UPDATE: The palm oil company got permission. Time is running out to stop the destruction.
The Sumatran orangutan is one of the most endangered animals in the world, with only about 6,000 individuals left. Recent forest fires mean there are now even fewer, but fires are not the major threat to this species.
The main reason the Sumatran orangutan is now on the very edge of extinction is habitat destruction. Its forest habitat has been systematically cleared, mainly to make way for agriculture, and this is still happening.
Next week, the Governor of Aceh decides whether to give PT Kallista Alam, a large palm oil company, permission to clear over 1,500 hectares of the orangutan's habitat. The money being made from the destruction won’t be going to the people of Sumatra either. Most will end up in the pockets of PT Kallista Alam. Deforestation has got to stop now, or there won't be any orangutans left. Ask the President of Indonesia.to ensure the permit is denied.
We the undersigned ask that you do not provide PT Kallista Alam with a permit to destroy over 1,500 hectares of peat forest to make way for a palm oil plantation. This is essential habitat for the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan, not to mention being a carbon sink. There are other ways to provide local people with a living, with less of the profits going to large agricultural companies.
Destroying some of the very last of this habitat is not the answer, and also goes completely against Indonesia's existing laws on protecting the peat forest and indeed orangutans themselves.
Thank you for your attention.
