Green Options

Authorities fear that the killing of Sheila the tiger at Jambi’s Rimbo Zoo is a shocking new development in the illegal wildlife trade. The tiger’s skin, along with body parts in demand for traditional Asian “remedies”, were taken from the tiger’s enclosure.

Officials noted that even the tiger’s blood had been collected.

The last population of approximately 50 Javan Rhinos in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park is to be divided into two groups in hopes of encouraging them to breed.

There is just one population of about 50 Javan Rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus) still surviving in Ujung Kulon NP, and experts believe the numbers will increase if a second group of rhinos is established elsewhere. The new “crash” (a group of rhinos) will initially consist of three females and one male.

Having all of the [...]

In the largest debt-for-nature swap the U.S. government has organized so far under the U.S. Tropical Forest Conservation Act, the United States has signed an agreement with Indonesia to forgive nearly $30 million in debt.

The U.S. government has agreed to forgive $30 million in Indonesian debt in exchange for Indonesia’s agreement to protect Sumatran forests, according to Conservation International.

Indonesia is said to be the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, behind the United States and China, because of its deforestation rate. These forests are home to critically endangered Sumatran rhinos, tigers, orangutans, and other rare wildlife.

How it works (in a nutshell)

Instead of repaying the debt, Indonesia is to place the money in a trust, to be paid over eight years, which will be used to protect 13 forest areas on Sumatra. Grants from the trust will be issued for critical forest conservation and restoration work in Sumatra.

For over 20 years, dedicated rangers have been caring for the protected zone off Jakarta’s north coast. They spend three weeks of each month without Internet access or electricity on the uninhabited islet of Penjaliran Timur - where they monitor critically endangered Hawksbill Turtle nests.

Penjaliran Timur is part of Penjaliran’s restricted zone - and home to the critically endangered Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), whose favorite nesting grounds include the beaches of Peteloran Timur and Peteloran Barat (also uninhabited and in the restricted zone).

Using a wooden paddle boat, an important part of the rangers’ daily routine is to travel the relatively short distance from Penjaliran Timur to the nesting areas in order to collect newly laid Hawksbill Turtle eggs. The precious eggs are brought back to Penjaliran Timur, where the rangers carefully bury them in the sand near the guard post, to keep them safe from poachers.

But despite daily heroic efforts, the rangers are not always successful at rescuing the Hawksbill Turtle eggs: Although they can spot the poachers through binoculars from Penjaliran Timur, by the time they reach the nesting grounds via wooden paddle boat, the poachers are long gone - using speedboats.

A new species of monitor lizard closely related to the Komodo dragon has been discovered by German scientists in Indonesia.

The discovery was made after close examination of the new specimen using morphological characteristics and DNA analysis. Taxonomically classified as Varanus lirungensis, the new species “illustrates the high diversity of monitor lizards in Indonesia,” according to André Koch, who found the lizard.

This week’s environmental protests are all focused around a key theme that leads to public protest: political failure. Discover the deeply rooted political antipathy that’s putting the ocean at risk, the place whree local people want to preserve an ancient resource against potential, rather than actual, harm while political powers want jobs and income for the immediate future and what happens when competing interests can’t solve their problems in discussion.

So what is the problem with palm oil? Take a peek at this short video explaining:

To recap, palm oil is in many common supermarket products such as snacks, candy, and even soaps and detergents. Rainforest Action Network has created a site to educate consumers on the how destructive palm oil is to our global environment. Palm oil destroys vital ecosystems, contributes to global climate change, results in the displacement of Indigenous people and small family farmers, and is produced through exploitative labor practices.

Please help educate grocery shoppers about these facts and take action in anyway possible. RAN tells us: “Palm  oil  plantations  are  expanding  into  the  planet’s  most biodiverse  ecosystems,  including  rainforests,  grasslands  and  peat swamps in South America, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Africa. These regions are home to millions of plant and animal species, including highly endangered orangutans, clouded leopards, and sun bears.”

Big palm oil companies pay to have important oxygen providing rainforests clear cut for their palm crops and painfully push out the native people that rely on the land. This endangers the plants, animals and waterways that entire communities have thrived on forever.

Eyes on the Forest, a conservation coalition, has released a research report on the clash between commercial logging and Sumatran tigers living in forests clear cut by the paper industry.

Their analysis shows that most of the tiger - human violence occurring in Sumatra has taken place near areas being deforested by Asia Pulp and Paper. Over the last 12 years, 55 people and 15 critically endangered Sumatran tigers have lost their lives in the violence. Seventeen of the tigers have been captured alive.

The WWF has called for a halt to Indonesian deforestation in light of the recent tiger maulings that have left 6 people dead in less than a month.  The last three victims all appeared to be working at illegal logging camps in protected forests.

The Sumatran tiger (the worlds most endangered tiger subspecies) is having a hard time coping with a diminishing habitat.  Forest destruction and fragmentation have led the tigers to lay claim to woods near populated areas.

On January 28, 2009, the Indonesian Ulemas Council issued a fatwa, a religious edict, forbidding all Muslims from practicing yoga
that includes meditation and chanting.

The council is not a government entity, but it receives funding from the Ministry of Religion. The fatwa is an attempt to influence morality in Indonesia, but yoga class attendance has not been affected by the fatwa. There [...]

World Species Survey details gloomy outlook for many animal species.In early October of 2008, the results of a global species  survey, conducted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, were released.  The numbers are startling:

• At least a quarter of mammal species are headed toward extinction in the near future.
• Nearly 80 percent of the primate species in southern and southeastern Asia are immediately threatened.
• At least 22 percent of reptile species are at risk of extinction.
• Perhaps 40 percent of North American freshwater fish are threatened.
• In Europe, 45 percent of the most common bird species are rapidly declining, and so are the most common bird species in North America.

But perhaps these figures are a bit too abstract. Here’s a more precise way to look at the present state of bio-diversity on Earth.