Panda Passport: Say thank you for protecting Sumatra’s forests!
Applaud and thank the Indonesian officials who signed the first-ever island-wide commitment to protect Sumatra ’s stunning biodiversity and urge them to continue to work together to implement a plan that will protect high conservation value areas and the Indonesian island of Sumatra holds some of the world’s most diverse – and endangered – forests, which provide livelihoods for millions of people and shelter some of the world’s rarest species. Sumatra is the only place on earth where all endangered rhinos, elephants, tigers and orangutans occur together.
Take a pledge to use less paper because half of the trees cut commercially in Sumatra end up in paper products. Yet much of this paper use is wasteful and unnecessary. Join to www.shrinkpaper.org and find interesting ways to use less paper for individuals as well as businesses.
Sign Online Petition: Stop Logging Indonesian Rainforest and Endangered Orangutan Habitat
A proposal for further forest clearing and destruction of over 33,600 ha of rainforest has recently been put forward by a joint venture company, Asia Pulp & Paper/Sinar Mas Group.
The Bukit Tigapuluh ("Thirty Hills") ecosystem is located in Central Sumatra, Indonesia. This globally important ecosystem provides a safe haven for many species which are threatened by extinction or are extremely rare - including the critically endangered Sumatran orang-utan, tiger and elephant.
Over 100 orangutans have been released to date via the Bukit Tigapuluh Sumatran Orangutan Reintroduction Project - the only reintroduction site for this critically endangered species. It took scientists decades to discover how to successfully reintroduce critically endangered orangutans from captivity into the wild and it could take APP just months to destroy an important part of their new habitat.
Between 1985 and 2007, Sumatra island lost 12 million hectares of natural forest, a 48 percent loss in 22 years. By 2007, the island had only 30 percent natural forest cover (around 13 million hectares).
The Indonesian Ministries of Forestry, Environment, Public Works and Interior, as well as the governors of all 10 Sumatran provinces, including Jambi, last year announced their collective commitment to protecting the areas of the island with "high conservation values."
The natural forest slated for destruction by APP - Bukit Tigapuluh - is a prime example of the high conservation value areas that the governors promised to protect. If the APP proposal for pulp paper production is accepted is will destroy the forest home of many species, and clearing on the ground could start as soon as 2010
Many environmental NGOs and Government organisations work in the landscape (including WARSI, the Sumatran Tiger Conservation and Protection Foundation, Frankfurt Zoological Society, Zoological Society of London, WWF and the Australian Orangutan Project).
Several Australian Government and NGOs also financially support the landscape including the Australian Orangutan Project, Human Society International (Australia), Perth Zoo, Auckland Zoo, Adelaide Zoo, Australia Zoo, and Dream World. Hundreds of individual Australians also provide financial support for the Park's protection through the Australian Orangutan Project's Safe Guard Program.
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