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1. Sumatran orangutan spotted in the Singkil Swamp Wildlife Reserve!

   Posted on 11:00pm Thursday 7th Jan 2021

   The Sumatran Orangutan Society kicked off 2021 with some great news! Restoration staff have been working to restore the Singkil Swamp Wildlife Reserve. It’s a vital area, locally and critically, because it’s home to breeding populations of Sumatran orangutans and other critically endangered species. And the great news is that staff working to restore the area spotted a Sumatran Orangutan there!  So their work is paying off – it’s great when wildlife move into an area that’s been restored! The area is important for people as well – hundreds of thousands people rely on the deep carbon-rich peatlands – they are vital as natural carbon sinks.   If they were drained, dangerous levels of pollution would be released into the atmosphere. This makes the area important to all of us as well. This is not the first time recently that orangutans have returned to restored forest - in December 2020, SOS reported that as land had been reclaimed and restored, so orangutans had returned! The ecosystem restoration programme is operated by the Orangutan Information Centre, with local staff and farmers.  The sites being restored are sited in the Leuser Ecosystem which is a protected area, and the sites being restored have been damaged by illegal activities, mostly the clearing of forests for palm oil plantations. This Sumatran orangutan is in one of the trees planted by the restoration team at the Cinta Raia III restoration site.  You can help by planting a tree!  Click here for more information And there are other ways to help - read more about the campaigns SOS run, help them fundraise or simply learn more about orangutans and the issues facing them.  Or you could make a donation, either a one off or monthly.  Visit the Sumatran Orangutan Society

    

    

2. The Sumatran Orangutan Society has launched an appeal

   Posted on 9:00pm Friday 12th Jun 2020

   The Sumatran Orangutan Society have launched an appeal to help guides in Sumatra. These guides normally take tourists through the national parks but because of COVID-19, the Indonesian government has closed the parks to tourists.  This means that the income supporting the guides’ families has vanished overnight.   Food security is tenuous.  Visit the Sumatran Orangutan Society These guides are normally at Bukit Lawang, Tangkahan and Ketambe – these sites are in the precious Leuser Ecosystem.  There’s no idea of when the parks will open up again. So SOS launched an appeal to help the guides.   Thus far, over £6,000 has been raised.  All donations are going to Nature for Change and OIC and they have started to buy and distribute food supplies already. You can donate here. Find out more about SOS here

    

3. Please see this video from Gravitas - how nature is reclaiming its spaces due to the Coronavirus

   Posted on 2:00pm Friday 10th Apr 2020

   Sometimes you see something on the internet or on television that really hits you hard and makes a point extremely well. I saw this video, this afternoon, and I wanted to share it with you.  Please share it with everyone you can. The ultimate message is that we SHARE this planet.  It demonstrates how dominant the human race has become - and how selfish.   I am not going to tell you anymore about it - please just watch it for yourself.   Here it is: Thank you, Gravitas. Please vow to make a difference today.  Find out how to reduce your impact on the earth's resources here.

4. Save orangutans - Tell Governments to crackdown on palm oil fires

   Posted on 8:00pm Wednesday 8th Apr 2020

   Did you know that the food you and I eat could be killing the last endangered orangutans in Borneo?                               Orangutans are being burnt to death and starved as the forests they live in are razed to the ground.  Why are these forests being destroyed?  Well, the forests are being cleared so that farmers can make room for thousands of miles of oil palm trees. A UN report discovered that palm oil is in about half of all products sold in supermarkets – it is in everything from cooking oils and margarine, pizza and ice-cream and soap. It is often used as an “eco-friendly” alternative to fossil fuels – but every time a farmer sets fire to the rainforest and underlying peatlands in Borneo, it destroys one of the world’s largest natural carbon sinks.   And it kills orangutans. Borneo, an island located in Southeast Asia, is split between the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. Sign the petition to tell governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei to crack down on palm oil fires, and save the orangutans before it's too late! Borneo orangutans cannot be found anywhere else on earth.  If we don’t act, they won’t be found in Borneo, either. Governments are fighting back.  The EU is very worried about this deforestation and it is phasing out palm-oil based biofuels for now.  Indonesia is contesting this decision at the World Trade Organisation, and hoping it will make the EU back down and change its mind. Luckily, some governments are fighting back. The European Union is particularly concerned about this deadly and rampant deforestation, and it is phasing out palm-oil based biofuels for the time being. Indonesia has responded by contesting this decision at the World Trade Organization, hoping to force the EU to back down and change its mind. Sign the petition to tell governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei to crack down on palm oil fires, and save the orangutans before it's too late! If you’re looking for products which don’t have palm oil in them, take a look at Natural Collection who have over 2,400 products which are palm oil free on their online shop.     Visit Natural Collection’s website here.

5. Help orangutans with the Sumatran Orangutan Society

   Posted on 7:00pm Sunday 23rd Feb 2020

   SOS (Sumatran Orangutan Society) has a new project partner – Nature for Change (NFC). They work to save the forests of the Leuser Ecosystem by addressing the survival of people living near the ecosystem’s buffer zone. Back in 2019, they enabled farmers to plant 5,000 fruit trees.   They are growing another 5,000 in their community tree nursery – and these will be planted in 2020. The team has started to work with farmers on bee-keeping as another way to make a living.  An expert visited them in January 2020 to train the farmers who were taking part in how to set up beehive and the hives will have bees in them very soon! NFC also has implemented its border patrol team.   They have been trained by national part officers and they are working on a number of things: They maintain the trails along the national park border They fix and replace signs They record observations about wildlife tracks and signs along the border They meet with farmers to build trust and gain their understanding so that they can appreciate how the farmers feel about wildlife. The team has also installed camera traps along animal trails.  These will give them a good understanding of the kind of wildlife in the area – wild pigs, Thomas leaf monkeys and porcupines have been spotted already.  This is invaluable information because it helps the team plan their work with farmers and their crops. This is all very exciting, because locals are essential in any battle to preserve habitat for wildlife and yet give those living there an income. You can find out more and donate here.