Disney, recognizing its heavy paper footprint as the world’s largest publisher of children’s books and magazines, has announced it will be changing its paper policies to try to stop the degradation of rainforests in Southeast Asia.
The change comes as a victory for indigenous Indonesians, rainforest wildlife and the atmosphere, which are all being harmed by the vociferous consumption of rainforests by logging in Indonesia.
Tags: · Asia Paper & Pulp, carbon dioxide pollution, Carbon Emissions, children's books, China, deforestation, Disney, Indonesia, Rainforest Action Network, sustainable paper
The war against sharks that has been decimating the ocean’s top predators worldwide — so that people can eat shark fin soup — has finally met an enemy that could help stop the bloodbath.
Scuba divers.
Today, authorities in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, set aside a shark sanctuary, the first of its kind in Indonesia, off the coast of these tourist-reliant islands.
The new Raja Ampat Shark Sanctuary will provide full protection for sharks, manta rays, mobulas, dugongs, and turtles within the boundaries of the sanctuary.
Tags: · dugongs, endangered sharks, greenrightnow.com, Indonesia, manta rays, marine biodiversity, Misool Eco Resort, mobulas, Raja Ampat, shark extinction, shark fin soup, Shark Sanctuary, Shark Savers, sharks, sharks killed for shark fin soup, turtles
Javan rhinos (Photo: Belfast Zoo)
An international partnership is racing against the clock to ensure the survival of the last 48 Javan rhinos on Earth by carving out a safe haven in the dense jungles of Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park. The species’ entire viable population, living on the island of Java, is quite literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Tags: · Indonesia, International Rhino Foundation, Javan rhinos, Susie Ellis, Ujung Kulon National Park
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Digging into the palm oil debate, an urgent issue to many environmental groups, our reporter Ashley Phillips found herself slipping into a swamp of material.
For years, there has been a volley of claims and counter claims about the environmental and humanitarian consequences related to palm oil production.
The UN Environment Programme has blamed the massive destruction of rainforest in Malaysia and Indonesia for producing such a volume of manmade greenhouse gas emissions that it ranks behind only the US and China. These gases are released as the native rainforest is cleared to install or expand palm plantations, and it is exacerbated by the slash-and-burn clearing that is a double whammy to the atmosphere — removing carbon-holding rainforest while spewing carbon from massive wood fires.
Seemingly the only thing happening faster than the destruction of the rainforest in Southeast Asia is the consumer demand for palm oil which turns up in every 10th product at the grocery by some estimations.
Tags: · BarbaraKesslerBlog, Borneo, consumer goods, deforestation, Indonesia, Malaysia, palm oil, palm oil products, rainforest, The Problem with Palm Oil, the Rainforest Network
Happy New Year! And while it might not seem quite so happy at this moment, with fighting breaking out in Gaza, rising U.S. unemployment and global economic pain, we are always seeking signs of hope and renewal.
Trawling for good news over the holidays, we found these items:
* The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) reports that the coral reefs in Indonesia are recovering rapidly following the tsunami that hit four years ago. “Baby corals” are springing up to replace those lost in the Dec. 26, 2004 disaster, which means that the ecosystems needed to support fishing, as well as tourism, in the area are mending nicely.
Tags: · Argentina, BarbaraKesslerBlog, coral reefs, Indonesia, penguins, tsunami, Wildlife Conservation Society
Barbara Kessler
Andrew Winston
Danielle Nierenberg
Anthony Swift