Nature Alert: Wetlands denies link with WWF

Friday, 8 January 2010

Wetlands denies link with WWF

KUALA LUMPUR: Wetlands International is not funded by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to participate in anti-palm oil campaigns, said the head of Wetlands International Malaysia, Alvin Lopez.

He said this in reference to the report titled "Credibility of green groups questioned" which appeared in the New Straits Times on Dec 31 last year.

"The article alleges that Wetlands International receives funding from WWF to fund anti-palm oil campaigns.

"Wetlands International does not conduct 'anti-palm oil' campaigns and we're not financially supported by WWF."

Lopez added that Wetlands International is a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.

http://www.nst.com.my/articles/23wat/Article/index_html

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.