Nature Alert: Police in Riau seize illegal timber

Monday, 30 March 2009

Police in Riau seize illegal timber

Police in Riau seize illegal timber

Source: The Jakarta Post - March 25, 2009
PEKANBARU, Riau

Mandau Police in Riau seized 196 illegal logs floating on a canal along Simpang Cucut hamlet in Petani village, Mandau district in Bengkalis regency.

Police also confiscated dozens of ready-for-sale processed timber planks and beams from two sawmills along the canal. Mandau Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Deddy Nata said the illegal timber was seized on March 20, thanks to a tip-off from residents. He added the logs had drifted from the upper reaches of the river to the sawmill.

"The two sawmills were operating during the raid. The timber is believed to have been felled in forests around Mandau or may have been illegally logged along the Rokan Hulu-Bengkalis border," Deddy told reporters Tuesday. According to Deddy, all the evidence was stored at the police station in Petani village. Police also seized two sawing machines from the two illegal
sawmills. - JP

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.