MINISTER WARNS COMPANY FOR POSING THREAT TO 1,600 ORANGUTANS

Palangka Raya, C Kalimantan - Forestry Minister MS Kaban has strongly warned the Makin Business Group for planning to open an oil palm plantation in an area which hosts the habitat for about 1,600 orangutans in the Katingan district, Central Kalimantan.

"We have given the company a warning and asked it to save orangutans in the area," Minister Kaban said Tuesday, 23 January 2007.

Kaban made the remarks during a meeting between Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Central Kalimantan's regional government officials, and mining, plantation and forestry businesses.

The Minister said if not seriously reprimanded, Makin Group's plan could lead to the extinction of thousands of orangutans in the area.

Therefore, he called on the business group to save the rare animals in the area which was to be turned into a plantation. "I think Indonesia has been under a heavy spotlight for incompetence in preserving its biodiversity," the Minister said.

The Makin Group is planning to open a 50 thousand hectare oil palm plantation in the Katingan district, Central Kalimantan, in 2007. The area is home to 1,600 orangutans.

In the meantime, Assistant Manager of the Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS), Hardi Baktiantoro, said the opening of the plantation in the Katingan district was a serious threat to the 1,600 orangutans in Kalimantan.

"Based on our data, the area, where the Makin Group is to open an oil palm plantation, is host to some 1,500-1,600 orangutans. If the company resumes its planning, it will exterminate rare animal," he said.

He predicted the Kalimantan orangutan would be extinct by 2010 in line with the opening up of forests to make way for palm oil plantations. "The biggest threat to orangutans is the expansion of oil palm plantations," he said. (Antara, 24 January 2007)

1500 ORANGUTAN KATINGAN TERANCAM MATI

Palangka Raya (ANTARA News) - Yayasan Penyelamat Orangutan Borneo (Borneo Orangutan Survival/BOS)
Palangkaraya memperkirakan sebanyak 1.500 hingga 1.600 orangutan Kalimantan (Pongo Pygmaeus) di Kabupaten
Katingan, Kalimantan Tengah, terancam mati bila rencana Makin Group membuka perkebunan sawit di sana.

"Dalam data kami, di hutan tempat Makin Group akan membuka perkebunan saat ini terdapat 1.500 hingga 1.600
orangutan dalam habitat alaminya, yang bila dibuka akan memusnahkan semua orangutan," kata Asisten Manajer Pusat
Reintroduksi Orangutan (PROU) BOS Palangkaraya, Hardi Baktiantoro, kepada ANTARA News di Palangka
Raya, Senin.

Ia mengemukakan, pembukaan perkebunan sawit seluas 40.000 hingga 50.000 hektar oleh Makin Group di Kabupaten
Katingan merupakan ancaman nyata terhadap keberadaan orangutan Kalimantan yang kini semakin tersudut.

Bahkan, ia memperkirakan, populasi dan habitat orangutan Kalimantan itu akan hilang pada 2010 mendatang, seiring
rencana pembukaan hutan dan lahan yang dikonversi menjadi perkebunan sawit besar-besaran di wilayah setempat.

"Ancaman terbesar kini datang dari ekspansi perkebunan kelapa sawit yang bila terus dikembangkan dengan membabat
hutan, maka bukan tidak mungkin pada 2010 di Kalteng tidak akan ditemukan lagi habitat asli orangutan," katanya
menegaskan.

Menurut dia, pembukaan perkebunan kelapa sawit adalah kembar siam dengan penebangan hutan yang menghabiskan
pohon-pohon habitat alami orangutan Kalimantan.

Setiap kali ada pembukaan lahan yang akan dikonversi menjadi perkebunan sawit, menurut dia, selalu ditemukan
orangutan liar yang tersesat dan tengah berpindah habitat mencoba menyelamatkan diri.

Dalam misi penyelamatan yang dilakukan BOS sejak Januari hingga November 2006, tercatat 220 ekor orangutan
berhasil diselamatkan setelah habitatnya hilang terkonversi, dan sebagian besar orangutan tersebut berasal dari lokasi
dibukanya
perkebunan sawit di Kabupaten Kotawaringin Timur (Kotim).

Hardi mengemukakan, orangutan yang selamat itu hanya bagian kecil dari kisah kekejaman dan kejahatan yang sering
dialami orangutan di habitat aslinya, ketika terkadang induk mereka pun dibunuh saat pembukaan lahan.

Ia menyesalkan tidak adanya proses hukum terhadap penjahat-penjahat hutan yang telah merusak lingkungan dan
satwa dilindungi, padahal telah ada perangkat hukum yang jelas tentang hal itu, seperti dalam Undang-Undang (UU)
Nomor 5 Tahun 1990 tentang Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam Hayati dan Ekosistemnya.

"Selama ini tidak pernah ada satu pun kasus penyelundupan, penyiksaan, pembunuhan orangutan yang sampai ke
pengadilan, meski aturannya telah jelas tercantum dalam Undang-Undang beserta ancaman hukumannya," ujarnya.

Mengenai dampak kebakaran hutan bagi orangutan Kalimantan, Hardi menambahkan, banyak yang ikut mati terbakar,
meski jumlahnya tidak diketahui secara pasti, dan BOS memperkirakan sekitar seribu orangutan telah mati dalam
kebakaran hutan selama ini lalu. (*)

Copyright © 2006 ANTARA
18 Desember 2006 16:11
Kirim Cetak

EVER WONDER HOW MUCH PALM OIL COSTS?

ANSWER:
It cost the lives of about 50 orangutans a week, not to mention a lot of other wildlife. In the time it takes you to read this
report another orangutan may have died as a consequence of the rapacious drive by the multi-national palm oil
companies to get rich(er) – quicker, and damn the cost to the environment. In February 2007 the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) raised the alarm to an unprecedented level with a new report, “Last Stand of the Orangutan: A State of Emergency.” According to the UN, and no one who has visited Borneo recently would doubt it for a second,”The
natural forests of Sumatra and Borneo are being cleared so fast, up to 98 per cent may be destroyed by 2022”. If you can, just for a moment, think of all those wonderful wildlife films and photos you have seen from Borneo, and now
imagine how, if you do nothing to stop it, in less than 15 years all but 2 per cent will have been destroyed. Mammals, birds,
insects – all natural life wiped out and replaced with oil palm plantations. In your home right now there are likely to be any number of products you consume every day, which contain palm oil from Borneo (Indonesia and Malaysia) and Sumatra, tainted with the blood of slaughtered orangutans - thousands of them. Given a choice most people in the world would not want to eat biscuits and other foods which include palm oil that has cost the lives of thousands of orangutans and the destruction of millions of hectares of rainforest. They would no more do this than they would buy tuna which is not dolphin-friendly. The time has come for the public to demand “Orangutan Friendly” palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia. It’s not difficult and the criteria are already in place. What’s required now is the motivation from large retailers to insist their
suppliers meet the criteria laid down by the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil. No one is seeking a ban on the use of palm
oil. The industry itself knows that millions of hectares of cleared land already exist on which new plantations can be grown.
The truth of the matter is, many companies supplying palm oil for your food are really looking for a quick profit from cutting down the rainforest and selling the wood. Great Britain, Australia and China are amongst the most enthusiastic importers of such hardwood – often without even knowing if it has been cut down legally; 73 per cent of all logging is illegal and National Parks are no longer sacrosanct with 37 out of 41 suffering from illegal logging. Large, household name retailers like Tesco
are scarcely blameless – they have known about the alarming state of affairs in Borneo and Sumatra for a long time. If they
and others like them tell their suppliers they only want “Orangutan Friendly” palm oil in products, they will get what they want and overnight the eating habits of the world could be changed, thousands of orangutans saved along with millions of
acres of pristine rainforest. All it needs now is for you the consumer to be part of the solution, and tell your local supermarket to stock products which contain “Orangutan Friendly” palm oil. If you don’t, sadly you will be part of the problem and the scenes you see overleaf will continue until there are no more orangutans or rainforests left for your children and grandchildren to wonder at; and how will you explain to them the situation you see before you today – when you still had time and a chance to make a difference? When it is an ingredient,thesecompanies mention palm oil specifically. Most companies just say 'vegetable oil' - and this is not good enough. Consumers have a right to know if the palm oil in
products they may wish to buy is contributing to the destruction of rainforests and the slaughter of orangutans, as well as other wildlife. Insist on knowing if it is palm oil from Indonesia or Malaysia, and is it 'Orangutan Friendly'. Their mothers shot, knifed, beaten or burnt to death.