Nature Alert: EU funding

Sunday 28 June 2009

EU funding

A reply from a MEP to an enquiry from a supporter. Now we need to find out if the EU is getting value for money, better still, any tangible results.

Date: Thursday, 25 June, 2009,

Dear xxxxxxx

Thank you for your email. I apologise for the delay in replying.

This plight of the orangutan species on Borneo and Sumatra has been
raised with the European Commission in the form of a parliamentary
question. The Commission's reply is below:

"The Commission is aware of the plight of Borneo's orang-utans. This problem, which is related to a number of factors including those mentioned by the Honourable Member but also illegal and unsustainable logging, can only be effectively addressed through sustainable forest management and effective conservation practices, particularly in protected areas, and the effective implementation of relevant international conventions (Convention on Biodiversity; Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species).

The Commission has supported and continues to support a number of
activities that have or will contribute directly or indirectly to
orang-utan habitat conservation in Borneo. The first is the EUR 1
million project 'Promoting the conservation and sustainable management
of the lowland forests of South Central Kalimantan' to be implemented by
Orangutan Foundation UK from 2007 to 2011.

Others include the 'Illegal Logging Response Centre' project implemented from 2003 to 2006 with an EC contribution of EUR 2 million; and the EUR 15 million 'Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Support Project' 2006-2009, which funds activities to address illegal logging in national parks, including
those home to orang-utan populations.

Moreover, the Commission provided EUR 6.2 million to support the 'ASEAN
Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation - ARCBC' project from
1995-2004, which funded a number of research activities in habitats
where orang-utans are present: notably Sarawak and Sabah in Malaysian
Borneo.

The ARCBC was the predecessor of the ASEAN Centre for
Biodiversity (ACB), an intergovernmental and international regional
centre of excellence based in Manila, Philippines, which the Commission
also co-funds (EUR 6 million from 2006-2009). ACB is supporting the
ASEAN Heritage Parks Network through the provision of park management
training. At least two Heritage Parks are in Borneo in areas home to
orang-utan habitats: Mulu National Park and Mt. Kinabalu."

I hope this is helpful.

Regards

Syed

SYED KAMALL
Conservative MEP for London
www.syedkamall.com

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.