Nature Alert: Sarawak to open more land for oil palm

Saturday, 12 July 2008

Sarawak to open more land for oil palm

2008/06/29 New Straits Times

Sarawak to open more land for oil palm

KUCHING: Sarawak will continue to open up more land for oil palm plantations, Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said here yesterday.

He said this would not go against the prime minister's directive on the clearing of land for oil palm plantation as it did not apply to the state.Taib said land earmarked for new oil palm plantations in the state were not permanent forest reserves but land targeted for agriculture since the 1950s.

He said the state had taken steps to protect its biodiversity."Our orang utans are safe. More than 30 years ago, we established a sanctuary for them."

He said it was likewise for indigenous nomadic tribes such as the Penans."The state has established a 30,000ha reservation for them even though there are fewer than 500 of them.""(So), there are no reasons for us not to continue opening up more land," he said when asked on the prime minister's directive to state governments to stop clearing permanent forest reserves.

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.