We have been getting hammered with too much bad news these days.
It is time to celebrate something huge and wonderful.
Indonesia Agrees to Curb Commercial Deforestation
By AUBREY BELFORD
Published: May 27, 2010
The deal, signed Wednesday at a climate conference in Oslo, is open to other countries and would tie the $1 billion in funding to "verified emissions reductions" as part of the United Nations-backed effort known as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, or REDD. Under the plan, rich countries help pay for the preservation of forests in developing countries.
More from the NY Times story-
The deal, signed Wednesday at a climate conference in Oslo, is open to other countries and would tie the $1 billion in funding to "verified emissions reductions" as part of the United Nations-backed effort known as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, or REDD. Under the plan, rich countries help pay for the preservation of forests in developing countries.
I cannot tell you how happy I am to have learned about this.
As someone who has spent more time in the Indonesian rain forest than most Americans, I can tell you it is one of the most magical and beautiful places in the world.
Of course, the country will go on losing trees to illegal loggers, a constant struggle in this wild environment. But it is good to stop 100% of official logging for any period of time. The pledge to halt for at least two years is very encouraging.
In addition to simple logging, the forests are in jeopardy because numerous and - fully legal - cash crops are encroaching upon the protected areas. Rubber, coffee, and other crops grown for export dominate the landscape.
Palm oil is perhaps the largest threat to tropical forests worldwide. There is a website devoted to encouraging people to boycott palm oil because of its effect on orangutan habitat.
Palm oil is now the most popular vegetable oil in the world, and 85% of it some from former orangutan habitat.
One in 10 products in your supermarket contain palm oil in some form. Palm oil is in crackers, toothpaste, margarine, detergents and cosmetics. Unfortunately, many products will simply list the ingredient as "vegetable oil" so you really have no idea where the oil came from.
Some folks might think that Indonesia is a "small island nation", but nothing could be further from the truth. A massive percentage of the world's surviving rain forests are there.
• Half of the island of New Guinea is Indonesian rain forest.
• Half of the island of Borneo is Indonesian rain forest.
• All of the forested part of the island of Sumatra is Indonesian rain forest.
• All of the forested part of the island of Sulawesi is Indonesian rain forest.
These are many of the largest islands in the world (2, 3, 6, & 11, respectively).
Just for today, I can breathe a bit easier knowing places like this will have a fighting chance to live another day.
Pesek and her baby, April, are very pleased as well.
(Read more about my time in Indonesia here and about buying shade-grown coffee HERE)