Blog: Forests

Charismatic megafauna at play. Did we get your attention?

The word 'biodiversity' is often bandied about as shorthand for 'lots of lovely animals and plants'. We probably think of African plains teeming with herds of antelopes, zebra and wildebeest, a jungle cacophonous with crickets, monkeys and birds, or perhaps a coral reef that looks like a still from Finding Nemo.

But that's because most of us are a little shallow when it comes to the species we co-inhabit this planet with. We get overexcited by the big things, the cuddly things, and the wow! things.

As world leaders line up in Copenhagen to agree a new climate treaty, we've also been working hard to secure a result that will have a positive impact on the global climate - by protecting Indonesia's forests.

Today we're publicly releasing new evidence that Sinar Mas, Indonesia’s biggest palm oil producer, has been persistently engaging in widespread illegal deforestation and peatland clearance. We presented presented the evidence in this dossier to one of their biggest customers, the giant Unilever corporation. Now Unilever has decided to stop buying palm oil from Sinar Mas.

Just hanging around... our activists shut down a paper mill that was busy pulping the rainforest.

After building dams and shutting down bulldozers to prevent further deforestation, the team at the Climate Defenders Camp in Indonesia has swung into action once more. At dawn, climbers entered a huge pulp and paper mill in Sumatra and scaled the massive loading cranes, blocking operations at the mill.

As I write, the latest reports are that three teams of climbers have been removed and detained, while a fourth remains in place on one of the cranes. In keeping with earlier reactions to the Climate Defenders, they've been threatened and intimidated but they're still holding out.