Deforestation

Helen Buckland, UK director of the Sumatran Orangutan Society, reports on developments at the recent Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil meeting...

It's no secret that the palm oil industry is responsible for massive deforestation in Indonesia, but it's now gone some way towards acknowledging the value of rainforests and how vital they are for conserving endangered species, including orangutans.

With so little habitat remaining in Sumatra and Borneo, it is vital to preserve even degraded forests to ensure the survival of orangutans in the wild.

Scientists are objecting to claims made by industry lobby groups, including the amount of carbon stored in plantations compared to rainforests © Greenpeace/Behring-Chisholm

Big oil companies are not the only ones to engage in a spot of sneaky zeitgeist manipulation. The palm oil, paper and timber companies of South East Asia are also dabbling in these dark arts with various front organisations softly massaging public and political opinion.

Both Sinar Mas and Rimbunan Hijau - a Malaysian agribusiness giant - have strong links to Alan Oxley, who runs two groups, the World Growth Institute (WGI) thinktank and consultants ITS Global, both of which have been lobbying hard on behalf of their corporate benefactors.

I was hoping to write my first post in Indonesia from the Rainbow Warrior. As it turns out, the Warrior is anchored out at sea, waiting for permission to get into the country from the Indonesian government. The ship and crew have been there for several days now, occasionally communicating with Indonesian supporters by virtual hookup (at this event for disappointed supporters) instead of in the steel flesh everyone was hoping see.

On the other hand I am very much here, in the middle of Jakarta, on the most densely populated island on Earth (Java). What can I tell you about Jakarta? It smells of cloves. The congested traffic crawls. The people are interesting, enthusiastic, gracious. It's humid - really humid. Every day, a downpour or two washes away the smog and cools the city down; you can almost hear the pavements sizzle.

Now the arrival in the UK of Aida Greenbury, the Director of Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement for the notorious Asia Pulp and Paper, is always going to get Greenpeace excited - it’s not often she has to defend her company's actions live and online. But our excitement turned a little sour when APP refused our request to debate Aida directly on Print Week's webcast. Perhaps APP's new PR agency Cohn and Wolfe is advising Aida against talking to us in public.