Recent official figures show more than half of Indonesia's rainforest, the third-largest swath in the world, has been felled in a few years and permission has been granted to convert up to 70 per cent of what remains into palm or acacia plantations. Thirty years ago the world's third-and sixth-largest islands were full of tigers, elephants, rhinos, orangutans and exotic birds and plants but they have been effectively trashed in a single generation by global agribusiness and pulp and paper industries.
Indonesian Govnerment efforts to control this destruction have been ineffective. Acording to a recnt artcle in the New Zealand Herald, "Despite a commitment from the Government to extend a moratorium on deforestation for two years, Indonesia is still cutting down its forests faster than any other country. Loopholes in the law mean the moratorium only covers new licences and primary forests, and excludes key peatland areas and existing concessions which are tiger and elephant habitats."
Please sign this petition to urge Indoesia's President and other officials there to preserve remaining forests and to enforce the moratorium of new licences for palm oil plantations in Indonesia.
