Orangutan Outreach Website - Saving the Orangutan

http://www.gopetition.com.au/petitions/stop-using-palm-oil.html

Recent discoveries have determined the orangutan species is rapidly declining. This is due to logging in places such as Indonesia and Malaysia. Rainforests are being destroyed and palm oil plantations are established in their place.

An organization under the website, themanoftheforest.com, states the following: “Presently in Borneo (Indonesia and Malaysia) and Sumatra the Orangutan population is down to around 69,000.This may initially sound like a fairly large number, but when you discover that we are currently losing 50 Orangutans a week and that at the present rate of killing there will be none left by 2026, you then realize why the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) have raised the alarm to an unprecedented level with a new report : “Last Stand of the Orangutan : A State of Emergency”.”

This oil is used in products such as food and Girl Scout cookies manufactured by ABC/Interbake and Little Brownie Baker. Let’s change the ingredient and save the environment.

(Please note this petition is not affiliated with any specific troop or Girl Scout council. It was started by an individual.)

Sign the petition

The We Campaign is a project of The Alliance for Climate Protection — a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. Our ultimate aim is to halt global warming. Specifically we are educating people in the US and around the world that the climate crisis is both urgent and solvable.

Learn more: http://www.wecansolveit.org/

Source: Greenpeace International

Please visit the Greenpeace website to learn how you can take action and join the fight against deforestation and palm oil…. be sure to check out the video updates from the camp…

Sumatra, Indonesia — Our volunteers and local forest communities have halted the destruction of an area of swamp forest in Sumatra, Indonesia. They are building five dams across three-metre deep canals used in logging and draining peatland for conversion into a commercial palm oil plantation.

Destroying the forest there would not only breach Indonesian regulations for forest protection, and an Indonesia’s Presidential decree, but would also lead to the release of large quantities of greenhouse gases.

Thick layers of peat underlie most of Indonesia’s swamp forest. Over time, the peat layer has locked up millions of tonnes of carbon. Once forests are cleared, peat swamps are drained and decompose to release the stored carbon as carbon dioxide. Forests are often also burned, prior to the planting of palm oil saplings, further compounding the climate problem.

Such is the scale of forest destruction across Indonesia that the huge amounts of greenhouse gases being emitted have made the country into the world’s third largest climate polluter, behind the US and China.

More than 30 volunteers will work for a week with people from the nearby village to construct the dams. By halting drainage operations, the dams will prevent the peatland from drying out and releasing carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas. The dams will also prevent the palm oil company from illegally burning the currently waterlogged peatland, which would otherwise further add to global warming.

“Palm oil companies are breaking the law and draining the very life out of Indonesia’s remaining peatland forests,” said Hapsoro, Greenpeace South East Asia forest campaigner. “And they are adding substantially to the problem of global warming.”

The damming is taking place on a plantation held by the PT Duta Palma company. Our on-site investigations of the peatlands, conducted from the Forest Defenders Camp in Riau, and together with peatland experts, have brought to light the flagrant violations of regulations intended to protect these areas.

This urgent problem needs a global solution. We have set up the Forest Defenders Camp on the boundary of forest clearing in a region of Sumatra.

Check out life at the camp and why it’s there:

More about the camp and updates on their weblog.

In addition to efforts to highlight and halt peatland forest destruction in this one particular area, we are also attempting to promote long-term solutions to deforestation in Indonesia.

Indonesia will be hosting the next round of international climate talks in December. Governments from around the world will gather in Bali to negotiate about extending the Kyoto Protocol - the only international agreement containing legally-binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

We aim to ensure that deforestation is included in the next phase of the Kyoto agreement, extending beyond 2012. The decisions that governments make in the near future are critical for securing the financing and capacity needed by countries to safeguard their tropical forests and to allow them to make a serious contribution to global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

We know it is possible to keep the worst impacts of climate change - such as extreme weather events, water crises and increased hunger - from putting millions of people at risk.

This will take a revolution in the way we use and produce energy, and a strong commitment to halt deforestation worldwide. More governments need to commit to tougher emissions reduction targets in the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol.

Source: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/indonesian-forest-destruction291007

Source: Greenpeace UK

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/indonesia-gets-its-own-climate-change-camp-20071024

Climate change and deforestation are inextricably linked. Forest destruction contributes around one-fifth of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions, more than the entire global transport sector, and the problem is so severe that Indonesia and Brazil are ranked third and fourth respectively in the list of top emitting countries, mainly because of deforestation.

It’s against this background that our latest Forest Defenders Camp opened a couple of weeks ago on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, located on the frontline where the peatland forest is being cleared for palm oil plantations. Palm oil is used in hundreds of food and cosmetic products, as well as biofuels.

There are two reasons Indonesia was picked for this project. First, the forests of South East Asia are being destroyed faster than anywhere else on the planet. Industrial logging plus the expansion of the palm oil industry and the pulp and paper sector are to blame, which affects not only the people who live there and the biodiversity that the forest supports, but also the global climate. Both the forest itself and the thick layers of peat lying beneath it store millions of tonnes of carbon. The peat is cleared and drained to make the land suitable for palm oil plantations and, of course, this releases vast quantities of greenhouse gases.

The second reason is that in December Indonesia will play host to the United Nations Climate Change conference, the next round of international climate talks that will begin negotiations on an extension to the Kyoto Protocol. Strong measures to prevent deforestation have to be included as an essential part of any international climate change agreements, and the forest camp is the first stage in our plan to ensure that happens. As the Stern Review noted almost a year ago, “curbing deforestation is a highly cost-effective way to reduce emissions.”

As with previous camps, volunteers will be bearing witness to the destruction and taking steps to prevent it. Their plans include spotting and tackling forest fires, analysing the depth of the peat underneath the forest, and conducting a comprehensive assessment of biodiversity in the area.

We’ll be bringing you more about the camp, the road to Bali and palm oil in the coming weeks and months, and exploring in more depth the relationship between forests and the climate. Indonesia might seem very far away but, as with the Amazon and the Congo, the impacts of deforestation there reverberate around the world.

The Indonesian government is considering giving permission to five palm oil companies to convert 7% of the national park into oil palm plantations.

According to the world’s experts on orang-utan conservation, oil palm development in Indonesia poses the biggest threat to the survival of the orang-utan.

The conversion of parts of the national park would deeply damage the credibility of Indonesia’s commitment to biodiversity conservation.

There are already vast areas of abandoned land in the region, outside the national park, that have already been cleared of rainforest.

We believe that the development of oil palm plantations should only occur in these areas so long as:

* the rights of local communities are respected
* no more rainforest is converted to set up plantations

In this way the twin goals of economic development and conservation can both be met for Indonesia.

Please visit the Friends of the Earth website to learn more and email the letter to Indonesian Ambassador in the UK and ask him to pass on these concerns to the President of Indonesia.

Polar bears are starving and drowning as sea ice melts around them. Hawaiian monk seal pups are dying as their beaches disappear under rising seas. And penguin populations are declining as their world literally breaks up under their not-so-happy feet.

Unless we address the impacts of global warming, America’s wildlife are in trouble. Fortunately, the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed forward-looking energy legislation (H.R. 3221) that would take the important first steps needed to protect polar bears, monk seals and other wildlife from the harmful effects of global warming.

Send a message to your Senators today and urge them to support the Global Warming Survival Act!

Visit the care2 petition site to learn more and sign the petition!

Chicago-based emo-punk band Fall Out Boy (FOB) recently released a video for their single ‘Thnks fr the mmrs’ that features clothes-wearing chimpanzees and orangutans.

The endangered great apes are portrayed as directing the band’s music video, playing drums and doing the band’s make-up.

In August the band arrived at the Kerrang music awards in London with a macaque monkey. TV footage of the awards shows the monkey being paraded on band members’ shoulders in front of crowds of fans and in the scrum of journalists vying to interview the band.

It also transpires that FOB took a Capuchin monkey to the MTV awards last year.

Appalling as this is, what makes it even more surprising is that the band has been publicly supportive of animal rights campaigns so should know better!

Fortunately these latest stunts have proved unpopular with some FOB fans who have criticised the bands use of primates on various internet forums. However, some fans have enjoyed seeing the primates and have even asked where they can buy one as a pet.

The Captive Animals’ Protection Society (CAPS) has worked for years to discourage people from keeping primates as pets as well as campaigning to end the use of animals in advertising and music videos and is appalled to see such a popular band, with a huge young fan base, using animals in this way.

CAPS is co-ordinating a campaign on behalf of the Ape Alliance, a network of international animal protection and primate conservation organizations, to encourage Fall Out Boy to stop using primates.

Orangutan Outreach supports CAPS efforts and asks everyone to please write to the band’s manager, encouraging the band not to support cruelty to animals in the name of entertainment and to have the video edited to take out the parts showing great apes being humiliated. Please be polite as disrespect will get us nowhere. Thanks…

Contact:
Doug Newman
Manager - Fall Out Boy
Crush Media Management
584 Broadway, Suite 1102, New York, NY 10012, USA
E-mail: doug@crushmm.com

To see a ‘remixed‘ version of ‘Thnks fr the mmrs’ on YouTube, which combines the band’s video with clips of how primates are sometimes abused for ‘entertainment’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQXqmNCwAZ0

by Rodger Schlickeisen

Across the world, illegal logging, driven by the demand for cheap wood products, is destroying vital habitat for tigers, jaguars, orangutans and other wildlife� and driving some of the planet’s most beloved wildlife to the brink of extinction.

We can stop the destruction. Urge your Senators to co-sponsor the Combat Illegal Logging Act of 2007 (S.1930) today and take a concrete step to save the places our wildlife needs to survive.

The insatiable demand for cheap wood products and luxury hardwoods in the United States, Europe and Japan is driving illegal logging operations worldwide. Yet America has no law against importing illegally harvested wood into the U.S.

From Borneo to the Amazon to Siberia, illegal logging is the first step in a devastating cycle of forest habitat loss, animal poaching and carbon emissions.

• Indonesia: a U.N. report estimates that 98% of Indonesia’s forests — home to orangutans, sun bears, tigers and rhinos — could disappear within 20 years. The government of Indonesia estimates that 73% of all logging in the country is illegal;
• Peru: The Amazon — where jaguars, ocelots, and macaws thrive — is under attack by mahogany traffickers. The vast majority of Peruvian mahogany — 80% of which is illegally logged — is destined for the U.S.;
• Russia: The Far Eastern forests, home to the planet’s largest cat, the Amur tiger, are being leveled to feed the factories and furniture mills of China, many of which send products to the U.S.

Encourage your Senators to support a ban on the importation of illegally logged wood and help save vital habitat for tigers, jaguars and other wildlife.

Illegal logging triggers a chain of events that results in further deforestation, large fires and carbon emissions. This reckless and unregulated logging often occurs in national parks and indigenous reserves, destroying large areas of intact habitat that many critically endangered species need to survive.

The Combat Illegal Logging Act — introduced by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) — will give enforcement agencies a powerful tool in the fight against illegal timber traffickers by making it a crime to knowingly import, sell, buy or transport illegally-sourced wood and wood products.

It’s time to send a message to international timber syndicates that America will no longer accept the environmental destruction that comes with illegal logging.

Please take action today!

Source: http://newsblaze.com/story/20070907034200tsop.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Stories.html

Green Media Release August 20, 2007

Greens start campaign against ANZ

The Green Party is urging New Zealanders to cut links to ANZ unless the banking group stops supporting a huge tropical rainforests logging company. Greens Co-Leader Russel Norman says the party is starting a campaign outside selected ANZ branches with colourful protests highlighting the banking corporation’s links to Rimbunan Hijau and other firms destroying the last “paradise forests” of South East Asia and the Pacific.

The party has also set-up an “e-pledge” link on its website so anyone can join a list of names of people saying they will close their ANZ and National Bank accounts unless ANZ Banking Group cuts links to Rimbunan Hijau.

“Deforestation is one of the biggest issues of our time as it is thought to cause some 20 percent of human-made carbon emissions,” Dr Norman says. “In the case of tropical rainforests, the logging is doubly tragic as more than half of the world’s plant and animal species are believed to live in these places.”

The first protest runs from 8am to 9.30am today (Monday) outside the ANZ branch in lower Lambton Quay, Wellington, and features tropical trees, a “grim reaper”, an “orangutan”, bankers with giant chainsaws and “cheques” handed out to the public. The site was chosen as it has adjacent ANZ and National Bank branches; both New Zealand banks are owned by the ANZ Banking Group based in Australia.

“ANZ is full of talk about being a responsible corporation but its actions speak louder than words,” Dr Norman says. “It promised a Forests and Biodiversity Policy after pressure from the Australian Conservation Foundation and others last year, which was watered down to a Forests Policy that has yet to surface. Meanwhile it admits using New Zealand as a financial springboard to Asia where it is creating more connections to the loggers, not less.”

Source: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0708/S00320.htm

Borneo Orangutan Survival UK has signed up with Give It, the green gift list for ethical green
weddings. Michelle Desilets, Founder and Director of BOS UK said “We are thrilled to be a part of Give It, the service which encourages people to be more ethical in their gift giving which in turn helps us in our work towards saving the orangutan”.

An increasing number of marrying couples are wanting to go green on their big day - locally-sourced food and ‘pre-worn’ wedding dresses are on the increase while charity wedding lists are also providing a great environmental option, reducing the amount of toasters and kettles needlessly replaced through a traditional gift list.

Now the organisation behind The Alternative Wedding List, the charity wedding list featuring
charities such as Barnardo’s, Marie Curie Cancer Care and Save the Children has taken the charity gift list even further down the green route. The Green Gift List, launched this week, features a variety of environmental and conservation charities that give this gift list a true ‘green’ feel.

The entire service is online, found at www.thegreengiftlist.co.uk, and couples can sign-up to one of a number of ready-made gift lists that contain gifts of donations to a variety of charities, including charities such as Borneo Orangutan Survival, Buglife, Garden Organic, the Marine Conservation Society, Save the Rhino and the World Land Trust. Couples select one of the groups of charities, or make up their own, and their family and friends then select a gift to the charity of their choice.

The new service is operated by Give It, the not-for-profit organisation behind a number of
charitable initiatives. Andy Hickey, who heads the operation, says “We’ve been able to bring
together a variety of environmental charities to provide another great option for couples to have a charitable wedding list, either using one of our charity gift lists on its’ own or alongside a traditional gift list. The continued growth of The Alternative Wedding List, along with growing interest in the Scottish and London versions launched earlier this year, has shown us that providing the right group of charities will enable even more couples to decide to make a difference on their big day - we’ve got a great line-up of charities already, with a couple more still to go live, and we’ll be looking to add more over the coming months to provide couples and guests with even more choice. We’re confident that The Green Gift List will generate lots of interest and generate much-needed funds for these charities”.

Petra Fleischer, Fundraising Manager for Save the Rhino, said, “We’re delighted to be part of the service as there is growing interest in making weddings ethical - The Green Gift List is a great option. We think it’s a good risk-free opportunity for us and a great service for marrying couples looking to feel good about their choice of wedding list”.

All the gift list services operated by Give It offer a selection of charities rather than expecting
couples to pick one. Andy adds “we continue to get feedback from marrying couples, most of whom don’t have a favourite charity, that they really like the ability to select a group of charities, knowing that they’re giving their guests some choice in where their money goes. As well as the potential efficiencies in marketing a service generating funds for lots of charities, the services mirror traditional gift lists in providing choices for couples and guests alike”.

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Give It is a not-for-profit company dedicated to raising funds for charities through its’
on-line gift list services.

The Green Gift List can be viewed online at www.thegreengiftlist.co.uk.

For more information contact Andy Hickey, andy@giveit.co.uk or call 07974088938.