24 November 2009 - Teluk
Meranti, Indonesia — Our activists at the
Climate Defenders Camp in Indonesia have
had an tough time lately. Many of them have
been arrested, interrogated and deported
- along with independent journalists. At
one point police even
tried to shut down the entire camp. Yet
thanks to local support, our camp continues,
in the heart of the rainforest, with the
spirit and resolve of those remaining now
stronger than ever as we celebrate a first
positive step resulting from our work.
The Indonesian Ministry
of Forestry has suspended the operation
of Asia Pacific Resources International
Holding Limited (APRIL) on the Kampar Peninsula
- pending an investigation into their permits.
This is the pulp and paper giant that our
activists shutdown earlier this month. And
as local authorities do their best to silence
us we're witnessing a dramatic growth in
both local and international support to
protect forests for the climate in Indonesia
- and across the globe Washington Post,
Financial Times, TIME, Treehugger).
Direct action to defend
the climate
50 activists shut down APRIL's operations
on the Kampar Peninsula - and as a result
many were arrested, intensively interrogated
and 11 foreigners were deported.
Immediately, the Indonesian police gave
the camp an eviction order. After a 24 hour
reprieve, secured by our team on the ground,
300 members of the local community arrived
at the camp to show us their overwhelming
support - forcing the Chief of Police to
reverse his decision to close us down. Our
Deputy Program Director, Sarah Burton, was
at the camp to express our global commitment
to stop deforestation and thank the local
community members for their support.
Since then, the police
have arrested, detained and deported two
more campaigners from Italy and Belgium
and two journalists who were on their way
to the camp with us from India and Italy.
But the local community have demonstrated
their support once again and our camp remains
active thanks to them!
National support culminates
in Jakarta rally
Over the weekend, more than 100 Greenpeace
activists and supporters from several of
Java’s main cities rallied in support of
President Yudhoyono’s international commitment
to reduce carbon emissions from Indonesia.
They unfolded a banner reading, “Stop talking,
start acting – save the forests for our
future”.
At the Pittsburgh G20
Summit earlier this year, President Yudhoyono
made an international commitment to a 41
percent reduction in carbon emissions if
this was supported with international money.
This commitment also needs to be matched
by developed countries making deep emissions
cuts at home. And they need to support forested
countries like Indonesia by committing to
a fund to protect tropical forests. Click
here to read more about our Forests for
Climate solution.
Worldwide support for
forest protection
Following the detainment and deportation
of our Italian campaigner and an independent
Italian journalist, Italy's Ministry of
Foreign Affairs put out its strongest ever
statement on the importance of tackling
forest destruction, responsible for about
a fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions.
That led to Italian supermarket chain, the
Co-Op, writing to its suppliers demanding
that they stop any dealings with companies
linked to Indonesian rainforest destruction.
Meanwhile - in Rome an orangutan family
of climate refugees sent a message to President
Berlusconi asking him to "Cut CO2 not
forests". Back in Indonesia, our team
unfurled a banner in a deforested area in
Indonesia to send the same message to the
President from the frontline of destruction.
Over in Switzerland
- homeless orang-utans stole the show outside
key Government ministries in the capital
– they camped out in trees outside government
buildings all night to bring the issue to
the attention of the Swiss Heads of State.
The Netherlands Prime
Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, was urged
to seek a strong agreement in Copenhagen
next month as wishes were placed in thousands
of shoes which were positioned in The Hague's
center square by Dutch Greenpeace volunteers.
Traditionally, children throughout The Netherlands
leave shoes out for Sinterklaas (The Dutch
version of Santa Claus) and expect something
in return. This year - we're asking for
a good deal in Copenhagen, including a forest
fund.
All roads lead to Copenhagen
About one fifth of global greenhouse gas
emissions come from deforestation, making
it one of the roots of the climate crisis.
We will only avert this crisis if Obama,
Merkel, Sarkozy, Brown and other world leaders
commit to much deeper cuts in emissions
from fossil fuels and to provide the critical
funds needed so that countries like Indonesia
can end deforestation. If they fail, we
will face mass extinctions, floods, droughts
and famine before the end of the century.
The climate deal is expected to include
a new scheme to Reduced Emissions from Deforestation
and Degradation (REDD), which will provide
the funds needed for nations such as Brazil
and Indonesia to end deforestation.
Over a million hectares
of forest, mostly tropical rainforest, are
destroyed every month – that is an area
of forest the size of a football pitch every
two seconds. Indonesia has become the world's
third largest climate polluter, after China
and the US, since it emits such huge quantities
of CO2 - mostly from forest and peatland
destruction. The peatland forest on the
Kampar Peninsula forms part of one of the
largest natural carbon "sinks"
in the world and is home to rare species
including orangutan and the Sumatran tiger.
We set up our Climate
Defenders Camp in Indonesia last month to
bring urgent attention to the role that
rainforest and peatland destruction play
in driving dangerous climate change in the
run-up to the critical UN Copenhagen Climate
Summit this December.
Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) and its main rival
APRIL are key drivers of rainforest and
peatland destruction on the Kampar Peninsula.
We hope the Indonesian authorities stop
intimidating peaceful protestors who are
trying to help President Yudhoyono fulfill
the commitment he has made to cut Indonesia’s
massive CO2 emissions - and instead continue
to investigate companies like APRIL that
are destroying the forest and driving global
climate change.
