Nature Alert: Environmentalists Blast Asia Pulp and Paper For Road Project In Jambi

Thursday 16 July 2009

Environmentalists Blast Asia Pulp and Paper For Road Project In Jambi

Environmentalists Blast Asia Pulp and Paper For Road Project In Jambi

Wednesday, 15 July, 2009 |

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Environment activist in Jakarta protested against a project to build transport access in a forest in Tebo Regency, in Jambi Province by a pulp and paper company on Wednesday and accused the company of breaching a conservation area.

In a demonstration outside the main office of Asia Pulp and Paper in Jakarta on Wednesday, Centre for Orangutan Protection said a subsidiary of the company, PT Wira Karya Sejati and PT Rimba Hutani Mas have razed forest near the Bukit Tigapuluh orangutan conservation area to build an 82 kilometer road for timber transportation.

Sadewa spokesman for the Centre for Orangutan Protection said “The road was only 5-7 kilometers from the center of the conservation site. ”Sadewa said the companies had not completed its Analysis on Environmental Impacts of their work, but the logs and timbers were scattered around the road access.

Sadewa also criticised the head of Tebo Regency for failing to recognize the situation in his region and said that efforts from local non governmental organisations to promote the problem have failed to gain response from the local government.

There were four major orangutan conservation area in Sumatra; Aceh, Dolok Sembelin and Batu Ardan, southeast of Tapanuli, and in Angkola and Pasaman. In Bukit Tigapuluh there were 103 population of orangutan which were released to the conservation area five years ago.

http://www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasional/2009/07/15/brk,20090715-187380,uk.html

DIANING SARI

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.