For information on biodiversity conservation in Borneo, please visit: http://borneoproject.org/borneo/biodiversity-conservation.

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http://phys.org/news/2012-05-male-orangutans-quality-forests.html

Male orangutans need quality forests

May 3, 2012

A male orangutan in the forest of the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary (Copyright: Rudi Delvaux).

(Phys.org) — Cardiff University researchers have discovered further proof that orangutans need large swaths of forests to survive.

The study, recently published in the scientific journal Molecular Ecology, showed that the male orangutan would navigate much longer distances than the females and suggests changes are needed to ensure that males are able to move between suitable habitat patches.

The findings, from a Cardiff scientist based at the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) and colleagues from the Institute of Anthropology in Zürich, Switzerland, were based on faecal samples collected from male orangutans at seven sites in Borneo, including Kinabatangan South and North and Danum Valley in Sabah, and two in Sumatra.

Sabah Wildlife Department Director Dr Laurentius Ambu said the findings were further proof that the orangutan needs high-quality natural forests. “If orangutans are to be efficiently protected, a sufficient network of high-quality natural forest and dispersal corridors must be restored across Borneo and Sumatra to allow the orangutan to disperse naturally,” he explained.

The findings follow previous studies from the field centre into the orangutan population. “During a previous study published in 2006, a drastic decline in the orangutan population size was discovered, mostly due to habitat loss. In addition, a loss of male dispersal due to habitat fragmentation will significantly increase the effects of genetic drift (loss of genetic variation) due to small local population sizes and extreme female philopatry, as female orangutans tend to stay in the area where they were born throughout their lives, while males tend to disperse,” explained Dr Benoit Goossens, of the University’s School of Biosciences and Director of the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC).

The research shows it is highly desirable that all orangutan populations are connected through gene flow. “In order to conserve the natural genetic structure and the genetic health of orangutan populations, it is therefore crucial to ensure that males are able to move between suitable habitat patches, even if they are far apart. An effective immigration rate of one to two animals per generation (every 15-20 years) is considered to be the minimum to reduce the negative fitness effects of inbreeding depression (reduced fitness in a given population as a result of breeding of related individuals),” stressed Dr Goossens.

When addressing the need for restored forests across Borneo and Sumatra, Dr Ambu concluded. “It is a big challenge in front of us, where governments, industries and NGOs should work hand-in-hand in order to achieve it”.

Provided by Cardiff University

For general information on Borneo, please visit: http://borneoproject.org/borneo/introduction-to-borneo

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/may/05/david-attenborough-bbc-series?newsfeed=true

• Maggie Brown
• The Guardian

David Attenborough in the BBC series Life In Cold Blood. Photograph: Bbc/PA

 

The BBC is to broadcast a documentary series looking back over Sir David Attenborough‘s remarkable 60-year broadcasting career, including a return to the Borneo jungle, where he first encountered an orangutan in the wild in the 1950s.

In the three-part BBC2 documentary, Attenborough will review advances in programme-making technology, science, and the study of natural history and the environment over the past 60 years, and revisit award-winning shows including Life on Earth, The Blue Planet and Frozen Planet.

Along the way Attenborough, who celebrates his 86th birthday on 8 May, will recount anecdotes – including being rejected early in his career by BBC Radio because his teeth were judged to be too big – an alleged defect fortunately overlooked by the BBC’s nascent television service.

“It is in the can, all done. It really covers the three areas which fascinate me, the technology, the development of science during my lifetime, and the environment,” he said.

He is also presenting Kingdom of Plants 3D on Sky Atlantic later this month and at a launch for the show last week he paid tribute to the scientists who have been willing to share years of research with him during his career, making his TV documentaries possible. “My job could not be done without the scientists. Provided the scientists believe you are playing fair, they are not in any way possessive of the difficult things they have discovered.”

Attenborough’s career is perhaps unique in UK broadcasting in its breadth and longevity. After establishing himself as a BBC natural history presenter in the 1950s, he studied for a postgraduate degree, returning to broadcasting as BBC2 controller in 1965.

During his tenure the channel was the first in the UK to switch to colour, in 1967, and commissioned shows including Monty Python’s Flying Circus and landmark documentaries such as Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation.

Attenborough was promoted to director of programmes in 1969, overseeing all BBC TV output, but returned to programme-making four years later. He developed and presented Life on Earth, broadcast in 1979, which in its scope and ambition set the benchmark for the landmark BBC natural history documentary series his name has been synonymous with ever since.

Attenborough, 60 Years in the Wild will air in October, spanning a broadcasting career that began when he joined the BBC in 1952. He returned to the Borneo jungle for the documentary, to shoot new footage where he was filmed with an orangutan for the 1956 BBC documentary Zoo Quest. Later in the same series Attenborough came face to face with a giant lizard, the Komodo dragon.

The new series covers the developments in programme-making Attenborough has lived through and exploited, from the early TV cameras used for Zoo Quest, which only recorded noisily for two minutes at a time, to the latest high-definition, 3D and micro-camera technology.

It also charts the rapid advances in science he has witnessed – ranging from discoveries about the structure of DNA to a better understanding of continental drift – since he was a zoology student at Cambridge university, and the often grim environmental consequences of rapid economic and population growth.

Attenborough is working on the new series with Alastair Fothergill, a longtime collaborator and BBC Natural History Unit executive producer, who told the Guardian that in Borneo Attenborough was filmed standing in the exact spot in the river bed where more than 50 years previously there was pristine jungle, but which is now planted with oil palms.

The series also features archive footage from Attenborough’s many documentaries and interviews recorded in his study at his home in Richmond, London.

Fothergill said: “David is unique. Think about it, he has seen more of the natural world than anyone ever before him. He was able to make use of the start of commercial international air travel. He started just after world war two, when much of the natural world was still pristine, there was such a different feel. In his life time he has seen all that change.”

On the perennial question of when Attenborough will retire, Fothergill, who has worked with him since The Trials of Life series in 1990, admitted he thought last year’s Frozen Planet would be his last major BBC series.

However, Attenborough, who will be travelling to the Galápagos Islands for his next Sky 3D documentary, was sounding as sprightly as ever. “Retire? The world is infinitely complex. Major things have happened in the last 50 years year … extraordinary.”

For more information on palm oil in Borneo, please visit: http://borneoproject.org/borneo/overview-of-current-threats.

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http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0427-palm-oil-impact-borneo.html

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Palm oil is a major driver of peatlands destruction in Indonesian Borneo, finds new study

mongabay.com
April 27, 2012

Despite ‘moratorium’, palm oil plantations being widely developed on peatlands in Indonesia, boosting emissions

Deforestation in Ketapang District, West Kalimantan

Developers in Indonesian Borneo are increasingly converting carbon-dense peatlands for oil palm plantations, driving deforestation and boosting greenhouse gas emissions, reports a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research concludes that nearly all unprotected forests in Ketapang District in West Kalimantan will be gone by 2020 given current trends.

The study, which was led by Kim Carlson of Yale and Stanford University, is based on comprehensive socioeconomic surveys, high-resolution satellite imagery, and carbon mapping of the Ketapang, which is home to some of the most biodiverse forests on the planet including those of Gunung Palung National Park.

Carlson and colleagues found that while developers focused on lowland forest areas for conversion between 1994-2001, the subsequently focused of peatlands. By 2008 nearly 70 percent of new plantations were established on peatlands, spurring substantial carbon dioxide emissions. The study projects that up to 90 percent of emissions from palm oil plantations will come from peatlands by 2020.

The findings are timely because the Malaysian and Indonesian palm oil industries are currently making a case that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions estimates for palm oil production are too high. In concluding that palm oil-based biodiesel won’t sufficiently reduce emissions relative to conventional fuel, the EPA assumed that 9 percent of Malaysian and 13 percent of Indonesian palm oil is produced on peatlands. The new study suggests that future oil palm development may be concentrated of peatlands, boosting the carbon footprint of palm oil, thereby undermining the palm oil industry’s protests.

Study region in Ketapang District, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. (A) 2008 land cover in oil palm leases. Whereas 6% of non-PA lands were cleared for or planted with oil palm, 91% of plantation leases sited mainly (62%) on peatlands remained undeveloped. (B) Land cover sources for oil palm, 1994–2011. Forests (intact, logged, and secondary) were the primary land cover source (49%) for oil palm. By 2011, oil palm spanned 14% of non-PA lands. (C) Business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, 2020. Forests cover only 24% of the region, and oil palm occupies 41% of non-PA lands. (D) FPSec scenario, 2020. Protection against deforestation and degradation of intact and logged forests in PAs and undeveloped oil palm leases yields 36% greater forest fraction (32% of the region) and 28% lower oil palm area (∼30% of non-PA lands) compared with BAU. Image and caption modified from Carlson et al 2012.

The findings are also significant because Indonesia has pledged to protect peatlands under its national greenhouse gas emissions reduction commitment. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last year established a moratorium on new concessions in peatland areas, a move that comes on top of an earlier ban on conversion of peat areas deeper than three meters (ten feet).

“Preventing oil palm establishment on peatlands will be critical for any greenhouse gas emissions-reduction strategy,” said Carlson in a statement.

Overall the research found that half of oil palm plantations in Ketapang were established on peatlands through 2011.

To curb emissions from projected oil palm expansion, the authors argue that Ketapang would need to protect both logged and intact forests as well as prevent agricultural fires. Even so, conversion of 280,000 acres of a million acres of community land by 2020 is virtually inevitable, according to the research. The most likely case is that 35 percent of all community lands will be cleared for oil palm by 2020.

“Unfortunately forest and peatland protection does not automatically generate benefits for local communities,” said study co-author Lisa Curran, a professor of anthropology at Stanford University. “To become truly sustainable, oil palm companies must not only protect existing forests and carbon stocks, but should ensure that any land acquired from resident smallholder farmers and communities meets the criteria for free, prior and informed consent, and is equitably and transparently compensated.”

Carlson added that it was important the research incorporate the impacts of oil palm expansion and forest conversion on local communities.

“Early on we decided to include people in our assessment,” said Carlson. “Local residents and their lands are often forgotten in conversations about forests.”

Current and projected and use in Ketapang District

Carlson et al (2011). Committed Carbon Emissions Deforestation, and Community Land Conversion from Oil Palm Plantation Expansion in West Kalimantan, Indonesia PNAS Early Edition for April 27, 2012.

Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0427-palm-oil-impact-borneo.html#ixzz1uaiS9cBg

For information on indigenous land protection in Borneo, please visit: http://borneoproject.org/our-work/ongoing-campaigns/indigenous-land-protection.

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BORNEO RESOURCES INSTITUTE MALAYSIA
Lot 1046, 2nd Flr. Shang Garden Com. Centre
Jalan Bulan Sabit
98000 Miri, Sarawak
MALAYSIA

9 May 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Penan headman demands Borneo Post’s full apology and retraction of article
MIRI – Headman Juwin Lehan of Long Win village in Tutoh, Baram demands that a local newspaper, the Borneo Post to tender a full apology and retraction of the article with the headline “Penan sever ties with rights, environmental groups” which was featured in page two of the paper yesterday.

During a phone interview with one of BRIMAS’ contacts yesterday, Juwin said that what was written in the paper were false and never knew there were journalist present recording his meeting with the Miri Resident, Anthonio Khati Galis and the Penan Community leader Temenggong Datuk Hassan Sui at the former’s office.

“I was invited to the Resident’s Office by Temenggong Datuk Hassan Sui for a meeting with the Resident and himself and initially, I was not sure what the meeting was about,” said Juwin.

Later, when Juwin and his wife went to the Resident’s Office, he learnt that the meeting was to inform that his name have been short listed as a candidate to be a Community Chief or Penghulu.

“During the meeting, apart from the Resident and the Temenggong they were a few other people present there whom I do not recognise.

“They asked me questions about my involvement with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and warned me that I would not be qualified to be Penghulu if I continue to work with NGOs.

Juwin denied ever making statements that said that he was misled by local and foreign human rights groups including Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia). He also denies that the Penan communities had not benefited from the funds raised by the groups to assist their community.

“All I said was, the Penans are still lagging behind other communities, however we are not against development and we are willing to work with anyone who is willing to assist our community be it the government or the NGOs.

“I am very disappointed with whoever was the mischievous reporter who had very irresponsibly and unethically put words into my mouth and distorted what I had actually said during the meeting. In any case, I am not desperate for any position, Penghulu or otherwise,” added Juwin.

BRIMAS is also disappointed with the article in Borneo Post alleging that the Penans were being manipulated by the NGOs. The media should be more responsible in their reporting and not distort the truth to benefit certain people in power.

- End -
Press Statement by:
Mark Bujang
Executive Director,

BRIMAS

For information on biodiversity conservation in Borneo, please visit: http://borneoproject.org/borneo/biodiversity-conservation

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http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/04/29/tapirs-and-seed-dispersal/

Tapirs and seed dispersal

by Tom McLaughlin. Posted on April 29, 2012, Sunday

HOW are seeds dispersed now that large animals – elephants and rhinoceroses – have been hunted from their ecological habitats? Will tapirs take their place?

BRIGHTER FUTURE: Although an endangered species, tapir survival looks a bit brighter than for rhinos and elephants. — Photos by Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz

Rhinoceroses were once plentiful throughout the Southeast Asian ecosystem. They consumed vast quantities of plants and seeds and moved from one area to another releasing seeds in their excrement, thus aiding in dispersal.

However, the demand for rhinos because of Chinese medicine claims has decimated the population to the point where they are now on the critically endangered list. Conservation efforts by governments have largely failed throughout the world.

Elephants were also responsible for the wide dispersal of seeds – eating and then leaving their excrement from one place to another. Their habitat has been decimated from hunting for ivory and the planting of plantations.

Accumulating evidence has demonstrated the understory of the forest has shown a dramatic reduction in fruit trees formerly dispersed by these gentle giants. The ecological cascade has affected many species in the food web.

Could the Malayan tapir, the third largest ruminant after these great beasts, replace these wonders for seed dispersal? There are a couple of things in their favour. None of their body parts are used in traditional medicine. Their meat is not favoured. Although an endangered species, their survival looks a bit brighter than for rhinos and elephants.

Malayan tapirs are usually about 1.8 metres long and weigh about 350kg. They are solitary animals and eat fallen fruits and twigs from the forest floor. Running into thick bushes is their defence from tigers – their major predator.

An experiment conducted at the Wildlife Reserves in Singapore made an attempt to answer whether the tapir could replace the rhino and elephant for seed dispersal. Nine plant species, seven from Southeast Asia, were fed to eight Malayan tapirs, seven of which were born in captivity.

The fruits, purchased at a local market, included mango, durian, cempedak, rambutan, mangosteen, tamarind, longan, Dillenia sp (locally known as air simpoh) and papaya. A known number of seed fruit were fed to the tapirs. For example, the rambutan has a large central seed and the number the tapirs ate were counted.

Five hours later, the tapir dung was collected and the seeds counted. The seeds were then planted in pots to see if they would germinate after a journey through the digestive system.

Large seeds (durian, cempedak and tamarind) failed to germinate. Very few mid-sized seeds did not survive the gut passage. In comparison, elephants defecated 75 per cent of ingested tamarind seeds where 65 per cent germinated in a similar experiment performed elsewhere.

The tapirs are picky eaters. They have a special aversion to durians. They spat out or dropped many seeds eating only the flesh. Elephants gobbled and gulped everything in a single swallow. The tapirs also found great difficulty with eating hard elephant apples although the researchers concede this could possibly be because they were captive and had not been exposed to the fruit.

The digestive system of tapirs and elephants could also be a major factor. Because of their teeth, tapirs are much better in crushing seeds than elephants or rhinos. The gut passage time is much longer in tapirs than in the larger denizens allowing the digestive juices to work more effectively.

These preliminary conclusions suggests the tapir will not replace elephants and rhinos for seed dispersal. However, the authors suggest many more studies must be performed in order to assess the role played by other dispersing critters including bears and hornbills. They also relate there needs to be further studies on the digestive systems of all major participates in seed dispersal before any concrete conclusions can be reached.

As the world’s rainforests become more fragmented and will eventually become islands surrounded by agriculture and human living space, the management of these remaining areas needs to be fully understood. This first study of the role of tapirs and seed dispersal is an important step in saving the ecosystem that will be left.

For more read ‘Asian Tapirs Are No Elephants When It Comes To Seed Dispersal’ by Campos-Arceiz et al, Biotropica 44(2):220-227 2012.

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all.

For information on biodiversity conservation in Borneo, please visit: http://borneoproject.org/borneo/biodiversity-conservation.

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http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/travel/149118435.html

A mother and infant orangutan in Borneo.

Photo: Ian Wood, www.agoodplace.co.uk

For more information on palm oil production and current threats in Borneo, please visit: http://borneoproject.org/borneo/overview-of-current-threats

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http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0426-palm_oil_epa.html

Palm oil industry lobbies EPA to reverse palm oil biofuel findings

mongabay.com
April 26, 2012

Deforestation for oil palm, which is used to produce palm oil, in Sumatra. PHoto by Rhett A. Butler

Wilmar International, the world’s largest palm oil processor and trader, has hired a major lobbying firm to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling that palm oil-based biodiesel will not meet greenhouse gas emissions standards under America’s Renewable Fuels Standard, reports The Hill.

Wilmar Oleo North America hired lobbying firm Van Ness Feldman to pressure the EPA on its finding that biofuels produced from palm oil do not offer substantial emissions savings relative to conventional gasoline. The EPA based its decision on analysis of lifecycle emissions from palm oil production, which at times occurs at the expense of carbon-dense rainforests and peatlands.

The Hill notes that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative group that drafts legislative language favoring corporate interests that fund it, is working to overturn the EPA’s finding.

“The Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to restrict the trade of tropical palm oil marks an abandonment of free trade principles that have been so beneficial to so many,” the group said in comments submitted to the EPA.

Malaysian and Indonesian groups have also complained about the EPA’s ruling. The period for comment on the matter closes April 27.

But environmental groups said the assumptions underlying the EPA’s conclusion were too conservative, noting that the agency expects only nine percent of palm oil expansion in Malaysia and 13 percent in Indonesia to occur on peatlands. But a study published today in the National Academy of Sciences, found that half of oil palm plantations in Indonesian Borneo were established on peat lands. Conversions of peat for plantations generates substantial greenhouse gas emissions.

“It is a disturbing development to see a politically motivated group like ALEC join forces with the shadowy palm oil lobby from Malaysia and Indonesia as well as with huge agribusiness companies Cargill and Wilmar to pressure the EPA to overturn what is supposed to be a science-based decision made in the best interests of the American people,” said Laurel Sutherlin with the Rainforest Action Network, in a statement. “The question the EPA is tasked with answering is whether biofuels made with palm oil meet our nation’s greenhouse gas requirements as a renewable fuel. The stark reality of the impacts of palm oil plantation expansion in Southeast Asia, where nearly 90% of the world’s palm oil comes from, makes it clear that it does not.”

“The emissions of palm oil based biofuels substantially exceed the emissions from conventional petroleum diesel,” added Jeremy Martin, Senior Scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The renewable fuels standard targets 7.5 billion gallons of ‘renewable’ fuels to be blended into gasoline by the end of 2012. The initiative aims to reduce dependence on foreign oil and cut emissions from transportation, but some analysts have questioned the effectiveness of the program, since the bulk of ‘renewable’ fuel is expected to come from corn ethanol, which environmentalists say has mixed climate benefits.

Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0426-palm_oil_epa.html#ixzz1u1ge0lYc

For more information on palm oil and current threats in Borneo, please visit: http://borneoproject.org/borneo/overview-of-current-threats

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http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/a-grim-portrait-of-palm-oil-emissions/

May 1, 2012, 2:15 pm

A Grim Portrait of Palm Oil Emissions

By JOANNA M. FOSTER

 

Associated Press: A burned stump in what was formerly a dense forest but was cleared for palm oil production in West Kalimantan Province in Indonesia.

Indonesia ranks right behind the United States and China in the lineup of the world’s top 10 greenhouse gas emitters. It’s not because of smokestacks or freeways, but massive deforestation starting in the 1990s — driven In large part by the expansion of plantations for palm oil, an edible vegetable oil used in cookies, crackers, soap and European diesel fuel.

In January, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposed finding that biofuels derived from palm oil feedstocks failed to meet the standards set by the agency’s 2007 renewable fuels mandate. While they were found to have lower life-cycle emissions than conventional gasoline and diesel, palm oil came up short of the 20 percent reduction in related emissions that is required for inclusion in the new biofuel blends.

A public comment period on the finding ended last week after being extended by two months to accommodate the deluge of feedback. Many of the comments submitted came from the palm oil industry, which asserts that the E.P.A.’s estimates of palm oil-related emissions are seriously exaggerated.

Yet there is growing evidence that, if anything, the E.P.A.’s life-cycle emissions calculations for palm oil. were too conservative.
A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences used socioeconomic surveys, high-resolution satellite imagery and carbon mapping to plot past and future patterns of land conversion for a representative region in Indonesia, the Ketapang district of West Kalimantan Province in Borneo.

The researchers found that about two-thirds of the land outside protected areas in the study region are now leased to oil palm companies. If these conceded lands are converted to palm-fruit plantations at current expansion rates, one-third of the land in the area will be growing palms and intact forests will shrink to less than 4 percent of land cover by 2020.

One of the most striking trends, in terms of emissions, was a shift toward the development of carbon-dense peatlands for palm oil production, the researchers found. Peatland soils store significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Their study said that by 2008, 70 percent of new plantations were being developed on peatlands; it predicted that up to 90 percent of emissions from palm oil plantations will come from peatlands by 2020.

Recognizing the climate dangers posed by the draining of peatlands for cultivation, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued a moratorium on the granting of new palm oil concessions in peatlands last year. This does nothing, however, to prevent development on previously allocated leases on peatlands, which make up an estimated 61 percent of all as-yet undeveloped concessions.

Currently, half of all palm oil in the study area is being grown on peatlands, according to the study, a number that sharply contrasts with the E.P.A.’s estimate of only 13 percent for all of Indonesia.

Kimberly Carlson, a doctoral candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a co-author of the study, suggested that the outlook was pretty bleak. She said that while she hoped that more palm oil producers would become certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil — certified Kalimantan palm oil comprises less than 5 percent of Indonesian palm oil production — it was important that laws already on the books be enforced.

“We could talk about new protections and conservation schemes, but there are already laws on the books protecting against the development of peatlands that are more than three meters deep and laws against burning to clear land for palm oil,” she said. “But they are not enforced. We do need more protections, but a good place to start would be enforcing the rules that already exist.”

Ms. Carlson also drew attention to the impact of palm oil production on local communities. “This isn’t just a story of carbon and forests,” she said. “There are people who live here and are trying to make a living who are seriously affected” by the changes in land use.

For more information on timber corruption in Borneo, please visit: http://borneoproject.org/our-work/ongoing-campaigns/stop-timber-corruption-in-sarawak

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http://www.bmf.ch/en/news/?show=301

Swiss authorities confirm money-laundering investigation against UBS, Malaysian top politician

Swiss prosecutors investigated the Sabah Chief Minister, reports Sonntagszeitung, a Swiss national weekly

(BERN/ZURICH, SWITZERLAND) The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland has confirmed on Friday that Switzerland has given legal assistance to Hong Kong in a money-laundering case against Musa Aman, Chief Minister of the Malaysian State of Sabah on Borneo. Musa Aman is the older brother of Anifah Aman, Malaysia’s Foreign Minister

In a statement to the Zurich-based weekly, Sonntagszeitung, spokespersons for the Attorney General and the Swiss Federal Office of Justice said that the files on the case have been transmitted to Hong Kong authorities on 31st March 2011. The officals added that Switzerland could not provide further details as the relevant enforcement agency in Hong Kong hat the lead in the investigation.

UBS headquarters in Zurich refused to comment on the matter and said that, in all markets it was operating in, the bank complied with the regulatory and legal framework.

Malaysian media reported last week that Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman is being investigated by Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) for having laundered over 90 million US dollars of timber corruption money through UBS bank accounts in Hong Kong and Switzerland. According to Sarawak Report, Malaysian prosecutors refused to cooperate with Hong Kong in the matter because Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patai is a relative and a close political ally of Musa Aman.

In return for the kickbacks, the Sabah Chief Minister granted concessions to log tropical hardwoods in the Borneo rainforest, one of the world’s most biodiverse habitats. In February 2007, the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei committed to protect the Borneo rainforest in the trilateral “Heart of Borneo” declaration.

The Bruno Manser Fund asks the Hong Kong authorities to provide details on the results of its investigations as this is a question of highest public interest at the international level. The Bruno Manser strongly criticizes UBS for allowing timber kickbacks to be laundered through its accounts and is currently examining if the bank’s conduct includes legal offences under Swiss law.

(22 April 2012)

Check the following link for the official Swiss statement on the Musa Aman investigation:

Statement_by_Swiss_Authorities_on_Musa_Aman_money.pdf (51KB)

For more information on forest and climate policy in Borneo, please visit: http://borneoproject.org/our-work/ongoing-campaigns/redd-and-international-policy

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http://www.redd-monitor.org/2012/05/01/the-story-of-redd-a-real-solution-to-deforestation/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Redd-monitor+%28REDD-Monitor%29

A new animated film about REDD was launched yesterday at the annual meeting of the Forest Movement Europe in Portugal. “This film attempts to explain the key issues in a simple to understand way,” says Wolfgang Kuhlmann of ARA, one of the seven NGOs that produced the film.

“Global deforestation cannot be solved without addressing the over-consumption that drives deforestation,” Kuhlmann adds.

In addition to ARA, six NGOs were involved in producing the film: Amis de la Terre, Euronatura, FERN, Forest Peoples Programme, Iroko, Pro-Regenwald, Rainforest Foundation UK and Terra!* The film is posted below, with a script and links to sources below that (this is also available as a pdf file). The video is also available in French and Spanish.

The Story of REDD: A real solution to deforestation?

Forests cover about 30 per cent of the world’s land area. They play a vital role in the water cycle and are home to most of the world’s biodiversity.

More than one in six people on the planet depend directly on forests for their livelihoods. Indigenous peoples and local communities living in the forests, have done most to protect them. But many do not have secure rights to the land they live on which means forests are under more and more pressure.

But forests are being destroyed at an alarming rate. Industrialised countries have destroyed most of their forests already, and

… pressure from growing global consumption is now driving deforestation in the South.

Forests are being logged and converted into agriculture plots and plantations …

… producing feed for the meat industry and being cleared for mining.

This forest destruction is displacing forest dependent peoples, often destroying their livelihoods and resulting in human rights abuses.

Deforestation is also one of the main causes of climate change. Although the majority of global carbon dioxide emissions come from burning fossil fuels, cutting down trees also contributes to carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere.

When forests are burnt or chopped down, the carbon they had been storing is released back into the atmosphere.

In order to reduce deforestation, it is first necessary to know what’s causing it.

Global consumption of forest and agricultural products is one of the main drivers of deforestation. Seventy per cent of previously forested land in the Amazon is occupied by cattle pastures.

Paper supplies, processed foods, and many other things for sale in high streets and supermarkets directly or indirectly cause deforestation.

And that creates pressure on land in the global South which is increasing deforestation.

Deforestation is also driven by a lack of clarity about who owns the forest.

Poor governance leads to bad government land use policies …

… often fed by high levels of corruption.

How can we stop this? To tackle deforestation you need to tackle the causes of deforestation, but the United Nations and the World Bank have something else in mind …

Following global concern about the effect of deforestation on climate change, the United Nations and World Bank began pushing REDD, a solution to reduce the EMISSIONS from deforestation and forest degradation.

The present focus of REDD is to get money for forest protection by quantifying emissions reductions from not cutting down forests …

… and then selling ‘forest carbon credits’ on a ‘carbon market’.

Polluting companies or industrial countries who need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions will then buy these ‘credits’ so they can continue emitting greenhouse gases.

This means lots of profit for middlemen and traders … But very little for the people who live in the forest.

In order to see whether their plan for reducing deforestation through REDD will work, we should start by looking at how it deals with the causes of deforestation:

Does it strengthen the land rights of indigenous peoples and local communities who have historically protected their forests?

No.

Although REDD could in theory do this, in practice by increasing the value of forests, the promise of REDD money has meant that forests are much more under threat of governments taking state ownership of forest lands and erasing the chance for communities to get their land rights recognised.

Any ‘solution’ to deforestation that disrespects the rights of local peoples is not only unjust, it is also deeply ineffective.

Reducing deforestation will require unsustainable consumption of meat, fuel, food and fibre to be reduced. This has to be an initiative of global North and must be prioritised in government policies. It cannot be a short-cut or dealt with by someone else, somewhere else.

The best way to save forests is to respect forest peoples’ rights to collectively held land.

So rather than trying to tackle the problem by focusing on counting carbon and then selling it … solutions must focus on removing the pressure on forests. REDD is currently not doing that and so risks creating more problems than it solves.

Any attempt to reduce deforestation must work with, not against forest peoples.

The first step must be to ensure forest communities have secure rights to the land they live on … it will require political will and national consultative processes, but it is the best chance we have to achieve a just long term reduction in deforestation.