Orangutans face extinction as rain forest destroyed

Orangutans face extinction as rain forest destroyed

Agencies, Jakarta/London

The orangutan is facing extinction due to the destruction of the
rainforest in Indonesia and Malaysia to set up oil palm
plantations, a new research report reveals.

The "Oil for Ape Scandal", published on Friday by Friends of
the Earth and the world's leading orangutan conservation groups,
concludes that without urgent intervention the palm oil trade
could cause the extinction of Asia's only great ape within 12
years.

Palm oil is found in many products on supermarket shelves,
from bread and margarine to lipstick and soap.

"Despite being warned for years by environmental groups that
oil palm plantations are associated with rainforest destruction
and human rights abuses, most United Kingdom companies don't even
know where their palm oil comes from," the report says.

The report states that almost 90 percent of the orangutan
habitat in Indonesia and Malaysia has now been destroyed. Some
experts estimate that 5,000 orangutan perish as a result, every
year. The researchers found that oil palm plantations have now
become the primary cause of orangutan decline, wiping out its
rainforest homes on Borneo and Sumatra.

"New evidence shows that orangutan rescue centers in Indonesia
are overflowing with orphaned baby orangutans rescued from
forests being cleared to make way for plantations. The Indonesian
government is now planning to convert a large part of Tanjung
Puting National Park, the world's most famous protected area for
orangutan, into an oil palm plantation.

Research in the UK by Friends of the Earth found that at least
84 per cent of UK companies were failing to take effective action
to ensure they did not buy palm oil from destructive sources and
not one single UK supermarket knows where the palm oil originates
from in the products it sells.

The story of corporate failure on palm oil is repeated across
Europe.

The European Union is the world's biggest buyer of palm oil.

Two weeks ago the United Nations published the Kinshasa
Declaration, an action plan backed by the UK Government to save
the world's great apes from extinction.

The Indonesian government signed on to this agreement, but so
far the Malaysian government has failed to do so. Friends of the
Earth and the orangutan conservation groups are urging both
governments to adopt and implement the declaration and end the
conversion of orangutan habitats into oil palm plantations.

They also say that the failure of European companies to take
action shows that they cannot be trusted to act responsibly. They
are calling on European Governments and the European Commission
to legislate to stop European companies acting in such a damaging
way.

"Governments that provide a market for palm oil must set up
legislation to make their corporations responsible and
accountable for their impacts. If not, it is we who will have to
explain to our children that the orangutan became extinct, not
because of a lack of knowledge, but because of corporate greed
and a lack of political will," said Ian Redmond, Chairman of the
Ape Alliance.

Rully Syumanda of the Indonesian Forum of the Environment
(Walhi) added: "We cannot win the battle to save the Indonesian
rainforest while companies in consuming countries continue to buy
palm oil from sources linked to human rights abuses and species
extinction. The Governments of these countries must legislate and
force these companies to stop acting so destructively."

Research by Friends of the Earth shows that the forest fires
that ravaged the island of Sumatra in August, and continue to
burn today, were mostly set by palm oil companies clearing land
to set up their plantations. It is estimated that one third of
the orangutan population on Borneo was killed by the forest fires
and haze of 1998.