An excellent day for orangutans and rainforests

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends of the Orangutan

Some very good news at last. With the launch of the Heart of Borneo

initiative, there is some hope for the future of the orangutan and its

rainforest habitat. Theoretically, it spells the end to plans for the intended

conversion of nearly 2 million hectares of rainforest in Kalimantan along the

border with Malaysia.

Two and a bit news articles follow. The “bit” in the middle points out how

supporters of the campaign made Indonesian officials sit up and take notice.

My heartfelt thanks to everyone of you who sent a letter or email, or in any

way have supported the sustainable palm oil campaign. The job is not done, but

this week, a huge step has been taken.

Michelle Desilets

Director, Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation UK

Borneo rainforest to be protected; massive oil palm plantation canceled

mongabay.com

March 28, 2006

 

 

Today Indonesia announced its would end plans to establish a 1.8 million hectare

oil plantation in the rainforest of Borneo. The proposed plan, which was backed

by Chinese investments, would have destroyed one of the most biodiverse

ecosystems on Earth. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), some 361

species of animals have been discovered on the island in the past decade,

including a mysterious fox-like creature spotted last year.

 

 

Indonesia, in partnership with the other governments that share the island of

Borneo–Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia–made the announcement to protect the

" Heart of Borneo " at the Convention on Biological Diversity, a United

Nations-backed meeting presently underway in Curitiba, Brazil. The tri-country

initiative aims to 220,000 square kilometers (85,000 square miles) of tropical

rainforest across the island, which is home to such endangered animals as

orangutans, forest elephants and rhinos.

 

“This is an historic event, as the Heart of Borneo initiative will pave the way

towards expanding conservation of biodiversity, which fully supports the goal of

the UN Convention on Biological Diversity,” said Dato Suboh, Secretary General

of the Malaysian Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment. “This

initiative also represents a very significant milestone for transboundary

cooperation and will enhance existing collaboration between our respective

countries to protect vital natural resources and reduce poverty.”

 

 

Orangutan in Kalimantan, photo by Rhett A. Butler. More pictures from Borneo

Borneo, the third largest island in the world, was once covered with dense

rainforests. With swampy coastal areas fringed with mangrove forests and a

mountainous interior, much of the terrain was virtually impassable and

unexplored. Headhunters ruled the remote parts of the island until a century

ago.

 

In the 1980s and 1990s Borneo underwent a remarkable transition. Its forests

were leveled at a rate unparalleled in human history—perhaps 80 percent of the

island's primary forest was lost since 1980. Borneo's rainforests went to

industrialized countries like Japan and the United States in the form of garden

furniture, paper pulp and chopsticks. Initially most of the timber was taken

from the Malaysian part of the island in the northern states of Sabah and

Sarawak. Later forests in the southern part of Borneo, an area belonging to

Indonesia and known as Kalimantan, became the primary source for tropical

timber. Today the forests of Borneo are but a shadow of those of legend.

 

In recent years Borneo's remaining forests had been cleared for oil palm

plantations. Indonesia's oil palm plantations grew from 600,000 hectares in 1985

to more than 4 million hectares by early 2006 when the government announced a

plan to develop 3 million additional hectares of oil palm plantations by 2011.

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is an attractive plantation crop because it is the

cheapest vegetable oil and produces more oil per hectare than any other oilseed.

In the current environment of high energy prices, palm oil is seen as a good way

to meet increasing demand for biofuel as an alternative energy source.

 

Satellite view of palm oil plantations in Borneo. Image courtesy of Google

Earth.

 

When the Indonesian government announced plans to significantly expand oil

palm acreage in Borneo it met strong condemnation by environmental groups,

especially WWF, which produced a number of reports that revealed the island's

striking biodiversity. WWF's findings also likely played a part in Malaysia's

recent decision to phase out logging in more than 200,000 hectares of key forest

habitat in the Bornean state of Sabah.

 

WWF says that this new initiative is an important step to safeguarding the

biological diversity of Borneo while providing opportunities for economic

activities that provde for local people without diminishing the forest resource

base.

 

“WWF considers the Heart of Borneo to be one of its top global priorities,”

added Leape. “It is hugely important to maintain a large enough area of Borneo’s

forests for the survival of the natural ecosystems. This is critical for

sustainable development, and WWF stands ready to assist Borneo’s three

governments with technical and financial support, so that we can make the

conservation vision a reality.”

http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0328-borneo.html

 

And, according to the WWF:

... today's announcement also spells the end of plans to create the world's

largest palm oil plantation in Kalimantan along Indonesia's mountainous border

with Malaysia. The scheme - supported with Chinese investments - was expected to

cover an area of 1.8 million hectares and would have had long-lasting, damaging

consequences on the Heart of Borneo.

Apparently, several government computer servers in Indonesia had to be shut

down when they were swamped by E-mails from environmentalists

(conservationists?) around the world. Good work people, wherever you are,

whoever you are.

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/3/28/183726/318

 

 

Borneo rainforests are a treasure trove of rare species

Staff and agencies

28 March, 2006

 

 

By Diyan Jari and Reuben Carder 1 hour, 23 minutes ago

JAKARTA - About three years ago, wildlife researchers photographed a

mysterious fox-like mammal on the Indonesian part of Borneo island.

They believed it was the first discovery of a new carnivore species there in

over a century.

Since then, more new species of plants and animals have been found and

conservationists believe Borneo, the world‘s third-largest island, is a treasure

trove of exotic plants and animals waiting to be discovered.

The new finds were all the more remarkable after decades of deforestation by

loggers, slash-and-burn farming, creation of vast oil palm plantations, as well

as rampant poaching. Conservationists hope that Borneo will reveal many more

secrets, despite the myriad threats to its unique flora and fauna.

" There is vast potential, " said Gusti Sutedja, WWF Indonesia‘s project

director for Kayan Mentarang national park, a sprawling reserve on the island

where the new mammal, nicknamed the Bornean Red Carnivore, was photographed in a

night-time camera trap.

" In 2003, we conducted joint operations with Malaysian scientists and

discovered many unknown species of lower plants. Three frogs discovered are

being tested by German researchers. We also recorded five new birds in a forest

survey in 2003. "

Some conservationists believe Borneo could be the next " Lost World " after the

recent discovery of a host of butterflies, birds and frogs in another Indonesian

jungle on the island of New Guinea.

The tropical island‘s fate, along with other threatened areas on the planet,

are at the center of a U.N. meeting from March 20-31 in Curitiba, Brazil.

Governments are discussing how to protect the world‘s biodiversity under a U.N.

goal set in 2002 to slow the loss of species by 2010.

Borneo -- a territory shared among Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei -- is home

to about 2,000 types of trees, more than 350 species of birds, about 150 types

of reptiles and 210 mammal species, including 44 only found on the island.

Many animals such as pygmy elephants, Sumatran rhinos, orangutans as well as

the clouded leopard, the sun bear and the Bornean gibbon top the list of

Borneo‘s endangered species.

Environmentalists say the island, described by Charles Darwin as " one great

untidy luxuriant hothouse made by nature for herself, " is being stripped of vast

swathes of forests by loggers. Mining, lax law enforcement and corruption are

also threats.

According to some estimates, Borneo loses forests equivalent to an area of

about a third of Switzerland every year, or at a rate of 1.3 million ha (3.2

million acres), much of it to feed the voracious appetite for timber in the West

and Asia.

" Indonesia‘s forests are being destroyed at a rate of 2 million ha (4.9

million acres) a year, " said Indonesian forestry consultant Dwi R. Muhtaman.

" Within a short time the forest in low-lying areas (of Borneo) will be gone. "

WWF‘s Sutedja did not have a precise figure, but he estimated the rate of

deforestation in Borneo was the " the equivalent of one football field per day. "

In addition to logging, Indonesia‘s plans to develop a major palm oil

plantation in the heart of Borneo near the border with Malaysia also threaten to

devastate some of the last remaining natural forests in Southeast Asia.

The area is remote highland forest from which many of the island‘s largest

rivers originate and has so far managed to remain intact because of its rugged

terrain and distance from the coast.

" There is opposition from most environmental NGOs. Their research says that

areas of natural forest could be converted, and the project could affect

rivers, " Sutedja said.

" Flooding could occur, which would affect the indigenous Dayak people who live

downstream, " he said, adding that WWF did not oppose the plan, but was concerned

it be carried out in accordance with environmental principles.

FRAGILE

Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said the government plan to open major

palm oil plantations had taken into account his ministry‘s concerns.

" We will start by making use (of) the areas that are already ready for

planting. I strongly oppose ... cutting down forest for the replanting of palm

oil plantations, which does not make sense, " he told Reuters.

Environmentalists say they are particularly worried as island ecosystems are

known as much for their fragility as their ability to harbor rare animals and

plants.

Of approximately 800 species extinctions worldwide since accurate scientific

recording began in 1500, the vast majority have been from island ecosystems, the

World Conservation Union says.

Green groups say hundreds of orangutans are killed or captured every year on

the Indonesian part of Borneo as part of an illegal trade that is driving the

primates toward extinction.

According to a study by WWF International and wildlife trade monitor TRAFFIC,

between 200 and 500 Borneo orangutans are traded in various parts of Indonesia

each year. The vast majority are infants sold as pets.

WWF International estimates poachers have also killed most endangered rhinos

in Borneo and only about 13 might have survived.

" The current situation will continue until the forest is gone, " Muhtaman said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews & storyID=2006-0\

3-29T015931Z_01_JAK340559_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-ENVIRONMENT-INDONESIA-BORNEO-DC.XML

 

 

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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