Thinking beyond the canopy

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A day in the life of a REDD+ negotiator

He has over 1500 twitter followers and nearly 5000 Facebook friends and yet he is not your usual social media junkie or celebrity. Tony La Viña is a lead negotiator at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP17) facilitating the important issue of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). CIFOR follows Tony La Viña for a day, documenting the challenges of COP17 negotiations.

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FOREST NEWS
Forest Lens
Protecting Indonesia's orangutans
  • During an interview, Dr. Biruté Galdikas, the world’s foremost expert on orangutans, reflects on changes in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, during her four decades of involvement in conservation: “The devastation over the past 40 years has been overwhelming. The amount of forest has decreased, and the number of wild orangutans in Indonesia has plummeted, reduced by 80 percent.” Photo by Warner Bros. Entertainment / Drew Fellman. The interview is available on CIFOR’s Forests blog at www.blog.cifor.org
  • Protecting the forests that orangutans call home is one of Dr. Biruté Galdikas’ greatest challenges: “The main issue is destruction of tropical rainforest. I flew to the northernmost part of Central Kalimantan with a woman who was interested in seeing the extent of tropical rainforest destruction in the area. By the time we left the plane, she was weeping. For the entire plane ride, there wasn’t a single piece of tropical rainforest left. Less than 20 per cent of the forests of central Indonesian Borneo are relatively intact.” The interview is available on CIFOR’s Forests blog at www.blog.cifor.org
  • As their habitat shrinks, orangutans are forced into contact with humans who often see them as pests, food, or currency for the illegal pet trade, says Dr. Biruté Galdikas. “Orangutans have to be made more important to the public. If people didn’t kill them, then orangutans might not even need protected areas. There are many times when police officers are informed of orangutans being kept illegally but once they get there it is too late to save them.” The interview is available on CIFOR’s Forests blog at www.blog.cifor.org
  • Dr. Biruté Galdikas is well-known for her efforts in reintroducing rescued orangutans into the rainforests of Borneo: “Once orangutans survive into adolescence and return to the wild, about 90 percent of them survive through to adulthood. You release a male who is a young adolescent, and then 10 years later you meet an adult male. Something in his eyes shows he recognises you, even if you don’t recognise him. He walks by you as though you don’t represent any danger or any unknown to him. That male survived in the wild for 10 years.” The interview is available on CIFOR’s Forests blog at www.blog.cifor.org
  • From her base in Tanjung Puting National Park, Central Kalimantan, Dr. Biruté Galdikas runs Orangutan Foundation International, an organization that is changing the way people think about orangutans: “When people interact closely with orangutans, when they sit next to an orangutan and hold their hand, and the orangutan gazes into their eyes, a shift occurs in their perception of what these animals really are.” The interview is available on CIFOR’s Forests blog at www.blog.cifor.org
  • Convincing people of the importance of conserving forests and orangutans is getting both easier and harder, says Dr. Biruté Galdikas. “The level of awareness among the Indonesian people has increased exponentially. Local people, local governments and national government officials are much more aware and sophisticated in their understanding of conservation. But when you place that against a globalised economy and against big-money corporations, who’s going to win? The corporation that can provide a thousand jobs, or the protected forest that has some orangutans and protected birds in it?” The interview is available on CIFOR’s Forests blog at www.blog.cifor.org
  • Dr. Biruté Galdikas believes there are opportunities for plantation companies to be part of the solution: “I really believe that palm oil companies have to get involved, because without their support, the amount of funding available is minimal. These companies control hundreds of thousands of hectares and are making billions of dollars. They need to step up, they need to help, and they need to acknowledge that they are part of the problem.” The interview is available on CIFOR’s Forests blog at www.blog.cifor.org
  • Dr. Biruté Galdikas reflects on a milestone of her 40-year career in fighting for forest and orangutan conservation: “One of my proudest moments was when the Minister of Forestry established Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve as a place where we could release wild-born ex-captive orangutans. 76,000 hectares of forest slated to become palm oil plantations were saved.” The interview is available on CIFOR’s Forests blog at www.blog.cifor.org
  • To bring orangutan populations back from the brink, Dr. Biruté Galdikas believes education is the key: “We need to get conservation curriculum into local schools and villages – not just for children, but all levels of society. Television programs, newspaper articles and magazine articles…we need to make it interesting and exciting and bring nature back into people’s lives.” The interview is available on CIFOR’s Forests blog at www.blog.cifor.org
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