www.orangutan.org

Project "560"
The OFI is issuing a call to schoolchildren, classrooms, boys and girls' clubs, and civics groups worldwide to assist it in a massive undertaking designed to keep the world's last remaining orangutans from going extinct...
"Many young people today studying orangutans in school will shortly grow up, and tragically, never get to see these magnificent creatures at play in the wild because they are now being destroyed at unprecedented rates," notes OFI's distinguished founder and president, Dr. Biruté Galdikas. "That's why OFI has decided to take drastic measures to combat this drastic crisis. We're asking young people everywhere to enroll in "Project 560" - because young people have the greatest stake in determining what will be preserved - for themselves, their children, and for posterity. The illegal loggers and miners now plundering the planet's rain forests are simply being driven by old-fashioned adult greed. But young people are much more far-sighted than that, and that is why they will ultimately decide the orangutans' fate - and why they will ultimately hold the key to the world's future in their hands."


$560 a day...
Hiring patrols to protect Tanjung Puting National Park against the effects of illegal logging and gold mining is having an extremely positive effect; But the patrols cost money: roughly $560 a day. The costs include maintaining 12 police officers in guard posts and on five chartered boats, along with food, salaries, boat drivers, fuel, equipment, administration, and supplies.

Adopt a Day...
The OFI is therefore asking young people to come together in groups, "adopt" a particular day in the calendar, and then institute a fundraising program designed to raise enough money to protect the Park for that day!

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They truly are great animals. Seems it would be cheaper to remove them from the area into a protected habitat. Your talking $204, 400 per year, but I agree something needs to be done. That kind of money would feed a lot of starving kids too.

Just to let you guys know that we are up to $384.37 !!!
I think that is pretty good, but we still need to reach $560
Well done guys, and if you haven't already donated, then please do so even 5 or 10 bucks will help.

This is a fantastic idea!!!!

Whatever happend with this?Did you guys make your goal?How much was collected?(First post out of the way.)

I think this is a wonderful idea! Thanks for the link Paul!

I just found something interesting relating to big foot extinction. Go to www.palmoiltruthfoundation.com. It shows that despite all the hype, palm oil estates are not the ones responsible for orang utan extinction. The land used for the cultivation is already designated as agricultural land and plantation workers are even taught on how to heal orang utans if they come across an injured one! Really good stuff!

The Manilla Times

Thursday, July 26, 2007


Activists: Palm oil workers killing endangered orangutans


JAKARTA: 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.

Hardi Baktiantoro, director of the Center for Oran­gutan Protection (COP), said at least 1,500 orangutans perished in 2006, most as a result of deliberate attacks but also due to their habitat disappearing to make way for palm oil plantations.

“Orangutans have become the victims of torture by plantation workers as they wander and eat palm oil seedlings for survival,” Baktiantoro told reporters.

As plantation workers had to pay concession companies for the loss of the seedlings, they had no choice but to pursue the primates, he said.

Video footage screened at a press briefing showed dead orangutans with severe head wounds allegedly inflicted by workers as well as severely injured animals that were treated by COP and other local rescue teams.

Baktiantoro said that “even though this kind of cruelty violates Indonesia’s law on biodiversity conservation, no one until now has been arrested for this crime.”

The COP urged the Indonesian government to immediately cancel concessions to palm oil companies in a bid to protect the orangutans.

“Central Kalimantan is the final frontier of the oran­gutan population in Indonesia. If the forest clearing continues, we will soon lose our national treasure,” he warned.

Scientists estimate that 34,000 orangutans remain in Central Kalimantan province on Borneo.

Vice-President Jusuf Kalla has said that Indonesia plans to be the largest palm oil producer by 2008 amid strong demand from the global food, biofuel and chemicals industries.

Indonesia is currently the second largest producer after Malaysia although it has a much larger area for plantations. The two countries account for 85 percent of world production.

A spokesman for the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers’ Association was not immediately available for comment.
--AFP

Orangutans squeezed by biofuel boom
Indonesia, conservationists have different views of palm oil plantations

By Chris Brummitt

Updated: 9:49 a.m. PT Sept 4, 2007
TUMBANG KULING, Indonesia - Naingolan shunts the excavator into high gear and tears into a patch of smoldering forest on Borneo island, clearing the way for yet another palm oil plantation that Indonesia hopes will tap into a surge in global demand for biofuels.

Despite government claims pristine jungles are escaping the effects of the “green solution” to the energy crunch, the boom is threatening the survival of animals like the endangered orangutan and turning the country into a major global warming contributor, environmentalists say.

Paul, I agree that you're genuine. It's just that all this palm oil bashing by the environmental NGO's such as FOE< Treehugger and Wetlands have got my goat.

It rankles because we all know that palm oil is a widely available oil that is cheap and basically good for the environment as a biofuel. The attacks, I suspect is funded by western oils that, as the song goes "costs too much to be free!" That's what rankles.

Fortunately, people are wising up to this. In a recent Palm Oil Truth article, it was pointed out that an Ipsos Mori Poll just 2 months ago, conducted in the UK where more than 3,000 people were polled, revealed that the majority believed that the global warming issue was hyped up by these NGO's just to make money! See http://www.palmoiltruthfoundation.com/inde...&Itemid=558

Nightline Daily E-Mail
Tonight on 'Nightline'
Dec. 7, 2007

Orangutans Going Extinct?

The orangutan population is in danger and seriously on the decline due to hunting, illegal trade and deforestation. Some say they may become extinct within the next decade.

Nyaru Menteng is an orangutan rehabilitation center in Kalimantan, Indonesia, near the city of Palangkaraya. There, Lone Droscher-Nielsen, an orangutan enthusiast from Denmark, co-founded the project with the Bornean Orangutan Society (BOS) with the support of local forestry officials.

Tonight, ABC News' Nick Watt looks at her organization's remarkable story.