Indonesia

Images from a vanishing forest

Posted by jamie — 13 November 2007 at 3:01pm - Comments

Lately, I've been working a lot on our palm oil campaign, so my spider senses are highly atuned to anything coming out of Sumatra and Indonesia in general. But two stories I found this morning, both on New Scientist, really underlined what's going on west of Java.

The first article features some astonishing images from the Zoological Society of London, caught by a motion-sensitive camera left in the middle of the forest. The impressive snaps include a herd of elephants and a golden cat, but the stand-out picture is of an inquisitive and rare Sumatran tiger, it's eyes glowing in the camera's flash. Take a look at the slideshow - they're incredble.

Article tagged as: climate change, conservation, deforestation, destructive logging, indonesia, palm oil

Palm oil: once you pop, you can't stop

Posted by jamie — 8 November 2007 at 10:55am - Comments

Vast oil palm plantations are destroying rainforests and peatlands in South East Asia

KitKat, Flora and Pringles are among the brands linked to destruction of forests and peatlands for palm oil © Greenpeace/Oka Budhi

If, as you read this, you're tucking into a KitKat or dipping into a tube of Pringles, you might be interested to know that they feature in our new report about the impact of the palm oil industry on tropical rainforests and climate change. Along with Flora margarine, these products contain palm oil which is linked to the destruction of forests and peatlands in Indonesia. As the report shows, it's a recipe for disaster.

Article tagged as: biodiesel, biofuels, climate change, forests, indonesia, nestle, palm oil, rspo, unilever

SOS Sumatra: saving the swamp forest from palm oil plantations

Posted by bex — 30 October 2007 at 1:25pm - Comments

Last week, Jamie wrote about our Forest Defenders Camp in Sumatra, Indonesia: the frontline of where peatland forest is being cleared for palm oil plantations.

Well, this week our volunteers out there are busy trying to stop the destruction of an area of swamp forest. Working with local communities, they're building dams across the canals that are used in logging and draining peatland.

From our international site:


Thick layers of peat underlie most of Indonesia's swamp forest. Over time, the peat layer has locked up millions of tonnes of carbon. Once forests are cleared, peat swamps are drained and decompose to release the stored carbon as carbon dioxide. Forests are often also burned, prior to the planting of palm oil saplings, further compounding the climate problem.

Article tagged as: climate change, forest defenders camp, forests, indonesia, palm oil, sumatra, videos

Indonesia gets its own climate change camp

Posted by jamie — 24 October 2007 at 1:42pm - Comments

The Forest Defenders Camp in Sumatra, Indonesia

Climate change and deforestation are inextricably linked. Forest destruction contributes around one-fifth of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions, more than the entire global transport sector, and the problem is so severe that Indonesia and Brazil are ranked third and fourth respectively in the list of top emitting countries, mainly because of deforestation.

It's against this background that our latest Forest Defenders Camp opened a couple of weeks ago on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, located on the frontline where the peatland forest is being cleared for palm oil plantations. Palm oil is used in hundreds of food and cosmetic products, as well as biofuels.

Article tagged as: climate change, deforestation, forest defenders camp, forests, indonesia, palm oil, sumatra

Behind the lens in the Himalayas and other stories

Posted by bex — 5 June 2007 at 12:41pm - Comments

We regularly put photos of Greenpeace events here in the UK on Flickr, but sometimes we neglect to share pics from our 30 other offices around the world. And, what with the G8 coming up, there's been quite a lot going on in Greenpeace world over the past few days. Here's a selection of our favourite pics:

 

Article tagged as: czech republic, direct actions, finland, germany, himalayas, images, indonesia, multimedia

Biofuels: green dream or climate change nightmare?

Posted by jamie — 9 May 2007 at 12:00am - Comments

As you may have already seen, along with WWF, the RSPB, Friends of the Earth and enoughsenough.org, we've placed an advert in several of today's papers warning the government about the environmental risks of biofuels as an alternative to petrol and diesel. Hang on, I imagine some of you are saying right now, aren't they supposed to be clean and green with the power to save us from the tyranny of fossil fuels? Well, yes... and no.

Article tagged as: biofuels, brazil, climate change, forests, indonesia, road transport, RTFO, transport

Indonesia gets new world record: fastest forest logger

Posted by jamie — 16 March 2007 at 10:54am - Comments

Protesters sawing through a huge wooden wall depicting Indonesia's rainforestsThis morning, the streets of Jakarta were buzzing with the sound of chainsaws. It wasn't a loggers' convention causing all the racket but protesters sawing through a huge wooden wall depicting Indonesia's rainforests.

Article tagged as: destructive logging, forests, illegal timber, indonesia

Going up in smoke

Posted by admin — 4 September 2006 at 8:00am - Comments

Forest fires are raging across Brazil and Indonesia

In tropical latitudes, months pass without any rain and in the dry season forests become susceptible to fire. These can occur naturally and would normally not pose a serious problem, but clearing land as a result of logging or to make way for plantations is exacerbating the problem and every year the fires spread faster and further.

Article tagged as: amazon, brazil, destructive logging, drought, forest fires, forests, indonesia
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