Knowledge Hub
Ministers Urge Developers to Rethink Indonesian Dam which threatens the World’s Rarest Great Ape; Scottish Subsidiary in Spotlight
Pressure is growing on Chinese developers SDIC Power, which owns Edinburgh-based Red Rock Power, to abandon a controversial dam project in Indonesia which threatens the world’s most endangered great ape, the Tapanuli orangutan. Following a letter from Scottish Ministers urging SDIC to reconsider the project, and pressure on the company to meet international scientists, environmental organisation Mighty Earth is today pressing for wind farm developers Red Rock Power to be excluded from future rounds of renewable leasing in Scotland unless the Batang Toru dam project is stopped.
Exploring the future of vegetable oils
Oil crop implications – Fats, forests, forecasts, and futures
E. Meijaard, M. Virah-Sawmy, H. Newing, V. Ingram, M. J. M. Holle, T. Pasmans, S. Omar, H. van den Hombergh, N. Unus, A. Fosch, H. Ferraz de Arruda, J. Allen, K. Tsagarakis, M. C. Ogwu, A. Diaz-Ismael, J. Hance, Y. Moreno, S. O’Keeffe, J. Slavin, M. Slingerland, E. M. Meijaard, N. Macfarlane, R. Jimenez, S. A. Wich, D. Sheil
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Published by IUCN, Gland, Switzerland in collaboration with the Sustainable Nutrition Scientific Board (SNSB)
Malaysia plans ‘orangutan diplomacy’ in palm oil pitch
No single utterance by a Malaysian minister under the s0-called Madani government has resonated globally quite like this one. Every news organisation across Europe and the US has picked up on this partially explained proposal.
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Johari can therefore be congratulated for accurately putting his finger on the pulse, but unfortunately it has been with a negative impact that demonstrates the chasm of understanding that exits between the conservationist concerns of western consumers and the defensive anger of palm oil providers from Malaysia.
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Any client needs to be won round with the right approach. A scientifically educated public concerned about the loss of global biodiversity, the eradication of natural spaces and the consequential disasters of escalating climate change, food insecurity and the loss of the DNA bank from which future medicines, foods and life on earth depend, is not going to be placated by the gift of a captive Orang Utan in a cage.
