Extreme mouth-sewing protest in Indonesia leads to logging inquiry

A protest in which 28 Indonesian sewed their mouths shut has led to an inquiry into a logging concession on Padang Island. The Ministry of Forestry has formed a mediation team to look into the controversial concession, reports Kompas. Around a hundred natives of Padang Island rallied for weeks against the logging concession held by PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP), which covers 37 percent of the island’s total land.

The team will be selected from Indonesia’s Presidium of the National Forestry Council (DKN) including a mix of government officials, scientists, NGO, and business people. The inquiry will not have decision-making powers, but will report their recommendation to the Ministry.

The protesting islanders argue that the 2009 concession occurs on customary lands, threatening both the environment and the small-scale agriculture on which they depend. They demand that the Indonesian government revoke the logging concession, which is largely located on peatland rainforests, from RAPP.

For its part, RAPP says they have seen no proof that the concession is on customary land, but they will abandon the concession if proof comes forward. The logging company says it secured approval from 14 village chiefs, though three have since bolted from the agreement.

“We’re not even sure if the protesters are actually from Pulau Padang or not,” RAPP president commissioner, Tony Wenas, said as reported by the Jakarta Post. “For all we know, there are ex-cons among the protesters.”

An Indonesian NGO, Greenomics, has released a report alleging that RAPP’s parent company, Asian Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL), has wrongly claimed it has set aside 4,102 hectares of the Padang Island concession (around 10 percent of the total) for conservation. Greenomics argues that the touted “protected areas” were not such at all, since Indonesian law required the land to be set aside.

“None of the land set aside for conservation […] was set aside at the company’s own initiative. Rather, all the land was required to be set aside under Indonesian law,” the report reads. The report further argues that one of the main reasons behind the concession is a corporate need for raw materials taken from clearing the standing forest, garnering between 1.43 and 2.15 million square meters of materials for APRIL’s paper mills.

Earlier this year, RAPP was accused of clearing high conservation value forest in Riau province on Sumatra. The forest was a known wildlife corridor for the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae), listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, among many other species.

APRIL did not respond to requests for comment.


1 year ago
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# conservation
# indonesia
# deforestation
# rainforest
# protest
# self mutilation
Indonesian plantation workers arrested over orangutan deaths 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.

Indonesian plantation workers arrested over orangutan deaths

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.

1 year ago
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# conservation
# indonesia
# orangutan
# legal
# rainforest
Toilet paper brand wipes out forests and endangered species An investigation released today reveals that Auckland based company Cottonsoft is sourcing its toilet paper from rainforests in Indonesia, home of the critically-endangered Sumatran tiger.The evidence is the result of an eight-month investigation by Greenpeace, the Green Party and WWF-New Zealand into exactly where the toilet paper sold by New Zealand retailers originates from.  Cottonsoft refused to disclose where they were sourcing their toilet paper from so samples were sent to a US laboratory for forensic testing. This confirmed the presence of mixed tropical hardwoods (timber that comes from rainforests) in a range of Cottonsoft products.

Toilet paper brand wipes out forests and endangered species

An investigation released today reveals that Auckland based company Cottonsoft is sourcing its toilet paper from rainforests in Indonesia, home of the critically-endangered Sumatran tiger.

The evidence is the result of an eight-month investigation by Greenpeace, the Green Party and WWF-New Zealand into exactly where the toilet paper sold by New Zealand retailers originates from. 


Cottonsoft refused to disclose where they were sourcing their toilet paper from so samples were sent to a US laboratory for forensic testing. This confirmed the presence of mixed tropical hardwoods (timber that comes from rainforests) in a range of Cottonsoft products.

1 year ago
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# wwf
# conservation
# rainforests
# tigers
# new zealand
# indonesia
# deforestation
# endangered
# ecosystem
# toilet paper
mad-as-a-marine-biologist:  Fish Feeding: Evil at it’s most innocent? Fish feeding is common throughout the tropical tourist spots of SE Asia (and I’m sure the world). I have seen families tottering to jetties with so many loaves of bread they could retire a baker. And what do they do, chuck it on the surface of the water. It then erupts with squabbling damselfish, usually the Indo-pacific Seargeantfish like in the photo above, fighting for the easy meal. I myself have been snorkeling when a well-meaning boatman has thrown bread in my vicinity. The chaos that ensued around me was intimidating. I could feel the brush of slimy scales on my legs, and couldn’t see through my mask for black stripes zipping around gobbling up the bread. An unforgettable experience without a doubt. But if you take a moment to think, you might remember any good nature reserve instructing you not to feed wild animals. It’s no different in a marine environment. There is no underwater baker these fish frequent when we aren’t so generous with the yeasty delectables. Bread is not their natural food. Algae is. Apart from the distress on the fish’s digestive systems (oh no! Carbs!), feeding them changes their behaviour. Instead of grazing algae off the reefs hard surfaces, making room for new coral growth, and preventing algae from out competing the coral for space and resources (all of which are essential for a balanced Coral Reef ecosystem), they are hanging around anything that makes a splash on the surface: a person, a cab, a cigarette butt. Feeding fish means they will no longer fulfill their ecological niche. It’s like removing a link in the food chain. Throwing the food web into chaos. The act seems innocent enough, and most people won’t think past the excitement of being overwhelmed by nature, but as is so often the case, we have unforeseen consequences on the environment. Something, perhaps, we shouldn’t take as lightly as we do.

mad-as-a-marine-biologist:

 Fish Feeding: Evil at it’s most innocent?

Fish feeding is common throughout the tropical tourist spots of SE Asia (and I’m sure the world). I have seen families tottering to jetties with so many loaves of bread they could retire a baker. And what do they do, chuck it on the surface of the water. It then erupts with squabbling damselfish, usually the Indo-pacific Seargeantfish like in the photo above, fighting for the easy meal.

I myself have been snorkeling when a well-meaning boatman has thrown bread in my vicinity. The chaos that ensued around me was intimidating. I could feel the brush of slimy scales on my legs, and couldn’t see through my mask for black stripes zipping around gobbling up the bread. An unforgettable experience without a doubt.

But if you take a moment to think, you might remember any good nature reserve instructing you not to feed wild animals. It’s no different in a marine environment. There is no underwater baker these fish frequent when we aren’t so generous with the yeasty delectables. Bread is not their natural food.

Algae is. Apart from the distress on the fish’s digestive systems (oh no! Carbs!), feeding them changes their behaviour. Instead of grazing algae off the reefs hard surfaces, making room for new coral growth, and preventing algae from out competing the coral for space and resources (all of which are essential for a balanced Coral Reef ecosystem), they are hanging around anything that makes a splash on the surface: a person, a cab, a cigarette butt.

Feeding fish means they will no longer fulfill their ecological niche. It’s like removing a link in the food chain. Throwing the food web into chaos. The act seems innocent enough, and most people won’t think past the excitement of being overwhelmed by nature, but as is so often the case, we have unforeseen consequences on the environment. Something, perhaps, we shouldn’t take as lightly as we do.

1 year ago
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Via mad-as-a-marine-biologist
# Karimun Jawa
# indonesia
# travel
# underwater
# tourism
# responsible
# fish
# feeding
# ecology
# nature
The Indonesian government plans to recruit and dispatch 5,000 Muslim imams across the archipelago to discourage forest destruction and open burning that contributes to the choking haze now spreading across Singapore and Malaysia, reports the Jakarta Post. The plan was announced Sunday by Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan. Zulkifli was speaking at a board meeting of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s second-biggest Muslim organization. “Our forests don’t go up in flames on their own, but are intentionally burned because there is this tradition of burning the land after harvest and before planting, which has now also affected forest areas,” Zulkifli was quoted as saying. He called on Muslim preachers to support the government’s campaign against forest burning and illegal logging. Muslim scholars will be trained and be paid a monthly salary of 2 million rupiah, or around $235. The program begins later this year and will run through 2012. So far just under 100 preachers are ready to participate, according to tempointeraktif.com. Indonesia has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world. Logging, expansion of oil palm and wood pulp plantations, agriculture, mining, and fires are major drivers of forest loss. Last year Indonesia signed a billion dollar partnership with Norway to reign in deforestation. The agreement includes the establishment of a two-year moratorium on new concessions in primary forests and peatlands. The moratorium took effect January 1, 2011. 

The Indonesian government plans to recruit and dispatch 5,000 Muslim imams across the archipelago to discourage forest destruction and open burning that contributes to the choking haze now spreading across Singapore and Malaysia, reports the Jakarta Post. 

The plan was announced Sunday by Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan. Zulkifli was speaking at a board meeting of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s second-biggest Muslim organization. 

“Our forests don’t go up in flames on their own, but are intentionally burned because there is this tradition of burning the land after harvest and before planting, which has now also affected forest areas,” Zulkifli was quoted as saying. 

He called on Muslim preachers to support the government’s campaign against forest burning and illegal logging. Muslim scholars will be trained and be paid a monthly salary of 2 million rupiah, or around $235. The program begins later this year and will run through 2012. 

So far just under 100 preachers are ready to participate, according to tempointeraktif.com. 

Indonesia has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world. Logging, expansion of oil palm and wood pulp plantations, agriculture, mining, and fires are major drivers of forest loss. 

Last year Indonesia signed a billion dollar partnership with Norway to reign in deforestation. The agreement includes the establishment of a two-year moratorium on new concessions in primary forests and peatlands. The moratorium took effect January 1, 2011. 

1 year ago
9 notes
# conservation
# rainforest
# indonesia
# islam