Apes In Danger: Orangutan-on BBC 2

[Guest guest]

Dear Friend of the Orangutan,

Just to let supporters in the UK know that the work of the Borneo Orangutan

Survival Foundation will be featured on BBC 2 next Tuesday (10th January) at

7:30 pm, as a part of their Apes In Danger Week.

I have personally seen the film, and found it to be courageous in its

portrayal of the real issues threatening this species with extinction. I hope

you will tune in.

Best,

Michelle Desilets

Director

Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation UK

 

From the BBC press office:

Apes in Danger: Orangutan

BBC 2 – Tuesday 10th January 2005

7.30pm

 

Billing

In a remote part of Borneo, the race is on to save Asia's only Great Ape. The

Orangutan’s forest homes are disappearing and now a new commercial drive is

threatening their last remaining refuges. Palm oil is BIG business – it has

become the world's cheapest and best selling vegetable oil, and brings in over

$3 billion for Indonesia's economy each year. 1 in 10 products on our

supermarket shelves contains this oil - from margarine to cosmetics. But, as

our demand for palm oil increases, more and more forest is being removed to make

way for huge plantations, leaving wild Orangutans with nowhere to go.

 

 

Producer: Lucy Meadows

Executive Producer: Tim Martin

 

Film Summary

For staff at the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, the expanding palm oil

industry means a never ending flood of destitute orang-utans needing 24 hour

care. As manager of the Nyaru Menteng Rehabilitation centre, Lone

Droscher-Nielsen has dedicated her life to rescuing these 'Red Apes' and

securing a future for them back in the wild. It’s a far cry from her previous

career as an air-stewardess, and for Lone it is a real labour of love.

 

Her rescue team is on permanent alert, ready to take in the dispossessed

orangutans found in plantations, or to confiscate those hunted for the illegal

pet trade. But, with over 350 charges now in her care, Lone faces her biggest

challenge yet. With more and more forest being removed to make way for palm

oil, will she ever find sanctuary for her orang-utans back in the wild?

 

Palm oil facts

· Palm oil is a 'hidden' ingredient in 1 in 10 products on our

supermarket shelves – it is in bread, margarine, ice-cream, confectionary,

biscuits, ready meals, crisps as well cosmetics, shampoos, toothpaste and paint.

· In Indonesia, 2 million hectares are deforested each year for palm oil

plantations.

· Oil palm plantations could be responsible for at least half the

reduction in orang-utan habitat between 1992 and 2003.

· By 2020, Indonesia's oil-palm plantations are projected to triple in

size to an area the size of England and Wales combined. This expansion will

have devastating impacts on the remaining orang-utan habitat.

· Demand for palm oil is expected to rise by 50% in the next 5 years.

· The UK is the second biggest importer of palm oil in Europe. Imports

into the UK have doubled between 1995 and 2004, and demand is increasing.

· Boycotting palm oil is not the answer – but palm oil could be grown

'sustainably' if plantations were put on the millions of hectares of land that

currently lies idle in Indonesia, rather than at the expense of any more virgin

forest.

 

For further information contact:

Lucy Meadows

Lucy.Meadows

 

Tim Martin

(Assistant – Melanie Thomas)

Melanie.

bbc.co.uk/nature

 

 

Michelle Desilets

BOS UK

www.savetheorangutan.org.uk

www.savetheorangutan.info

" Primates Helping Primates "

 

Please sign our petition to rescue over 100 smuggled orangutans in Thailand:

http://www.thePetitionSite.com/takeaction/822035733

 

 

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