Films4Conservation
desolation
Is this what you imagine when I say Borneo?
This was primary forest last year. Now, in 2005 Borneo's forests are disappearing faster than ever. Figures reveal that 3 football pitches a minute are falling to the chainsaw and bulldozer in Kalimantan. These are not local people trying to make a living. The people native to the area you see above are in a state of shock. They do not know what to do. They feel they have lost everything. Deforestation is often seen as old news. We heard so much about it in the 1980's and maybe we think nothing has changed. But things have changed. This clearance in Borneo is far more devastating than illegal logging. More and more conservationists are coming back with positive news that illegal logging is not as destructive as previously thought. Areas under selective logging - where high value hard woods have been illegally logged out are recovering with stepped up protection. Primary species are growing again. Palm oil is a real menace however. The land clearance is total, as you can see from above. Nothing is left behind. What is more infuriating is that often the land is not then developed for palm oil but is left standing. The palm oil has been used as a smokescreen for logging.
Orangutans, sunbears, leaf monkeys, hornbills.... all the wildlife is gone. Most of the animals that lived here will have starved, or been hunted, or entered the pet trade. There is not enough room left for them to move on. The remaining small pockets of forest are at maximum capacity. Displaced wildlife can't survive in these areas.
Still, forest is being cleared whilst 25,000,000 ha of land stands cleared in Kalimantan. We drove for hour after hour through cleared land.
We are working hard to push forward a sustainable accreditation process, which will allow you as a consumer to make a decision not to contribute to this clearance. At present there is no responsible action you can take apart from lobbying your supermarkets to make big changes to their procurement strategies. Don't boycott palm oil, this won't work.
Shout about it. Demand that your supermarket does not implicate you in forest destruction. Help us get this film made.
Learn more:
If you think that deforestation is old news then you'll know that what is hitting the news over and over again is Global Climate Change. Well here's some new news for the media that is bored with deforestation. 30% of global carbon reserves are locked up in peat swamp. Indonesia has 50% of the world's peat swamp forests. Peat reaches up to 20 metres thick in some areas. With palm oil clearance burning is always a serious problem. Now that Kalimantan and Sumatra's lowland dry forest is all but gone, developers are turning their greedy eyes towards the hardwoods in peat swamp. Believe me when I say that this is not just a problem for orangutans, or local people in Kalimantan. When these peat swamps are cut into they drain and dry out. Making a tinderbox time bomb for CO2. So even for people who aren't too concerned that one of our closest relatives in on the verge of extinction, or that land-rights abuses are rife in the palm oil sector, this problem is one that will reach everyone in their countries around the world. Corporate greed and lack of political will is allowing this to go on unchecked. It is time for the consumer to demand that when they do their weekly shop they will not be contributing to this problem.
I'm currently working on the carbon issue, but there are in-depth reports available that flag up the orangutan crisis and the land rights issues. Have a look at:
www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/oil_for_ape_full.pdf
I have addresses for UK supermarkets that people can write to, does anyone from other countries want to see if they can put a list together of your native supermarkets and see if we can escalate this campaign to an international scale?
desolation
Is this what you imagine when I say Borneo?
This was primary forest last year. Now, in 2005 Borneo's forests are disappearing faster than ever. Figures reveal that 3 football pitches a minute are falling to the chainsaw and bulldozer in Kalimantan. These are not local people trying to make a living. The people native to the area you see above are in a state of shock. They do not know what to do. They feel they have lost everything. Deforestation is often seen as old news. We heard so much about it in the 1980's and maybe we think nothing has changed. But things have changed. This clearance in Borneo is far more devastating than illegal logging. More and more conservationists are coming back with positive news that illegal logging is not as destructive as previously thought. Areas under selective logging - where high value hard woods have been illegally logged out are recovering with stepped up protection. Primary species are growing again. Palm oil is a real menace however. The land clearance is total, as you can see from above. Nothing is left behind. What is more infuriating is that often the land is not then developed for palm oil but is left standing. The palm oil has been used as a smokescreen for logging.
Orangutans, sunbears, leaf monkeys, hornbills.... all the wildlife is gone. Most of the animals that lived here will have starved, or been hunted, or entered the pet trade. There is not enough room left for them to move on. The remaining small pockets of forest are at maximum capacity. Displaced wildlife can't survive in these areas.
Still, forest is being cleared whilst 25,000,000 ha of land stands cleared in Kalimantan. We drove for hour after hour through cleared land.
We are working hard to push forward a sustainable accreditation process, which will allow you as a consumer to make a decision not to contribute to this clearance. At present there is no responsible action you can take apart from lobbying your supermarkets to make big changes to their procurement strategies. Don't boycott palm oil, this won't work.
Shout about it. Demand that your supermarket does not implicate you in forest destruction. Help us get this film made.
Learn more:
If you think that deforestation is old news then you'll know that what is hitting the news over and over again is Global Climate Change. Well here's some new news for the media that is bored with deforestation. 30% of global carbon reserves are locked up in peat swamp. Indonesia has 50% of the world's peat swamp forests. Peat reaches up to 20 metres thick in some areas. With palm oil clearance burning is always a serious problem. Now that Kalimantan and Sumatra's lowland dry forest is all but gone, developers are turning their greedy eyes towards the hardwoods in peat swamp. Believe me when I say that this is not just a problem for orangutans, or local people in Kalimantan. When these peat swamps are cut into they drain and dry out. Making a tinderbox time bomb for CO2. So even for people who aren't too concerned that one of our closest relatives in on the verge of extinction, or that land-rights abuses are rife in the palm oil sector, this problem is one that will reach everyone in their countries around the world. Corporate greed and lack of political will is allowing this to go on unchecked. It is time for the consumer to demand that when they do their weekly shop they will not be contributing to this problem.
I'm currently working on the carbon issue, but there are in-depth reports available that flag up the orangutan crisis and the land rights issues. Have a look at:
www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/oil_for_ape_full.pdf
I have addresses for UK supermarkets that people can write to, does anyone from other countries want to see if they can put a list together of your native supermarkets and see if we can escalate this campaign to an international scale?