Work Your Way to Rainforest Redemption
The Jakarta Post - WEEKENDER | Tue, 03/24/2009 3:24 PM |
For those of us who live in the city, nearly everything we want is at hand. Malls and hypermarkets are always there to meet our needs, from basic necessities to luxury cravings. Not to mention the ubiquitous restaurants and coffee shops where we can slake our thirst and hunger. So why should we care about the rainforests far from home? Shinta Nurwulan explores the ties that connect us to the jungles, and to their loss.
The rainforest in your home
For some clues, let’s start by looking around the house; there must be some wooden, rattan or bamboo furniture decorating our place. In the bathroom, there’s soap, shampoo and perhaps a perfume collection. In the kitchen, we have a set of bottles containing spices and cooking oil, and we might even find a leftover chocolate bar. All are likely to have ingredients sourced from the rainforests.
...and in the city
The list doesn’t stop there. As we head to the office, we drop by the coffee shop for a takeaway latte to sustain us as we work our way through a stack of papers. In the evening, there’s an appointment to see a doctor who will prescribe us some medicine.
Now, have you ever wondered where all of those things come from? Some of them grow naturally in the forest and others – unfortunately – are grown by clearing forests for plantations.
The rainforests that keep us alive
The rich biodiversity of the forests provides plants and trees, the basic materials to produce goods we need on a daily basis. Believe it or not, Indonesia is said to be the home of between 25,000 and 37,000 plant species, of which 10 percent are thought to have some medicinal purpose.
A familiar litany of problems
And what’s the price to get these forest resources into our mundane life? Actually, it’s much more than what we pay over the counter. Indonesia has lost up to 40 percent of its forest cover in the past 50 years because of illegal logging and conversion of forest land into plantations for the coffee, pulp, rubber and palm oil industries. And the shrinking forest area threatens orangutans, elephants, tigers and rhinos, as well as numerous other species of flora and fauna, pushing them to the brink of extinction.
The most tragic price we have to pay is the increasing number of natural disasters occurring as forests disappear: Floods, landslides, erosion and drought, to name a few.
Yes, the destroyed forests far away from our home can definitely affect our comfortable life in towns and cities.
Don’t worry, there is no shortage of steps you can take to improve things.
1. Become a wildlife “foster parent”. For example, the WWF Rhino Care Program allows you to symbolically adopt a javan rhino (www.rhinocare.info) while the WWF Save Sumatra campaign gives you the chance to be a “foster parent” for a tiger, elephant, orangutan or rhino (www.savesumatra.org). By adopting those species, you contribute money to save them from extinction and to help conserve their natural habitat.
2. Save paper. For every ton of paper, 17 trees must be cut down. Try to reduce your paper consumption, but if you really need to use paper, print double-sided and buy recycled paper.
3. Buy good wood. When buying wood products, look for products with a certification label, such as “Forest Stewardship Council”, to prove that the wood comes from sustainably managed forests. Ask your retailer if they have FSC-certified products. Or you can go to www.fsc-info.org to find which manufacturers in Indonesia sell FSC-certified goods.
4. Reduce your use of palm oil. Cut down on cooking oil, as the palm oil industry continues to contribute to forest loss. For your toiletries, try using shampoo and soap that do not contain palm oil.
5. Don’t buy exotic pets that have been caught from the wild. Tigers, orangutans, javan gibbons, Bali starlings and greater birds of paradise, for example, should live in their own natural habitat. It’s equally forbidden by law to purchase souvenirs made from parts of endangered species such as elephants, orangutans, rhinos and tigers.
6. Choose environmentally friendly coffee. Often, coffee is grown on plantations from previously forested areas, including national parks. To stay safe from “tainted” coffee, pick a sustainable type such as Sekar Sedayu brand from Lampung. There’s more on this topic at www.savesumatra.org.
The rainforest in your home
For some clues, let’s start by looking around the house; there must be some wooden, rattan or bamboo furniture decorating our place. In the bathroom, there’s soap, shampoo and perhaps a perfume collection. In the kitchen, we have a set of bottles containing spices and cooking oil, and we might even find a leftover chocolate bar. All are likely to have ingredients sourced from the rainforests.
...and in the city
The list doesn’t stop there. As we head to the office, we drop by the coffee shop for a takeaway latte to sustain us as we work our way through a stack of papers. In the evening, there’s an appointment to see a doctor who will prescribe us some medicine.
Now, have you ever wondered where all of those things come from? Some of them grow naturally in the forest and others – unfortunately – are grown by clearing forests for plantations.
The rainforests that keep us alive
The rich biodiversity of the forests provides plants and trees, the basic materials to produce goods we need on a daily basis. Believe it or not, Indonesia is said to be the home of between 25,000 and 37,000 plant species, of which 10 percent are thought to have some medicinal purpose.
A familiar litany of problems
And what’s the price to get these forest resources into our mundane life? Actually, it’s much more than what we pay over the counter. Indonesia has lost up to 40 percent of its forest cover in the past 50 years because of illegal logging and conversion of forest land into plantations for the coffee, pulp, rubber and palm oil industries. And the shrinking forest area threatens orangutans, elephants, tigers and rhinos, as well as numerous other species of flora and fauna, pushing them to the brink of extinction.
The most tragic price we have to pay is the increasing number of natural disasters occurring as forests disappear: Floods, landslides, erosion and drought, to name a few.
Yes, the destroyed forests far away from our home can definitely affect our comfortable life in towns and cities.
Don’t worry, there is no shortage of steps you can take to improve things.
1. Become a wildlife “foster parent”. For example, the WWF Rhino Care Program allows you to symbolically adopt a javan rhino (www.rhinocare.info) while the WWF Save Sumatra campaign gives you the chance to be a “foster parent” for a tiger, elephant, orangutan or rhino (www.savesumatra.org). By adopting those species, you contribute money to save them from extinction and to help conserve their natural habitat.
2. Save paper. For every ton of paper, 17 trees must be cut down. Try to reduce your paper consumption, but if you really need to use paper, print double-sided and buy recycled paper.
3. Buy good wood. When buying wood products, look for products with a certification label, such as “Forest Stewardship Council”, to prove that the wood comes from sustainably managed forests. Ask your retailer if they have FSC-certified products. Or you can go to www.fsc-info.org to find which manufacturers in Indonesia sell FSC-certified goods.
4. Reduce your use of palm oil. Cut down on cooking oil, as the palm oil industry continues to contribute to forest loss. For your toiletries, try using shampoo and soap that do not contain palm oil.
5. Don’t buy exotic pets that have been caught from the wild. Tigers, orangutans, javan gibbons, Bali starlings and greater birds of paradise, for example, should live in their own natural habitat. It’s equally forbidden by law to purchase souvenirs made from parts of endangered species such as elephants, orangutans, rhinos and tigers.
6. Choose environmentally friendly coffee. Often, coffee is grown on plantations from previously forested areas, including national parks. To stay safe from “tainted” coffee, pick a sustainable type such as Sekar Sedayu brand from Lampung. There’s more on this topic at www.savesumatra.org.
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