Nature Alert: Malaysian Seeks Help Of Its Oil Palm Planters In Riau To Prevent Haze

Sunday 9 August 2009

Malaysian Seeks Help Of Its Oil Palm Planters In Riau To Prevent Haze

August 09, 2009 18:33 PM

PEKAN BARU (RIAU), Aug 9 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has requested the assistance of its three major investors in Riau to enhance their role and cooperation with local authorities in efforts to prevent peat and forest fires to reduce haze.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas said the three investors, which operate a 180,000 hectare oil palm plantation here, could play an important role by ensuring their plantations were free of any bush or peat fire, and to render immediate assistance if it occurred.

He said they should also continue with the practice of zero burning in their plantations.

"This is a social responsibility which is very much appreciated by the Malaysian government and also the Indonesian government," he said at a dinner with Malaysian oil palm planters here Saturday night.

Unggah Embas is leading a delegation from his ministry for a two-day working visit here, during which he also handed over to the Indonesian government two projects, the air quality monitoring station and canal blocking, meant to prevent fire on peat soil.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Consul in Riau, Zamani Ismail, said the district governor welcomed the assistance provided by the Malaysian government in efforts to extinguish the forest firers in Riau.

"They see the assistance provided by Malaysia as an act which signifies a good friendship and neighhbourliness," he told Bernama.

Last night, Unggah Embas, who was accompanied by Indonesian Minister of Environment, Rahmat Witoelar, visited a Malaysian-aided project in Bagan Siati Api.

Unggah Embas returned to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday morning.

-- BERNAMA

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsgeneral.php?id=431419

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.