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BRUNO MANSER FUND, BASEL, SWITZERLAND

22nd February 2012 – for immediate release

EXCLUSIVE: First pictures from sealed-off Bakun dam zone reveal social and environmental disaster

Bruno Manser Fund investigation in the Bakun dam’s exclusion zone shows increased poverty due to Malaysia’s disaster dam – Displaced indigenous communities forced to live in floating homes on Bakun impoundment

(BASEL, SWITZERLAND) The Swiss Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) has today disclosed a series of shocking pictures from the Bakun dam exclusion zone showing disturbing poverty and environmental destruction in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo. A BMF research team has managed to overcome the tight security measures preventing journalists or NGOs to travel behind the recently filled Bakun dam wall, Asia’s largest dam outside China and the world’s second-tallest concrete-faced rockfill dam. The only recently completed 2’400 MW hydropower dam was meant to bring development and progress to the people of Sarawak. Pictures now disclosed to the public, however, show its real consequences: displaced indigenous communities forced to live in floating homes and the destruction of a unique rainforest habitat that counts among the most biodiverse in the world. “The extent of suffering by the displaced communities is shocking”, said BMF campaigner Anna Meier, who had visited the dam site. “Hundreds of displaced people are living in floating homes on the Bakun impoundment. Malaysia’s showcase development project has turned into a disaster dam.” An indigenous Ukit community now living in floating homes was forcibly displaced while their village and graveyards were flooded. “Our aim is to build a new longhouse onshore near our former village”, the headman of the Ukit community said. “But we lack the funds and the government refuses to support us. They have not even paid us compensation for our submerged land because we refused to move to the resettlement site of the government.” As their traditional farmlands have been flooded, the Ukits live from fishing, hunting and harvesting some of the trees flooded by Bakun dam. The Bakun dam construction submerged 695km2 of rainforest, an area the size of Singapore, and with it parts of one of the worlds’ biodiversity hotspots. The visitor can now watch a unique world drowning in the waters of Bakun impoundment: trees change their colour from green over brown to grey until they will finally disappear in the rising water for ever. Close to 10’000 Sarawak natives have been forcibly displaced but some refused to move to the resettlement site and returned to what is left of their former lands. The Bruno Manser Fund calls on the Sarawak state government to immediately lift all travel restrictions to the Bakun dam site and to the Murum dam construction site in order to allow independent journalists and the public to take notice of what is really going on with these mega-projects. Malaysia is also asked to assist the Ukits and other indigenous communities in the Bakun region to return to their unflooded traditional lands and to pay the full compensation for their submerged lands and houses.

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http://blog.cifor.org/7438/traditional-livelihoods-decline-in-borneo-forests-as-communities-rely-increasingly-on-mining-logging-jobs/

 

Photo courtesy of Samuel L Wackson/flickr.

BOGOR, Indonesia (17 February, 2012)_Forest communities in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province are turning to jobs in mining, agriculture, construction and other sectors, as increasing tracts of forest are lost to logging and mining operations.

While tropical forests still cover more than 90% of the region, district authorities during the last decade have allocated most of the land to logging and mining concessions, resulting in a considerable decline in the role of forests in local livelihoods.

A new study by the Center for International Forestry Research has found that villages along the Malinau River, an area rich in valuable timber and mineral resources, are relying less on traditional livelihoods — typically a mixture of hunting, fishing, cultivating fruit gardens, collecting eaglewood and bird’s nests.

CIFOR researchers conducted surveys in seven villages to examine people’s perceptions of the changing role of forests in the local economy over the past decade. Interviews conducted with 83 people (52 men, 31 women) and discussions with group of men and women revealed that villagers are worried about the declining quality of their forests and environment. The majority  still consider forests the primary source of goods and services for the community and said forests were the most important land type (when compared to agricultural lands, gardens, mines, rivers, settlements, old villages, and swamps).

“Despite the declining role of forests in the local economy, forests remain highly valued by local communities,” said Imam Basuki, lead author of The Evolving Role of Tropical Forests for Local Livelihoods in Indonesia. “Giving villagers a say in forest management would provide greater protections for forest resources.”

The study found jobs in mining, agriculture, construction and services accelerated economic growth in the Malinau district from 1.24% in 2004 to 8.96% in 2009. Most of those interviewed said they supported development as beneficial to their quality of life.  Indeed, development projects in the last decade have brought jobs, health and education services and infrastructure improvements. But villagers said they were concerned such growth is threatening traditional livelihoods and comes at the expense of reduced access to their forests and forest resources.

“Jobs” has been highlighted as one of the seven critical issues for new sustainable development goals that will be released in Rio+20.  While many existing tools for assessing poverty and income – such as the World Bank’s Living Standard Measurement Survey – fall short in capturing the true value of forests in the livelihoods of the world’s rural poor, the concept of “green jobs” is an attempt to look for synergies in simultaneously addressing employment, energy and environment issues.

“Local knowledge, culture and livelihoods can be beneficially integrated with forest management to produce more sustainable, less damaging outcomes that benefit livelihoods without damaging the environment,” the study concluded.

“Villagers should be given greater control over development in the district to reverse the declining role of forests in the local economy and ensure greater protection for their forests,” said Basuki.

CIFOR’s ongoing research in Malinau, East Kalimantan exemplifies the value of long-term research sites, said Douglas Sheil, CIFOR Senior Associate and co-author of the study.

“Our research with these communities began over 10 years ago and over this time we been able to gain the trust of the communities, allowing us to work closely with them and better understand their views.  We have also seen many of the long-term trends directly allowing us to evaluate them in ways that would otherwise be difficult, if not impossible to achieve.”

The new publication is part of CIFOR’s research program on Forest and Environment and was sponsored by the European Commission. 

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BRUNO MANSER FUND, BASEL, SWITZERLAND

 16 February 2012 – for immediate release

EXCLUSIVE: Bruno Manser Fund releases secret Sarawak dam map

Malaysian government to displace 20,000 Borneo natives for the proposed Baram dam – 26 villages and 412 square kilometres of tropical rainforest to be flooded

(BASEL, SWITZERLAND) The Bruno Manser Fund has today disclosed an exclusive map showing the extent of the proposed Baram mega dam whose realization is bound to cause a social and environmental disaster in Malaysian Borneo. The proposed 1000 MW Baram dam is one of twelve dams authorities in the Malaysian state of Sarawak are planning to build following the completion of the 2400 MW Bakun dam.

According to the map based on intelligence and calculations by the Bruno Manser Fund, the 162 meter high Baram dam would flood a rainforest area of 412 km2 (41’200 hectares) and at least 26 indigenous villages, causing the displacement of up to 20,000 Sarawak natives.

The proposed dam is being planned by the Sarawak state government and Sarawak Energy, the implementing agency, in violation of international transparency standards. While the Sarawak government has started legal procedures to extinguish native rights for an access road to the dam site, the affected communities are deliberately being kept in the dark over the extent of the dam plans.

The proposed dam would cause havoc for the Kenyah, Kayan and Penan culture in the upper reaches of the Baram river, one of Borneo’s great rainforest streams. Many of their villages would be submerged and would literally cease to exist. Traditional longhouse communities in the dam’s downstream areas would also have to face drastic changes and pollution of the riverine ecosystem, affecting river transport, fishery, irrigation and access to drinking water.

According to information obtained by the Bruno Manser Fund, the following villages and longhouse communities would cease to exist upon construction of the dam:

 Downstream villages and longhouses that are to be negatively affected by the dam plans include the regional centers of Marudi and Long Lama as well as the villages and longhouse of Long Keseh, Long Pila, Long Laput, Kejaman, Long Pelutan, Uma Bawang and others.

The Bruno Manser Fund calls on the Sarawak state government and on Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) as implementing agency to halt all further works on the controversial project and immediately release all official studies on the planned Baram dam.

- Ends -

View the exclusive Baram dam map under: http://stop-corruption-dams.com/resources/16_2_12_baram_dam_BMF.pdf

Help us stop the Sarawak dam disaster by sending a protest letter to Sarawak Energy and the respective authorities in Malaysia and Sarawak under www.stop-corruption-dams.org.

Please consult us for further information: 

Bruno Manser Fund, Socinstrasse 37, CH-4051 Basel / Switzerland

www.bmf.ch, www.stop-corruption-dams.org

Tel. +41 61 261 94 74. Follow us on twitter: @bmfonds

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/bbc-to-issue-global-apology-for-documentaries-that-broke-rules-6719997.html

Ian Burrell

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http://www.350.org/en/about/blogs/borneo-kosovo-love-no-coal

What does it mean to be a united global movement? This video gives a taste. The international love and solidarity that the climate movement can share across borders, oceans, and continent is incredibly moving and in a word, beautiful:

More on the ongoing campaign to reject a proposed coal plant in Kosovo here: www.350.org/kosovo

And read more about the victory over a coal plant in Borneo here: www.350.org/blogs/victory-borneo-coal-plant-canceled

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International NGO coalition condemns Malaysian dam plans

15 February 2012 – for immediate release

Sarawak natives gather in Miri to kickstart protests against the construction of twelve hydroelectric dams in Malaysian Borneo.

(MIRI, SARAWAK/MALAYSIA) An international NGO coalition that includes organizations from the US, Norway and Switzerland is showing its solidarity with Malaysian groups who are protesting against the construction of twelve hydroelectric dams in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo. The NGO coalition supports the Malaysian groups’ demand for an immediate halt to the realization of these dams, which threaten to displace tens of thousands of Sarawak natives and flood hundreds of square miles of Sarawak’s precious tropical rainforests.

The Bruno Manser Fund, International Rivers (US), Borneo Project (US), Rainforest Action Network (US) and the Rainforest Foundation Norway are emphasizing the adverse social and ecological consequences of the planned dams and question their economic viability. Just a handful of companies connected to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and his family are likely to benefit from these projects, due to their involvement in the construction business, while the Sarawak public would have to cover the costs in form of long-term state debts.

At a press conference in Miri yesterday, the recently founded ‘Save Sarawak’s Rivers’ network, under the lead of its chairperson Peter Kallang, announced the start of the local protests against the planned twelve dams in the Sarawak rainforest: ‘The construction of the dams will not bring development to the people directly affected but it does bring severe and permanent damages to the whole environment and to the community at large. Development for the people must be for the immediate and above all, long term good of all the people and not just a few, who own shares in power generation and big corporations.’

The Save Sarawak Rivers Network was formed in October 2011 by people affected by the planned or already realized dams together with concerned individuals and local NGOS in order to fight the construction of mega-dams and protect the rivers of Sarawak – the lifeline of its peoples. A first conference will be held in Miri, Sarawak, from 16to 18February 2012. Native communities affected by the dam projects will gather to share information, raise awareness and coordinate their state-wide struggle against the twelve planned dams. The conference will voice the disagreement of the Sarawakians, and especially that of the affected communities, with their government’s policy of building the proposed dams without giving them a chance to express their opinion on these projects.

With the completion of the largest dam in Asia outside of China, the Bakun dam, with its capacity of 2,400 Megawatts and the additional 900-Megawatt Murum dam, which is currently under construction, Sarawak will be producing massive amounts of surplus power. The state’s current electricity consumption only rises to 972 Megawatts during periods of peak demand.

Experience with the recently-completed Bakun dam has shown the unwillingness of the Sarawak state government to comply with international human rights and environmental standards such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Close to ten thousand natives of the Bakun river system were displaced without having been properly consulted and compensated. Transparency International even labeled the highly controversial Bakun dam a “Monument of Corruption”.

Help us stop the Sarawak dam disaster by signing our online petition: www.stop-corruption-dams.org

Media contacts for further information:

Peter Kallang, Save Sarawak Rivers Network, Miri/Sarawak, +60-13-833-1104, peterkallang@yahoo.com

Annina Aeberli, Bruno Manser Fund, Basel/Switzerland, +41-61-261-94-74, info@bmf.ch, www.bmf.ch

Kirk Herbertson, International Rivers, Bangkok/Thailand, +66-86-786-3182, kherbertson@internationalrivers.org

Brihannala Morgan, The Borneo Project, Oakland/US, +1-415-341-7051, brihannala@borneoproject.org

Laurel Sutherlin, Rainforest Action Network, San Francisco/US, +1-415-246-0161, Laurel@ran.org

Lars Løvold, Rainforest Foundation Norway, Oslo, Norway, +47-481-88-148, lars@rainforest.no

Attachments:

Press release by Save Sarawak’s Rivers Network of 13th February 2012

Picture 1: View of the recently-completed 2,400 MW Bakun dam in Sarawak – Asia’s largest dam outside China

Picture 2: Flooded rainforest trees in the Bakun dam – an area of 60,000 hectares, the size of Singapore, was flooded by the new dam

Picture 3: Penan natives of Long Beku, Baram Sarawak – their village would be flooded by the planned Baram dam, one of twelve dam projects in Sarawak

Picture 4: Headman of Long Liam, a Kayan longhouse on the banks of the Baram river in Sarawak – Long Liam would cease to exist as a village if the Sarawak government’s dam plans went ahead

Picture 5: School children at Long San, a rural centre on the banks of the Baram river in Sarawak

Copyright of all pictures: Bruno Manser Fund, BMF

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-07/14/rainbow-toad

First ever photos of lost Borneo rainbow toad, rediscovered after 87 years

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http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/palm-oil-and-scout-cookies-the-battle-drags-on/

February 13, 2012, 12:05 pm

Palm Oil and Scout Cookies: The Battle Drags On

By HILLARY ROSNER

Madison Vorva, left, and Rhiannon Tomtishen also took their campaign against the use of palm oil to the White House.

 

Two high school juniors from Michigan have won the first-ever United Nations Forest Heroes Award for leading a campaign to remove palm oil from Girl Scout cookies.

Inspired by the work of Jane Goodall, the British primatologist, Madison Vorva and her friend Rhiannon Tomtishen, now 16, set out a few years ago to research the charismatic and endangered orangutan. They learned that the ape, which lives only on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, was losing its forest habitat as a result of the global demand for palm oil.

Palm oil companies burn down the rainforest to plant fields of uniform trees. Some workers kill adult orangutans and sell the babies as pets. Those that survive often have no forest to return to.

“We had to take an issue we were passionate about, and raise awareness in our community,” Ms. Vorva said.

Ms. Tomtishen and Ms. Vorva, who were 10 at the time, earned the Girl Scout Bronze Award for their efforts. But when cookie season arrived a few months later, they were stunned to discover that palm oil was a prominent ingredient in nearly every type of beloved Girl Scout cookie.

“We were so shocked,” said Ms. Tomtishen, who like Ms. Vorva has been a scout since age 5. “The Girl Scout mission statement is to make the world a better place. We were surprised the values didn’t line up.”

The solution was simple, the girls decided: ask the Girl Scouts to stop using palm oil. “We thought it would be an easy fix,” Ms. Tomtishen said.

Five years later, they are still fighting. Their persistence inspired the Union of Concerned Scientists to nominate them for the United Nations award.

The scout leadership has made some concessions. Last fall, the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., an organization with 3.2 million members, announced that beginning this year, it would purchase GreenPalm certificates for its cookies and splash the GreenPalm logo on the boxes. Still, GreenPalm, a certification program created by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, an industry group, has been criticized as greenwashing — that is, providing a mere veneer of environmental responsibility.

The Girl Scout leadership also pledged to move to a certified sustainable source of palm oil by 2015 and said it would ask its bakers to use as little palm oil as possible, and only when there was “no alternative.”

The group had previously said it could not replace palm oil without altering its cookies, beloved brands like Thin Mints, Samoas and Tagalongs. At its Web site, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. says that according to its bakers, some of which are owned by Kellogg’s, “it continues to be necessary to use palm oil in our cookies to ensure shelf life, quality, and to serve as an alternative to trans fats.”

For Ms. Vorva and Ms. Tomtishen, it is a step in the right direction, but one that is far too small. The guidelines of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, whose representatives are mainly from the palm oil industry, “are so weak, it doesn’t ensure deforestation and human rights abuses aren’t occurring,” Ms. Tomtishen said.

“We are asking for either deforestation-free sources of palm oil or for an alternative oil to be used,” Ms. Vorva said.

The teenagers are hoping to meet with the Girl Scout leadership soon. In the meantime, they have started a petition drive to pressure the organization to do more than simply “change what’s written on the box.”

In cooperation with the Rainforest Action Network, they have also created a Rainforest Hero Girl Scout badge. To earn it, girls must complete multiple tasks, including sending a letter to the chief executive of the Girl Scouts and going on a “supermarket adventure” to learn how widespread palm oil is in American life.

“Once you look around different stores or even just your own kitchen,” Ms. Vorva said, “you’ll be shocked how many products contain palm oil, or even which products. Think about the global impacts you make with every single purchase.”

“If you see something with palm oil, instead of saying, ‘I’m going to buy an alternative,’ say, ‘I’m going to write a letter,’ ” she suggested.

Of course, there is also high school to finish and future careers to think about.

Ms. Vorva and Ms. Tomtishen both said they had been deeply influenced by their palm oil campaign. “Something I’ve learned from this is that businesses have a huge responsibility and a huge amount of power,” Ms. Vorva said. “Corporate responsibility is something I’m really interested in.”

“Some sort of international relations degree would be awesome,” Ms. Tomtishen said.

The girls hope to travel to Borneo later this year to view the deforestation up close — and, of course, to see some orangutans.

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http://www.care2.com/causes/the-tiny-ultrasonic-philippine-tarsier-video.html

The Tiny, Ultrasonic Philippine Tarsier (Video)

Calling and Talking to the Tasier on youtube

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/the-tiny-ultrasonic-philippine-tarsier-video.html#ixzz1mIdDl6z8

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ihH3W0TefwIU-u95GuUUSF45QvNQ?docId=CNG.d4e0242216423f0ddcaa53de60d07900.1f1

(AFP) – 1 day ago 

TENGGARONG, Indonesia — Three Indonesians and a Malaysian went on trial Tuesday for killing endangered orangutans and other protected primates as a means of pest control at a palm oil plantation on Borneo island.

Prosecutors said the plantation manager, Malaysian national Phuah Chuan Hun, and his employee Widiantoro paid two men between 2009 and 2010 to kill the primates.

The plantation employees and the two killers, Imam Muhtarom and Mujianto, were charged with killing endangered species and all face five years in jail.

“The two men were paid one million rupiah ($111) for each orangutan and 200,000 rupiah ($22) for other monkeys,” prosecutor Suroto told the Tenggarong district court.

The plantation, in East Kalimantan province on Indonesian Borneo, is a subsidiary of the publicly listed Malaysian-owned Metro Kajang Holdings.

“The two used a 4.5-millimetre calibre airsoft gun to shoot the orangutans out of trees before their six hunting dogs chased them,” Suroto said.

They would then hit the orangutans afterwards with rocks or wooden sticks before tying them up with rope to take photographs as evidence, he said.

Police arrested the four men in November after photos of them with their prey, including long-nosed monkeys found only on Borneo, circulated around the community.

The men were charged with killing one baby and two adult orangutans, but police said earlier that at least 20 had been killed based on receipts of from the company amounting to 25 million rupiah ($2,775).

Experts say there are about 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans left in the wild, 80 percent of them in Indonesia and the rest in Malaysia.

They are faced with extinction from poaching and the rapid destruction of their forest habitat, driven largely by palm oil and paper plantations.

The trial will resume next week.

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved. More »