norton: Future of environment in hands of today’s teens

* By CHANTE DIONNE WARREN
* Advocate staff writer
* Published: Apr 8, 2008

Lafayette native Ann McBride Norton and her husband, Edward M. Norton, fight for the environment by traveling the world.

In remote jungles of Indonesia, the Nortons tracked how deforestation is leading to thousands of orangutan deaths.

In the foothills of the Himalayan mountains, they worked to bring protections for the fragile ecosystems of Tibet in southwest China.

And at Episcopal High School in Baton Rouge, they offered an encouraging message: “You can save the world, and you can begin right here.”

The Nortons urged the students to see the connection between lifestyle choices and the deterioration or improvement of their own environments.

“What we hope is that they will take this into their lives and act on it,” Ann Norton said. “We hope they will walk into their houses and educate their parents and think about how does greening in this school connect to Indonesia.”

Episcopal High has an Earth Club and the school is partnering with several environmental groups, LSU and the East Baton Rouge city-parish government to potentially develop an irrigation system to recycle rain water for gardening.

The Nortons’ visit was aimed at helping the students learn to do more.

During a series of assemblies, hundreds of Episcopal School students watched slides of orangutans swinging through the jungles, native islanders hunting for food from potentially the last traditional whaling village in the world, and listened to the couple describe journeys through some of the world’s most remote and beautiful lands in danger of being lost forever.

The Nortons have lived in China and Indonesia for a combined nine years and have studied the lives of the native men and women, the environment and the animals. They talked of working to create change and bring international awareness about protecting these environments.

Edward M. Norton, 65, native of a small town in western Pennsylvania and father of actor Edward Norton, said his interest in the environment took root in the 1950s and ’60s when problems including trash and litter and air and water pollution were becoming recognized.

“I became interested because I loved these places — public parks and wildlife and I became a lawyer and I thought, ‘why not make the animals my clients,’” he said.

The orangutans are among his largest clientele, he said. He is senior adviser to the Indonesia Orangutan Conservation Support program of the U.S. Agency for International Development. He is the former deputy director of the Nature Conservancy’s Asia-Pacific region, founding president of the Grand Canyon Trust and former head of the Wilderness Society.

Edward and Ann also work on finding solutions to solving the problems they encounter. In Indonesia, they are working on a plan designed to pay people who help to reduce the output of carbon dioxide. The formula would be based on a per ton and per acre basis, Edward Norton said.

“That’s the connection of strategy to reduce climate change,” he said.

Ann Norton, who grew passionate over environmental interests as a young adult, is founder and director of Photovoices International, a community engagement project that uses photography and story-telling by people in small communities around the globe. She also is a commentator on National Public Radio and former president of a nonpartisan citizens lobby in the United States.

She works with various agencies to help preserve nature and culture in small remote areas of China and Indonesia.

She presented slides of a small island in Indonesia, Lamalera, Lembata, home to one of the world’s last traditional whaling communities. There she learned volumes of information that no textbook could ever have taught her, she said.

People there “know more than any scientist about whales,” she said. “What we know is that we have much to learn and they have much to teach.”

Ann and Edward Norton said the most memorable moments of their more than 30 years of combined work in the environmental field is observing the enormity of the problems and challenges that exist “and then to take our work from the United States and really try to help internationally. If we could sit down and work together with other nations it could be a great help.”

For instance, while in China, a communist country, they were not allowed to lobby or talk to the press, things they could do freely in a nation such as Indonesia, which is democratic.

Source: http://www.2theadvocate.com/features/17378214.html?showAll=y&c=y