A guest post from Laura at our international office in Amsterdam which was first posted on the Climate Rescue blog
Early on Sunday a fire destroyed part of the Climate Defenders Camp in Indonesia on Riau’s Kampar Peninsula. The flames were spotted by villagers across the Kampar river in Teluk Meranti in the early hours of the morning. Luckily the camp's caretaker was not there at the time and no one was injured.
The camp was built in October 2009 with local help in order to bring attention to the cost of forest destruction to the climate, local communities and biodiversity. In the run-up to the Copenhagen Climate Summit our activists staged several actions around the Climate Defenders Camp before passing it on to the community in November 2009.
An image of the camp as it was:
What the camp looks like after the fire:
Initial investigations by the local police indicate that the fire was started deliberately and it has already been reported in the Jakarta Post. The camp is a symbol of our continuing commitment to campaign with the local community to stop the destruction of forests and carbon-rich peatlands - and this commitment remains as strong as ever. The Kampar peninsula is one of the largest peatland areas in the world and is under threat of destruction from pulp-and paper companies like APP (Asia Pulp and Paper) a subsidiary of palm oil supplier Sinar Mas.
Sinar Mas is destroying forest and peatland in Indonesia partially for pulp and paper and partially to make way for palm oil plantations.You can help us campaign against forest destroyers like Sinar Mas and protect Indonesia's rainforests by supporting our latest effort - our Kit Kat campaign. We are asking Nestlé (maker of Kit Kat) to stop using Sinar Mas palm oil and paper products - which come from forest destruction.
More images of the fire's aftermath at our Climate Defenders Camp:
More images from the Climate Defenders Camp:
