Written by Rita Sastrawan/BOS International

The establishment of oil palm plantations in Kalimantan and Sumatra constitutes the biggest threat to orangutans today. In fact, the clearing of forests and the establishment of oil palm plantations does not only put the orangutan close to extinction, it also contributes to climate change by emitting large amounts of CO2, brings water cycles out of balance and poisons water with pesticides and fertilisers. The establishment of oil palm plantations has many negative impacts on local communities, additional to changed climate and undrinkable water, oil palm companies have often stood in the centre of land right conflicts and demonstrations against socially unfair practices.

Although many people are aware of these facts and oppose the development of agro-fuels from palm oil and the establishment of these plantations, the destruction of the rainforest continues.

You may only really understand the effects of land clearing once you have seen it with your own eyes, even more if you witnessed the rescue of orangutans or experience breathing difficulties and stinging eyes as a result of the smoke of burning forest and peat. When we consume destructive palm oil in crispy chips or delicious chocolate, or wash our hands with sweetly fragranced soap, we are very rarely aware of the adverse effects of our activities. As consumers, we don’t feel the negative impacts and we can’t imagine the way our behaviour influences nature and the lives of people on the other side of the planet. As a result of our ignorance, the business with the destructive oil continues and the market keeps growing.

Unilever is one of the biggest palm oil consumers worldwide, using 1.3 Mt every year. Its heart-shaped ice cream brand and numerous other known soaps and detergents as Dove, Sunsilk, Omo, as well as food brands Knorr, Blue Band, Becel, Best Foods, Ben & Jerry’s and Findus are only a few of many Unilever-owned companies.

Avoiding products which may contain palm oil is nearly impossible, but as consumers, we can all try to do what we can. Many consumers, in fact, have made an effort to avoid products containing palm oil, and Unilever was forced to respond and has promised improvement by way of ensuring the palm oil they use is “sustainably” produced. But where should sustainable palm oil come from? As demand for palm oil worldwide is extremely high, it can’t be fulfilled with sustainable palm oil only, simply because there is not enough available.

With limited supplies of certified sustainable palm oil available in the market, Unilever has to buy unsustainable palm oil from producing companies, one of which is Wilmar Group, the biggest palm oil trading company in the world, handling at least a quarter of all global palm oil output. Besides supplying Unilever with palm oil, Nestle and Cargill are also amongst Wilmar’s customers.

Not only are we eating palm oil, washing our clothes and our bodies with palm oil, fuelling our cars and using electricity produced with palm oil, even our money savings in banks are often invested in destroying our own planet. Financiers of Unilever´s supplier Wilmar are Rabobank, ABM Amro, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, IFC of the World Bank, OCBC Bank, Fortis and ING Bank.

Wilmar International was founded by Mr Martua Sitorus, an Indonesian of Chinese origin from Medan, and Mr Kuok, owner of PBB Oil of the Malaysian Kuok Group. Recently, Wilmar merged with the Malaysian Kuok Group and the American Archer Daniels Midland, ADM, to form the broader Wilmar group. Corporate Accountability International has named ADM one of the worst corporations and reserves a place for them in their hall of shame.

Just as Unilever has many brands which one might have thought were independent local companies, Wilmar International also has plantations under different company names and additionally buys palm oil from family related companies, as from the Indonesian Ganda Group. Wilmar’s plantations are situated in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Malaysia and Uganda. Wilmar´s plantation area in Indonesia alone covers about 800,000 ha, and are proposed to expand up to 1 mio ha, an area as large as South Korea. Two-third of this land area is not yet planted with palms, but will have to be cleared of forest.

Last year a case study was published by Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands), and the Indonesian Lembaga Gemawan and Kontak Rakyat Borneo, which showed evidence of illegal clear cutting, burning and land right abuses in Wilmar-owned plantations in Kalimantan. Forest where orangutans were known to live has been cleared illegally. Plantations have been established without official permissions and Environment Impact Assessments. Wilmar International has reacted on the immense pressure of NGOs and has admitted in February 2008, that it has violated its own plantation development policies in Indonesia.

Now, as Wilmar is planning to set up plantations in Central Kalimantan, Borneo, large-scale forest destruction and burning awaits that region. With the merge of PPB Palm Oil and Wilmar International, Wilmar now has 16 subsidiaries in Central Kalimantan alone. Most of the approximately 250,000 ha still is not yet developed. Another 250,000 ha in Central Kalimantan are allocated for plantations of other companies; concessions of 1 mio ha have been given out already.

No more forest should be allowed to be cut down for plantations – this recommendation hopefully will be the result from the “The Strategy and Action Plan for National Conservation of Orangutans”, and this should be enforced and implemented. “To save orangutans we must save the forests,” the Indonesian President has said in December 2007. That is quite true, but its implementation looks quite different. Companies are still cutting down forest and using fire on peat land as the cheapest and quickest method to establish new oil-palm plantations.

As the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation looks into the future, we see a nightmare relentlessly approaching us. Forests will be burning, orangutans fleeing and dying of hunger. Borneo is a hotspot of endemic plants and animals, creatures most people haven’t seen in their lives, natural medicines which the Dayak tribes have knowledge of, but Borneo is also a hotspot of destruction, suffering and death.

Let your voice be heard. We, as consumers are driving the market. Because of our consumption, companies make a profit from rainforest destruction.

Be concerned about your consuming behaviour and show your concern by writing to companies. Help us to save what is left! BOS and other organisations need your co-operation in fighting forest destruction. Prove President Yudhoyono right, when he said: “This is a time when all these initiatives have new hope for success, even for avoided deforestation.”

Sources and further Information:

Policy, Practice, Pride and Prejudice, A Review of legal, environmental and social practices of oil palm plantation companies of the Wilmar Group in Sambas District, West Kalimantan, July 2007, a joint publication of Milieudefensie, Lembaga Gemawan and Kontak Rakyat Borneo is available in English at http://www.milieudefensie.nl/english/forests

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Buyers and Financiers of the Wilmar Group, Profundo, July 2007; Making Waves, Greenpeace weblog, 17/Nov/07; Reuters 13/May/2008 http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/UPDATE-3-Wilmar-profit-soars-sees-prices-staying-f-ELPW3?OpenDocument, http://www.rspo.org/Complaint_against_Wilmar_International_Ltd.aspx.

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http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/usa/press-center/reports4/how-unilever-palm-oil-supplier.pdf

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http://news.smh.com.au/world/indonesia-treasures-rainforest-says-sby-20071210-1g77.html#

Please visit the source of this interview, the Houston Zoo website

Why did you want to be a zookeeper?
I grew up in Houston and remember coming to the Zoo as a child. Even then, I knew I wanted to work with animals. I first worked in the Children’s Zoo. Since 1998, I’ve been caring for primates.

How do you get the orangutans in and out of their exhibit?
The animals take turns being in the outdoor exhibit. Shifting is important because we never enter enclosures with our adult orangutans for safety reasons. So they must respond to verbal commands to move from one enclosure to another. When I ask them if they want to go out, they will respond by stationing at the tunnel between enclosures. Then I close one door and open the door to the outdoor exhibit. When it’s time for them to come in, we blow a whistle as a signal. In less than a minute, the animals move to the door. Cheyenne, the female orangutan who is a surrogate mom for Elok and Luna, came to our Zoo with a reputation of being a difficult shifter. Cheyenne doesn’t like to feel she’s being rushed when she’s shifting. I’ve learned to give her a few extra minutes. It lets her know she has a choice in the matter. [Note: That's Cheyenne in the top left corner of this website!]

What is the most important thing you do for the animals in your care?
We want to make life at the Zoo interesting for our animals. Orangutans are very smart. We try to think of ways to make them think and work for their treats, but sometimes they outsmart us. One time, we carefully placed treats inside a phone book, so the animals would enjoy turning the pages and discovering a treat on each page. Instead, the orangutan just lifted the phonebook and shook it, and all the treats fell to the ground.

What do you like most and least about your job?
Working at the Zoo requires you to work outside and in any weather. Here in Houston, the summer heat can make working outside difficult. However, after cleaning out the exhibits, I have the pleasure of watching the animals enjoy the environment I create for them. That makes all the hard work and sweat worthwhile.

What advice would you give to students who may pursue a job like yours?
If someone is interested in pursuing a career at the Zoo, the best way to learn about the job is through volunteering. Volunteers work side-by-side with the Zookeepers and it is an excellent way to gain experience.

What kind of education and training would a person need to become a Houston Zoo Primate Zookeeper?
As with any job, education is the key. The Houston Zoo prefers individuals with a science related degree. However, having animal husbandry experience is a plus. Caring for a pet or working on a farm is a good way to learn about animals, their behavior and their care. Primates, in particular, have behavior so closely related to humans that working with children can be beneficial to understanding why primates do what they do.

Nathanial Gronewold, ClimateWire reporter
Source: http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2008/10/31/4/

NEW YORK — Even as the nation’s shrinking economy is forcing private citizens, corporations and governments to cut back on their expenses, most people in the United States still support spending to fight climate change, seeing it as a means to spur new economic growth, suggests a new study released late yesterday.

Sixty-three percent of Americans believe that taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tackle global warming gives a boost to the nation’s economy, according to the results of a new joint survey by the New York corporate brand consulting firm Lippincott and the Climate Group, a nonprofit advocacy organization. Fully 52 percent also said they believe that fighting climate change will not put a dent in their wallets personally.

And consumers are largely still willing to spend some of their own money on energy savings and clean technology. Of respondents who reported being left in worse fiscal condition because of the market meltdowns and onset of a recession, 41 percent said they were still taking steps to change their consumption patterns and activities in ways that reduce their carbon footprints and leave a lighter touch on the environment.

Companies hoping to capitalize on the relative resilience of green consciousness in the current dismal economic climate would be wise to focus on offering products that allow individuals to reduce their energy consumption and impact on the environment. Consumers reportedly react more favorably to offers of efficient lighting, cars with better fuel economy and energy-saving appliances than to claims of “carbon neutrality” and other corporate boasting.

“They are prepared to alter their behavior to effect a change, but don’t recognize the lead we know businesses are already taking,” said Lippincott partner Simon Glynn in a summary of the report. “Businesses need to improve the way they connect with consumers, by recognizing the roles that consumers are asking them to play and choosing carefully where their brands can have the greatest impact.”

This second annual study, “Consumers, Brands and Climate Change 2008,” also asked respondents to rank the top eco-friendly brands they could think of. General Electric Co. retained its spot as the No. 1 recognized climate-conscious company in the United States, with Japanese auto companies Toyota and Honda following in second and third place, respectively. BP PLC ranked fourth, while Ford was booted out of the top five this year to be replaced by General Motors.

Still, the vast majority of U.S. respondents failed to name a single company they could recognize as a leader on climate change, report authors said.

“There is still significant opportunity for brand leadership and connection with consumers on climate change, as two-thirds of U.S. consumers (65 per cent) were unable to name a brand leading on the issue,” they wrote. “Again, research showed people continue to look to mainstream brands — note niche green specialists — for climate solutions.”

The Jakarta Post | Fri, 10/31/2008

A Forestry Ministry official, Wandojo Siswanto, has revealed that he received Rp 50 million (US$4,600) in cash from lawmaker Al-Amien Nasution as a payoff for favoritism in awarding tenders.

Wandojo was responsible for tendering a global positioning system (GPS) procurement project for the ministry in 2007.

During Friday’s trial, Wandojo testified Al-Amien had promised he would give some money to ministry officials, including Wandojo.

“Several days later I received Rp 50 million from Ali Arsyad, the ministry’s general secretary at the planology agency,” he said, adding the money had since been handed in to the Corruption Eradition Commission.

The day’s trial audience also heard two taped conversations between Wandojo and Al-Amien recorded in late 2007. Their dialogue showed that Al-Amien planned to give a total of Rp 850 million from the firms competing in the tender to Ali: Rp 300 million was from PT Data Script and Rp 550 million from Almega Geosystem.

“I will take care of submitting the money to M.S. Ka’ban,” Wandojo said in the taped conversation. Ka’ban is the Forestry Minister.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/10/31/bribes-went-forestry-ministry-officials-trial-witness.html

While speaking in Henderson, Nevada, Democrat Barack Obama says he won’t just be a president for the American people, but the animals too.

“What about animal rights?” a woman shouted out during the candidate’s town hall meeting outside Las Vegas after he discussed issues that relate more to humans, like war, health care and the economy.

Obama responded that he cares about animal rights very much, “not only because I have a 9-year-old and 6-year-old who want a dog.” He said he sponsored a bill to prevent horse slaughter in the Illinois state Senate and has been repeatedly endorsed by the Humane Society.

“I think how we treat our animals reflects how we treat each other,” he said. “And it’s very important that we have a president who is mindful of the cruelty that is perpetrated on animals.”

Indeed, Senator Barack Obama pledges support for nearly every animal protection bill currently pending in Congress, and he says he will work with executive agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make their policies more humane. He has written and spoken of the important role animals play in our lives, as companions in our homes, as wildlife in their own environments, and as service animals working with law enforcement and assisting persons with disabilities.

Obama also comments on the broader links between animal cruelty and violence in society:

“I’ve repeatedly voted to increase penalties for animal cruelty and violence and, importantly, to require psychological counseling for those who engage in this behavior as part of the punishment. In addition to being unacceptable in its own stead, violence towards animals is linked with violent behavior in general, especially domestic violence, and we need to acknowledge this connection and work to treat it. Strong penalties are important and I support them, but we know that incarceration alone can’t solve all our problems. As president, I’d continue to make sure that we treat animal cruelty like the serious crime it is and address its connection to broader patterns of violence.”

During Barack Obama’s eight years as an Illinois state senator he voted in favor of at least twelve animal protection laws. These included state legislation

– to allow creation of pet trusts to provide for long-term care of companion animals,
– to upgrade penalties for cruelty to animals,
– to require psychological counseling for people who abuse animals,
– to require veterinarians to report suspected acts of cruelty and animal fighting,
– to ban slaughter of horses for human consumption—significant because Illinois was one of only two states (with Texas) where horse slaughter plants operated,
– to create additional restrictions to make it more difficult for puppy mills to operate.

Obama voted to end the federal funding of horse slaughter in 2005, and he is currently a co-sponsor of new legislation to stop horse slaughter and the export of horses for human consumption. He co-sponsored legislation to upgrade the federal penalties for dogfighting and cockfighting, and he is a co-sponsor of new legislation to ban the possession of fighting dogs and being a spectator at a dogfight. He signed a letter requesting increased funds for the enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, and the federal animal fighting law, and he also sent a letter to the National Zoo expressing his concern for the care of Toni the elephant. He has joined the fight against puppy mills, and appears in A Rare Breed of Love: The True Story of Baby and the Mission She Inspired to Help Dogs Everywhere,a new book by Jana Kohl about her rescued dog, Baby, who survived a decade in a puppy mill.

And Obama has said that “as a condition for letting me run for President, my daughters Malia and Sasha extracted a promise from Michelle and I that they could get a dog after the election, win or lose. So they’re heavily invested in this campaign, if only for it to be over so we can get our dog.”

Humane Society Endorses Barack Obama Sept 22, 2008 ~ “While we’ve endorsed hundreds of congressional candidates for election, both Democrats and Republicans, we’ve never before endorsed a presidential candidate. We have members on the left, in the center, and on the right, and we knew it could be controversial to choose either party’s candidate for the top office in the nation. But in an era of sweeping presidential power, we must weigh in on this most important political race in the country. Standing on the sidelines is no longer an option for us.
I’m proud to announce today that the HSLF board of directors — which is comprised of both Democrats and Republicans — has voted unanimously to endorse Barack Obama for President. The Obama-Biden ticket is the better choice on animal protection, and we urge all voters who care about the humane treatment of animals, no matter what their party affiliation, to vote for them.” ~ Mike Markarian, President , Humane Society Legislative Fund

Source: Humane Society Legislative Fund Endorses Obama-Biden
http://hslf.typepad.com/political_animal/2008/09/humane-society.html

BY PERRY BERMAN
PHOTO BY RODNEY WHITE / THE REGISTER
Source: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/

First, actor Clint Eastwood came to Winterset to film “Bridges of Madison County.” Now, his orangutan sidekick in a 1980 movie is living in Des Moines.

Popi, 37, who appeared briefly as Eastwood’s pet, Clyde, and as Clyde’s girlfriend in “Any Which Way You Can,” moved to Great Ape Trust of Iowa in southeast Des Moines about five weeks ago, scientists at the research center announced Thursday. That Eastwood comedy was a sequel to “Every Which Way But Loose,” one of his most successful movies.

Through the 1980s and ’90s, Popi headlined a slapstick comedy show at the Stardust in Las Vegas, and, later, in Branson, Mo. She is one of eight orangutans at the ape trust, a research and conservation center, acquired from a California company that provides animals for movies, commercials and TV shows. Two others, 4-year-old Rocky and his 19-year-old mother, Katy, arrived in Des Moines in July.
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Popi settled in quickly, and recently emerged from the standard month-long quarantine.

“We’ve been impressed by how smart and gentle she is,” said Robert Shumaker, the trust’s orangutan research director.

Popi’s arrival is a victory of sorts for Shumaker, who has campaigned against the use of apes in TV shows, movies and Vegas acts because trainers often abuse the apes.
“I think as far as ape welfare, this is one of the most important things I’ve been involved with in my career,” Shumaker said of moving the retiring entertainment apes to the Easter Lake-area research campus.

Shumaker declined to comment on whether Popi was abused in the Stardust show — which became the target of public protests over alleged abuse of orangutans. Instead, he emphasized that orangutans were treated well at the Los Angeles-area firm, Steve Martin’s Working Wildlife, that is transferring ownership of the eight entertainment orangutans to the trust. (The firm is not related to the actor/comedian.)

Shumaker said there are few entertainment orangutans left in the business, which makes it all the more important to help close the door on using apes in shows. He noted that people often assume the apes are plentiful when they see them on screen, when in fact they are endangered.

Orangutans are found in the wild only in Borneo and Sumatra. The Sumatran species is down to an estimated 6,000 apes.

Before he began opposing the use of apes in entertainment, Shumaker saw the Stardust show, and Popi, twice while on vacation. “It was wildly successful,” Shumaker said of the show.

Popi becomes the sixth orangutan at the trust, and the oldest. The facility has separate quarters for seven bonobos.

On a sunny and warm afternoon Thursday, Popi mainly took in the view in the outdoor enclosure next to the three-story orangutan building. which also is home to seven bonobos. She likes leafing through catalogs and magazines and is very fond of juices. She immediately welcomed Katy, who shared quarters with her in California, and has mingled with Allie, 14, who was at the trust before the Californians arrived.

Popi will meet the rest of the orangutans — Azy, 30, Knobi, 29, and Rocky, over the next few weeks. The remaining five orangutans are expected to arrive from California by early next year.

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Massive forest conversions, rising demand for timber and infrastructure projects are the main causes for Indonesia’s world-leading rate of deforestation, a new study has found.

The study by the Indonesian Forest Watch (FWI) categorically blamed deforestation on forest conversions into palm oil plantations conducted by big companies.

“We find palm oil companies prefer to convert forest areas rather than utilize idle land for their expansion as they get extra incentives from trees in the cleared forests,” said Wirendro Sumargo, FWI coordinator for public campaign and policy dialogue, on Tuesday.

The field study was conducted in Central Kalimantan and Riau and Papua.

It said Central Kalimantan was seeing the fastest rate of conversion of forest area into palm oil plantations.

“In the last 17 years, the rate of forest conversion to palm oil plantations increased by 400 times to 461,992 hectares (per year) in 2007 from only 1,163 hectares (per year) in 1991,” the study said, quoting data from the Central Kalimantan administration.

“Our finding shows that about 816,000 hectares of forest (there) was cleared for palm oil plantations in 2006.”

He said 14 percent of the 3 million hectares of peatland in the province had been converted into palm oil plantations.

In Riau, the local administration allocated 38.5 percent of its total forest area for conversion into plantations.

“As of 2006, there were 2.7 million hectares of plantations, including 1.5 million hectares of palm oil plantations,” he said.

Wirendro said that out of the 550,000 hectares of forests felled for plantations in Papua, 480,000 hectares had been allocated for growing palm oil.

The Forestry Ministry has said total palm oil plantations increased to 6.1 million hectares in 2006 from 1.1 million hectares in 1990.

The ministry has claimed the rate of deforestation between 1987 and 1997 remained constant at 1.8 million hectares per year before spiking to 2.8 million hectares per year by 2000 mainly because of severe forest fires.

However, between 2000 and 2006, the rate fell to 1.08 million hectares per year, it added.

The Indonesian Forest Watch has said the deforestation rate stood at 1.9 million hectares per year from 1989 to 2003.

The Guinness Book of World Records puts Indonesia as the country with the highest rate of deforestation on the planet, citing a rate equivalent to 300 soccer fields per hour.

Wirendro said another factor contributing to the acceleration of forest deforestation was the rising demand for timber due to the low supply of raw materials from industrial forests managed by pulp and paper firms in the country.

“The capacity of paper industries increased sharply from one million tons in 1987 to 11 million tons in 2007, while the capacity of pulp companies also rose from 0.5 million tons to 6.5 million tons over the same period,” he said.

“But, the industries could only supply about 50 percent of the needed raw materials. We believe the companies also take timber from outside their concessions, including production forests (to offset the shortages).”

Wirendro said wood product industries, which bought wood from illegal and illegal sources, could be the main driver of deforestation in Indonesia.

There are currently seven pulp and paper companies operating in the country.

The study said the previous government’s transmigration programs had also contributed to deforestation.

In Riau, 773,331 hectares of forest were converted into transmigration areas, while the Papua administration cut down 375,203 hectares of forest to make way for resettlement zones.

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