Nature Alert: Three countries to protect Kalimantan through `hob` program

Saturday, 25 July 2009

Three countries to protect Kalimantan through `hob` program

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam have committed to protect Kalimantan (Borneo) through their `Heart of Borneo (HOB)` program.

The `Heart of Borneo` program was a natural resource conservation and sustainable utilization program, Hendrik Segah, HOB Coordinator of Central Kalimantan, said here on Friday.

The HOB program is aimed at protecting the sustainable utilization of one of the world`s remaining best forests in Kalimantan for the welfare fo the current and future generations, according to him.

The hearth of Kalimantan is a home for at least 50 Dayak tribes with varied languages and cultures, he said.

Water, forest and soil play crucial role in the life of the Kalimantan people, he said.
The 2000-2002 period, at least 1.2 million hectares of forests in Kalimantan disappeared annually due to illegal logging activities, forest conversions, and forest fires, according to Segah.

Kalimantan`s forests have been degraded and not more than 50 percent of the forest areas are remaining. The forest areas continue to dwindle at an alarming level, diminishing the natural resources and increasing disaster rate.

The island`s forests having better condition are mostly located in high land areas along the borders of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam.

The forests have high biological diversity with around 40 and 50 percent of flora and fauna species found only in Kalimantan. Within the last 10 years, there have been new 361 species found.

One of the most important functions of the heart of Kalimantan is as a water source. The island has around 14 to 20 main rivers such as Barito, Mahakam and Kapuas rivers.

On February 12, 2007, the three countries declared their commitment to sustainable management of the high land areas along the borders of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam on Kalimantan or Borneo Island. (*)

http://www.antara.co.id/en/news/1248471956/three-countries-to-protect-kalimantan-through-hob-program

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.