Thursday, 26 November 2009

Zoo seeks support for campaign

PERSONAL NOTE: IF YOU WORK AT A ZOO, DO YOU THINK YOU COULD HELP RAISE AWARENESS LIKE THIS?

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Zoo seeks support for campaign

North Shore Times New Zealand

Last updated 05:00 24/11/2009

Auckland Zoo is calling on Kiwis to get behind its Don't Palm Us Off campaign.

The campaign calls on the Food Standards Australia New Zealand to legislate to label palm oil on all food products that contain the ingredient.

Palm oil production is a billion-dollar industry.

The growth of oil palm plantations in South East Asia is decimating vast areas of rainforest, displacing indigenous people, and fast driving species like the orangutan, Sumatran tiger, Asian elephant and Asian rhinoceros towards extinction, says the zoo.

Palm oil is now in one in 10 supermarket products but on most of these products, it is not labelled, the zoo says.

Palm oil is also an ingredient in cosmetics and stock feed and ironically, a cheap biofuel.

"We believe people have the right to know what food products contain palm oil so that they can make an informed choice about what they buy and whether or not they want to contribute to this crisis," says Auckland Zoo conservation officer Peter Fraser.

He urges Kiwis to sign the Don't Palm Us Off online petition, or if visiting the zoo, fill out a Don't Palm Us Off postcard and place in one of the onsite postboxes.

The zoo's website, www.aucklandzoo.co.nz, also has a palm oil free shopping guide on it.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/north-shore-times/3089500/Zoo-seeks-support-for-campaign

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.