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Fires continue to rage across the peat swamp forest of Tripa, Sumatra. Photo courtesy: SOCP/YEL
The world's densest population of orangutans is set to be "extinguished" by a massive new wave of fires that is clearing large tracts of a peat swamp forest in the Indonesian island of Sumatra, conservationists have warned.
Environmentalists claim that satellite images show a huge surge in forest blazes across the Tripa peat swamp in order to create palm oil plantations, including areas that have not been permitted for clearing.
Tripa is home to a tight-knit enclave of around 200 critically endangered orangutans. However, this number has plummeted from an estimated population of 3,000.
Just 7,000 orangutans remain in Sumatra, with rampant forest clearing for palm oil cultivation blamed for their decline.
Ian Singleton, head of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), said that the Tripa orangutans are being "extinguished."
"The situation is indeed extremely dire," he said. "Every time I have visited Tripa in the last 12 months I have found several orangutans hanging on for their very survival, right at the forest edge."
"When you see the scale and speed of the current wave of destruction and the condition of the remaining forests, there can be no doubt whatsoever that many have already died in Tripa due to the fires themselves, or due to starvation as a result of the loss of their habitat and food resources."
Felling trees from Tripa's carbon-rich peat also triggers the release of large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Indonesia has been named as the third highest emitter of CO2 emissions in the world when deforestation is a factor, although the country disputes this.
Environmentalists have lodged a lawsuit against PT Kallista Alam, one of the five palm oil firms operating in Tripa, and Irwandi Yusuf, the former governor of Aceh, over the approval of a permit for the 1,600-hectare (3,950-acre) palm oil plantation.
Irawardi, previously styled as a "green" governor, says he granted the permit due to delays in the UN's Redd+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) programme, which has seen Norway pledge $US 1bn to Indonesia to reduce deforestation.
"The international community think our forest is a free toilet for their carbon," Irawardi said in April. "Every day they are saying they want clean air and to protect forests … but they want to inhale our clean air without paying anything."
SOCP and lawyers representing Tripa's local communities have called upon the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to bypass an ongoing government investigation into the forest clearing and immediately halt the razing of the area.
"This whole thing makes absolutely no sense at all, not environmentally, nor even economically," said Singleton.
Two Indonesian plantation workers have been arrested for allegedly killing at least 20 endangered orangutans. Photo courtesy: Reuters
Finally, steps are being taken to protect the endangered orangutans of Indonesia. Orangutan habitat is being destroyed at an amazing rate to make room for plantations; plus, many plantation owners pay locals to kill orangutans to prevent them from raiding the plantations and decreasing the owners' profits. I wonder if it occurs to them that the orangs may not feel the need to raid the plantations if there was enough natural habitat left to support their needs. In the end, it's a battle between environmentalists and plantations owners with the poor orangs caught in the crossfire.
But, now...a spark of hope.
Two Indonesian plantation workers have been arrested for allegedly killing at least 20 endangered orangutans and proboscis monkeys as a means of "pest control", police have said.
Colonel Antonius Wisnu Sutirta, a police spokesman, said the suspects had admitted chasing the primates with dogs before shooting, stabbing or hacking them to death.
The men allegedly told the authorities that the owners of several palm oil plantations on Borneo island, keen to protect their lucrative crops from being raided, offered a reward for every orangutan and long-nosed proboscis monkey killed.
If found guilty of violating the Indonesian law on national resources conservation, the plantation workers face up to five years in prison, Sutirta said.
Indonesia, home to 90% of the orangutans left in the wild, has lost half of its rain forests in the last half century in its rush to supply the world with timber, pulp, paper and palm oil.
The remaining 50,000 to 60,000 apes live in scattered, degraded forests, putting them in frequent and often deadly conflict with humans.
A study published this month in the PLoSOne journal said villagers in Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of Borneo, admitted to slaughtering at least 750 orangutans over a year-long period – a much higher figure than previously thought.
Some were killed to protect crops, and others because villagers thought they were dangerous. A much smaller number were hunted for their meat, the study revealed.
"The simple conclusion is that orangutans will be hunted to extinction unless someone stops the killings," Erik Meijaard, the study's main author, said.
"It's a blatant infringement of Indonesia's conservation laws. I really hope that both the perpetrators and the plantation managers who ordered the killings will be punished accordingly."
The two men were arrested at their homes in Muara Kaman, a village in east Kalimantan, on Sunday after the bones of several orangutans and proboscis monkeys were recovered.
Yaya Rayadin, a researcher from Mulawarman University, in the Kalimantan town of Samarinda, said the bones were scattered in 15 different places and that tests indicated the deaths had been violent. Most had hack marks on their skulls, jaws and ribs, he said.
Rayadin said he believed many more people were involved in the killings, adding that he had first told authorities that palm oil plantations were offering rewards to locals who slaughtered orangutans or monkeys in 2008, but no action had been taken until now.
"The fact police have arrested two people is a sign of remarkable progress," he added. "But the main thing now is to find a way to protect the orangutans that are still alive."
The Body Shop. Photograph: Linda Nylind.
The Body Shop, the cosmetics giant that built its reputation on being a member of Fair Trade (paying a fair wage to local farmers for their produce) and sourcing their ingredients from companies that protect local farmers’ rights, is in the middle of a controversy.
It turns out the organization The Body Shop buys its palm oil from recently evicted 123 peasant farmers to develop a new plantation. Daabon Organics, a Colombian firm, supplies the British chain with 90% of its palm oil. They are also part of a consortium that asked the courts to remove the farmers from a sprawling ranch 320 km (200 mi) north of the capital city of Bogotá so they could grow the incredibly lucrative African palm. In what I can only consider to be an act of overkill, police in riot gear evicted these unarmed peasant farms in July of this year.
Solicitors for the farmers and their families are appealing the decision with the help of the British charity, Christian Aid. They claim that local farmers have lived and worked on the land for over a decade; and, had already applied for the right to own it under Columbian law before the consortium bought it.
This embarrassing disclosure could adversely affect their business as the majority of their success is linked to their claim that they respect the rights of local farmers in developing countries. The chain uses Daabon’s oil to make the approximately 7.5 million bars of soap they sell every year.
On a larger scale, this dilemma will serve to highlight the many battles farmers and palm oil companies wage globally as the product becomes increasingly lucrative.
"The Body Shop should reconsider its decision to buy palm oil from Daabon in the light of this conflict," said Catherine Bouley of Christian Aid. "The Colombian government would like to triple the area under palm cultivation, which will only exacerbate the problem of displacement."
In December 2006, Daabon’s subsidiary CI Tequendama and a partner company bought Las Pavas, a 1,100 hectare (2,700 acre) ranch in Southern Bolivar province. In January 2009 they applied for the eviction order against the 123 farming families and enforced it in July 2009.
Solicitors for the farmers claim the consortium should have been aware that local farmers had been cultivating crops including plantain, maize and squash for more than ten years. The peasants claim the only time they had not occupied the land consecutively for the past ten years was the six months they had been forced off the land in 2006 by paramilitary groups. They had made a legal submission to own the land when they returned to it in late 2006. Under Colombian law, ownership can be granted to farmers who have occupied abandoned land for more than three years.
The peasants formed a co-operative and submitted an official claim for the land several months before the consortium’s purchase. The solicitor for the families, Banessa Estrada, says, "It was an illegal eviction because they did not take into account the claim of the land made by the peasants."
The evicted peasants, having nowhere to go, have set up a camp in the schoolyard of the nearby village. With no land and no jobs, the 500 men women and children survive on corn fritters and cheese donated by aid agencies. With no homes anymore, the food is cooked over open fires.
All this goes against the eco-friendly image The Body Shop has worked so hard to cultivate. When The Body Shop initially began its dealings with Daabon in June 2007, they challenged other manufacturers and retailers to join them in slowing the environmental and social effects of unsustainable production.
"We have changed our entire soap range to be manufactured using palm oil from one of the leading sustainable plantations – Daabon in Colombia. We have commissioned our own audit and visited the plantation to ensure the protection and welfare of communities, workers and the surrounding jungle is preserved.
"Production impacts on the rights of indigenous populations, often creates poor labour conditions and has severe health implications for women working on the plantations," their report read.
The Body Shop claims via its website that is committed to community trade by seeking out small-scale farmers, traditional craftspeople, rural co-operatives and tribal villages.
Over the past 15 years, the demand for palm oil has grown wildly. Uses have been found for it in foods such as margarine, potato chips, and chocolate; and, in products such as soap, cosmetics and biofuel. In personal care products it is used as a hardener.
According to market researchers, the number of products using palm oil approximately doubled from 246 in 2006 to 497 in 2007. The more palm oil is used the more plantations must be planted to supply that demand.
Environmental groups are protesting that forests across the world are being razed to make room for more palm oil plantations that, by their very existence, endanger species, reduce biodiversity, cause climate change and displace local indigenous people among other concerns.
Greenpeace points out that new plantations established on peat bogs release greenhouse gases when the bogs are drained and burned.
A spokeswoman for Daabon denies the company has ever been involved in any other land disputes; and, claims it was seeking to resolve the case through the courts and "community outreach". She went on to deny that Daabon had any knowledge of the claim by the farmers before it bought the land.
"The Daabon group and its subsidiaries have never had any previous land conflicts and would under no circumstances knowingly violate the rights of legitimate land holders," she said.
"[A] consultation will focus on explaining the company's plans for an inclusive model which could offer better living standards and opportunities for communities in the areas, similar to that developed in the Magdalena region."
A spokesman for The Body Shop said that the disputed land has not produced oil for its products.
"The Body Shop is committed to the defense of human rights and trading ethically, and works closely with suppliers to uphold our values. We are aware of the allegations regarding land rights in Colombia and we are liaising with our suppliers in that region and monitoring the situation closely."
Via Guardian
Fires continue to rage across the peat swamp forest of Tripa, Sumatra. Photo courtesy: SOCP/YEL
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