What is destroying our rainforests? Greed, palm oil

Wednesday, November 5, 2008 1:15 PM

Rita Sastrawan , Paris | Wed, 11/05/2008 10:32 AM | Opinion

The establishment of oil-palm plantations in Kalimantan and Sumatra poses the greatest threat to orangutans today. In fact, the clearing of forest and the establishment of oil-palm plantations has a negative impact not only on orangutan populations but also on climate, the water cycle, carbon emissions and livelihoods in local communities.

Although many people are aware of these facts, oppose the development of biofuels from palm oil and oppose the creation of these plantations, the destruction of the rainforest continues.

The effects of land-clearing are simple and obvious once you have seen it with your own eyes. It is even easier when you witness the rescue of orangutans or experience breathing difficulties and stinging eyes from 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 conscious of the adverse effects our activities incur. Because we don't feel the negative impacts firsthand we can't imagine the way our behavior influences nature and the lives of people on a faraway island. Meanwhile the destructive oil business continues and the market keeps growing.

Unilever is one of the biggest palm oil consumers worldwide using 1.3 metric tons every year. Its heart-shaped ice cream brand under many names and numerous other brands -- Dove, Sunsilk, Omo, Knorr, Blue Band, Becel, Best Foods, Ben & Jerry's and Findus -- are only a few of the many Unilever 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 have made an effort to avoid products containing palm oil, and Unilever has been forced to respond, promising improvement by way of ensuring the palm oil they use is "sustainably" produced.

But where should all this sustainable palm oil come from? As worldwide demand for palm oil is so high, it can't be met with only the sustainably grown version simply because not enough is available.

With limited supplies of certified sustainable palm oil only now entering the market, Unilever has had to buy unsustainable palm oil from many companies, one of which is Wilmar Group, one of the biggest palm-oil trading companies in the world, handling at least a quarter of all global palm-oil output. Besides supplying Unilever with palm oil, Nestl* and Cargill are also among Wilmar's customers.

Not only are we eating palm oil, washing our clothes and ourselves with it, driving cars and producing electricity fueled by it, but our savings are often invested in banks connected with this biofuel that is helping destroy the planet. Among Wilmar's financiers are Rabobank, ABM Amro, Standard Chartered, Citibank, IFC of the World Bank, OCBC, Fortis and ING.

Just as Unilever has many brands which we might assume are independent local companies, Wilmar International also owns plantations under different company names and buys palm oil from family-related companies as well, such as from the Indonesian Ganda Group. Wilmar's plantations are situated in Kalimantan, Malaysia, Sumatra and Uganda. Their plantations cover nearly 600,000 hectares, and are proposed to grow to up to 1 million hectares, an area as large as South Korea. Two-thirds of these lands still must be cleared of forest and planted with palms.

Forest where orangutans were known to live have been cleared illegally. Plantations were established without official permission or environmental impact assessments. After immense pressure by NGOs, Wilmar International admitted in February 2008 it had violated its own plantation development policies in Indonesia.

Since Wilmar is planning to set up plantations in Central Kalimantan in Borneo, large-scale forest destruction and burning awaits that region. With the merging of PPB Palm Oil and Wilmar International, Wilmar now has 16 subsidiaries in Central Kalimantan. Most of the approximately 250,000 hectares have still not been developed. Another 250,000 hectares in Central Kalimantan are allocated for other companies' plantations; concessions covering one million hectares in all have already been handed out.

Existing forest should be protected from more onslaughts and oil-palm entrepreneurs should be forbidden to clear further. This and other steps are laid out in the Indonesian "Oranguatan Conservation Strategy and Action Plan", which should be enforced and implemented.

"To save orangutans, we must save the forests," the Indonesian President said in December 2007.

That is quite true, but implementation looks quite different. Companies are still cutting down forest and setting fire to peatlands as the cheapest and quickest method to clear new ground for yet more oil-palm plantations.

We see a nightmare relentlessly approaching. The forests will burn and orangutans will have to flee or die of hunger. Borneo is a hotspot of endemic plants and animals, hosting creatures most people haven't seen in their lives and natural medicines (which the resident Dayak people know well and use), but Borneo is also a hotspot for 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 consumer behavior and show your concern by writing to companies. Help us save what is left!

The writer is International Communications Coordinator for Borneo Orangutan Survival International). She can be reached at rita@bos-international.org

source: thejakartapost.com

Lahan Kelapa Sawit untuk Orangutan

KUALA LUMPUR -- Menyempitnya habitat alami sejumlah satwa liar akibat pembukaan perkebunan kelapa sawit tak membuat para pejuang pelestarian lingkungan Malaysia hilang akal. Kini mereka meluncurkan strategi baru untuk melindungi orangutan Kalimantan, gajah pygmy, dan satwa yang terancam punah lainnya dengan membeli lahan dari pemilik perkebunan untuk dijadikan hutan suaka.

Langkah ini diambil untuk menjaga kelestarian orangutan yang jumlahnya terus merosot akibat pembalakan liar dan meluasnya perkebunan kelapa sawit dengan cepat di Malaysia dan Indonesia, dua negara tempat orangutan ditemukan di alam.

Kelompok konservasi LEAP yang berbasis di Malaysia tengah merundingkan pembelian 89,8 hektare lahan hutan tropis di negara bagian Sabah, Kalimantan, dari operator perkebunan sawit.
Lahan seluas itu dibutuhkan untuk dijadikan sebagai koridor yang menghubungkan dua wilayah suaka margasatwa yang menjadi rumah bagi 600 orangutan, 150 gajah pygmy, dan beragam jenis satwa dilindungi lainnya, seperti monyet proboscis, burung rangkong, dan berang-berang.

"Untuk membeli lahan itu, LEAP melakukan aksi penggalangan dana melalui sumbangan masyarakat dan pribadi," kata Cynthia Ong, Direktur Eksekutif LEAP. World Land Trust, sebuah yayasan amal untuk konservasi alam yang bekerja sama dengan LEAP dalam inisiatif itu, mengatakan bahwa mereka membutuhkan Rp 5,3 miliar untuk membeli lahan tersebut.

Ong mengatakan ini adalah pertama kalinya sebuah lembaga swadaya masyarakat berusaha membeli tanah di Kalimantan, Malaysia, untuk perlindungan lingkungan dengan bantuan pemerintah. Dia belum bisa memastikan kapan pembelian hutan itu dilaksanakan.

"Pembelian lahan ini amat mendesak," tutur Ong. "Kami tak punya jalan lain untuk menghindari potensi timbulnya konflik antara manusia dan satwa liar."

Jumlah orangutan di Malaysia dan Indonesia turun hingga separuhnya dalam 20 tahun terakhir hingga mencapai angka di bawah 60 ribu ekor akibat aktivitas pembukaan hutan. Para ilmuwan memperkirakan populasi primata turun lebih dari 5.000 ekor setiap tahun sejak 2004. AP

source: korantempo.com

Palm oil crisis can even tie to Halloween candy

Do the pros of using palm oil outweigh the cons?

By Christina Salvo
Monday, October 27, 2008 at 7:13 p.m.

COLORADO SPRING, COLO. -- Health concerns with trans-fatty acids found in partially hydrogenated oil has led the push for palm oil as a substitute. But its increased use is causing a domino effect, creating new problems.

Trees are cleared to create oil plantations. As oil plantations expand in South America, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Africa, environmentalists say they are transforming the ecosystems and contributing heavily to climate change.

While deforestation accounts for a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, it also threatens the extinction of millions of plant and animal species, including the orangutans.

"The rainforest is crucial. They need it to be able to find food and shelter," explained Dina Bredahl, Animal Care Manager at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

In many areas, especially Indonesia, the rainforest is being leveled to make way for profitable palm oil plantations.

"Right now Indonesia is third highest as far as producing greenhouse gases in the world, yet they use so little as far as automobiles and other things like that. The problem is because of removing rain forests," said Bredahl.

Demand for palm oil is so high right now as people look for alternatives to trans-fat plus it can be cheaply produced, said Bredahl.

But many consumers aren't even aware any controversy exists surrounding palm oil farming.
"What you buy at the grocery store really does affect not just people in other countries, but animals as well and entire ecosystems," said Bredahl.

It's a bit of a balancing act weighing the pros against the cons of palm oil. In the meantime, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo encourages consumers to support companies that use sustainable palm oil vs. nonsustainable.

"Sustainable palm oil is produced by using already cleared land. That way you're not taking more rainforest away from orangutan and many hundreds of other species," explained Bredahl.
Click here to learn ways to help in the palm oil crisis.

source: fox21news.com

Urgent action needed over Sumatran peat forest logging

Last Updated: 12:01am BST 20/10/2008

Ian Wood reports on the loss of vitally important swamp forests in SumatraSumatra has had more than its fair share of natural disasters over the last decade including the 2004 tsunami that killed over 190,000 people in the northern province of Aceh.

1. Conservation groups and government sign Sumatra forest deal


2. New plans to protect native tigers and elephants in Sumatra


3. Sumatran orang-utan now in serious decline

Now a man made disaster is threatening to add to the misery that this region has endured.

The Tripa area of peat swamp forest is being logged to make way for new palm oil plantations and the effects will have dire consequences for the people and wildlife that live there.The Tripa forests are located in north western Sumatra and provided effective coastal protection for communities in the tsunami. Behind them, very few casualties were recorded and they also serve to protect against floods as the peat swamp regulates water flow.

Their importance for both biodiversity and carbon stores cannot be over stated.They are home to one of just six remaining viable populations of the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan and contain millions of tons of carbon dioxide that is being released into the atmosphere as they are destroyed.

A recent study commissioned by the Swiss NGO PanEco has shown the peat is more than 3 metres deep over much of the area.
There are already laws in Indonesia that forbid the destruction of peat more than 3 metres deep but the local government seem powerless to protect this area.
The effects are threefold.

1) CO2 is released into the atmosphere as the larger trees are cut and the remaining land is burnt.
2) Subsequent drainage causes further degradation of the peat releasing even more CO2.
3) This then results in subsidence of the land itself of approx 5 cm per year. The area of Tripa is already at about sea level, or only slightly above, so within a very short space of time the sea will claim huge swathes of this region and inland communities will have no protection against future tsunamis.

The recent agreement to protect forests in Sumatra between the Indonesian government and a number of conservation groups including WWF and Fauna and Flora International is a step in the right direction. However to save Tripa from the unfolding disaster there needs to be urgent action immediately.

Irwandi Yusuf, the governor of Aceh called for a moratorium on all logging in Aceh in June 2007 but it is being largely ignored on the ground.

Pak Adnan, one of four of Aceh's Senators agreed to meet me in Tripa and together we witnessed scenes of total devastation. His concern seemed genuine as he explained the problems this region is facing.

"I have not seen any goodwill from central government to act to protect Tripa. Already I have discussed it with the executive but they have not taken any action" Pak Adnan told me.

"If necessary it must come from the President himself who has the power to stop the destruction of Tripa. The status of Tripa must be raised to that of protected forest and then it will be immortal forever. To achieve this it needs continued pressure from both local people and the international community.

"In my heart I believe the ecosystem of Tripa must be saved, it's vital. The most important problem is the palm oil concessions on areas of peat forest. It needs a firm statement from central government and an urgent review of these existing concessions." he said.

There are five palm oil concessions that have been granted by the Indonesian central government with leases that expire in 2020. Such is the scale of logging here that the remaining tracts of forest will be long gone before then.

"Local people do not destroy the peat swamp forest as they do not have access to heavy machines but the palm oil companies have vast amounts of money," Pak Adnan told me.

"For local people we can create better sustainable sources of income such as fish breeding and livestock that fit in with the ecosystem. We could also create ecotourism opportunities and then at last the people that live in Tripa could have income from both palm oil and these other sources."

Surely this is preferable to increasing vulnerability to rising sea levels, which threatens not only communities and their livelihoods, but also the very palm oil estates themselves in the long run.
The palm oil company PT Astra Agro Lestari who are one of the main suppliers to Unilever, are running one of the legal concessions in Tripa. It covers nearly 13,000 hectares of which around 6000 hectares is still virgin rain forest, all located on peat swamp with an average depth of about 3m but reaching over 5m in places.

Unilever announced last month that they have committed to only purchasing 100 per cent sustainably produced palm oil by 2015. However, by then this important area of forest will have already been lost forever.

Regina Frey, president of PanEco, a conservation groups which campaigns for the sustainable use of natural resources in Indonesia, said: "I call on Unilever to take action to help to save these last areas of Sumatran peat swamp forest. If they refuse to buy oil palm from this concession it would send out a firm message to PT Astra Agro Lestari to stop logging primary peat forests for palm oil, thereby damaging the image of the palm oil industry"

After cutting the larger trees in the peat swamp forest the remaining trees are set on fire. The palm oil companies then cut drainage canals across the site as the land is too wet for oil palm cultivation. The peat then starts to subside as it dries out and results in very poor conditions for palm oil trees to grow in.

We saw lots of palm oil trees that are now falling over and will be useless as future crops. When the peat has degraded and subsided to below sea level the whole area will be flooded with seawater and nothing will grow here again. There is also proof that the surrounding areas of non peat swamp provide far better conditions for palm oil.

"There is plenty of non-forested land on mineral soil in the surroundings of Tripa which is available and produces excellent conditions for oil palm cultivation. In fact some of the highest palm oil yields in the world are recorded in that region. Consequently the Tripa concessions could be relocated there." said Regina Frey.

The simple truth is that the palm oil companies want to sell the timber from the large trees they fell when they clear the land. In fact there are vast areas of already cleared land in Tripa that have not even been planted with palm oil.

Now is the time for action not words here in Tripa. To destroy one of the last great areas of peat swamp forest in Sumatra is an act of criminal vandalism. Along with orangutans these forests also contain two other rare ape species, the Siamang and the White Handed Gibbon along with Sumatran tigers, clouded leopards and sun bears.

Conflicts have developed between villagers and the palm oil companies. Such is the sensitivity that PT Astra Agro Lestari's concession is now guarded by the Indonesian police and army.
I managed to get into the village of Pulo Kruet where I met one of the leaders of the community. He told me that the palm oil companies are now taking the land that belongs to his village and they are powerless to prevent it.

We walked for several kilometres together through the palm oil plantations that now surround his home. Eventually we arrived at the border of the remaining forest and saw freshly made orangutan nests in the trees right on the edge of the destruction.

Here in Tripa the fight to save this critically endangered species is one with far reaching consequences for the human population.

source: telegraph.co.uk

Biofuel boom endangers orangutan habitat

Palm oil plantations are encroaching on rain forest reserves on the Indonesia island of Borneo, where the endangered primates live.

By Paul Watson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer October 19, 2008

TANJUNG PUTING NATIONAL PARK, INDONESIA -- In the rush to feed the world's growing appetite for climate-friendly fuel and cooking oil that doesn't clog arteries, the Bornean orangutan could get plowed over.Several plantation owners are eyeing Tanjung Puting park, a sanctuary for 6,000 of the endangered animals. It is the world's second-largest population of a primate that experts warn could be extinct in less than two decades if a massive assault on its forest habitat is not stopped.

The orangutans' biggest enemy, the United Nations says, is no longer poachers or loggers. It's the palm oil industry.On the receding borders of this 1,600-square-mile lush reserve, a road paved with good intentions runs smack into a swamp of alleged corruption and government bungling. It's one of the mounting costs few bargained for in the global craze to "go green."The park clings to the southern tip of the island of Borneo, which is shared by Indonesia and Malaysia, the top producers of palm oil. Exporters market it as an alternative to both petroleum and cooking oils containing trans fats.

"That's only a slogan, you know," said Ichlas Al Zaqie, the local project manager for Los Angeles-based Orangutan Foundation International. "They change the forest, and say it's for energy sustainability, but they're killing other creatures."Indonesia is losing lowland forest faster than any other major forested country. At the rate its trees are being felled to plant oil palms, poach high-grade timber and clear land for farming, 98% of Indonesia's forest may be lost by 2022, the United Nations Environment Program says."If the immediate crisis in securing the future survival of the orangutan and the protection of national parks is not resolved, very few wild orangutans will be left within two decades," UNEP concluded in a report last year.

"The rate and extent of illegal logging in national parks may, if unchallenged, endanger the entire concept of protected areas worldwide."In July, loggers finished buzz-sawing and bulldozing a 40,000-acre swath in a northeastern corner of the park, where at least 561 orangutan lived, to clear ground for oil palm plants, Zaqie said.The government isn't much help, say environmental activists, who accuse corrupt officials, military and police officers of siding with timber poachers, illegal miners and others threatening the forests.Activists bemoan a territorial dispute between local officials and the provincial and national governments."The problem now is even the central government can't really say where the exact border of the national park is," said Yeppie Kustiwae, who handles the issue of forest conversion for the World Wide Fund for Nature in Indonesia.

Zaqie says palm oil companies are determined to take as much as 5 million acres of orangutan forest habitat in Tanjung Puting and the larger Sebangau National Park, where Borneo's largest population of orangutans lives.Tanjung Puting, a tropical Eden still revealing its secrets, shelters nine primate species, including rare proboscis monkeys, whose pendulous schnozzes can be 7 inches long.Zaqie says he first saw bulldozers knocking down trees for the northeastern palm oil plantation five years ago. He was certain the loggers were on land included in the park in a 1996 government decree.He tried without success to stop the bulldozer operators. So Zaqie went to a manager, who confirmed that the forest was being converted into a plantation by an Indonesian company called Wanasawit Subur Lestari. A spokesman for its parent company, BEST Plantation Group, denied encroaching on the park."We are working based on a permit issued by the government," said Wahyu Bimadhrata, BEST's legal manager.

"We don't work inside the national park."Mounting pressures on the forest are easiest to see in the money made by palm oil plantations. In 1990, Indonesia earned $204 million from palm oil exports; the value exploded to more than $7.8 billion in 2007.Palm oil exports started growing sharply five years ago after the European Union declared a mandatory quota to replace gasoline and diesel from crude with biofuels. Last year, it raised the biofuel target to 10% of transportation fuels by 2020, driving the price of palm oil higher and ratcheting up the threat to rain forests.The EU has maintained the policy even though a report in April by European Environment Agency scientists called it an "overambitious" experiment "whose unintended effects are difficult to predict and difficult to control.

"Instead of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, producing palm oil on what was once peat swamp forests may be boosting the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Leveling the jungle not only destroys trees that absorb carbon dioxide, it also releases millions of tons of carbon dioxide stored in Borneo's peat for thousands of years. Fires set to clear trees and stumps add to the problem.As companies lobby to clear more rain forest, other Indonesians are laboring to restore habitat for orangutans and rehabilitate those who lost their jungle homes or were rescued from poachers.A decade ago, raging fires burned millions of acres of Borneo's forest. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation bought 4,500 acres that farmers had abandoned to grassland at Samboja Lestari, on the island's eastern side.

"People thought that in one or two years, we would give up," said Ishak Yassir, the foundation's regional program manager. "We proved them wrong."His Indonesian staff cares for 224 orangutans; each day, teachers take their wide-eyed pupils to forest school. They teach them the basics, such as tree climbing; the proper way to eat dirt to get at insects, seeds and other nutrients; and avoiding snakes.Once they graduate, they join the list of orangutans ready to leave rehab.Yassir's staff has cleared more than 50 young adults for release over the last six years. But the orangutans' rescuers can't find enough safe forest for the apes to go home to.paul.watson@latimes.comSpecial correspondent Dinda Jouhana in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

source: latimes.com