Nature Alert: Quit stalling, enforce the law: Greenpeace

Thursday, 8 April 2010

Quit stalling, enforce the law: Greenpeace

Quit stalling, enforce the law: Greenpeace

Adianto P. Simamora , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta Thu, 04/08/2010

Greenpeace Indonesia staged a rally at the Environment Ministry on Thursday, demanding Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta speed up law enforcement against violators to avoid further environmental damage.

Greenpeace also handed over evidence on environmental violations by palm oil plantations and pulp and paper companies, which they said damaged forests in Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua.

“We hope the ministry accelerates the implementation of the environment law to improve the country’s environmental condition,” Greenpeace Southeast Asia forest political campaigner Yuyun Indradi said.

It was the first rally held at the ministry since Gusti took office last year. Gusti had left the ministry an hour before the Greenpeace rally, saying he had to accompany Vice President Boediono.

The 2009 Environment Law gives strong mandates to the ministry, including arresting violators of the law, in order to protect the environment. But the law remains ineffective with no government regulations issued to implement it.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/04/08/quit-stalling-enforce-law-greenpeace.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.