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1. Please see this video from Gravitas - how nature is reclaiming its spaces due to the Coronavirus

   Posted on 2:00pm Friday 10th Apr 2020

   Sometimes you see something on the internet or on television that really hits you hard and makes a point extremely well. I saw this video, this afternoon, and I wanted to share it with you.  Please share it with everyone you can. The ultimate message is that we SHARE this planet.  It demonstrates how dominant the human race has become - and how selfish.   I am not going to tell you anymore about it - please just watch it for yourself.   Here it is: Thank you, Gravitas. Please vow to make a difference today.  Find out how to reduce your impact on the earth's resources here.

2. Save orangutans - Tell Governments to crackdown on palm oil fires

   Posted on 8:00pm Wednesday 8th Apr 2020

   Did you know that the food you and I eat could be killing the last endangered orangutans in Borneo?                               Orangutans are being burnt to death and starved as the forests they live in are razed to the ground.  Why are these forests being destroyed?  Well, the forests are being cleared so that farmers can make room for thousands of miles of oil palm trees. A UN report discovered that palm oil is in about half of all products sold in supermarkets – it is in everything from cooking oils and margarine, pizza and ice-cream and soap. It is often used as an “eco-friendly” alternative to fossil fuels – but every time a farmer sets fire to the rainforest and underlying peatlands in Borneo, it destroys one of the world’s largest natural carbon sinks.   And it kills orangutans. Borneo, an island located in Southeast Asia, is split between the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. Sign the petition to tell governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei to crack down on palm oil fires, and save the orangutans before it's too late! Borneo orangutans cannot be found anywhere else on earth.  If we don’t act, they won’t be found in Borneo, either. Governments are fighting back.  The EU is very worried about this deforestation and it is phasing out palm-oil based biofuels for now.  Indonesia is contesting this decision at the World Trade Organisation, and hoping it will make the EU back down and change its mind. Luckily, some governments are fighting back. The European Union is particularly concerned about this deadly and rampant deforestation, and it is phasing out palm-oil based biofuels for the time being. Indonesia has responded by contesting this decision at the World Trade Organization, hoping to force the EU to back down and change its mind. Sign the petition to tell governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei to crack down on palm oil fires, and save the orangutans before it's too late! If you’re looking for products which don’t have palm oil in them, take a look at Natural Collection who have over 2,400 products which are palm oil free on their online shop.     Visit Natural Collection’s website here.

3. Help orangutans with the Sumatran Orangutan Society

   Posted on 7:00pm Sunday 23rd Feb 2020

   SOS (Sumatran Orangutan Society) has a new project partner – Nature for Change (NFC). They work to save the forests of the Leuser Ecosystem by addressing the survival of people living near the ecosystem’s buffer zone. Back in 2019, they enabled farmers to plant 5,000 fruit trees.   They are growing another 5,000 in their community tree nursery – and these will be planted in 2020. The team has started to work with farmers on bee-keeping as another way to make a living.  An expert visited them in January 2020 to train the farmers who were taking part in how to set up beehive and the hives will have bees in them very soon! NFC also has implemented its border patrol team.   They have been trained by national part officers and they are working on a number of things: They maintain the trails along the national park border They fix and replace signs They record observations about wildlife tracks and signs along the border They meet with farmers to build trust and gain their understanding so that they can appreciate how the farmers feel about wildlife. The team has also installed camera traps along animal trails.  These will give them a good understanding of the kind of wildlife in the area – wild pigs, Thomas leaf monkeys and porcupines have been spotted already.  This is invaluable information because it helps the team plan their work with farmers and their crops. This is all very exciting, because locals are essential in any battle to preserve habitat for wildlife and yet give those living there an income. You can find out more and donate here.

4. It's back! Orangutan Jungle School returns for a second series!

   Posted on 8:00pm Wednesday 24th Jul 2019

   If you watched the first series of Orangutan Jungle School, then there's good news - the programme is back for a second series! The programme follows the adventures, trials and tribulations, successes and failures of the orphan orangutans who are attending Orangutan Jungle School to learn the skills they will need to survive and thrive in the wild.  One of them is a character called Beni - you can see Beni's Fan Page here - and here is Beni trying to undertake a banana heist... The school is run by the Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation.   Orangutan habitat is being destroyed by us cutting down their forest home, so they need all the help you can get. You can adopt an orangutan to help.   #StandOrange!  The programme starts in the UK on 24 July 2019 at 8PM on Channel 4 but it shows in other countries as well and you can find out more here

    

5. Good news for Rainforests from the Sumatran Orangutan Society

   Posted on 6:00pm Thursday 13th Jun 2019

   We need all the good news we can get for rainforests at the moment, and there's two sets of good news from the Sumatran Orangutan Society today! Temporary Moratorium set to become a Permanent one! In an email, SOS sent a link to Mongabay which report that a temporary moratorium which prohibits the issuing of new permits to clear primary and peat forests is set to become permanent later this year.   There is more that can be done to strengthen this action, such as including secondary forests, say environmental activists.   When it was first introduced back in 2011, the moratorium was largely ineffective in stemming deforestation;  but since 2016, it has been shored up by peat-protection regularions which have helped to slow the loss of forest cover.  And fears that the move would harm the economy have been unfounded.  There's also a need to close a loophole which allows primary and peat forests to be razed for rice, sugarcane and other crop planatations.   But the move to make the moratorium permanent is a start.  Indonesia has pledged to slash its carbon dioxide emissions by at least 29% by 2030.   Although it is one of the top emitters world-wide, most of the emissions come from deforestation and not the burning of fossil fuels. Swing over to Mongabay for more information.  And there's more! Palm oil plantations to be cleared ready for new forest From 2018 to 2019, SOS ran an urgent appeal - the Rainforest Home Appeal.   They needed to raise £870,000 to buy 890 acres.    Visit SOS, the Sumatran Orangutan Society The public did it and the money was raised - and on 17th June 2019, a restoration team will start to clear the oil palm trees using chainsaws.   Once the oil palms have gone, the next phrase of restoration will start, bringing the land closer to being forest again!