BBC's Orangutan Diary Series

Back in 2009 the BBC's Orangutan Diary series, highlighted the importance of sanctuaries and rescue centres, in addition, the battle for the creation of new habitats for Orangutan's orphaned by deforestation, principally from palm oil.  Orangutan Diary was a fantastic series, presented by Michaela Strachan and Steve Leonard and focused on the Nyaru Menteng rescue centre. Unfortunately, due to the age of the documentary it can no longer be viewed on BBC iplayer, however, it is still possible to few small clips on youtube. I highly suggest you take a few minutes to watch one or two!!! 

The above clip is one I chose on the basis that it encompasses so much that this blog has previously discussed and in addition, it visually displays for those who have never seen a plantation, the start of a new palm oil plantation. Inevitably the plantation will expand, further destroying the natural habitats of Orangutans and other species. 


I believe that Michaela makes a very worthy comment about palm oil plantations being 'consumerism at it's worst', with the majority of indonesians not benefitting from the foreign owned plantations, established to satisfy demand from the rest of the world for cheap products. 


Stay tuned for my next post entitled 'Consumerism at it's Worst'       Ahhhhhhh!

Orphaned Orangutans

Hey! I just thought I would draw your attention to my flicker account. I've uploaded some pictures of the time I spent in Batu Puteh and just today have added pictures of the orphaned Orangutans at the local sanctuary. The young Orangutans are not yet old enough to fend for themselves and if they were not rescued, it is highly unlikely they would still be alive today.

I think the most sad part of visiting the sanctuary was being told that the sanctuary is quickly running out of funding to keep the Orangutans. Without funding the sanctuary cannot support the orphans, nor transport them to other sanctuaries, when they are older where they can begin rehabilitation and be introduced into
a semi-wild habitat. It is this freedom that allows the Orangutans to live a happy and fulfilled life!

Orangutans Back in the Limelight…Flying BA (Wouldn't Mind If I Do!!)

Monday: Love at first sight

I was quietly minding my own business, sitting exhaustedly on a bench at Oxford Circus…(Jeeze! I can't take these 5 hour shopping sprees in my old age!!) when I looked up and saw this incredibly cute guy staring me in the face! Result!

Finally media attention is being drawn to the dwindling populations of Orangutans caused by 'shrinking habitats'. Although this BA advert didn't mention the part that the palm oil industry plays, it raises awareness and will hopefully lead to londoners and tourists finding out more about Orangutans and other endangered species!

Tuesday:  Right….I think he just might be my new stalker!

After a long day of work, I decided to have a relaxing bath before I clambered into bed to drift off to sleep. My housemate had kindly left the Evening Standard in the bathroom so I thought I would have a little flick through, to update myself on the rollercoaster of events in the eurozone and the phone hacking scandal... I certainly didn't expect another encounter with the 'incredibly cute guy' from yesterday, especially seeing as they are such a rare species!! :-)

Well done BA for highlighting this issue!!!

Rhino Crash With Palm Oil

Firstly a fun fact for you...a group of rhinos is called a 'Crash' !! Did you know that?? If you didn't, visiting this blog might have just led you to be the winner of Christmas Cracker Trivia this year :-)

On a more serious note, I am currently writing a piece on the successes and failures of the conservation efforts surrounding the three remaining Asian Rhinos; Indian, Sumatran and Javan.  A number of African and Asian Rhinos have recently become extinct, with the Javan Rhino becoming extinct in Vietnam and its population numbers are down to 50 worldwide :-(. The IUCN has classified the rhino as critically endangered since 1996. Through strong conservation efforts there has been no evidence of poaching since the mid 90s. However, the main threat to their survival now, is habitat destruction through deforestation, caused by illegal logging and the creation of palm oil plantations!!! Its huge relevance provoked me to post this article and raise awareness of the impacts that the palm oil industry is having on not only Orangutans but on many endangered species.

Javan Rhino Now Extinct in Vietnam

So what does the literature say??

Afternoon! After reading that article yesterday I thought there couldn’t be a more appropriate time to blog about a few interesting journals that I have come across over the last month surrounding carbon budgets.

I think it would be fair to say that we are living in a world today, where organisation’s through to individuals are experiencing increasing pressure to curb greenhouse gas emissions, as a result of the accelerating risks posed by climate change. The need for greener, cleaner energy couldn’t be greater, with many people turning to biofuels as the answer. But is it really ‘green’ energy or are we actually sending ourselves further into the red??

Much of the academic field agree that the answer to this question is not straightforward, being highly dependant on the location of the plantation. This concept was touched upon in the summary table below, highlighting the potential for increased carbon dioxide emissions through loss of biomass, slash and burn techniques and draining peatlands. A study by Fargione et al. (2008) addressed in greater depth the so called ‘Biofuel Carbon Debt’ that is generated as a result of the concentration of CO₂ released during the first 50 years after land conversion has occurred to create plantations. Emphasis is placed on the release of carbon from the two largest biologically active stores of terrestrial carbon: soils and plant biomass.

The graph highlights the impacts that exposed soils and foregone plant biomass has on the carbon budget, concisely and clearly displaying the time taken to repay the carbon debt in various geographical locations. In regard to the specific focus of this blog, I feel it important to stress the figures related to palm oil plantations in Southeast Asia. According to Fargione et al. (2008) converting tropical rainforest to palm oil plantations would lead to a carbon debt of ~610 Mg of CO₂ ha^-1 that would take circa 86 years to repay! However if that isn’t shocking enough from a crop that is supposedly carbon neutral and the future of energy markets, let me draw your attention to the disastrous consequences of converting peatlands. It takes a palm oil plantation located on a previous peatland area, approximately 420 years to repay one hefty carbon debt! Seeing as the study goes on state that 27% of new palm oil plantation are being located on tropical peatlands, the future is bleak for Southeast Asia to supply a greener energy solution.  

Other recent works by the likes of Gibbs et al. (2008) and Danielsen et al. (2008) concur with the conclusion drawn by Fargione et al. (2008) that biofuel expansion into natural tropical ecosystems will lead to net carbon emissions for decades to centuries. However despite the underlying conclusion being the same, there is discrepancy in the figures and focus in both the articles. Gibbs et al. (2008) paper predicts the carbon debt derived from plantations situated on previous peatlands to be more than double than that stated by Fargione et al. (2008), taking a supposed 900 years to repay! The study also addresses the potential benefits of forming plantations on degraded agricultural lands, thats productivity in regard to food crops has fallen, highlighting that within under two decades carbon sequestered in plant biomass and the concentration of carbon saved through the use of the biofuel would be outweigh the carbon released during its production. The article brings to light that if marginalized land can be found and ultilised it could reduce the implementation costs of establishing biofuel production and therefore allow population to reap the benefits more rapidly. However rather grimly states that even with modifications to the biofuel industry, technological advances of feedstocks provoking a doubling in ethanol yield from the most productive feedstock; sugarcane, more than three decades would be required to replace lost rainforest carbon.

The study by Danielsen et al. (2008) also looks to the future with close examination of the impacts on biodiversity, in addition to climate. It states the huge importance of tropical rainforests for endangered and rare species as well as its significance as a store of around 46% of world terrestrial carbon. Current deforestation is accordingly accounting for 25% of total net carbon emissions. The paper puts emphasis on the fact that as countries strive to meet obligations to reduce carbon emissions under one international agreement (Kyoto Protocol), they may not only fail to meet their obligations under another (Convention on Biological Diversity) but may actually hasten global change.

This provides some food for thought surrounding the complexities of ultilising palm oil as a suitable biofuel today and into the future.

Environmental Impact of Palm Oil Hits Headlines!!

Just found this article whilst browsing the web, thought it was super relevant, so have a little read :-) !!!
Enjoy!!

Study finds biofuels produce as much carbon as fossil fuels