Deforestation in Indonesia, who is to blame?
Indonesia holds a record. Most popular tourist destination? No. According to the Guiness book of Records, Indonesia is the country with the fastest rate of forest destruction on the planet. According to the book's entry, data from 2000-2005 shows that 51 square km of forest are cut down every day.
As a result, Indonesia has already lost about 72% of its original frontier forest cover (www.globalforestwatch.org). However, this forest is one of the most extensive and biologically diverse forest in the world, and it is a huge carbon stock.
As Global Forest Watch explains: "Deforestation in Indonesia is largely the result of a corrupt political and economic system that regarded natural resources, especially forests, as a source revenue to be exploited for political ends and personal gain."
An incredibly stricking movie has been made by a frenchman called Patrick Rouxel. It shows the end of the life of "Green" a female Orang Utang, and through her eyes, displays the destruction of indonesia's primitive forests. The movie can be downloaded on www.greenthefilm.com.
On this website, and that was the original purpose of my post, you can find a list of the involved, directly or indirectly (by buying the products of the converted forests, or by investing in the companies that are behind the deforestation) in the destruction of Indonesia's forests.
The list is very long, but here are just a few that I recognised.
Palm Oil production: Sinar Mas Group - Indonesia
Banks: BNP Paribas (France), Credit Agricole (France), Societe generale (France), Rabobank (Netherlands), ING Bank (Netherlands), Fortis Bank (Netherlands), HSBC (United Kingdom)
Brands: Leroy Merlin, Pizza Hut, Mc Cain, Unilever, HJ Heinz, Tesco, Marks and Spencer, Carrefour, Danone, Gillette...
For the full list check out http://www.greenthefilm.com/ and scroll down, down down... Once you know which of the products that you consume are linked to the reckless exploitation of Indonesia's forests, and the resulting loss of biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions, you can decide what you will take of your next shopping list. This counts for me too...