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.