The orangutan is facing extinction due to the destruction of rainforest in Indonesia and Malaysia to set up oil-palm plantations, new research reveals. The ‘Oil for Ape Scandal’, published today by Friends of the Earth and the world’s leading orangutan conservation groups, concludes that without urgent intervention the palm oil trade could cause the extinction of Asia’s only great ape within 12 years.

Palm oil is found in one in ten products on supermarket shelves, from bread, crisps, margarine and cereals to lipstick and soap. Despite being warned for years by environmental groups that oil-palm plantations are associated with rainforest destruction as well as human rights abuse, the report finds that most UK companies don’t even know where their palm oil comes from.

The report finds that almost 90 percent of orangutan habitat in Indonesia and Malaysia has now been destroyed. Some experts estimate that 5,000 orangutan perish as a result every year. The researchers found that oil-palm plantations have now become the primary cause of the orangutans’ decline, wiping out its rainforest home in Borneo and Sumatra.

New evidence shows that orangutan rescue centres in Indonesia are over-flowing with orphaned baby orangutans rescued from forests being cleared to make way for oil-palm plantations. The Indonesian Government is now planning to convert a large part of Tanjung Puting National Park, the world’s most famous protected area for orangutan, into an oil-palm plantation.

Research by Friends of the Earth found that at least 84 per cent of UK companies are failing to take effective action to ensure they do not buy palm oil from destructive sources and not one single UK supermarket knows where the palm oil originates in the products it sells. The story of corporate failure on palm oil is repeated across Europe. The European Union is the world’s biggest buyer of palm oil.

Two weeks ago the United Nations published the Kinshasa Declaration, an action plan backed by the UK Government to save the world’s great apes from extinction. The Indonesian Government signed on to this agreement but so far the Malaysian Government has failed to do so. Friends of the Earth and the orangutan conservation groups are urging both governments to adopt and implement the declaration and end the conversion of orangutan habitat into oil-palm plantations.

They also say that the failure of European companies to take action shows that they cannot be trusted to act responsibly. They are calling on European Governments and the European Commission to legislate to stop European companies acting in such a damaging way.

Ian Redmond, Chairman of the Ape Alliance, said:
“Governments that provide a market for palm oil must legislate to make their corporations responsible and accountable for their impacts. If not, it is we who will have to explain to our children that the orangutan became extinct, not because of a lack of knowledge, but because of corporate greed and a lack of political will.”

Friends of the Earth Palm Oil Campaigner Ed Matthew said:
“Over 100 UK companies and every single British supermarket is helping fuel the obliteration of orangutan habitat. The British Government must ensure the Company Law Reform Bill, which is about to pass through Parliament, stops UK companies acting so destructively.”

Research by Friends of the Earth shows that the forest fires which ravaged the island of Sumatra in August, and continue to burn today, were mostly set by palm oil companies clearing land to set up their plantations. It is estimated that one third of the orangutan population on Borneo was killed by the forest fires of 1998.

Dr Willie Smits, Founder of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, said:
“The rate of loss of orangutan has never been greater than in the last three years, and oil-palm plantations are mostly to blame.”

Professor Biruté Galdikas, founder of the Orangutan Foundation International, said:
“The orangutan is endangered because of habitat loss. Today the greatest threat to orangutan habitat is the continued expansion of oil-palm plantations. Palm oil is the greatest enemy of orangutan and their continued survival in the wild."

Dr Ian Singleton, Scientific Director for the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, said:
“We have already lost huge areas of orangutan habitat and tens of thousands of orangutan to the palm oil industry. Now there are reports of an “oil-palm fence” which will stretch 845 kilometres along the border with Malaysia in Borneo, crossing through orangutan habitat. The problem is truly immense.”

To learn more about Great Ape Trust of Iowa, go to www.GreatApeTrust.org.

For more information, contact:
Al Setka
Director of Communications
Great Ape Trust of Iowa
4200 S.E. 44th Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50320
(515) 243-3580
515.720.7430 (cell)
asetka@greatapetrust.org

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