Campaign to
Stop Ladia Galaska and Save Gunung Leuser
from Illegal Logging
Write letters to help
save Leuser
Orangutan Cultures Press Release: January
02, 2003
Online
Petition to Save Leuser
Article about Leuser, December
2002
More Information
Orangutan Cultures online articles,
January 3, 2003
HOME
Original Letter*: 7 May
1999
Update: 6 July 1999
Update: 14 November 1999
Press Release from Dr. Carel van Schaik,
June 1999
Report
on Illegal Logging in Indonesia by EIA
Suggested reading regarding orangutans at Suaq Balimbing
Information
on Indonesian Wildlife and National Parks
European Union Forest Liaison
Bureau |
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FATAL
SUMATRA FLOOD DEVASTATES ECO-TOURISM VILLAGE AND ORANGUTAN REHABILITATION
SITE
Latest on Sumatran flood:
The SCOP newsletter discusses
the flood and its aftermath in detail, including reports that the
flash flood may have been due to naturally occuring landslides or
an upstream dam created by fishermen. It includes information for
relief donations: for immediate relief effort funds to be donated
to YEL can be transferred to:- Account name: Yayasan Ekosistem
Lestari (YEL) QQ Bencana Alam. Account number: 0270118531003 Bank
Address: Bank Niaga Cabang Medan-Gajah Mada Jl. Gajah Mada No. 11
Medan Sumatera Utara Indonesia ; for long-term rebuilding, funds
to be donated to PanEco in Switzerland can be sent to the following
account:- PanEco account: Credit Suisse; No 490097-11; Ban clearing
number 4791; SWIFT code: CRESCHZZ84R. Bank Address: Credit Suisse
Bahnhofplatz/Postfach CH-8400 Winterthur Switzerland. You can see
the PDF version, with photos, here.
The Orangutan Health Project was provisioning and
monitoring the rehabilitant orangutans at Bukit Lawang. If anyone
is interested in making a contribution to the Orangutan Health Project
directly, they can wire the money to the following bank account
in the Czech Republic.
Account: 175365415/0300 Account
Name: UMI - zachrana lidoopu
Bank: Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka, A.S.
Branch: Brno, Jostova 5 Swift
Address: CEKOCZPP
The Sumatran
Orangutan Society is accepting donations to help with
relief efforts and recovery at the Bukit Lawang (Bohorok) orangutan
rehabilitation station. The SOS
reports that all the rehabilitant orangutans survived the flood,
but it will be difficult to provide them with the care they need.
Please donate what you can to help SOS!
PAN
ECOs is also accepting donations through their account in Switzerland,
and has a report on their website.
Jennifer Miller, who works with the Orangutan Health Project at
Bukit Lawang, was in the US at the time of the flood. Here is what
she had to say on Nov. 4th:
WE NEED YOUR HELP. My name is Jennifer Miller, project assistant
for the Orangutan Health Project. We have been hit hard by the
flood, and so have our dear friends. The village is suffering
and we need to help. Our site location is gone, including all
homes and our lab. We cannot retrieve what has already been taken,
we need to put our efforts into assisting those who truly need
our help. The people of the Bukit Lawang village have been supportive
and have been our family for the period of time the Orangutan
Health Project has been there. My fiancé called me last
night to let me know he was alive. He managed to save 2 children
that ended up loosing their parents in the strong waters. And
the tragedies don't end there. So many of our friends are already
dead and we are trying to figure out the status of the Orangutan
Rehab Center. I am currently in the states but will be heading
back to join the rest of the team shortly. If anyone can help,
raise money, send clothing, etc., all efforts would be greatly
appreciated. But in the end, the real problem needs to be stopped
and that's illegal logging. Thank you to all in Sumatra at the
moment working on this issue!
She has since heard that USAID is sending money to the Indonesian
Red Cross to help with relief efforts for Bohorok, and that Indonesian
President Megawati Sukarnoputri has promised to send funds for rebuilding
the tourist village of Bukit Lawang. Tourism was a mainstay of the
local economy, and the flood will have a terrible impact on people's
livelihood for months to come. We must do everything we can to help
the survivors through this crisis, and remember and support them
even after the catastrophe of this flood has faded from the headlines.
We must also work to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
Bohorok
flash flood kills 70+ -- attributed to illegal logging in Leuser!
Source: channelnewsasia.com:
Langkat district chief Syamsul Arifin blamed the flood on illegal
logging inside a neighbouring national park and said it was a
disaster waiting to happen.
"We know who the bosses and the thieves are. The victims are
not only the environment but also human lives. We have predicted
this," Arifin said.
Illegal
Logging Blamed for Fatal Sumatran Flood
NEWS RELEASE
For immediate
release: November 3, 2003
Contact: Michelle Merrill, 112 Santa
Cruz Avenue, Aptos, CA 95003 USA mym1@NOSPAMduke.edu #831.234.0898
http://www.duke.edu/~mym1/suaqroad.htm
ILLEGAL
LOGGING BLAMED FOR FATAL SUMATRAN FLOOD
Dozens dead as local
activists struggle to prevent further destruction from roads and illegal
logging in Sumatra’s rainforests.
A flash flood Sunday tore through the village
of Bohorok, on the edge of the Mount Leuser National Park on the island
of Sumatra. This Indonesian village attracted tourists from all over
the world who come to see orangutans and other wildlife in the surrounding
rainforest. Reported death tolls from Sunday’s flood range into the
hundreds. Erosion due to illegal logging, widespread in Leuser, is
known to trigger such destructive floods.
Over the last two years, Indonesian and
provincial government officials have promoted a major road-building
project that could foster even more illegal logging in Leuser Ecosystem.
An alliance of local NGOs is campaigning against these roads. Ironically,
they had their first brief appearance in court Monday morning, in
the city of Banda Aceh, to oppose the controversial road network plans
known as “Ladia Galaska.” Tisna Nando, one of the local activists
in court Monday, was disappointed with the government response so
far. Another hearing is scheduled for next week.
People from all over the world have expressed
their opposition to Ladia Galaska. Michelle Merrill, who studied
Leuser’s orangutans in 1999, facilitated an online petition and letter
writing campaign at http://www.duke.edu/~mym1/ladia_galaska.htm.
Over 5,400 people from the United States,
Great Britain, Indonesia, and 80 other countries signed the petition.
Nando said, “I look through those names who signed the petition and
I realize that so many people care for [the] orangutan and its habitat
in [this] small remote place, Leuser.” International conservation
organizations like Environmental Defense also had productive letter-writing
campaigns.
Dr. Yarrow Robertson, a seasoned conservation
worker in the Leuser Ecosystem, said, “The effect of Ladia Galaska
can be predicted because of precedents in Leuser. In 1982, USAID
helped fund a road project that split the Mt. Leuser National Park
in two. Aerial photographs taken before and after clearly show that
USAID helped facilitate uncontrolled illegal settlements along
the road inside the National Park.”
More than two million people live in and
around the remaining rainforests of Leuser. Efforts
are being made to nominate the Leuser Ecosystem as a World Heritage
Site. It is one of the last refuges for such endangered species as
Sumatran rhinos, tigers, orangutans, sun bears and elephants. Leuser
is recognized as one of the top twenty-five critical ecosystems in
the world.
For more information, or to schedule an interview, contact: Michelle
Merrill, mym1@NOSPAMduke.edu
, #831-234-0898
###
Latest on Sumatran flood (6 Nov. 03):
The Sumatran
Orangutan Society is accepting donations to help with
relief efforts and recovery at the Bukit Lawang (Bohorok) orangutan
rehabilitation station. The SOS
reports that all the rehabilitant orangutans survived the flood,
but it will be difficult to provide them with the care they need.
Please donate what you can to help SOS!
PAN
ECOs is also accepting donations through their account in Switzerland,
and has a report on their website.
Jennifer Miller, who works with the Orangutan Health Project at
Bukit Lawang, was in the US at the time of the flood. Here is what
she had to say on Nov. 4th:
WE NEED YOUR HELP. My name is Jennifer Miller, project assistant
for the Orangutan Health Project. We have been hit hard by the
flood, and so have our dear friends. The village is suffering
and we need to help. Our site location is gone, including all
homes and our lab. We cannot retrieve what has already been taken,
we need to put our efforts into assisting those who truly need
our help. The people of the Bukit Lawang village have been supportive
and have been our family for the period of time the Orangutan
Health Project has been there. My fiancé called me last
night to let me know he was alive. He managed to save 2 children
that ended up loosing their parents in the strong waters. And
the tragedies don't end there. So many of our friends are already
dead and we are trying to figure out the status of the Orangutan
Rehab Center. I am currently in the states but will be heading
back to join the rest of the team shortly. If anyone can help,
raise money, send clothing, etc., all efforts would be greatly
appreciated. But in the end, the real problem needs to be stopped
and that's illegal logging. Thank you to all in Sumatra at the
moment working on this issue!
She has since heard that USAID is sending money to the Indonesian
Red Cross to help with relief efforts for Bohorok, and that Indonesian
President Megawati Sukarnoputri has promised to send funds for rebuilding
the tourist village of Bukit Lawang. Tourism was a mainstay of the
local economy, and the flood will have a terrible impact on people's
livelihood for months to come. We must do everything we can to help
the survivors through this crisis, and remember and support them
even after the catastrophe of this flood has faded from the headlines.
We must also work to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
OTHER NEWS COVERAGE:
Langkat district chief Syamsul Arifin blamed the flood on illegal
logging inside a neighbouring national park and said it was a
disaster waiting to happen.
"We know who the bosses and the thieves are. The victims are
not only the environment but also human lives. We have predicted
this," Arifin said.
Source: channelnewsasia.com
Other reports: About
170 feared dead in Indonesia flood disaster blamed on logging
and Deadly
Indonesia flood is latest disaster linked to rampant illegal logging
from TerraDaily
NGOs take Aceh government to court over Ladia Galaska. They had
a brief hearing today (3 Nov 03), with another hearing planned for
November 17th. Now is a crucial time to write
letters to the governor of Aceh and the president of Indonesia.
We must continue
to put pressure on Indonesian government officials regarding this
issue. Click here for a list of contacts
and some sample letters. I've posted an article based on Yarrow
Robertson's original briefing here. Sections
5 and 6 are especially important for understanding the current crisis.
Click here for sample letters to send
to legislators, newspapers, etc. Click
here for e-mails, fax #s, phone #s and addresses of US Senators
and Representatives.
Note to media: Orangutan audio is available here.
I have Hi8 video and a Betacam "B"-roll of orangutans and
illegal logging in Leuser Ecosystem, and Hi8 from the Bohorok/Bukit
Lawang orangutan rehabilitation station that can be made available,
photos of the orangutans, the forest, and the Bohorok area, and I'm
available to give a personal account of the region based on my work
there in 1999. Please contact me via e-mail (mym1@NOSPAMduke.edu)
or phone 831-234-0898.
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