Nature Alert: Three foreign investors ready to build biofuel plants in Gorontalo

Thursday, 5 June 2008

Three foreign investors ready to build biofuel plants in Gorontalo

05/26/08

Three foreign investors ready to build biofuel plants in Gorontalo
Jakarta (ANTARA News) -

Three foreign investors from the United States, Australia and South Korea have expressed interest in building a biofuel plant with a capacity of two million kiloliters worth US$500 million in Gorontalo province, Gorontalo Governor Fadel Muhammad said.

"They said they were ready to invest (in biofuel in Goronotalo)," Fadel Muhammand said on the sidelines of the Indonesian Regional Investment Froum (IRIF) 2008, here on Monday.

He said the Capital Investment Coordinating Agency (BPKPM) had granted a license to the foreign investors to build a plant which would produce biofuel from jatropha curcas, maize and oil palm as raw materials.

"In order to meet their need for raw materials we have set aside 50,000 hectares of land for jatropha curcas, maize and oil palm plantations," the governor said.Gorontalo farmers are now enjoying profits from the increase in the prices of agricultural products, particularly maize.

Fadel said Gorontalo was now in its aggressive endeavor of developing commodity-based industries."Beginning this year we will develop medium scale commodity-based industries," he said.

He said his province`s maize production capacity reached 750,000 tons annually and it was expected to reach one million tons in 2009."Maize is our primary commodity besides fishery products," the governor said.Besides being exported to Malaysia and the Philippines, Gorontalo`s maize production will also be used to produce biofuel, he said.(*)
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Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.