Why it’s Important

 

“The worst thing that can happen is not energy depletion, economic collapse, limited nuclear war, or conquest by a totalitarian government. As terrible as these catastrophes would be for us, they can be repaired within a few generations. The ongoing process that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us.” – Edward O Wilson

The orangutan was once found throughout Southeast Asia. However, the species today survives only in relict populations on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Orangutans are in a dramatic state of decline, largely because of habitat loss and fragmentation, but also because of poaching. Additionally, illegal logging has become widespread and indiscriminate and is threatening the survival of many orangutan populations.

The Orang-utan Foundation was founded in 1990 to actively conserve the orang-utan and its rainforest habitat. The Foundation also conducts long-term research on the ecology of orang-utans and other rainforest fauna and flora within their habitat. Foundation objectives are to support conservation work in Indonesia and Malaysia and to raise funds and awareness in the UK and overseas. In Indonesia, the Foundation actively protects Tanjung Puting National Park, cares for ex-captive, orphaned and injured orang-utans and operates a rehabilitation programme that returns orang-utans to a life in the wild.

Forest Facts – Courtesy of “The Orangutan Foundation”

• Recent estimates suggest that 98% of Indonesia’s natural rainforest may be destroyed by 2022 with lowland forests disappearing much sooner
• From 2000 to 2005 Indonesia’s lost 2% of its forests every year.
• Indonesia is the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. 75% of its emissions are as a result of deforestation. It adds 2,000 million tons of CO2 a year from forest fires and decomposition of peat lands.
• In Central Kalimantan the rate of conversion to oil palm conversion increased by 400 times to 461,992 hectares per year in 2007 from 1,163 hectares per year in 1991.
• Fewer than 54,000 Bornean orang-utans (endangered) and 6,600 Sumatran orang-utans (critically endangered) remain in the wild.(July 2008)
• Indonesia has 1,127 threatened species, the fourth highest in the world behind Malaysia, the USA, with Ecuador at the top.

“When you try and separate something you find that it is hitched to everything else in the universe.” – John Muir, Conservationist

Further information

The Orangutan Foundation – www.orangutan.org

World Wildlife Fund Scorecard on the palm oil policy of major supermarkets and manufacturers – PDF Document

BBC website – recent debate and information on the effects of palm oil following the ‘Dying for a biscuit’ edition of Panorama – BBC News – Panorama – Orangutan survival and the shopping trolley

www.savetheorangutan.org.uk – these are the people featured on BBC’s Orangutan Diaries.

naturealert.blogspot.com – updated news on palm oil issues and some very harrowing photos of what we do to these wonderful creatures

www.littlesatsuma.co.uk – palm oil free goodies and gifts

How you can make a difference

• Support the Orangutan Foundation – it’s only £20 for a year – less than most of us spend on a night down the pub!
• Adopt an Orangutan – there are lots of charities that offer this including the World Wildlife Fund and www.orangutan-appeal.org.uk. Some have gift packs that come with adoption – a great present for young and old.
• Be an ethical consumer – look at labels, ask suppliers, google for information on palm oil free products.
• Pass the word round – never under estimate people power. If it wasn’t for the efforts put in over the past 10 years orangutans would already be extinct in the wild.

“Let us remember, always, that we are the consumers. By exercising free choice, by choosing what to buy, what not to buy, we have the power, collectively to change the ethics of the business of industry. We have the potential to exert immense power for good—we each carry it with us, in our purses, cheque books, and credit cards. – Jane Goodall, ‘A Reason for Hope’