Have you heard of the Plastiki? It’s a catamaran made out of recycled plastic bottles that is sailing across the Pacific to raise awareness of the problem of plastic pollution. Good effort.
A few years ago a survey was done on the deep sea bed, and in parts of the Caribbean found that the sea bed [...]
There has recently been a sad report from the BBC about the amount of Band Aid money that was subverted to buy guns. Sir Bob Geldorf responded angrily that there was not a shred of proof that any was spent. I well remember at the time hearing through the expat grapevine of large amounts of [...]
It is very easy to think that captive breeding, whether by zoos or individuals, is a solution to saving a species. In practice, it rarely works. There is always a good reason that a species has become extinct in an area, and unless you can resolve that reason, the new animals introduced will die for [...]
On the BBC in the UK there was a program called Panorama on Monday 22nd Feb which looked into the palm oil situation and revealed many of the facts to a wider audience. Thankfully.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8523000/852
It concentrated on Borneo rather than Sumatra and showed many of the salient points, not least how damaging the plantations are to [...]
A rare Sumatran rhino in an Indonesian wildlife sanctuary will give birth in May to only the fourth calf of the endangered species born in captivity in more than a century, a scientist said Thursday.
The wild Indonesian-born mother, Ratu, was mated with Cincinnati Zoo-born Andalas, who nine years ago became the [...]
The Indonesian head of protection and conservation, Darori, has announced a new plan whereby wealthy people can keep a pet tiger if they post a $100,000 bond and keep it in a cage at least 10 x 6 metres.
“We hope that this program will eradicate poaching as a means of
fulfilling a high demand by [...]
Gong Xi Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year and welcome to the Year of the Tiger.
Let’s take a moment to consider the plight of the Tiger, of which there are barely 5000 of all species left in the wild. There are or were 9 types of Tiger. The furthest east was the [...]
Avatar is not just a fun blockbuster movie, but it contains some real messages. Particularly ones relevant to the rainforest.
However, as is the way of Hollywood, the points are made in broad strokes that will be missed by the main offenders and upset many major supporters of the forest! Western Industry is very, very rarely [...]
I don’t know who coined the phrase ‘Global Warming’ but it is a very unfortunate choice of words to describe the phenomenon. Here in Europe we have one of the coldest and earliest winters for a long time, and consequently many people are treating the whole idea of Global Warming as a hoax.
Understandably.
The reality is [...]
Rex Sumner 08 October at 10:58
Philip Chubb, chairman of Force for the Forest, is working on providing aid to the region (it is outside the remit of Force for the Forest but of course we are interested in helping where we can).
I just had this email from him and thought I [...]
Our close cousin is an incredibly intelligent animal. Did you know that he keeps a map in his head, which tells him where the fruit trees are fruiting and when – even more difficult when you consider that in the resource-poor environment that is the rainforest, some trees only fruit once in four years!
The [...]
Release of two captured tigers into Ulu Masen and Leuser Ecosystem Leuser.
December 2008
Background
In the last two years the poaching of tigers in Aceh has increased greatly. In 2008 alone, at least 20 tigers were taken and the real figure could be twice as high as this. The Aceh tiger population is the largest remaining and [...]
Yesterday our rangers found two illegal oil palm plantations deep in the forest, probably totalling 45 hectares (4.5 square kilometres). We are currently checking the scale of the problem and we expect to cut it down at the end of the fasting month (Ramadan).
We shall just cut down the palms and allow it to revert [...]