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Workers on Indonesian palm oil plantations are deliberately killing endangered orangutans on the island of Borneo to stop them eating their seedlings, activists said on Wednesday. (more…)
Hayden and Bleki, the new Sun Bears at Samboja Lestari.
In June 2007, two Sun bears arrived at the Sun Bear Sanctuary of the Wanariset Samboja Orangutan Reintroduction Project. This project is managed by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS).
The two sun bears were discovered at the edge of the forest and had been reared by humans. Their owners voluntarily handed them both over to BOS.
Upon arriving at the Sun Bear Sanctuary, the two new little sunbears, Hayden and Bleki had to be placed in separate cages. Hayden was only one month old, so he had to have his own cage while Bleki who is two years old was put into the quarantine cage. Why were they separated? Because humans had already reared Bleki for almost a year, and he had been overfed and was excessively over weight.
On the other hand, Hayden’s keepers had only cared for him for three days before he was handed over to BOS. According to his previous owners, the small sun bear didn’t want to be caught when they found him at the edge of the forest in the Sebulu, East Kalimantan. One wonders what the fate of Hayden’s mother was.
It was not because of love that his finders decided to take Hayden home. They knew that bears are wild by nature. For the first two days little Hayden had been sweet and wanted to drink milk. On the third day, however, the little bear started to show a wild and aggressive nature. They were puzzled and attempted to find information about wildlife reserves, in particular for bears.
Hayden’s owners found out about the Wain River Forest Reserve (WRFR), in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. When they arrived at WRFR, they found that it could not take Hayden. The people at WRFR instead suggested taking Hayden to the Wanariset Samboja Orangutan Reintroduction Project, as it also manages a Sun Bear Sanctuary.
However, it is quite another story with Bleki, who was found at the edge of the forest by Achmad Fauzi, an industrial forest plantation worker employed by PT. ITCI in Sepaku, East Kalimantan. At the time that Bleki was found, he was in poor condition.
Achmad described Bleki’s condition: “Bleki was found during a forest fire. Little Bleki was on his own, without his mother. In the end we decided to take Bleki home and nurse him”. Achmad’s wife was also moved by Bleki’s condition. The cute body of the little bear was what attracted Achmad’s wife to care for it.
Agus, the Sun Bear care coordinator in Samboja Lestari, estimated that Bleki would have just turned one when he was found, and he had been kept at Achmad’s home and reared for a year. While Achmad had him, Bleki was forced to eat biscuits and drink chocolate milk.
“Every two hours Bleki was given a ‘kepok’ banana, and he would not eat anything but kepok bananas” Achmad’s wife said, who had often taken care of Bleki. Bleki was also washed regularly. Although his care was good and his enclosure was regularly cleaned, the small iron-barred cage was certainly uncomfortable for him.
Similarly to the experience with Hayden, when Achmad wanted to hand Bleki over to HLSW, they suggested to take Bleki to the BOS Sun Bear Sanctuary instead. After some discussions with Paramita Ananda and Ishak Yassir, the manager of the Wanariset Samboja Orangutan and Wildlife Reintroduction Project and he manager of the BOS East Kalimantan Regional Projects, were eventually able to accept Bleki into the Sun Bear Sanctuary.
When handing over Bleki to BOS, Achmad’s wife was a little upset, but she was happy that Bleki would have plenty of companions and would be well cared for.
Basically we won’t reject wildlife which is protected by the government if they are handed over by members of the public. However, we must decide whether or not to take animals based on our current capacities and facilities. The welfare of the animals must always be our priority” Ishak told us. Actually, it could be said that the facilities in the sun bear sanctuary at the moment are less than satisfactory. On 56 hectares of land, the BOS foundation must care for 52 honey bears.
[Winda | BOS]
Translated By Peter Crocket, Edited by Michelle Rangitutia
The BBC’s Saving Planet Earth programme aired on BBC1 on 6th July, followed by a star-studded fundraising event at Kew Gardens hosted by Sir David Attenborough, Alan Titchmarsh and Graham Norton.
The BBC Wildlife Fund has now raised over a million pounds from viewers of Saving Planet Earth, which will be distributed between the charities featured in the programmes.
If you missed the programme, or would simply like to watch it again, now you can at the BBC Saving Planet Earth website …
The Body Shop call for urgent action from global retailers
(Body Shop press release July 12th 2007)
The Body Shop International today became the first cosmetics and toiletries retailer to introduce sustainable palm oil into the global beauty industry. The company has made this pioneering move as a response to the continued and rapid destruction of the world’s ancient rainforests caused by irresponsible palm oil production. It will source the sustainable palm oil from a plantation in Colombia.
This move represents a major practical step by a global retailer and equates to 14.5 million bars of soap sold per annum in more than 2,200 stores across 57 countries across the world.
The Body Shop are now calling on other manufacturers and retailers to follow their lead to help slow the drastic environmental and social effects of unsustainable production and ensure that within the next two to three years, the majority of palm oil is produced sustainably.
Palm oil is one of the world’s most popular vegetable oils. It is used in countless everyday items including cosmetics, household products and foods and is regularly consumed by over a billion people worldwide.
A huge growth in demand - a six-fold increase since the mid 1980s and still rising - has led to the clearance of vast areas of primary rainforests for plantations, particularly in South East Asia.
At current rates of destruction, around 1.3m hectares of forest - equating to around six football pitches per minute - will be cleared this year in Borneo alone to allow for new plantations.
Production impacts on the rights of indigenous populations, often creates poor labour conditions and has severe health implications for women working on the plantations.
Deforestation’s most drastic effect is on endangered animal species such as orang-utans in Borneo and Sumatra, Sumatran rhinoceros and Asian elephant and tigers, all of which are heading towards extinction due to the loss of natural habitat.
The Body Shop has focused on tackling the palm oil issue for some years and is a leading figure on the global Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). When The Body Shop joined the organising committee of the RSPO in 2004, membership numbered just 10 organisations. Three years later, over 250 organisations have committed themselves to finding solutions to the grave issues posed by palm oil production, including a number of major retailers who now make up a 20 strong group within the RSPO. The Body Shop now calls for more retailers to join the RSPO, and for those who have already made this commitment to begin sourcing RSPO certified sustainable palm oil as soon as it becomes available later this year.
Over the past six months The Body Shop has worked in partnership with Daabon, a certified organic producer in Colombia, which works extensively with local cooperatives, to implement sustainable production of palm oil. Daabon has been audited against the RSPO Principles & Criteria for the Production of Sustainable Palm Oil.
Peter Saunders, Chief Executive Officer of The Body Shop said today:
“The switch to sustainable palm oil is a landmark step forward for The Body Shop and a potentially groundbreaking development for the whole cosmetics industry. Many people who use soap everyday will be unaware that they are contributing to a major environmental catastrophe: the destruction of ancient rainforests and the extinction of endangered species. Our ambition is for the majority of the world’s palm oil production to be sustainable within the next two to three years but this will not be achieved by The Body Shop in isolation - our decision must inspire other businesses to join us and tackle the problem head on.”
Matthias Diemer, palm oil expert, WWF Switzerland, commented:
“The Body Shop is the first global cosmetics company to introduce sustainable palm oil into its product lines. This is the start of the growth of sustainable palm oil in the cosmetics sector and we hope that many more companies will follow suit. We also applaud the pioneering role The Body Shop has taken in helping to formulate strong standards for sustainable palm oil production through the RSPO.”
Background:
Palm oil is an important and versatile raw ingredient, accounting for more than 29 million tonnes of the world’s annual 95 million tonnes of vegetable oil.
Palm oil used by The Body Shop will now be sourced from Daabon, in Colombia, South America. Daabon has been at the forefront of both environmental and social responsibility for many years. For almost 20 years, Daabon has focused on certified organic production, and has since started focusing on social standards, such as SA8000, Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance. Daabon works extensively with local cooperatives, providing training and market access.
Sustainable palm oil production means the use of far less destructive planting methods, and therefore helps protect rainforest biodiversity. Through The Body Shop Foundation, the retailer has provided practical advice to plantations and small-scale farmers, funding projects which will help make this happen in other parts of the world.
The Body Shop has commissioned an audit of the Daabon operation to ensure that neither environment, people nor wildlife are under threat from the cultivation of palm oil. The audit used the Principles & Criteria developed by the stakeholders of the RSPO, which will form the basis of a certification scheme for sustainable palm oil by the end of 2007.
The Body Shop will continue to positively engage with the major players in the palm oil supply chain to encourage the switch to an effective sustainable option. The RSPO has developed a set of Principles & Criteria for the Production of Sustainable Palm Oil and a full certification scheme is expected to be finalised in November 2007.
In the meantime, move to sustainable palm oil by The Body Shop means that the business can ensure that its use of palm oil does not contribute to deforestation and that conditions can begin to improve within the industry.
Enquiries: The Body Shop via Brunswick: Benjamin Ward / Anna Jones / Sarah West +44 (0) 207 404 5959, bodyshop@brunswickgroup.com
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