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CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora):
www.cites.ec.gc.ca/

Friends of the Earth Palm Oil Campaign:
Palm Oil
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Global Forest Watch:

This is short (ca 6 min) National Geographic video on orangutans and other Indonesian primates.

Orangutan rehabilitation sites and sanctuaries currently operate in three geographic regions. The number of a given site corresponds to its position on the map. Note that (*) denotes former rehabilitation sites.The five orangutan rehabilitation sites are discussed in more detail below and are organized according to their geographic location.

What is happening with the Orangutans at Safari World?

 

November 2005: Bangkok, Thailand

The concerns over this issue and the commitments required from countries which produce palm oil are especially timely given the recent signing of the Kinshasa Declaration by representatives of the great ape range states as well as donor and other states. This declaration, signed in September 2005, is a high-level political statement that pledges to ensure the survival of all great apes.

Environmental problems are complex. The solutions are often just as complex and never easy. The widespread use of palm oil in everyday products means we are all partners in this destruction and therefore must be involved in the solution as well.

In addition to destroying the homes of orangutans, the rapid spread of palm oil plantations threatens the lives and cultures of local indigenous peoples. Plantations are commonly established on lands traditionally occupied by local communities who hunt and grow food at subsistence levels. The rights of these people are ignored and violence often occurs. Palm oil plantations take a further environmental toll, polluting local water supplies through the use of pesticides and herbicides.

By 2004, the islands of Borneo and Sumatra had 6.5 million hectares of land under cultivation with commercial palm oil plantations, i.e., 65,000 km2. Between 1989 and 2000 the forest areas cleared for these plantations had tripled, while the yield per hectare dropped by 33%. Instead of establishing oil palm plantations on land that has already been cleared, palm oil companies often seek and gain concessions to vulnerable forest areas. The first step of clear cutting the forest is a major motivation for their practices because they then sell the cleared lumber commercially.