Indonesia court refuses to rule on peat swamp case

An Indonesian court has thrown out a lawsuit concerning the development of peat swamp forests that was brought by conservationists who fear for the fate of orangutans

The Associated Press in Times-Standard | April 3, 2012

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Up in smoke: ecological catastrophe in the Sumatran swamps

Fires raging unchecked in an Indonesian peat swamp forest could wipe out the remaining Sumatran orang-utans which live there, conservationists are warning

The Independent | 30 March 2012

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Palm oil case against 'Green Governor' in Indonesia heats up

Environmental activists have launched an urgent appeal calling for a "just decision" in a court case that has pitted Aceh's "Green Governor" and palm oil developers against efforts to save endangered orangutans in a Sumatran peat forest

Rhett A. Butler | mongabay.com | March 22, 2012

Sumatran orangutan in the Leuser rainforest. Photo by Rhett Butler.

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Blood, sweat and fears: the research scientists in Borneo's rainforests

Louise Murray joined an international team of research scientists in Borneo, where burrowing mites and enraged elephants are just part of a day's work

Louise Murray | guardian.co.uk | 23 March 2012

Timm Döbert, Terhi Riutt, Ed Turner and some field assistants at work in Borneo. Photograph: Louise Murray for the Guardian

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Drilling for Oil in Eden: Initiative to Save Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador Is Uncertain

The most biologically diverse habitat in the western hemisphere, the Yasuní rainforest in Ecuador, is under threat. One hectare contains more species of trees than all of North America, but hidden beneath this Garden of Eden lies temptation: oil worth billions

By R. Douglas Fields | Scientific American | March 17, 2012

Pumping gasoline in Quito, Ecuador. Oil drilling threatens the Yasuní rainforest. Petroleum is Ecuador's primary source of income, but the country's reserves will be depleted in 15-20 years.

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Biopiracy: Depriving indigenous rights

The issue of biopiracy, commercially exploiting naturally occurring biochemical or genetic material, has once again become a talking point following the recent arrest of a group of foreign ‘bio pirates’ in Kalpitiya

by  Sandun Jayawardana | The Nation | 11 March 2012

Confiscated samples

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Existence of Javanese tigers at Indonesia’s Meru Betiri to be proven

Officers at the Meru Betiri National Park (TNMB) have installed five trap cameras to establish the existence of Javanese tigers (panthera tigris sondaica), now believed to be extinct

ANTARA News | February 21 2012

Javanese Tigers, Panthera tigris sondaica. (istimewa)

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Earth Summit is doomed to fail, say leading ecologists

We can forget about fixing the planet's ecosystems and climate until we have fixed government systems, a panel of leading international environmental scientists declared in London on Friday. The solution, they said, may not lie with governments at all

by Fred Pearce | New Scientist | 10 February 2012

Concerted action 20 years back has produced few concrete results (Image: Sipa Press/Rex Features)

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WWF report links Sumatra deforestation to toilet paper

We know how difficult it is to link products to dangerous practices. Eco-friendly companies and individuals are going to be shocked once more at the habitat destruction wreaked on rainforests by their toilet paper, paper towels and tissue

By Paul Robinson | Earth Times | 08 Feb 2012

Don't Flush Tiger Forests; Credit: © World Wildlife Fund

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Finance for biodiversity is a “new face for capitalism”: Sign on letter to CBD from Acción Ecológica

“Conserving the planet’s species and habitats is central to sustainable development yet the global decline in biodiversity is accelerating,” says UN Secretary General, Ban-Ki Moon

By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 27th January 2012

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Only Civil Society Can Save Rio+20, Say Activists

Large-scale social mobilisation, including street protests and parallel activities, is the only thing can save the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) from ending in nothing but frustration, according to activists and analysts

By Mario Osava* | Inter-Press Service | Jan 24, 2012

Environmental activists from around the world will be gathering in Porto Alegre this month. Credit:Clarinha Glock/IPS

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Climate Change Models May Underestimate Extinction, Study Shows

Climate change projections may “grossly” underestimate the extinction of animal and plant varieties because the models don’t account for species movement and competition, U.S. researchers said

By Rudy Ruitenberg | Bloomberg | Jan 4, 2012

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Palm oil, pulp companies commit to zero-tolerance policy for orangutan killing

Two Indonesian plantation companies have signed an agreement to train workers not to kill or injure orangutans and other protected species

Rhett A. Butler | mongabay.com | December 07, 2011

Adult male Bornean orangutan. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

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Wildlife official: palm oil plantations behind decline in proboscis monkeys

The practice of palm oil plantations planting along rivers is leading to a decline in proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larvatus) in the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo, says the director of the Sabah Wildlife Department, Laurentius Ambu. Proboscis monkeys, known for their bulbous noses and remarkable agility, depend on riverine forests and mangroves for survival, but habitat destruction has pushed the species to be classified as Endangered by the IUCN Red List

Jeremy Hance | mongabay.com | December 05, 2011

Young proboscis monkey. Photo courtesy of Rudi Delvaux/Danau Girang Field Center (DGFC)/Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD).

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Amazon rainforest loss in Brazil drops to lowest ever reported

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell to the lowest level on record between August 2010 and July 2011 according to preliminary data from Brazil's National Institute of Space Research (INPE)

Rhett A. Butler | mongabay.com | December 05, 2011

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, 1988-2011. Photos by Rhett A. Butler.

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Forest Structure, Services and Biodiversity May Be Lost Even as Form Remains

A forest may look like a forest, have many of the same trees that used to live there, but still lose the ecological, economic or cultural values that once made it what it was, researchers suggest in articles in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences.

ScienceDaily | Oct. 4, 2011

Managed forests may appear healthy even though they are losing some of the ecological and biodiversity values they once had. (Credit: Photo courtesy of Oregon State University)

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Japan charges New Zealand whaling activist Pete Bethune

A New Zealand anti-whaling activist who boarded a Japanese harpoon ship is facing five charges, including trespass and causing injury

BBC News | 2 April 2010

Sea Shepherd said Mr Bethune was now a "political prisoner"

Pete Bethune, of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, boarded the Shonan Maru 2 in February, and tried to make a citizen's arrest of its captain.

The incident happened as Sea Shepherd activists attempted to disrupt Japan's annual whale hunt in Antarctic waters.

If found guilty, Mr Bethune could face up to 15 years in prison.

Mr Bethune had been in command of Sea Shepherd's hi-tech speedboat the Ady Gil when it was sliced in two in a collision with the Shonan Maru 2 in January. All six crew members escaped unharmed.

On 15 February, Mr Bethune boarded the Shonan Maru, saying he wanted to arrest its captain, Hiroyuki Komiya, and present him with a bill for the damage.

He was detained on the ship and taken to Japan, where he was formally arrested for trespass earlier this month.

Mr Bethune has now also been charged by Japan's coastguard with assault, possession of a knife, destroying property and obstructing business.

Charges 'bogus'

The crew of the Shonan Maru said the activists had tried to tangle a rope in their propeller and had thrown butyric acid at the ship, injuring a sailor.

Culture clash over whaling

Whale of a dilemma

But Sea Shepherd has denied any of its activists caused injury and said the substance thrown was harmless, if unpleasant, rancid butter.

The Ady Gil incident was one of several clashes between Japan's whaling fleet and Sea Shepherd activists in the Southern Ocean during the hunt season.

The group has described Mr Bethune as a "political prisoner" and says the charges against him are bogus.

"Shame on Japan for blowing Captain Bethune's case out of proportion, and shame on Japanese maritime authorities for failing to investigate the serious criminal actions of the Shonan Maru 2," it said in a statement.

It also accused New Zealand of being "surprisingly quiet" on the arrest.

The charges come a day after New Zealand's representative on the International Whaling Commission said countries should be allowed to kill a limited number of whales.

Sir Geoffrey Palmer said attempts to reach a global deal on whaling would fail unless nations could compromise.

Japan abandoned commercial whaling in 1986 after agreeing to a global moratorium - but international rules allow it to continue hunting under the auspices of a research programme.

It says the annual hunt catches mostly minke whales, which are not an endangered species.

Conservationists say the whaling is a cover for the sale and consumption of whale meat.

© MMX

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Forests May Depend on Survival of Native People

After the failures in Copenhagen to agree on a new climate protection treaty, and more recently at the Doha meetings on trade in endangered species to prevent bluefin tuna from going extinct, indigenous forest communities may offer examples of sensible governance for shared resources on a small planet

By Stephen Leahy | Inter-Press Service | Mar 29, 2010

A Bolivian man harvesting Tajibo, a lesser valued timber species, in a community forest. Credit: CIFOR/Kristen Evans

Hundreds of poor Mexican Zapotec indigenous farmers have become owners of a multi-million-dollar diversified forest industry, offering an important model of a community-based enterprise that supports local people and conserves the natural environment, says David Barton Bray, a professor and associate chair in the Department of Earth and Environment at Florida International University in Miami.

The farmers of Ixtlán de Juarez, a forest community in the Sierra Norte mountains of central Mexico, utilise their strong traditional community values and communal ownership of more than 21,000 hectares of pine and oak forest to run a successful business that benefits the entire community.

There is no private property, and rather than establishing a business to maximise profits, the people of Ixtlán, and in other Zapotec communities of Mexico with similar forest-based enterprises, focus on job creation, reducing emigration to cities and enhancing the overall well-being of the community, Bray told participants at the Smallholder and Community Forestry conference here in Montpellier.

"Communities will be more important in the years to come because they can address vital issues that the state and the market cannot," Bray, an expert on community forests in Mexico and Central America, told IPS.

The survival of much of the world's forests may well depend of the survival of local communities. A quarter of the world's remaining forests are controlled by about one billion local people, says Estebancio Castro Diaz of the Kuna Nation in Panama, who is executive director for the International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of Tropical Forests.

"Local control is good for the people and good for the forest," Castro Diaz told participants attending the conference organised by the Centre for International Forestry Research, headquartered in Indonesia, the French research institute for development and the French international research centre for agricultural development.

"The forest is a supermarket for us, it is not just about timber," he said.

For those reasons, more than 90 percent of the forests controlled by the Kuna people are still standing. "We need to communicate there are broad benefits to the larger society for local control of forests," Diaz said.

In sharp contrast to the usual nation-state or private enterprise overexploitation of commonly-held lands, oceans or other resources - characterised as the "tragedy of the commons" - local communities can set and enforce rules to maintain their landscapes, conserve biodiversity and improve livelihoods for the long term, Bray suggests.

The glue and the grease that makes this all work is social capital, he adds. Communal trust, deeply shared values that arise from long experience and knowledge are some of the ingredients of social capital.

In Mexico's Ixtlán, community service is obligatory but goes far beyond being a "volunteer" as understood in developed countries. Virtually everything in the community is run by local people as part of their 'duties' as a community member.

This includes being part of administration, neighbourhood, school and church committees to performing the actual roles of community policeman to municipal president, says Bray. At any one time, 10 percent of the adults are involved and everyone has physical labour obligations that require up to 20 days a year for things like road repair, fire fighting and so on.

All of this is overseen by an assembly of members of the community that meets four times a year in days-long sessions. Here, policy decisions and elections to fill the various roles are made as well as the election of leaders who hold three-year terms. In return community members receive extraordinary benefits compared to other poor regions, including health and social benefits, above-average wages for work in commercial enterprises, access to low-interest loans, old-age pensions and more, he says.

The Ixtlán forestry enterprise employs up to 280 people and includes a tree nursery, saw mill and furniture making factory. About 7,500 of the 21,000 hectares of community forest is under commercial use and certified by the Rainforest Alliance and WWF. That certification illustrates the need for support beyond the community including government, markets and NGOs.

Bray acknowledges the timber harvest, although well-managed, is changing the character of the forest and reducing the number and diversity of species. It's a tradeoff, he says. The local people need the income but they are managing forests for the long term.

"Done right, timber production can increase forest cover and incomes for local people," Bray says based on his studies.

Of the 2,300 local communities in Mexico who are involved in timber production, about one-third have their own equipment, saw mills or furniture-making facilities, which is unique in Latin America. Virtually everywhere else timber is harvested by commercial logging companies, often to the detriment of local people and the environment.

In an effort to change this, the World Bank, FAO, IUCN and others have formed a "Growing Forests Partnership" to find ways to support community-managed forests, said Chris Buss of IUCN. Not only is this partnership trying to ensure that indigenous and local people are involved in their national government's forestry policy, but also to find ways to channel financial investment into local forest management be it for timber, Brazil nuts or other uses.

Copyright © 2010 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved

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Nestle's palm oil debacle highlights current limitations of certification scheme

Last week Nestle, the world's largest food processor, was caught in a firestorm when itattempted to censor a Greenpeace campaign that targeted its use of palm oil sourced from a supplier accused of environmentally-damaging practices. The incident brought the increasingly raucous debate over palm oil into the spotlight and renewed questions over an industry-backed certification scheme that aims to improve the crop's environmental performance

Rhett A. Butler | mongabay.com | March 26, 2010

The palm oil paradox

Palm oil is produced from the oil palm, a tropical species from West Africa that is a highly productive and profitable source of vegetable oil. Its origin—West Africa—makes it well-suited to the tropics and therefore an attractive crop to promote rural agricultural development. But oil palm expansion has often come at a cost to the environment — more than half of new plantations established in Malaysia and Indonesia between 1990 and 2005 occurred at the expense of natural forests. As such, palm oil has been targeted by environmentalists and scientists concerned about biodiversity loss, greenhouse gas emissions, and pollution. Further, the palm oil industry has been challenged by land rights issues, since expansion is occurring in areas where communities may traditionally use forests but lack title to land. New development in these areas spurs charges of land-grabbing and can exacerbate social conflict.

Environmental groups and scientists say that oil palm production has driven large-scale destruction of rainforests across southeast Asia over the past two decades, triggering the release of billions of tons of CO2 and imperiling rare species, including the Sumatran tiger and the orangutan. The palm oil industry maintains that its crop is highly productive, requiring less land and costing less than other oilseeds like soy and canola, and has improved living standards for millions. Industry representatives have tended to dismiss environmental concerns as "colonialism" or masked trade barriers. (Photo: Oil palm plantation and logged natural forest, in Sabah, Malaysia.)

To address these concerns, in 2004 a group of stakeholders, including NGOs, producers and retailers, formed the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). RSPO created a set of criteria to make palm oil production less damaging to the environment, including using natural pests and composting in place of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers whenever possible, implementing no burn policies, sparing high conservation value forests from development, taking measures to reduce air pollution, and creating catchment ponds to prevent palm oil mill effluent from entering waterways where it would damage aquatic habitats. The hope was that certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) could be sold at a premium to recoup the increased costs that certification entails.

The first shipments of CSPO arrived in Europe in late 2009. Sales were initially slow, but began to accelerate early in 2010. Nevertheless, the initiative has been battered by a series of scandals, including the recent Nestle debacle and adecision last year by Unilever, the world's largest buyer of palm oil, to move outside the RSPO process to investigate PT SMART, a supplier accused of failing to maintain RSPO standards for palm oil production (an independent investigation commissioned by Unilever concluded that the allegations were accurate).

RSPO concerns

Not all environmental groups have bought into RSPO. Concerns over the certification standard have been stoked by pictures which activists claim show RSPO members continuing to clear high value conservation forest areas (HCV) in violation of certification protocol. Some critics have labeled RSPO a greenwashing initiative rather than a genuine effort to improve the environmental performance of palm oil. RSPO members have rejected these charges but concede that the certification process is still evolving.

Some of the recent troubles for RSPO and the palm oil industry center around Sinar Mas, the world's largest palm oil producer. Sinar Mas, and its subsidiaries (for example, PT SMART), has been accused by a several environmental groups for egregious environmental transgressions, including destruction of rainforests and peatlands. The accusations have led several of the company's biggest customers — including Nestle, Unilever, and Kraft — to cancel contracts with it and its subsidiaries. Sinar Mas has responded with a marketing campaign that includes high-profile advertising and attacks on the environmental groups via a pro-palm oil lobby group that portrays itself as an anti-poverty NGO. (Photo: Central Kalimantan - Indonesian Borneo)

A new paper, published in Conservation Biology, examines why RSPO may be falling short of its promise to clean up the palm oil industry. The authors [*], led by William Laurance of James Cook University and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, argue that the initiative's objectives are undermined by the composition of its membership, which is dominated by palm oil industry growers, processors, and traders. The apparent conflict of interest results in lax requirements for membership, underfunding ($500,000 budget for a $30 billion-plus industry), a cumbersome complaints process for reporting violations, and lack of oversight and enforcement.

"Clearly, there is much scope for the RSPO to improve its act," Laurance told mongabay.com. "It needs to get tougher with member companies that are destroying large swaths of primary forest. Otherwise, it risks becoming an apologist for an environmentally destructive industry."

Laurance and colleagues make a series of recommendations that could improve the environmental sustainability of RSPO, including increasing representation and influence of environmental organizations and experts; developing better monitoring and enforcement capabilities; and taking a stronger stance against deforestation and destruction of peatlands. The authors say the formation of "an independent watchdog group that monitors and critiques the organization, ensuring that it abides by its own strictures" could "greatly increase credibility of the RSPO and its members to the public."

There are other ways to mitigate the impact of oil palm expansion. A new review, published in CAB Reviews, examines some of the options, including setting aside high value conservation areas, land-use advocacy, compensating forest carbon stocks and biodiversity, and enhancing regulation and enforcement. Betsy Yaap et al (2010). Mitigating the biodiversity impacts of oil palm development. CAB Reviews: 5, No. 019. (Photo: Data from FAOstat)

Ultimately the best incentive for credible RSPO is consumer demand. If consumers demonstrate with their wallets that they want credible eco-friendly palm oil, the palm oil industry will provide it. The cost of "greener" palm oil is not high — especially for buyers in rich countries. A paper I published in January with Lian Pin Koh found that the average American consumer would need to spend an extra 40 cents per year to cover the cost of switching from his or her annual consumption of palm oil from conventional to certified sources. Thus consumers have the power to change the industry.

CITATION: William F. Laurance et al. (2010). Improving the Performance of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil for Nature Conservation. Conservation Biology, Volume 24, No. 2, 377–381 DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01448.x

note: I am a co-author of this paper.

Copyright mongabay 2010

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Video: Nestle's attempt to censor Greenpeace palm oil ad backfires

In a bold online video, the environmental group Greenpeace cleverly links candy-giant Nestle to oil palm-related deforestation and the deaths of orangutans. Clearly angered over the video, Nestle struck back by having it banned from YouTube and replaced with this statement: "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Société des Produits Nestlé S.A."

Jeremy Hance | mongabay.com | March 19, 2010

In a bold online video, the environmental group Greenpeace cleverly links candy-giant Nestle to oil palm-related deforestation and the deaths of orangutans. Clearly angered over the video, Nestle struck back by having it banned from YouTube and replaced with this statement: "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Société des Produits Nestlé S.A."

However Nestle's reaction to the video only spread it far and wide (see the ad below): social network sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit were all flooded with the ad as well as rising criticism against Nestle—one of the world's largest food producers—including calls for boycotts.

Greenpeace began sustained action against Nestle on Wednesday when they released new evidence that linked Nestle to illegal deforestation in Indonesia through one of its palm oil suppliers, Sinar Mas.

Oil palm plantation in Sumatra, Indonesia. While palm oil plantations may look 'green' studies have shown a drastic reduction in biodiversity and large carbon emissions due to deforestation.

"While many companies such as Unilever and Kraft are making efforts to disassociate themselves from the worst practices of the palm oil industry, Nestlé has done diddly squat," the organization wrote in a blog.

The report spurred Nestle to cancel its contract with Sinar Mas—months after Sinar Mas was shown to be involved in illegal deforestation—but the corporation continues to purchase oil palm from Cargill, which is supplied in part by Sinar Mas. For its part, Cargill says it is investigating Greenpeace's allegations and if Sinar Mas is found to be committing illegal deforestation they will drop them. Nestle has said in a statement: "we share the deep concern about the serious environmental threat to rain forests and peat fields in South East Asia caused by the planting of palm oil plantations."

To prove this to its consumers, the company says it is committed to purchasing only sustainable palm oil by 2015. However, critics contend this is too late.

"Not only are these areas key habitat for orangutans, but also crucial carbon stores; the destruction of these areas is a major cause of Indonesia's rocketing carbon emissions,” Greenpeace said in a statement. .

Indonesia is the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases largely due to large-scale deforestation across the nation. Between 1990 and 2005, Indonesia lost more than 28 million hectares of forest, including 21.7 hectares of virgin forest. The country has declined from 82 percent forest cover in the 1960s to less than half today.

Orphaned orangutan, of which there are thousands, at Sepilok in Sabah, Malaysia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.

Deforestation is also the leading cause of biodiversity loss in the region. While orangutans have come to represent the movement against deforestation by oil palm plantations in the same way that polar bears symbolize climate change, Indonesia is home to tens of thousands of other species, many of which are threatened by deforestation.

Since Wednesday Nestle's Facebook page has been hit by growing anger against the multi-billion dollar food giant. Nestle complained that some Facebook users were posting new images of its logo, which shows three happy birds in a tree, and stated that it will delete any "altered version of any of our logos as your profile pic". This statement brought another firestorm of criticism, which Nestle has eventually caved to, now allowing 'alterations'.

This is not the first time Nestle has been called out for its practices. The company has long-faced criticism for aggressively marketing its baby formula to poor mothers in the developing world.

Have a break? from Greenpeace UK on Vimeo.

Copyright mongabay 2010

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