Rescuing Orangutans in Aceh

Author: Hotli Simanjuntak
Source: The Jakarta Post, Aceh Tamiang, Aceh | Fri, 02/17/2012 9:53 AM

Photo - Moving: An evacuation team examines a newly caught orangutan. The animals that are rescued are frequently found skinny and malnourished.

One morning, an orangutan evacuation team arrived in a hilly area with only a few rubber trees left in Aceh Tamiang.

The 15-member team from the Leuser Ecosystem Management Agency (BPKEL), the Sumatra Orangutan Conservation Program (SOCP), the Orangutan Information Center (OIC) and the Aceh Orangutan Forum (FORA) was walking on red soil newly leveled for plantations.

The red land, cleared of rubber trees by workers of PT Bahruny, an estate company owned by Oil Palm Business Association (GAPKI) chair Joefly J Bahroeny, is located in Rimba Sawang village, Aceh Tamiang, bordering North Sumatra.

Atop an almost dead rubber tree was an orangutan and its one-year-old offspring, sitting and basking in the morning sun.

Their long, golden brown hair was in sharp contrast to their skinny bodies due to undernourishment.

“These orangutans were trapped in this location as workers started felling rubber trees for oil palm plants,” said OIC volunteer Krisna Ketapel.

Krisna is a local resident recruited by the OIC, an NGO engaged in watching over and monitoring orangutans emerging from forestland to enter the estates around his village home in Rimba Sawang.

The team’s visit to the plantations was meant to evacuate the orangutans isolated in the location, where only a small number of rubber trees can still be found. The other hills around it were already denuded and converted into circling terraces for oil palm planting.

The presence of orangutans was detected before they were slaughtered by estate workers while leveling the area. “We estimate hundreds of them are still trapped with the widespread land clearing operation for new plantations,” Krisna said.

Krisna has often witnessed orangutans going down to the estates near his village, usually from the protected forest in the Leuser ecosystem zone, only four kilometers from the closest plantations.

Rampant illegal logging and land reclamation for estates are seen as considerably disturbing the habitat of orangutans in the areas adjacent to the Leuser zone. The activity also increases the intensity of conflict between wildlife like tigers and elephants and man.

“In the last two to three years we’ve been informed of the orangutans frequently trapped in estates particularly in Aceh or North Sumatra border areas or asked to evacuate them,” said Ian Singleton, director of the SOCP.

The SOCP is a collaboration between the government and several NGOs like PanEco Switzerland, the Lestari Ecosystem Foundation (YEL) and the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) in Germany, focusing on orangutan conservation in Sumatra and covering orangutan rescue, quarantine and release.

Previously, the SOCP evacuated orangutans from several locations in Aceh and North Sumatra. In addition, it also confiscated protected animals from individuals or orangutans from communities that had domesticated them.

According to Ian Singleton, the opening of estate areas in Aceh Tamiang began in 2005 in the early period of peaceful agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the Indonesian government. Prior to the accord, land clearing wasn’t so widespread because Aceh was embroiled in armed conflict.

Now, when there’s conflict between animals and men during reclamation, estate owners tend to urge NGOs or environmental activists to intervene by moving or catching the animals without understanding the underlying causes of the problem. Estate companies are even prepared to fund the relocation of trapped orangutans.

“The media has frequently initiated the discourse that estate companies should contact NGOs or authorized agencies when they find orangutans in their land clearing areas for relocation,” noted Singleton. In his view, this is not a desirable solution, nor will it be favorable to the animals concerned. In reality, this method doesn’t much prevent the slaughter of orangutans lost in plantations.

Photo - Evacuation: A government-NGO joint evacuation team rescues newly caught orangutans to be released to the nearest forest suitable for them to live.

“We’re convinced the number of orangutans killed in the process of land clearing has been far bigger than the total rescued, especially in areas where the government and environmental activists find it hard to monitor,” he said. In Aceh Tamiang, there are tens of thousands of hectares of rubber and oil palm estates owned by estate firms and individuals, mostly bordering the Leuser ecosystem – recognized by UNESCO as one of the world’s ecosystems.

The BPKEL managing the zone has revoked estate licenses many times for encroaching on protected forestland within the Leuser ecosystem.

Since 2009, the BPKEL has canceled 26 estate permits for illegal operations in restricted areas, covering 3,700 hectares of oil palm plantations and thousands of hectares of land already cleared but not yet planted.

“The pressure on this conservation zone will be greater and more severe unless strict control is exercised, particularly with the opening of an access road in the area close to Leuser,” said Badrul, conservation manager of the BPKEL. To prevent graver damage and the loss of rare animals’ habitats, this agency has been restoring the original estates and forest areas by replanting them with various trees.

— Photos by Hotli Simanjuntak

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/02/17/rescuing-orangutans-aceh.html

How to Search for Palm Oil on Labels

Author: Amber Partington

Do you sometimes ask yourself -
Do some of my favourite products contain Palm Oil?

What's a quick way to tell if a product contains Palm Oil?

As Palm Oil can be listed in so many ways a lot of mystery and confusion surrounds whether or not a product has Palm Oil in it.

Let me help you!
 

Please use the following as a quick guide to help you choose “palm oil free” products!

1. Read the ingredients list on a product and look for “Vegetable Oil!”

Currently Australian Laws do not stipulate Palm Oil to be listed, so it is referred to as Vegetable Oil. If a product does not disclose a particular oil, such as Peanut Oil, Sunflower Oil etc. then (I would go as far as to say 99%!) it is probably Palm Oil.

2. Read the Nutritional Information table on a food product and look for “Saturated Fats!”

Palm Oil is a saturated fat, so if a product lists Vegetable Oil and contains Saturated Fats in the Nutritional Information Table – then again you can 99% assume it would be Palm Oil.

3. Get to know – “Sodium Laureth / Lauryl Sulphate!”

These are Palm Oil in two of its chemical forms and is in a lot of household products like Shampoo. These chemicals can also be Coconut Oil derived so it is always best to confirm with the company who makes the product.

*Please Note: Please use this as a guide only, to 100% confirm that a product has Palm Oil or Palm Oil derivatives in it – I always email the company who makes the product to find out. ☺

The Palm Oil Crisis Through the Eyes of a 15-year-old

Author: Thomas King

Over the past thirty years the demand for palm oil has been rapidly increasing on a global scale. This widely used vegetable oil was originally from Western Africa, despite the Malaysian Palm Oil Council claiming that palm oil is “the world’s gift to Malaysia”. The industry is at an all time high and is expected to grow substantially in the new year due to the oil’s low-cost and diversity in use. You could say that palm oil is like the most popular kid in the schoolyard of manufacturing.

Whether it be the baked goods, spreads and confectionery that we all love to eat, or the shampoos and soaps we use to make our hair and skin silky smooth… palm oil is all around us. It’s even found in the toothpaste we brush our teeth with each day and possibly even the fuel we pump into our cars!

Lets face it – palm oil is virtually impossible to eliminate entirely from our lives. Which is frustrating knowing that it is having detrimental impacts on the environment, indigenous people and wildlife of South East Asia, and has the ability to dramatically worsen cardiovascular health.

Surely in 2012 we can begin to make a transition into a more sustainable form of palm oil production? This is the question on many people’s minds. But my question is: how can a crop plantation that only lasts approximately 25 years, and then leaves the soil desolate, possibly be considered sustainable? Yes palm oil is a very high-yielding vegetable oil, and it’s all well-and-dandy for my parent’s generation to say that palm oil is currently our most sustainable option as far as vegetable oils go, but what about when I’m their age? When the islands of Borneo and Sumatra are barren wastelands that have been raped by the palm oil industry? When species like the Sumatran orangutan, tiger and rhinoceros no longer exist? When the delicate ecosystems that this planet cannot survive without are obliterated and the valuable carbon stores burnt-up?

There are so many questions but unfortunately not enough answers. And often when someone formulates an answer - a possible solution to an issue of this nature - it is usually struck down by “competing” individuals and organisations within the cause. I’ve seen this time and time again; like-minded people who are working towards the exact same mission let their egos dominate their morals. As a young person, I often feel helpless as I watch these adults bullying one another while my future quality-of-life slowly deteriorates. There is always going to be disagreement and difference of opinion, and with that comes a tangled web of politics – but how much longer can this kind of behaviour continue? With the current state of the planet, we have no time for it.

Governments, big business and the world’s palm oil councils will tell you otherwise, but the bottom line is that palm oil is a short-term commodity, which is not only destroying rainforest, endangered species and indigenous culture, but ultimately my future. Small steps such as avoiding palm oil, companies adopting “sustainable” practices and implementing palm oil labeling laws are great in the short-term, but they are still not enough to protect our planet once the current generations are no longer here.

It’s another one of those large dilemmas fueled by human ignorance and overpopulation… can we devise a long-term solution before it’s too late?

The best time to act was 20 years ago. The next best time is now.

To learn more about palm oil you can visit my website: www.saynotopalmoil.com

In addition to managing his extensive SAY NO TO PALM OIL website, Thomas volunteers for AOP and is dynamically involved in all aspects of raising awareness about palm oil and its impact on the environment.