Ripping Out the Heart of Borneo
Here comes a plan to turn 4.4 million hectares of mostly mountain rainforest in Borneo into the world's largest oil palm plantation. This insane plan, to be funded by China, is supported by the Indonesian government, despite the fact, according to the Worldwide Fund for Nature, that:
Most of this mountainous region, part of the "Heart of Borneo," still holds huge tracts of forests supporting endangered species like orangutans and pygmy elephants, and 14 of the island's 20 major rivers originate there. According to WWF, new species have been discovered there at a rate of three per month over the last decade, making the area one of the richest on the globe for biodiversity.
And despite the fact that some experts are saying it's not a good environment for growing oil palms anyway:
"It doesn't make commercial or conservation sense to rip the forest out of the Heart of Borneo to plant a crop that cannot grow in mountainous conditions," said Dr. Mubariq Ahmad, chief executive director of WWF-Indonesia.
At least it's not a project being funded by Malaysian companies! Small comfort that will be...you can read more about it at http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=51632
posted by Pyewacket at 11:49 AM
2 Comments:
My heart sinks in despair reading this. I posted a copy of the article to Malaysian Nature Society e-group. Was this story in the local papers? If not maybe you should send it to them too: I think our best hope for stopping this is to publicise the issue as widely as possible ...
It seems we're always having to fight something environmental or other when really none of it should be necessary. And when there's money to be made for someone, environmental concerns go by the board.
Good, Sharon, I'm so glad you forwarded it! I emailed Star about it, will forward to other papers as well.
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