A chained orangutan (Image - Centre for Orangutan Protection)
A report just released by UK organisation Nature Alert in partnership with the Centre for Orangutan Protection highlights the plight of orangutans in Indonesia.
In the last ten years, an estimated 20,000 orangutans have been killed or poached, and not a single prosecution has been brought against any of those responsible. Killing, harming or even moving orangutans is illegal in Indonesia, and orangutans are theoretically protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Orangutans have been killed, caged, tortured, and traded to countries like Thailand and Cambodia by plantation workers, the military, police and local government officials. Adult orangutan mothers are frequently killed leaving their babies as orphans, unable to fend for themselves.
Oil palm fruit, Indonesia (Image - Greenpeace)
In the next five years, according to the report, another 10,000 orangutans are at risk of being killed or captured. Those orangutans that are not slaughtered face depletion of their habitat and starvation, and a wide range of other flora and fauna are at risk. This is due to the likely sale of over 2.5 million acres of land in the next five years to companies producing palm oil for biofuels, food, soaps, washing powders, cosmetics, animal feed and other products. Indonesia is the world’s largest palm oil producer.
- Read the report (pdf) which includes recommended actions
- Independent article on palm oil and deforestation
- Orangutan Foundation, UK
- Global Canopy – forest canopy research and conservation
- Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
- Palm oil free cosmetics from Little Satsuma, hemp oil cosmetics from Yaoh.
Update: Bulldog (men’s grooming products) told me today that “We do use a small amount of palm oil in some of our products, all from RSPO sources. We are working to eliminate it entirely.”
No related posts.
Palm oil costs the lives of about 50 orangutans every week and its cultivation is a major cause of global warming.
“BUT WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT?” A great deal! As palm oil is used in many of the items you buy in the supermarket, use your power as a consumer to do the following:
Demand that food companies label their use of palm oil – you have a right to know what you eat.
Urge supermarkets and other manufacturers to STOP using palm oil from destructive sources NOW, to switch to environmentally and socially responsible sources and seek out healthier alternatives to palm oil.
Write letters to the Government and request they make labelling of palm oil compulsory.
Write to the Indonesian Ambassador urging Indonesia to STOP the clearing of primary rainforest on Sumatra and Borneo NOW.
Palm oil is used in
ice cream
chocolate
biscuits
chips
margarine
crackers
cooking oil
toothpaste
soap
Posted by Cameron | 15. Sep, 2009, 11:15 am