Mickey and Minnie Mouse arrested at Disney!!
 
Personally, I've never been a big fan of Mickey Mouse. I've always found him a bit too squeaky-clean and a bit of a pest. So, being more of a Bugs Bunny man, myself, imagine my delight when I saw the news that both Mickey and Minnie Mouse had been arrested OUTSIDE Disney's headquarters in the U.S.A.! Oh, what fun! When I read the online article, however, I was even happier to see what had really happened, and especially to see what these dressed-up protesters had been arrested for.

The four protesters were from Rainforest Action Network (RAN), an organisation set up to raise awareness of the destruction of the world's remaining rain forests. Their mission this time; to call for Disney to stop using paper in their children's books and other products, which they claim is produced from wood-fibre harvested from Indonesia's ever-decreasing rain forests. Two of the protesters locked themselves to the main gate of the massive studio and office complex in Burbank, California, whilst 2 others, in climbing gear, climbed up onto the gate to unfurl a 35 foot banner reading “Disney: Destroying Indonesia's Rainforests.” Police soon came to take the 4 into custody and it is said they are to be charged with trespassing; almost certainly they will be released with a warning.

Bravo! A good protest all round and a fitting message. The idea that Disney, who have thrilled us all with stories of beautiful, exciting wild animals and mysterious jungles, should be held responsible for contributing to the destruction of primary and secondary growth forests in Indonesia is unthinkable. What RAN claim, however, is that Disney buys its paper from Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), the largest, and  historically least sensitive, of paper producers, and that their practices are neither environmentally sound, efficient, nor morally acceptable. And with Disney purported to be the largest producer of children's books in the world, churning out over 50 million books and 30 million magazines per year, that's a huge amount of paper!

Not to mention a massive amount of money, of course, and that's where the problems start - APP, a Singaporean company, has never been perceived as a caring or ethical organisation. Started during the Suharto era by Eka Cipta Wijaja, a mega-wealthy businessman who had strong links to the ruling Suharto family at the time, APP and its many subsidiaries have been accused of destroying the forests of South-East Asia for their own financial gain, using both plantation wood and wood from established forests.

APP is alleged to be responsible for the destruction of habitat of many of Indonesia's most endangered creatures and fueling a market for wood fibre from both legal and illegal sources. It cannot be ignored that favourable links with the government may still exist and that special treatment is given to this company which allows it to continue its destructive business. In 2001, in fact, during the Asia Debt Crises, the company defaulted on a US$12 billion debt, which the government paid off using taxpayers' money. In recent years, following increasing pressure from international NGOs, corporate customers and environmental groups, APP have attempted to gain some credibility. They have been employing independent public relations and environmental strategy groups, including Greenspirit, founded by a Canadian, Dr. Patrick Moore, to write scientific propaganda. These papers support APP business and 'environ-ethical' practices based on a number of short visits to APP subsidiary paper mills, plantations and offices in Sumatra.

Clearly Mickey and Minnie haven't read these papers. The protesters state;
“It is past time for Disney to catch up with its peers and adopt a policy that guarantees tiger extinction and deforestation will no longer be found in kids’ books or in any products the company sells. Of all companies, Disney should not be harming the earth’s real magic kingdoms.”

This will be an ongoing battle, APP trying to convince environmentalists that they have changed, and the environmentalists mistrusting them, and the government's enforcement of the 'rules and regulations' for logging and plantation expansion. It will likely be a battle that APP wins financially, and the environmentalists win morally.

And as they fight, the trees will continue to be planted, to grow and to fall.

“And so, we are all connected, in the great circle of life.”

Republik Indonesia 20th May 2011

The Republic of Indonesia has just produced a moratorium on the issue of new permits for logging concessions, but no reductions on logging or any commitment to replanting 

permanent forests - is this just 

'too little, too late?'

the attached map (last page) showing the remaining forests and peat lands suggests so..

.pdf in Bahasa Indonesia

http://sipuu.setkab.go.id/buka_puu.php?id_puu=17176&file=INPRES0102011.pdf

Enlightening report about Asia Pulp and Paper's financial mess

Asia Pulp & Paper Indonesia:
The business rationale that led to
forest degradation and financial collapse

http://chrislang.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/appcifor2006.pdf

Thomas Leaf Monkey 
(Presbytis thomasi)

Appearance

Body covered in black fur with white fur on torso and under arms and legs. Face has a white V shape meeting at the eyes, with a very distinctive black mohawk hairstyle.

Size

 5-8kg

Life Span

20 years

Diet

Primarily leaf-eating, but also feeds on fruits and flowers, and occasionally toadstools and the stalks of coconuts as well as ground snails.

Home Range

12.3 to 15.7 ha.

Habitat

Primary and Secondary rainforest. Rubber and fruit plantations. Ranges in elevation up to approximately 1,500m.

Distribution 

Northern Sumatra - from the Aceh Province north of the Simpangkiri and Wampu rivers, extending southwards to the bank of the Simpangkiri River.

Behaviour and Ecology

Diurnal and arboreal. Animals live in single-male/multi-female groups. The male defends his females and not the territory, as is seen in many other territorial species. Average group size is six.

IUCN Red List Status

Vulnerable

Population trend

Decreasing

Threats

Loss of primary habitat due to logging and conversion to oil palm plantations. This species is protected by Indonesian law.

 Penampilan

Badan tertutup bulu hitam dengan bulu putih pada batang tubuh dan di bawah kaki dan tangan. Wajah memiliki bentuk 'V' putih bertemuan dekat mata, dengan gaya rambut 'mohawk' hitam yang bersifat membedakan.

Ukuran

5-8kg.

Life Span

20 tahun

Diet

Terutama daun, tetapi juga memakan buah-buahan dan bunga, dan kadang-kadang jamur dan batang kelapa, serta keong tanah.

Jarak gerakan

12.3 to 15.7 ha.

Habitat

Hutan Primer dan Sekunder. Perkebunan karet dan buah. Telah ditemukan di ketinggian hingga sekitar 1.500 m.

Distribusi

Sumatera bagian Utara - dari utara Provinsi Aceh dari sungai Simpangkiri dan sungai Wampu, memanjang ke arah selatan hingga tepi sungai Simpangkiri. 

Perilaku dan Ekologi

Diurnal dan arboreal. Presbytis thomasi hidup dalam kelompok single-male/multi-female. Jantan membela perempuan dan bukan wilayah, seperti yang terlihat pada banyak spesies teritorial lainnya. Rata-rata ukuran kelompok adalah enam.

Status IUCN Red List

Terancam

Tren Populasi

Penurunan

Ancaman

Hilangnya habitat utama akibat penebangan dan konversi untuk perkebunan kelapa sawit. Spesies ini dilindungi dalam hukum Indonesia.

Originally adapted from Supriatna, J. & Mittermeier, R.A. 2008 Presbytis Thomasi

Text adapted and translated into Bahasa Indonesia from Guidebook to Gunung Leuser National Park by Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) and UNESCO 

Long-Tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis)

Long-Tailed Macaque

(Macaca fascicularis)

Appearance

Body fur varies from grey to reddish, with lighter coloured underside. The macaques often have a noticeable pointed crest on the head where the hair grows backwards. Their face is pinkish. Males have cheek whiskers and moustache; females have a beard. Also known as the crab-eating macaque.

Size

Males: 4.7 to 8.3 kg
Females: 2.5 to 5.7 kg

Life Span

37 years

Diet

Omnivorous - fruit makes up 64% of their diet, with seeds, buds, leaves and animal prey (frogs, insects and crabs). They may also raid crops.

Home Range

25 to 200 ha.

Habitat

Very adaptable to a wide range of habitats including mangrove and swamp forests, they can also be found in agricultural areas near secondary growth, secondary forest and primary forest. Has been reported to live in elevations up to 1,000m in Sumatra.

Distribution 

This species occurs in Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, India (Nicobar Islands), Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.

Behaviour and Ecology

Diurnal and semi-terrestrial. They are good swimmers and will jump into water from nearby trees. They live in multi-male / multi female groups of 10 to 100 individuals.

IUCN Red List Status

Least Concern

Population trend

Decreasing

Threats

Across much of the species' range, the major threat is hunting. In mainland Sountheast Asia, females are taken into breeding facilities and males are exported internationally for use in laboratory research. Habitat loss is a localised threat but this species is able to adapt to many different environments.

Penampilan

Tubuh bulu bervariasi dari abu-abu sampai merah, dengan bagian bawah berwarna lebih muda. Para kera sering memiliki lambang menunjuk terlihat pada kepala mana rambut tumbuh mundur. Wajah mereka merah muda. Jantan memiliki bulu pipi (cambang) dan kumis; Betina memiliki jenggot. Juga dikenal sebagai 'monyet pemakan kepiting' (crab eating macaque). 

Ukuran

Jantan: 4.7 to 8.3 kg

Betina: 2.5 to 5.7 kg

Panjang kehidupan

37 tahun

Diet

Omnivora - buah memenuhi 64% dari makanan mereka, serta biji, tunas, daun dan mangsa binatang (katak, serangga dan kepiting). Mereka mungkin juga serangan tanaman..

Jarak gerakan

25 to 200 ha.

Habitat

Sangat mudah beradaptasi dengan berbagai habitat termasuk rawa bakau dan hutan, mereka juga dapat ditemukan di daerah pertanian dekat pertumbuhan sekunder, hutan sekunder dan hutan primer. Telah dilaporkan di ketinggian sampai 1.000 m di Sumatera.

Distribusi

Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, India (Nicobar Islands), Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.

Perilaku dan Ekologi

Diurnal dan semi-terestrial. Mereka adalah perenang yang baik dan akan melompat ke dalam air dari pohon di dekatnya. Mereka tinggal dalam kelompok multi-jantan/multi-betina dan terdiri dari 10 sampai 100 ekor.

Status IUCN Red List

Least Concern (sedikit perhatian)

Tren Populasi

Penurunan

Ancaman

Di banyak rentang spesies ini, ancaman utama adalah berburu. Di Asia Tenggara, betina dibawa ke fasilitas pembibitan dan jantan sering diekspor internasional untuk digunakan dalam penelitian laboratorium. Hilangnya habitat merupakan ancaman lokal tetapi spesies ini mampu beradaptasi dengan lingkungan yang berbeda.

Greater Slow Loris (Nycticebus coucang)

Greater Slow Loris (Nycticebus coucang)

Appearance

The ongoing taxonomic research may reveal the existence of two species of Slow Loris in Sumatra. The one found in Gunung Leuser National Park has a bright reddish brown colour, including the dorsal stripe and facial markings. It also presents rounded forks above the eyes with pronounced dorsal stripes extending down to a more reddish belly.

Size

600 to 800g.

Life Span

20 years

Diet

Slow Lorises are fruit-eaters but also feed on insects, leaves and birds eggs. Another ket resource for them is nectar from the flowers of the burtram palm.

Home Range

Studies have shown that great variation, ranging from 2 to 18 ha. Surveys in Sumatra have found this species to occur at very low densities.

Habitat

Primary and secondary lowland forest, and can be found in gardens and plantations.

Distribution 

This species occurs in Indonesia (Sumatra, Batam and Bunguran in the North Natuna Islands), Malaysia (on the Peninsula and the island of Tioman), southern peninsular Thailand (from the Isthmus of Kra southward), and Singapore.

Behaviour and Ecology

Nocturnal and arboreal

IUCN Red List Status

Vulnerable

Population trend

Decreasing

Threats

The species is collected for use as pets, and the animals are sold throughout South East Asia. The teeth are often pulled, resulting in infection and/or death. If animals survive, lack of teeth makes reintroduction impossible. Sumatran populations are particularly impacted by the pet trade. There is little information available to other threats to thsi species. It is relatively adaptable to anthropogenic habitats, and so it might be less affected by forest loss than some other primate species. Nevertheless, forest loss has been so severe in the region that it is likely to have had some negative impacts. 

Animals are shot as crop pests and for other reasons. The species is protected by law in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

 Penampilan

Penelitian taksonomi yang sedang berlangsung dapat mengungkapkan adanya dua jenis Slow Loris di Sumatera. Yang ditemukan di Taman Nasional Gunung Leuser memiliki warna coklat kemerahan cerah, termasuk tanda-tanda garis punggung dan muka. Ada juga bentuk garpu bulat di atas mata dengan garis-garis punggung memperpanjang ke bawah ke perut lebih kemerahan.

Ukuran

600-800g.

Life Span

20 tahun

Diet

Slow Loris (Kukang) adalah pemakan buah, tetapi juga memakan serangga, daun dan telur burung. Sumber lain bagi mereka adalah nektar dari bunga-bunga telapak burtram.

Jarak gerakan

Studi telah menunjukkan bahwa variasi yang besar, mulai dari 2 sampai 18 ha. Survei di Sumatera telah menemukan spesies ini terjadi pada kepadatan sangat rendah. 

Habitat

Hutan primer dan hutan dataran rendah sekunder, dan dapat ditemukan di kebun dan perkebunan.

Distribusi

Spesies ini berada di Indonesia (Sumatera, Batam dan Bunguran di utara Kepulauan Natuna), Malaysia (di Semenanjung dan pulau Tioman), Semenanjung Thailand selatan (dari Tanah Genting Kra selatan), dan Singapura. 

Perilaku dan Ekologi

Nokturnal dan arboreal

Status IUCN Red List

Rentan

Tren Populasi

Penurunan

Ancaman

Spesies ini dikumpulkan untuk digunakan sebagai hewan peliharaan, dan sering dijual di seluruh Asia Tenggara. Gigi sering ditarik, mengakibatkan kematian atau infeksi. Jika hewan bertahan hidup, kurangnya gigi membuat reintroduksi mustahil. Populasi di Sumatera sangat dipengaruhi oleh perdagangan hewan peliharaan. Ada sedikit informasi yang tersedia tentang ancaman lain terhadap spesies ini. Hal ini relatif mudah beradaptasi dengan habitat antropogenik, dan jadi mungkin tidak terlalu terpengaruh oleh hilangnya hutan dari beberapa jenis primata lainnya. Namun demikian, hilangnya hutan telah begitu parah di wilayah yang ia cenderung untuk memiliki beberapa dampak negatif. 

Text adapted from Guidebook to Gunung Leuser National Park by UNESCO 

and Nekaris, A. & Streicher, U. 2008, 'Nycticebus coucang'

The Utterly Indifferent

There's only one thing worse than sell-outs like Patrick Moore and that is people who have given up. They are intelligent, hard-working and socially adjusted members of the community who have simply given up on the idea of saving the environment. 

A friend of mine said the same thing very recently; he stated that there's no way destruction and exploitation in this country, Indonesia, can be averted, it is a "way of life" and it "can't be stopped." When I protested, pointing out that he often takes trips out of the city into the jungles of Sumatra, very much enjoying the environment, I suggested his attitude was very much 'last chance to see' he agreed it was, and that's why he goes there; to see it before it is gone.

In my mind it is impossibly selfish to think like that. For me the worst thing is not even that my children will never see wild apes, exotic birds or old-growth forest, or that creatures such as the Orang Utan will no longer live in the wild, or even that such damage adversely affects the planet. It is that we will have caused the unnecessary destruction of such amazing and diverse creation for our own needs and none of it will ever be seen again.

I, for one, will not sit on the fence and watch that happen.

The Good, The Bad and the Utterly Indifferent

View across to the Leuser National Park, North Sumartra on a stunning day in February 2011.

A few weeks ago I wrote to Dr Patrick Moore, an ex-Greenpeace activist in the 70-80, who 'left' Greenpeace to start an 'environmental strategy' company called 'Greenspirit' (spot any similarity in the names?). 


The whole ethos of Greenspirit is 'trees are the answer' and that planting more trees will help such problems as soil degradation, erosion, global warming..and so on.
Take a guess at what type of trees they promote the planting of..you probably guessed right, yes it's palm oil trees, rubber trees and trees to be used for paper pulp. 


Essentially, Greenspirit work for APP (Asia Pulp and Paper) and Smart Tbk among others who are subsidiaries of Sinar Mas in Indonesia, the company that Nestle', Unilever, HSBC, Burger King and Carrefour have stopped buying from in the past few years because of their perceived 'unsound environmental practices'. Greenspirit write 'scientific' papers, extremely well-written rhetoric expounding the expansion of plantations throughout Indonesia ('trees are the answer', don't forget!), a country whose natural rain forests and some of the most spectacular flora and fauna in the World are under threat from complete destruction both by these plantations and by locals. 


Who has more of a right to the land?, I ask..Greenspirit will say that illegal logging is caused by poverty and 'poverty alleviation' is one of their clever heart and mind winning projects. But the locals see it as their land and their forest and we can easily suppose that these villagers cause substantially less damage than a major planting and logging operation. 


One thing that is certain is that the land of Indonesia does not belong to foreign companies like Greenspirit or by foreign investors but they are the ones making the profit in an ever expanding industry.


I'll admit my email to Dr Moore was somewhat emotive;

Greenspirit/Mr Patrick Moore,

I see. So, the Patrick Moore/Sinar Mas philosophy is 'let's cut down those old trees so we can plant nice new trees, because new trees are surely better than those horrible old ones'.

It is complete nonsense and unfortunately the kind of misinformation people can be made to believe, particularly SE Asians who often only see the monetary value of things not their intrinsic worth.

All Moore is, is a environmental consultant being paid to write eco-propaganda that suits the needs of APP/Sinar Mas and probably more than a few politicians (in more than a few countries). He is, indeed, quite contrary on almost all issues, which puts him in a fair few pockets in Canada and the US as well.

The destruction of old growth forests and peat lands releases many times more carbon into the atmosphere than any plantation forest can hope to capture over many years. Depletion of old growth forest leads to lack of food which leads to extinction of species and slowly puts an end to diversity. Roads and logging tracks cut up territory into smaller and smaller sections which many animals, birds and insects will not choose to leave.

Perhaps Mr. Moore will suggest cutting down the rest of Leuser National Park in Sumatra, relocating the remaining +/- 7000 Sumatran Orangutan to a plantation near him and seeing if he can live with watching them all die.

It’s all just dollar signs. I have seen plenty of plantations first hand and they are almost completely lacking in any biodiversity, due to the very nature of the plantation forest being a single species of tree or plant, not to mention the amount of daily human activity inside the forests (in the case of rubber and palm), it is not somewhere where animals choose to live, especially not for the short period before the trees are harvested, usually 5-15 years in the case of fast-wood fibre farms.

Patrick Moore is a businessman, getting rich from offering ‘advice’ to people who don’t know any better. Please check out his website www.greenspirit.com where you will see all of his brilliant money-making policies in the making. There is also a link to ‘Paradise with an Ocean View’ vacations in Cabo Pulmo, on the Sea of Cortez, Baja, Mexico.

Yes, it must be lovely Patrick. Will you be inviting all of your Indonesian peasant plantation workers for a vacation, too? Then you can show them just how many American dollars their labour has created for you.

I believe you once did great work with Greenpeace in the 1970's and 1980's, the kind of work people of my generation respect and praise men like you for.

However, whatever the motives for your change of perspective may be, you are making no friends in our neighbourhood today, sir.

Yours Faithfully,

AES, a concerned British resident in Sumatra

To which Dr Moore managed to answer;


Hello Andrew,

Here is the report we prepared for APP.

Please communicate in a civil manner and I may engage in conversation with you.

Cheers, Patrick Moore

Seems as though I touched a nerve.

Pass the buck, and let the Rupiah roll in.

What is the value of this piece of land in it's current state?
Is it better to leave it as wasteland or to plant a forest on it? 

Scrubland and village complex near Bohorok, not far from Bukit Lawang which borders the Leuser Rainforest Ecosystem in  North Sumatra

Image © otherworldadventures 2011, with permission.


It has been a surprising week for me. I openly attacked a veteran eco-activist turned corporate consultant because I dislike the industry that he now represents. It was an emotive letter and I got what I deserved, I guess. He fought back, challenging me to read his company, Greenspirit's, last report which defends the expansion of pulp-wood plantations in Sumatra.
They are very defensive but it is cleverly written and they make some strong arguments and have caused me to examine whether ecology and economy can 
exist side by side.


The plantation companies insist that they can..but can they and the government be trusted? 
The environmental groups insist that they cannot and that blind greed and destruction are the only cause and effect.. but are they deliberately obtuse and not even trying to see the big picture?


Logging companies' point of view-
http://www.scribd.com/doc/42850998/Plantation-Forestry-in-Indonesia-The-Greenspirit-Strategies-Perspective
Greenpeace's point of view-
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/publications/reports/SinarMas-APP/


I need a few days of research and digestion before I can write anything objectively :)


I'll leave you with this guy who I photographed in the wild in Gunung Leuser National Park June 2009

Putting a Price on Nature

Conservation doesn't 
come cheap.


An Indonesian coin worth 100 Rupiah dated 1978 declares "Hutan Untuk Kesejahteraan" or 'Forestry for Prosperity.'


Given the level of 'prosperity' seen on the streets of Sumatra 33 years later, it obviously hasn't provided the average Indonesian with much wealth or prosperity.


All that foreign companies have done is to make themselves wealthy and demonstrate to Indonesian villagers that there is a lucrative market for illegal hardwood timber which is easily exploited.

The Start of A Long and Unfamiliar Road

I am ever a stranger in this very familiar country, Indonesia..

Every time I leave my home it's clear to only me, that no matter how many years pass and how comfortable I become with living here, it will always be assumed by Indonesian people that I am an outsider, a tourist, in a place that I completely, and indefinitely, consider to be my home. There's no big 'graduation from Englishman to Indonesian' ceremony, no insignia or tattoo to wear that shows locals that one has committed an unquantifiable amount of ones time, energy, life to their country and its people, in my case its young people in my classrooms. 

Not that it matters, of course..I still love this enormous, beautiful, mixed-up country that has given me a loving wife and a wonderful daughter and son..the country of "Hello Mister", of welcoming and accepting people, the country whose natural beauty never let me leave and never fails to surprise and excite and make you feel like you have just arrived with a huge rucksack and way too much fancy gear. 

'No nation is perfect', and for no nation would this be more true than for Indonesia. However, many of its woes are beyond my comprehension and, more than that, as a foreigner I would be mistaken to believe that they are any of my business. I also refuse to blog for blogging's sake and do not suppose that I am talented or witty enough to deserve a following for stories about my favorite Pizza restaurant or which side of the bed I got up on today. (*)


However, I do wish to make one Indonesian woe, my business: 

The striving for conservation and sustaining of pioneer flora and fauna biodiversity within the vast and dense forest and mangrove ecosystems on the spectacular island of Sumatera (**). That is; protecting the forests in their 'original state',
something that caught my attention when I first visited the rainforest of Aceh in 2001 and I have been unable to forget. 

In Indonesia things often get hazy and lost in translation, even though it is democratic and people embrace freedom of speech and of press, the language is a serious barrier and cultural ethics and traditions, which are sometimes unintelligible to foreigners, often shape decision-making processes. The public have much less tolerance for corruption and nepotism, but they remain ever-present obstacles. In my opinion, education and reliable information is a most valuable contribution, to enable adults and children to understand the issues involved and to formulate their own opinions. 

To this end, and as much for my own development as for any reason, I endeavour to analyse and report as best I can on the changes and activities, both positive and negative, in my immediate environment of the Mount Leuser National Park, and other parks in Aceh, Riau (***) and West Sumatra which are of immense environmental importance, both locally and on a global scale. 


(*) Papa Rons, and the right-hand side.
(**) Old spelling of Sumatra
(***) Aceh - the Northernmost province of Sumatra.
       Riau - the Eastern part of Sumatra opposite Singapore 
       and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.