Borneo Orangutan Survival International

 Source: The Guardian

BOS is delighted to be able to tell you that Hardi Baktiantoro, of Centre for Orangutan Protection has been shortlisted for an award - “Grassroots Campaigner of the Year”.

Well done Hardi!!

The shortlist is revealed today for the third Observer ethical awards, supported by ecological cleaning product manufacturer, Ecover. The announcement follows the success of the 2006 and 2007 awards, which saw Make Poverty History win Campaign of the Year and Al Gore win Campaigner of the Year. The awards received thousands of entries. The entrants were judged by a combination of reader votes and by a celebrity panel, which included Colin Firth, Elle Macpherson and Natalie Imbruglia. The winners will be announced at an award ceremony in London on June 5.

The awards are instrumental in progressing ethical thinking and ideas in the UK. The aim is to reward those pioneering a sustainable future for the country and to recognise the very best products, innovations and schemes that make living ethically achievable. The awards will also bring to light those who give ethical living a mainstream and practical appeal.
Categories voted by Observer Readers:
Celebrity Campaigner of the Year
High Fearnley-Whittingstall
George Monbiot
Jamie Oliver
Grassroots Campaigner of the Year
Tricia Barnett
Hardi Baktiantoro
Anna Heywood
Politician of the Year
Caroline Lucas
David Cameron
Ken Livingstone
Best Supermarket/On-line Retailer Initiative of the Year, sponsored by New Consumer magazine
Natural Collection (for their on-line store)
Abel&Cole (for their organic, locally sourced veg box scheme)
Traidcraft (for their commitment to fairtrade)
Best Local Retailer
The Better Food Company
Entrading
Warren Evans
Categories voted by panel of judges:
Conservation project of the Year, sponsored by Aveda
COAST: Community of Arran Seabed Trust
St Jude’s Park Public Awareness Project
Camley Street Natural Park
The Do-it-Yourself Award
Martin Peck
Carshalton Grove Eco-Renovation Demonstation Project
Ecover Ethical Kids Award
Isle of Man Tree Planting Project
Balfour Junior School
Munnaan Mohammed
The Jupiter Big Idea Award
EWGECO
Moxia Energy
USBCELL
Unpackaged
Ethical Business of the Year, sponsored by Triodos Bank
walkit.com limited
Divine Chocolate Ltd
Equal Exchange
Fashion Product or Accessory of the Year
Izzy Lane
From Somewhere
Finisterre

NUSA DUA, Bali (JP): President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono launched Monday an action plan to conserve the country’s endangered orangutans and release those currently in sanctuaries back into the wild. (more…)

 BALI, Indonesia, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) — The Nature Conservancy, a leading conservation organization, pledged one million U.S. dollars to support an Indonesian plan aimed at saving the country’s orangutans from extinction. (more…)

One significant factor in climate change is deforestation and Indonesia, the host of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, is losing an area of forest the size of a soccer field every 10 seconds. Most threatened are the peatlands of Kalimantan, home to many of the country’s orangutans. (more…)

Conservationists working to combat deforestation on the island of Borneo have uncovered a “hidden colony” of 800 orang-utans in an area under imminent threat from the expansion of the palm oil industry. (more…)

Nov 22 2007 by Sally Williams, Western Mail : NEW food logos aimed at helping consumers make ethical decisions could lead to “choice overload” for bewildered shoppers, it was warned yesterday.

Sainsbury’s has announced it will introduce labelling on products containing sustainable palm oil from next year. (more…)

Sainsbury’s has announced a ban on an ingredient used in tens of thousands of its products that is blamed for the destruction of tropical rainforests.

The supermarket chain said it would phase out the use of palm oil from unsustainable sources in its own-brand food, after pressure from campaigners and customers . It is estimated that the oil is used in one in 10 of all products sold in Britain.

Booming demand for palm oil has fuelled concerns over the felling of huge sections of rainforest in countries such as Indonesia to make way for plantations.

Sainsbury’s says it intends to accept palm oil only from certified sustainable sources, starting with plantations in Colombia. It has pledged to convert its first products to the new sustainable oil by next May, and will announce a deadline for the total phase-out of unsustainable sources by February. It also intends to label the use of palm oil in all of its food by July.

Judith Batchelar, director of Sainsbury’s brand, said: “From soap to biscuits, palm oil is in thousands of everyday food and beauty items wherever you shop. Rather than banning the use of palm oil, we want to find a sustainable solution that will stop deforestation while continuing to support the communities that rely on its production.”

Only a small amount of palm oil on the world market is from sustainable sources, and Sainsbury’s said it would encourage suppliers in Borneo to clean up their act. Cutting down primary forest releases greenhouse gases and is driving animals such as the orangutan towards extinction.

The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation called the supermarket’s move a “huge step”. Adam Harrison, senior food and agriculture policy officer for WWF, said: “We welcome Sainsbury’s move to address the serious impacts of palm oil demand and hope their actions will inspire others to follow suit.”

The announcement follows a move this summer by the Body Shop and Asda to cut their use of palm oil from unsustainable sources. Asda plans to phase it out from 500 products and has banned supplies from the worst-affected regions in Borneo and Sumatra. Body Shop has pledged to use only sustainable palm oil in its soap.

The Swiss supermarket Migros banned the use of palm oil linked to forest destruction in its own-brand products in 2002.

Hannah Griffiths, of Friends of the Earth, said: “The supermarkets are in a difficult position because they are under pressure to act, but growing sustainable palm oil on the massive scale required is very difficult. And the certification is no guarantee that the oil is truly sustainable.”

An investigation by Friends of the Earth in the Netherlands linked several Indonesian suppliers which were certified as sustainable to illegal burning, habitat destruction and unapproved plantation development.

Source: Guardian Unlimited
Date Published: November 21, 2007

Almost one-third of the world’s species will face extinction if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, a United Nations report will say this week.

Addressing the UN’s climate panel, Yvo de Boer, the head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said the message to world leaders was clear. (more…)

Lone Droscher-Nielsen has spent enough time living with wild orangutans to know monkey business when she sees it - and the straight-speaking Dane is suspicious of John Howard’s election promise to save her great apes.

Lone Droscher-Nielsen with orangutans at her sanctuary in Kalimantan, Indonesia. She is suspicious of a Coalition plan to save the apes. (more…)