Nature Alert: Buying up land to save wildlife

Tuesday, 30 June 2009

Buying up land to save wildlife

2009/06/30 New Straits Times, Malaysia

Buying up land to save wildlife

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government wants to purchase privately owned land at zones neighbouring the fragmented Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary to ensure the long-term survival of iconic wildlife such as the orang utan.

The move, along with plans to buy land at river banks, will lead to the eventual creation of forest corridors at the 26,000ha sanctuary, which is divided into 10 lots due to prior existence of oil palm plantations and villages.

Currently, a non-profit organisation, Borneo Conservation Trust, is purchasing land for the same purpose using money raised from corporations and individuals concerned with warnings of possible in-breeding of certain species that are unable to move from one protected forest to another.

Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said such a move was necessary for the sake of wildlife.

"For example, we have an estimated 30 Sumatran rhinoceroses but the remaining individuals are not breeding.

"We believe one reason for this is forests are not connected and they can't move about."

He said this when launching the Kinabatangan-Corridor of Life Tourism Association at Kampung Bilit on the banks of the Kinabatangan river at Sabah's east coast, yesterday.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/National/2595664/Article/index_html

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.