Greenpeace activists shut down an APRIL logging concession yesterday.
Ian is the member of our forests campaigning team dealing with Indonesia.
Yesterday, as Greenpeace activists were preparing to close down the pulp and paper operations of one of Indonesia's biggest forest criminals APRIL, (or 'Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings'), back here in the UK I was just starting a meeting with UK climate minister Joan Ruddock.
What's the connection between our activists in the field, and me in a meeting room in London? Well it certainly wasn't our choice of outfits - they probably wouldn't let me into DECC with a red boiler suit on, and a suit and tie isn't particularly suitable for the Indonesian rainforest.
The link is that Joan, second in command at the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), is off to Indonesia in the coming weeks to explore the issues that make the country the third largest carbon emitter on the planet.
Knowing that the action was going on during my meeting was a good inspiration. If Joan had the chance to speak to the activists locked on to APRIL's diggers they'd tell her that protecting Indonesia's peatland forests is the single biggest priority if Indonesia is going to reduce its carbon emissions. They might also mention that if you take peatland destruction out of the equation, Indonesia drops from third to twenty first in the global carbon emitting league table.
The reason why peat is so important and why Joan should take note is because it stores a huge amount of carbon. It's basically an early form of coal. Peat is often found in wetland areas, and to make these suitable for plantations, logging companies drain it, which releases millions of tonnes of climate changing carbon into the atmosphere. That's why although Indonesia's peat lands cover just 0.1% of the earth's surface; they are responsible for a staggering 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Ultimately the Indonesian government is unlikely to put a stop to this tragedy unless they feel international pressure. With just weeks until Copenhagen, where a global climate deal that includes forest protection will hopefully be agreed, now is the time for Joan to press her counterparts for some real commitments that would put peatland forests off limits to further destruction and help tackle climate change. And that's what we talked about yesterday.
So good luck Joan, have a great trip, and let's see some of that climate leadership we hear so much about, because as I'm sure our activists in Indonesia will agree, now is definitely the time.
