UNEP Urges Timber Importing
Nations and International Community to Back
Indonesia's Efforts by Boosting Customs
and Border Controls
The Hague/Nairobi, June 2007-The plight
of the 'old man of the forest' may be a
little brighter today as a result of crack
downs by Indonesian authorities on illegal
timber smuggling.
But the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) is warning that the future of the
orangutan, the rainforests of south East
Asia and the people whose livelihoods rely
on these ecosystems will ultimately depend
on international support and regional cooperation
especially from timber importing countries.
In recent weeks the Indonesian authorities
have stepped up action against the illegal
timber trade seizing 30,000 cubic meters
of processed wood in Nunukan, East Kalimantan
and arresting six people.
A further 40,000 cubic meters of processed
wood has been confiscated in Kutai, also
East Kalimantan Province along with several
arrests.
In a statement released at the triennial
conference of the Convention on the International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora
and Fauna (CITES) taking place The Hague,
Netherlands, UNEP Executive Director Achim
Steiner said: "We can only applaud
the efforts of the Indonesian authorities
to stamp out illegal logging and illegal
timber trading. It is this illegal trade
and the networks of groups who indiscriminately
exploit these nature-based assets that are
putting forest ecosystems, local peoples'
livelihoods, the orang-utan and a whole
host of other species in peril".
"The seizure of 70,000 cubic metres
of illegal wood represents around 3,000
truck loads of timber. But this must be
set against the fact that by some estimates
illegal logging is clearing 2.1 million
hectares of forest in Indonesia annually
worth an estimated $4 billion. This may
equate to several hundred thousand truckloads
? corresponding to a continuous line of
trucks from Paris to Bangkok," he added.
"Indonesia cannot and should not have
to deal with this issue alone. It requires
resources from the international community
to support the efforts of the authorities
including the wardens on the ground. Indonesia
also needs assistance from the timber trading
and importing nations including improved
policing and customs operations," added
Mr Steiner, who is also a UN Under-Secretary
General.
According to GRASP and its network of NGO
partners, hundreds of orang-utans have fled
out of the jungle and ended up in "refugee"
camps as illegal logging rapidly destroys
the last remaining rainforests of Southeast
Asia.
Further pressure is emerging from the burning
and clearance of forests for palm oil plantations
to produce biofuels. The greenhouse gas
emissions generated from the damage to forests
may entirely off-set the gains in emission
reductions when the bio diesel is substituted
a transport fuel.
Meanwhile, investigations by GRASP together
with CITES indicate that hundreds of orang-utans
are being rescued and kept in "rescue"
or "rehabilitation" camps as the
forest is cut or burnt down, straining the
resources of many NGOs.
The news comes in the wake of a Rapid Response
report from UNEP entitled the Last Stand
of the Orang-utan. It has found evidence
that logging companies, employing heavy
machinery and armed personnel, are also
operating in Indonesia's National Parks
in defiance of the law.
And while the Indonesian government has
effectively stopped illegal logging in some
parks by the use of police and military
force the companies, fuelled by the growing
demand from importing countries, continue
their illegal operations in others.
The rate of loss of the forests, which
has accelerated in the past five years,
outstrips a previous UNEP report released
in 2002 at the World Summit for Sustainable
Development (WSSD).
Then experts estimated that most of the
suitable orang-utan habitat would be lost
by 2032. New satellite imagery reveals that
the illegal logging is now entering a new
critical phase with the rainforests of south
East Asia disappearing 30 per cent faster
than had previously been supposed.
Satellite images, together with data from
the Indonesian Government, indicates that
illegal logging is now taking place in 37
out of 41 national parks and that suitable
forest habitat may be gone in a little as
a decade.
Melanie Virtue, who leads the GRASP at
UNEP, said: "We are observing illegal
trade in live orang-utans as a bi-product
of the illegal logging. When the forests
are burnt or cut down, mothers are often
killed while the juveniles are caught to
be used as pets, or sold on to zoos or safari
parks".
Female orang-utans only give birth every
6-8 years. Often, their mothers are shot
and juvenile apes then captured. In some
cases, orang-utans are sold for as little
as $100 and locally even far cheaper. As
the forest is cut down, more orang-utans
move into farmlands in search for food and
are then either shot or captured.
Willem Wijnstekers, Secretary General of
CITES, said: "It is very clear from
what is jointly conducted by CITES and GRASP,
that there is a highly organized structure
of illegal trade in orang-utans. Consequently,
there needs to be much higher law enforcement
priority allocated to combating this destructive
criminality. Such priority needs to come
not only from Indonesia, but from the countries
importing illegal timber and orang-utans".
The number of orang-utans sold and exported
is unknown but is believed to be in the
hundreds of not more. Rescue or rehabilitation
centres in Borneo contain around 1,000 orang-utans
and one has over 400 individuals alone.
Recently significant numbers of illegally
obtained young Bornean orang-utans have
been found in zoos in Thailand and Cambodia.
Christian Nellemann, a lead author on the
Rapid Response report, said: "The rate
of decline of the forests is the most alarming
we have seen yet anywhere in the World.
The real blame lies on the countries buying
the timber and wood products from illegal
sources. The stepping up of law enforcement
in Indonesia is a very encouraging step
indeed, but governments in importing countries
bear a direct responsibility for the crisis".
Other measures, able to assist consumers
in choosing sustainably harvested wood products
include certification and labelling.
Note to Editors:
Bornean and Sumatran orang-utans are classed
as Endangered and Critically Endangered
and are listed on Appendix 1 of the Convention
on the International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Recent estimates suggest there are between
45,000 and 69,000 Bornean and no more than
7,300 Sumatran orang-utans left in the wild.
The orang-utans share their habitat with
a wild range of other threatened and ecologically
important species including the Sumatran
tiger, Sumatran rhinoceros and Asian elephant.
UNEP and the UN Educational Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) have launched
the Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP)
in response to growing concern over the
plight of the orang-utan, chimpanzee, bonobo
and gorilla.
The report Last stand of the Orang-utan:
State of Emergency can be downloaded at
www.grida.no or at www.unep.org/grasp/docs/2007Jan-LastStand-of-Orangutan-report.pdf
or www.globio.info including high and low
resolution graphics for free use in publications.
For more information, please contact Nick
Nuttall, UNEP spokesperson, on Tel +254
20 7623084, Mobile +254 733 632755 E-mail:
nick.nuttall@unep.org
