Nature Alert: Set up forest reserves for Penans, Government urged

Thursday, 30 October 2008

Set up forest reserves for Penans, Government urged

Thursday October 30, 2008 The StarOnline, Malaysia

Set up forest reserves for Penans, Government urged

A SARAWAK MP has proposed that the Government allocate special forest reserves with sufficient natural resources for the Penans to continue with their lifestyle.

Billy Abit Joo (BN – Hulu Rajang) said the special forest reserves with sufficient natural resources would help them survive and at the same time, also introduce them to the modern world.

“One should not drag them out of the forest to lead a modern life. Such change will be too drastic for them,” Billy said when debating the Budget.
He said there were about 10,000 Penans, including 3,500 to 5,000 still living the “traditional” way.

Billy said human activities such as logging had disrupted their lives in the forest.

The main problem faced by the community, he said, was that most of them did not have birth certificates and identity cards.

“Many of them live and die in the forest. To them, they do not need identity cards,” he said.

Billy also called on the Government to develop tourism in the Sarawak inland.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/10/30/parliament/2413282&sec=parliament

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.