Warning to Banks: Don’t Finance Rainforest Destruction

Last week, RAN joined sixty environmental and social organizations, including a dozen Indonesian groups, in signing an open letter to banks and other financial institutions across the globe warning them to avoid investments in pulp and paper industry projects associated with deforestation and human right abuses in Indonesia. The letter highlights concern with companies associated [...]

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Good News for Species on the Brink of Extinction in Tripa

UPDATE, 9.26.12:  BREAKING: Within the next 24 hours, Kallista Alam, 1 of the 5 major palm oil companies operating in Tripa, will have their operating permit WITHDRAWN. This is a highly important precedent-setting case, as this is the first in Aceh’s (Sumatra, Indonesia) entire governmental history. RAN members like you have helped to keep the [...]

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Illegal Fires in Sumatra Escalate, Creating Regional Air Pollution Crisis

Tragically, we just received a breaking report from our allies at the End of the Icons Coalition that at least 20 major fires and dozens of smaller ones are again sweeping through the Tripa rainforest in Sumatra, one of the world’s most ecologically important forests. Despite overwhelming international pressure to restore Tripa, which led to [...]

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Setting the Record Straight: Cargill and Tripa Forest Controversy

Although there are no major fires still tearing through the Tripa peat forest in Sumatra — the densest remaining Sumatran orangutan habitat in the world — updates from our allies on the ground tell us that Tripa is still gravely at risk. With one or two small fires still breaking out each day, combined with ongoing [...]

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Tragedy in Tripa: Cargill Can Make a Difference

Last week hundreds of fires blazed through the Tripa peat forest of Indonesia, threatening the survival of one of the largest remaining populations of wild Sumatran orangutans in the world. These fires rapidly got out of control after they were intentionally started by profit-hungry palm oil companies in order to clear rainforest for palm oil [...]

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Update: Indonesian Court Fails to Protect Critical Orangutan Stronghold

It’s a sad day today for the few remaining, critically endangered orangutans of Sumatra. In a much anticipated court ruling in the high-stakes case filed against palm oil plantation company PT Kallista Alam and the governor of the Province of Aceh for illegally draining and clearing the internationally renowned Tripa Peat Forest, the judges have [...]

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A 48 Hour Twitter Jam to Save Tripa

This blog comes from our friends at End of the Icons. In an amazing global response to the tragedy in Tripa, thousands of people all around the world have emailed the President of Indonesia and key stakeholders calling for the law to be enforced and this precious peatland to be saved. We are happy to [...]

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Raging Fires in Indonesia Displacing Communities and Pushing Orangutans to Edge of Extinction

A global tragedy is unfolding in Indonesia this week as fires rage through Tripa Swamp, displacing local communities and threatening hundreds of critically endangered Sumatran orangutans. These fires, initially set by palm oil companies to clear land for more plantations, are pushing this population of orangutans to the edge of extinction. Conservation experts say the [...]

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RAN Staff Finds Deforestation And Violence For Palm Oil Unchecked By The RSPO

As the 9thAnnual Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) meeting wrapped up on the island of Borneo, the crisis stemming from the uncontrolled expansion of palm oil plantations into rainforests and communities reached a fever pitch. Consider this: In the few days that RAN’s four staff-member delegation attended the RSPO meeting in SE Asia, the [...]

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Will Danger Listing Of UNESCO World Heritage Site Save The Orangutan?

Several weeks ago, three national parks in Sumatra, Indonesia were collectively labeled a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Danger. This inscription reiterates the urgency to issue full protections for the last remaining tracts of unspoiled rainforest on the island. The Sumatran rainforest, named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 for its wealth of biodiversity, [...]

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