Cockroach success at the Celtic Film and Video Festival!

Falmouth, March 2006

Cockroach felt a burst of pride when Nick took part in the live pitch competition at the Celtic Film and Video Festival in Falmouth, Cornwall, last week and won.

Our pitch – for Radio Gibbon, 99.5 FM a film about Radio Kalaweit and the gibbon sanctuary run by Frenchman Chanee in Central Kalimantan – was voted the winner against 5 other live pitches (and these 5 had already been selected from a much greater number of entries in the selection phase).



Radio Gibbon won a landslide victory in the audience vote. The audience to the competition was made up of industry professionals, producers, commissioning editors, and festival delegates, as well as being webcast live. The event was preceeded by a three-day long pitching course run by Christina Burnett from Wide Eye Pictures, during which Nick had the opportunity to really fine tune and perfect the pitch. We’re hoping the exposure and insight which the event gave us will help to get the film commissioned.

Here’s an extract from the pitch:

“Radio Gibbon is a journey through the cultural, musical and natural heritage of Borneo with an amazing and charismatic man who has made his life here on the frontiers of conservation.

In 1997 a young Frenchman, Aurelien Brule, applied to the Indonesian government in Jakarta to found a radio station in Central Kalimantan. Less than a decade later Radio Kalaweit is the most popular radio station in Borneo. Through the story of this radio outpost, its listeners, and Brule’s gibbon sanctuary island, we explore the most remote parts of Borneo – areas where radio is a vital link to the wider world.”

If you are interested in finding out more about our idea for the film contact us at:
info@cockroach.org.uk or telephone +44 (0)1823 451 790
Or if you would like to help our friends at Kalaweit go to:
www.kalaweit.org
and donate generously!!!

Cockroach Productions wins National Recognition

Cockroach Productions' Orangutan Film Protection Project has won a Special Commendation from the British Environment and Media Awards for their media work on the Orangutan and Palm Oil Story. Through national and international news broadcasts the team at Cockroach, with the support of their friends in the Ape Alliance, have reached an audience of 86,000,000 people worldwide with the story. Further national broadcasts on mainstream terrestrial televison are scheduled for the coming months.



Alistair McGowan presented the awards at a dinner ceremony, where other attendees included the BBC, Channel 4, The Independent, The Sunday Times and Friends of the Earth. We were pleased to see our 'Orangutan Friendly Palm Oil' logo come up on screen - re-enforcing the message to a captive audience of fellow environmental reporters. We also took advantage of the evening to spread the word on the orangutan and palm oil crisis, and hope we can keep the story in the forefront of people's minds in the coming months.

On the trail of the Tiger

Saturday 6th August 2005

The last two weeks in Sumatra have been exhausting but exhilarating. We left Jakarta early one morning, accompanied by Pak Wald and Pak Daniel of the Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program, and began a four-day journey up impossibly bumpy roads to the forests of central Sumatra. En route we took in a ferry journey passing Krakatoa in the distance, stopped over at the elephant training centre in Way Kambas, and passed through the concrete skyscrapers that dominate the villages where bird’s nest soup is the primary industry. After three days circumnavigating the many potholes of the trans-Sumatran highway, we eventually arrived at the office of the STCP. That evening we were introduced to the rest of the team and were shown a small sample of the thousands of photos they have collected from their camera traps in the forests, including tapir, clouded leopards, porcupines, deer, elephants, and, of course, tigers. Pak Wald and Pak Yunus, the STCP field manager, then showed us some of the STCP’s recent confiscations – tiger and leopard skins, bones, and teeth.

The next day we traveled to some of the palm oil plantations that surround the borders of the forest where the STCP’s Tiger Protection Units run their patrols. Approaching one plantation we managed to get some shots of a huge illegal saw mill just off the road, and talked to a rubber-tapper and his family whose livelihood is threatened by the continuous expansion of palm oil monoculture. Arriving at another plantation still being established nearby, Pak Wald was shocked to find how quickly the forest had been cleared – the area had still been forest when he had last visited, just weeks earlier. On our way out of this plantation we encountered two workers carrying an Argus Pheasant that they had recently captured on the outskirts of the plantation. The Great Argus is a CITES Appendix-I listed endangered species. The unfortunate bird we met had its eyes stitched closed to “keep it calm”. The workers expected to make around £14.50 from selling it. We resisted the temptation to buy this bird from them in order to set it free – our doing so would only mean that word would get round that foreigners were paying for animals and would compound the problem.

Later, in yet another plantation, we came across a baby macaque being kept as a family pet and tethered by the neck on an extremely short rope. It is likely the macaque faces a bleak future – a macaque is almost certain to be killed by others in the group if released into a wild population. It felt like every way we turned there were animals that faced similarly uncertain futures as their forest disappears to make way for palm oil.

The next couple of days were spent more happily. We traveled to the STCP base within the forest borders and from there we were able to film siamang whooping through the treetops, and witness the spectacular site of hornbills swooshing and honking overhead. We spent a couple of days trekking the jungle trails with the team, filming the set up of the camera traps and looking for snares set by poachers. We were lucky enough to come across some tiger prints, including some left fairly recently by a tigress and her cubs.

Members of the tiger team are recruited only after rigorous jungle training, and although by now fairly acclimatized to the 33 plus degree heat, we found it hard to keep up with the speed with which they move through the forest. They decided we looked like Ninja Turtles due to the big camera cases we were heaving around on our backs, and I think that our obvious discomfort kept them entertained during the periods of time when we needed to stop and take a rest.

That evening we went to meet and interview a man who is known locally as Pak Harimau – Mr Tiger. This man, a small wiry 70-odd year old, claims to have killed 182 tigers over a long career of poaching. On five occasions, the tigers fought back. As his many grandchildren crowded round to listen, Pak Harimau told us the story of how the last tiger to do so dragged him 150 metres by his head. He showed us the horrific scars he bears from this encounter. Nevertheless, although he is now reformed, you get the impression that despite his age and his terrifying experiences he would resume his old career without a second thought if it became legal. He was quite a formidable character.

Life with the Talang Mamak

Monday 15th August 2005

The next day brought with it another early start as we set off for a Talang Mamak village deep within the forest. Accompanied by Pak Yunus, Andi from the Department of Forestry, and four of the STCP – Pak Muji, Mario, Toto and Hendra, we set off by 4x4 on a deeply gullied track. Luckily Mario, Toto and Hendra had their motorbikes, because we were not long into the journey when the car gave up. It was then a case of ferrying the eight of us, plus food, camera equipment, a generator and gasoline deeper into the forest before all signs of a track disappeared. The team took everything in their stride and with great humour. Everyone had a good laugh at Nick’s expense when he was pitched off the back of the bike as it reared up a particularly nasty rut. With a huge rucksack on his back he got wedged in a gully in the road, legs waving in the air. After hiding the bikes in the forest we continued by foot.

We arrived at the village just as the light was beginning to fade, after a long and hot five hour walk. The villagers are familiar with the tiger team now – the patrols pass through regularly – although Pak Yunus tells us that the first time he came here a woman ran away screaming when she saw him, thinking, due to the military-style clothing warn by the Unit, that he was part of an invading army. The village is still very isolated and the villagers almost completely self sufficient. They survive on what the forest has to offer them, and they manage to do so sustainably. Yunus tells us that the first time he visited the village there was not really any concept of money. Everything cost 5,000 Rp – one fruit cost the same as ten of the same fruit. With a growing involvement in life outside the forest, money has become more important and villagers can now raise some hard currency by selling the sap that they collect from a rare and particularly valuable sort of rattan that grows locally. A villager is taxed if they kill the plant when they harvest, and fined one goat.

We spent a few days staying at a house in the village that, confusingly, had no walls but did have doors and windows with padlocks and shutters. When we asked why there were doors and windows but no walls, the team laughed and admitted they had not noticed this before. During our stay we got to know several of the villagers including the chief, his son, and the teacher. We swam in the beautiful and pristine river that passes by their doorsteps, and ate what tasted like delicious feasts cooked up by Mario, although they mostly consisted of supernoodles, kecap, and edible bracken picked from the forest. Pak Muji was asked to fix the village’s new TV, the first and only one, powered by the village’s one generator. We understand that someone had inadvertently killed the colour with on of the dials. When the colour was successfully returned, Pak Muji was hailed as a healer. The village now has a school, which Pak Yunus was instrumental in setting up a few years ago, but as yet literacy is still very low. Yunus told us that everyone in the village smokes, except one person, and we even saw very small children smoking. Life expectancy here is well below the national average.

We made the journey out of the forest by dugout canoe, traveling downstream for two days with Pak Yunus, Andi, and the Chief and his son (Mario, Toto, and Hendra traveled out of the forest on foot). The chief displayed his amazing knowledge of the local area and ecology – he was able to name every subspecies of Meranti, and knew every ladang (small forest clearing) by name. Meanwhile Andi entertained us with enthusiastic renditions of virtually every Phil Collins song ever written (during- and post-Genesis) as well as sharing his anecdotes of his time working at Tanjung Patung National Park in Kalimantan, where he was stationed during the making of the now fairly infamous Julia Roberts Orangutan film.

Pak Ari, an STCP driver, picked us up in the jeep further downstream where the river meets a track. The journey back to the main road was not plane sailing once we were back in the jeep however – unfortunately, although perhaps quite suitably – a palm oil truck was stuck in the mud and had blocked the road. It seemed a fitting conclusion to our final day of shooting.

Waitrose Ltd. Join the RSPO

After months of campaigning British supermarkets are beginning to agree with conservation groups that the future of the orangutan and sustainable palm oil is the responsibility of the entire supply chain. Waitrose have now followed ASDA in signing up to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. For those of you who have been kind enough to support our work through writing letters to the supermarkets you can now stop writing to these two companies, or perhaps you may want to write to them to thank them for taking this positive step.

We are still waiting for Morrisons to write replies to all the letters that have been sent to them. Not one of the many people who have written to all the major supermarkets have let us know of a reply from Morrisons. We are also still waiting for Tesco to join the RSPO. Tesco are the biggest supermarket in the UK and with expansion across the globe, an announcement of this kind would send a big signal to producers in Malaysia and Indonesia. The RSPO is working hard to make sustainable palm oil a reality, we need to do our part to help the industry realise this. We are not talking about sustainable palm oil as a niche product. We want non-destructive palm oil to be the only type available on the market. The RSPO is the best mechanism to allow this to happen.

A film that could save lives

A TRAINING VIDEO TO PROTECT ORANGUTANS

CALL FOR BRITISH COMPANIES TO GET INVOLVED

"The great apes are our kin... Sadly, however, we have not treated them with the respect they deserve, and their numbers are now declining, the victims of logging, disease, loss of habitat, capture, and hunting... Great apes cannot be conserved for free... We need ordinary people in their millions to love an protect them. We need governments and companies to 'adopt' them and the places where they live. We need to turn the tide of extinction that threatens our nearest living relatives."

Kofi A. Annan
Secretary-General of the United Nations
World Atlas of Great Apes and their Conservation, 2005

If you’ve been following our site, you will already know that orangutans are under serious threat when they are found in oil palm plantations. The Sumatran orangutan is vying for the unenviable position of being the first great ape likely to go extinct within our lifetimes. We need companies to do their bit for great ape conservation - one way they can make a huge difference is to back the project we are proposing below, an idea the orangutan conservation organisations who would be involved are desparate for us to make.

We are developing a training video that will inform plantation workers what to do when they encounter an orangutan in their plantation. Working in collaboration with the Sumatran Orangutan Society and the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation we plan to make a health and safety style training video which we will be shown to workers in the oil palm plantations. The video will be an easy and effective way for plantation workers to learn what to do when encountering an orangutan.

The majority of plantation staff are migrant workers from Java or Sumatra, so unlike the native Dyaks, they are not familiar with the orangutan (Orangutans in Sumatra are restricted to such small ranges now that few Sumatrans have encountered them). Many workers have a false impression of the orangutan as a ferocious animal that poses a direct threat to their safety – a hangover, according to Dr. Birute Galdikas, stemming from the popularity of the original King Kong movie in Indonesia which will no doubt be exacerbated by the recent remake of the film.

The safety video will work to introduce workers to the orangutan in its true colours. It will include simple step-by-step instructions of what to do when an orangutan is spotted on a plantation, emphasizing the point that the workers should NOT try to capture or tie down the orangutan in any way. The reason that many orangutans are already seriously (often fatally) wounded before the rescue teams can reach them is that, despite having taken steps to alert the rescue team to the presence of the orangutans, the plantation workers have nonetheless undertaken to capture the animal themselves prior to the arrival of the team. A mature orangutan is immensely strong – it is almost impossible to tie up or capture an orangutan without first beating it unconscious. In order to stop this happening, the safety video will focus on giving clear instructions of which rescue centre to contact – these will be location specific – and will then recreate what will happen when the rescue team arrives. It will also provide information and images regarding the potential transmission of diseases between humans and orangutans should they come into contact with each other.

We intend that the video be made as a reconstruction of an orangutan rescue, filmed using members of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation rescue team as well as plantation workers. Karaoke is very popular across Kalimantan, and so DVD and VCD players are very common – distributing DVD and VCD copies of this simple film across the plantations offers a straightforward, effective, and relatively inexpensive means of preventing the many pointless and tragic deaths of orangutan on the palm oil plantations.

We are currently looking for UK-based businesses to help fund and support the production of this film.

SOME BACKGROUND

Orangutans in oil palm plantations

Sometimes orangutans are in the oil palm because there is literally none of their forest habitat left, in which case they will require rescue and relocation. Sometimes orangutans are only passing through as they move between their well known feeding grounds. These orangutans may have been moving between these feeding areas for decades. A new oil palm plantation cutting into their established routes proves a dangerous place to travel. Whilst these orangutans could pass through the plantation to their feeding areas they are often seen as a threat. Some plantation managers have put bounties on orangutans because they see them as crop raiders, but orangutans generally pose little threat to the oil palms. Whilst out on a rescue we found the path made by one cheekpad male. There were a few young palms that had been pulled up, but these were in a straight line between two forest patches – it was clear the orangutan was just passing through and was not a crop raider. Oil palm plantations need to develop wildlife corridors that will allow these orangutans safe passage through their plantations. This will save the few palms that might otherwise get damaged and it will make the orangutans safer allowing them to move through the trees (their natural preference) rather than across the ground.

If you are interested in finding out more please contact us.

Nick & Evie @ Cockroach Productions
cockroachproductions@gmail.com
Tel: 01823 451 790 / 07816 755 128
http://www.cockroach.org.uk/

ASDA joins RSPO

A NEW HOPE FOR ORANGUTANS WITH THE NEW YEAR

HOW THE BRITISH RETAIL INDUSTRY IS STARTING TO RECOGNISE THE IMPORTANCE OF SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL

Conservationists have received good news after a hard year of campaigning on behalf of our South East Asian cousin - the orangutan. The supermarket giant ASDA, second only to Tesco, have taken a positive step forward in corporate social and environmental responsibility by signing up to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.

The 3rd meeting of the RSPO held in Singapore at the end of November 2005 saw the members adopt the Criteria for Sustainable Palm Oil Production. In effect this means that there are finally a set of guidelines "…ensuring that production is economically viable, environmentally appropriate and socially beneficial" - see www.sustainable-palmoil.org

Palm oil is present in 1 in 10 supermarket products and demand is rapidly growing in the wake of the transfatty acid scare in the food industry and the growing desire for biofuels.

The Ape Alliance and Friends of the Earth recognized palm oil as the single greatest threat to the future of orangutans in the wild in their September 2005 report The Oil for Ape Scandal.

With all signs indicating that the Sumatran Orangutan could be the first Great Ape to become extinct, it has been British supermarkets that have been the target of environmental campaigns.

The team from Cockroach Productions filmed in Indonesia documenting the palm oil story, where they witnessed first hand the rapid rate of destruction caused by conversion of rainforest for oil palm plantations. On their return filmmakers Evie Wright and Nick Lyon joined the campaign by making an open letter to supermarkets available through their website (www.cockroach.org.uk).

In a pleasing reply to our letter campaign Andy Bond, president of ASDA, wrote "… as a direct result of your letter, we have engaged in discussions with two major organizations - namely Friends of the Earth and the World Wildlife Fund. We hope to assist them over the coming months in identifying the source of this issue and encouraging the development and use of sustainable palm oil."

ASDA are now joining the RSPO following in the footsteps of the Co-op and Boots Ltd. who have already signed up. With three major players on the high street leading the way there is good reason to be hopeful that the British retail sector is listening to the demands of its customers, who do not want to be contributing to tropical deforestation and the demise of the orangutan. With continued consumer pressure we can reasonably hope that the other major retailers will follow suit.

Cockroach Productions has broadcast quality motion footage and high impact still photographs illustrating the palm oil story and the plight of the orangutans. We are also available for interview, having recently returned from several months on the ground in Indonesia following the story.

Contact: Nick Lyon or Evie Wright @ Cockroach Productions

Tel: 01823 451 790

Mobile: 07816 755 128

Email: cockroachproductions@gmail.com

Web: http://www.cockroach.org.uk/

PALM OIL SETS CO2 TIME-BOMB TICKING

HOW PEAT FIRES ARE SET TO ACCELERATE GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AND SEAL THE ORANGUTAN'S FATE
___________________________
We have seen in the past weeks how the polar bears are unable to reach their hunting grounds with the freeze being unseasonably late. It appears that the fate of the orangutan and polar bear – despite their vastly different existences – might run in parallel. Loss of orangutan habitat is driving the loss of polar ice. In a year of terrible floods we can recognize the human risk implied by global warming.

Over the next two weeks Montreal hosts the United Nations climate conference. One key issue that will be discussed is whether the Kyoto protocol should be revised to afford incentives for the protection of existing forest. Currently Kyoto only makes provisions for reforestation and aforestation. Whilst fossil fuels are seen as the driving force in Global Climate Change and the principle source of Greenhouse Gas emissions, there is another vast carbon source on the verge of being released into the atmosphere, with none of the benefits of fossil fuel combustion. 30% of terrestrial carbon reserves are locked up in peatlands. Indonesia holds 50% of the earth's peatswamp forest.

This means Indonesia's peat swamps are of global importance.These forests not only hold thick peat up to 20 metres in depth, but are one of the last refuges for the endangered Bornean orangutan, with only 50,000 individuals remaining, and critically endangered Sumatran orangutan with only 7,300 individuals left. Sumatran tigers, rhinos, and elephants are also at risk.

Destruction of lowland forest for conversion to oil palm plantations has been so rapid that developers are now turning their attention to peat swamp forests.These are an important component of the ecosystem dueto their function in absorbing excess water during thewet season, and releasing this stored water during the dry season, reducing the likelihood of floods and forest fires respectively. It is notoriously difficult to cultivate oil palms on peatland greater than 1 metre thick, and the costs of establishing a plantation on this soil type tend to be 40 per cent higher than on dry land. Although this land is not suitable for oil palm cultivation, it still holds valuable hardwood timber. The companies seek legal permits for plantation development in order to benefit from quick profit through unsustainable forest clearance. Past evidence shows that palm oil may not be developed after clearances – because of fire risk and unsuitable land. The peat is too soft to use heavy machinery to extract logs – one of the reasons that the land is unsuitablefor palm oil development – so logging canals are duginto the peat to extract the logs. The logging canals drain the peat domes and what is left is a tinder-box time-bomb of carbon-rich bio-matter.

The vast quantities of CO2 released in the 1997-98 forest fires in Indonesia will be dwarfed if palm oil moves into these vast expanses of peat. But that is what is set to happen. Proposals are being approvedright now. Indonesia is struggling to improve its economy and investment in palm oil is attractive, but the industry is not sustainable under current patternsof expansion. Millions of hectares of degraded and cleared land stand unused as more forest is cleared for quick timber profit.

NGOs are putting pressure on the palm oil industry to recognize the short-term perspective being employed. Last week in Singapore the palm oil industry's self-regulation initiative – the Roundtable forSustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) - approved a set of principles and criteria for the sustainable production of palm oil. This is a positive first step, but NGOs are concerned that the 2 year process of development before implementation of these guidelines might not be quick enough to save the peat swamps and their diverse inhabitants. The clock is ticking on the CO2 time-bomb…

___________________________

Cockroach Productions has broadcast quality motion footage and high impact still photographs illustrating the palm oil story, the little known world of peat swamp forests and the plight of the orangutans. We arealso available for interview, having recently returned from several months on the ground in Indonesia following the story. ___________________________

Contact: Nick Lyon or Evie Wright @ CockroachProductions
Tel: 01823 451 790Mobile: 07816 755 128
Email: cockroachproductions@gmail.com
Web: www.cockroach.org.uk
For more images relating to the story see:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cockroach/sets/1077630/

PRESS RELEASE – COCKROACH PRODUCTIONS Friday 2nd December 2005

Another Crude Oil - Taster Poster

All images copyright Cockroach Productions 2005
For further info please contact Nick or Evie @

tel: 01823 451 790
email: cockroachproductions@gmail.com

Montreal addresses Global Climate Change

Today marks the first day of the United Nations climate conference in Montreal. Whilst the agenda will address how the goals of Kyoto will be met within the first period (expiring in 2012) we are more interested in what they will be discussing for the longer term. At present Kyoto makes no economic provisions for preservation of existing forest, rather it rewards reforesting (replanting of natural forest) and aforestry (growing plantations on land that is no longer forested). Whilst this was set up to develop a proactive solution to CO2 emissions, time is telling us that huge tracts of valuable forest are being lost because of their exclusion from Kyoto.

Valuable timber is the real reason much of the peat swamps are being cleared. The land is not suitable for oil palm development

Is reforestation more important that forest protection?

Our hopes for Montreal are that issues of forest preservation will be addressed and factored into the second period. One might hope that emergency protocol could be called into effect, because by 2012 we may well have lost much of the natural forest cover we are striving to protect – but this seems unlikely. It is important to note that preservation of forest goes above and beyond the importance of protection of traditional lifestyles and preservation of species. We at Cockroach are working hard to champion the causes of forest peoples who appear not to be in control of their futures as palm oil moves into their traditional lands. We have recognized the desperate plight of such charismatic and endangered species such as the orangutan, the Sumatran tiger, the jungle elephants, the
gibbons and siamang… the list goes on. But perhaps there is a reason closer to home that might end up being what saves Indonesia’s natural forests…

Bulldozers 'should' be used to clear vegetation for plantations on dry land, clearance by fire is illegal. On peat the ground is too soft and tha machines would sink. This means that fire is often used, and this is a CO2 disaster as the fire penetrates peat that runs 20 metres thick in some places. Burning for plantation clearance is illegal, but happens time after time, even in dry forest, because it is cheaper than using machines.

Peat Swamp, and what it should mean to us.

Whilst forest people and exotic species might captivate the interest of the public, there is a geographical remoteness that might let them fall from consciousness when overrun with the priorities of our busy lives. There is another factor closer to home that we should be recognizing. Animals and people might be losing their homes on the other side of the world, but we are suffering directly as a result. The case for global climate change grows stronger with each passing year. General scientific consensus supports the claims that the planet is warming, and the risks associated with this are well known. Indonesia is a special case. Not only does it harbour magnificent rainforests that we rely on for oxygen production, but it holds huge reserves of carbon, locked up in biological matter called peat. 30% of terrestrial carbon is locked up in peat, and Indonesia holds 50% of the worlds peat swamp. These areas are now under threat. Palm oil is THE major threat. Concessions of forest for conversion to oil palm plantation are logged out. The peat dries without its protective forest cover, compounded by logging canals draining the peat. With these peat swamps facing conversion we need to raise the question – shouldn’t Kyoto have made provisions to protect this carbon dioxide timebomb? We can only hope that Montreal will address this issue.

We witnessed thousands of trees being floated down the rivers of Borneo. These beautiful waterways are now like a funeral procession. It is heartbreaking to see. Very little primary forest borders any of these rivers anymore. Access is key.

A future for sustainable palm oil? A future for orangutans?

Good news from the 3rd meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil that has convened over the last few days in Singapore. There was overwhelming support for the Criteria for Sustainable Palm Oil and as such the criteria have been agreed upon and industry has taken a vital step forward in stemming destruction of orangutan habitat.

The Roundtable was founded through a partnership between WWF and Unilever in the first instance. Numerous members have now signed up from different sectors of the industry. We are still pushing for British retailers to sign up to the RSPO, but the signs are that the tide is changing and UK corporations are beginning to see the value in pursuing a more responsible route for palm oil procurement.

Here at Cockroach Productions we continue to work to raise awareness of the palm oil situation in SE Asia, and have broadcast quality footage that is available for news broadcasts, current affairs programs and industry awareness programs. Read below to find out more.

For Dutch Supporters

For those of you who haven't seen the Dutch news item - it is available for online viewing at the Twee Vandaag website

For those of you who saw the news piece on Twee Vandaag in Holland please follow this link to find out how you can help to save the orangutans who are currently losing their habitat to oil palm plantations. BOS Netherlands

"Leefgebied orang oetan verdwijnt snel

"Het eten van chips en koekjes draagt bij aan het uitsterven van de orang utan: de palmolie die hierin wordt verwerkt komt veelal van het Indonesische Borneo. En om de productie van die olie op peil te houden, worden miljoenen hectares tropisch regenwoud gekapt."

To learn more about what we filmed, read below.

Make yourself heard. Speak up for the orangutans.

Call to Action!

Please write to any and all of these addresses, requesting that the management immediately addresses the palm oil crisis and the destruction of prime habitat for orangutans. 25,000,000 hectares of already deforested land stands empty whilst areas of forest that we filmed for the documentary are being destroyed right now for palm oil plantations.

This land was rainforest last year. Borneo 2005

Palm oil needs to be labelled on all products that contain it, and palm oil must be sourced responsibly. We as consumers should not be in a position of contributing to needless destruction each time we shop. It is the clear responsibility of the supermarkets to pressure the industry and find palm oil from non-destructive sources.

In the letter below please
- type your name and return address
- copy and paste the supermarket addresses provided
- print the document out
- sign it
- post it off today

Simple!

Letter writing campaigns have proven to be very effective in the past and we believe this will make a bigger impact than yet another circular email ever would. For the cost of an envelope and a stamp, and a few minutes of your time, you are playing a vital role in preventing the eradication of yet another species.

You can send a letter to one supermarket or to both of them - it's up to you - but the more companies you write to the greater the impact and the more chance we have to save the Orangutans! We would like to point out that since starting this campaign ASDA, Waitrose and Sainsburys have all signed up to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil which is brilliant. We just need Tesco and Morrisons to follow this good example.

One final request (optional but very helpful). Please can you send an email addressed to Nick or Evie at cockroachproductions@gmail.com letting us know which supermarkets you have sent letters to. This will allow us to track how many letters each of the supermarkets receive and help us bring pressure to bear on them.

Addresses

Tesco
Sir Terry Leahy
Chief executive
Tesco House
Delamare Road
Cheshunt
Hertfordshire EN8 9SL

Morrisons
Sir Kenneth D Morrison CBE
Executive Chairman
Wm Morrison Supermarkets
Plc.Thornton Road
Bradford BD8 9AX

The Letter

____________________________________________________

Your Address

22nd October 2005

The Supermarket Address

Dear Sir or Madam,

It has recently come to my attention that, as a direct consequence of my actions as a consumer, the Orangutan is in imminent danger of becoming extinct. As a regular customer of yours I would like you to help me make informed purchase decisions and help prevent this wonderful species going into terminal decline.

Palm oil is used in 1 in 10 of all consumables sold in British supermarkets (though it is often labelled as vegetable oil). Two of the main areas where it is produced are Borneo and Sumatra – the only two islands where orangutans still exist in the wild. Rainforests are being converted to oil palm plantations at an alarming rate, despite the existence of over 25 million hectares of previously-cleared land In Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) alone. The rainforest targeted for new plantations is the last remaining habitat of species such as the Orangutan which, at the current rate of population decline, are likely to be extinct by the end of this decade. Not only is the Orangutan threatened by loss of habitat, but palm oil plantation workers are also deliberately killing animals when they enter plantations, as they are perceived to be a threat to their crops.

Many hardwood products carry labels that show that they have not been sourced from fragile rainforest. In a similar way, I would like your company to clearly label products containing palm oil sourced from plantations that have not involved forest conversion, and withdraw palm oil based products that you cannot guarantee have come from sustainable sources. I have written to all the major British supermarkets and think that it would be very good PR for you to be the first to take a strong moral stance on this issue.

I do not believe that your company is aware of the role that it is playing in forcing the Orangutan to the brink of extinction (this issue has only recently come to light) but for further background information please see:

http://www.cockroach.org.uk/
http://www.sustainable-palmoil.org/
http://www.palmoil.org.uk/
www.helenbuckland.co.uk/palm/
http://www.safepalmoil.org/

Also please see below some shocking facts that I hope will encourage you to take immediate action.

I look forward to receiving information on your company’s policy regarding palm oil. If a policy does not already exist, please tell me what steps you will be taking to ensure that I can shop in your store safe in the knowledge that I am not contributing to wiping out yet another species.

With thanks in advance,


Your Name

Killer facts:

According to the Indonesian Forestry Department the Orangutan population in 1990 was 200,000. In the year 2000 there were only 50,000 Orangutans left. Their demise is directly attributable to the encroachment of the palm oil plantations on their habitat.

The Bornean Orangutan Survival Foundation estimates that if palm oil concessions continue to replace forest at the current rate then within 3 years a viable future for the orangutan in the wild will be impossible. This means that by 2008, if action is not urgently taken, then Orangutans will have reached the point of no return.

Little Bigfoot on the run!

Here is a real example of a fish out of water - a siamang forced to come down to the ground to cross a forest clearance to reach better forest patches with fresh leaves and fruiting trees. The siamang is a stunning gibbon found in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. Sadly it is endangered and becomming more so as palm oil reduces its natural habitat. Traditional beliefs in central Sumatra prevent people from hunting the siamang. Without their haunting dawn chorus the Rimba people don't believe the sun will rise. Well we will be facing dark days indeed if palm oil expansion and forest conversion continues at its current rate.

This picture is a composite of 13 frames from our film: "Another Crude Oil", documenting the rise and rise of the palm oil industry, and the fall of the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. Whilst filmming we heard numerous stories of how palm oil developers were purposefully encircling small patches of forest, cutting them off from the larger stretches and then working their way inwards until animals would make a dash for it. Hunters would be waiting. Not local subsistence hunters, but sport hunters, police and army officials. This is organised hunting of protected species.

Make Way Jungle - We Want Oil !!!

On Location: Central Kalimantan, Borneo, July 2005

The New Forest of Indonesia - Oil Palm, Kalimantan 2005


This is the nursery for a new oil palm plantation. In the distance you can see the forest still standing. This nursery is smack in the middle of 30,000 hectares of primary forest that has been given as a concession to a PT Oil Palm group for conversion into an Oil Palm plantation.

This means that by the end of the year this land will have been logged of all its valuable hard wood trees. The land will then be totally clear cut, and the topsoil turned over. Not a tree will be left standing. The whole landscape will be empty. Then the palm oil will be planted.

This photo is tragic, not sweet. These orangutans should be with their mothers, but their mothers are dead. They are now cared for and in the process of rehabilitation through the dedicated work of BOSF. We are concerned however that there will be nowhere to release them if things don't change now.


The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation rescue orangutans from the plantations in this area. They estimate that around 600 orangutans inhabit this area, earmarked for imminent conversion. The fragments of natural forest left are saturated - i.e. they have reached their carrying capacity for orangutans. Orangutans need large home ranges for their survival. Many of the animals living in this area will undoubtably die. Many more are likely to enter a life of misery in the illegal pet trade.

Driving through the rough jungle track on the back of a tractor we are surrounded by the doomed forest. I smell the sickly sweet smell of fermenting fruit. I look over to Melky from the rescue team: he nods - it is the smell of orangutan. It is right there in the trees nearby, or had been very recently. A rusa deer crosses our path and maroon leaf monkeys move in the trees. All this is about to be lost.

Eko, BOSF paramedic, logs a future rescue location

The situation is incredibly sad. Eko, a BOSF paramedic logs the position of the camp in his GPS system. He knows he will be returning in the months to come to rescue orangutans. But where will they go? Habitat is dissappearing too fast now. We are told at the rescue centre that they are reaching maximum capacity - too many orangutans are coming in. Their forest home needs to be protected right now.

The situation is simply crazy. It is not that land is at a premium for development. There are vast areas of land standing empty in Kalimantan. Huge expanses of grasslands that were once forest. No crops have been planted here, but still, the little primary forest left standing is at risk of conversion to oil palm. The simple reason for this is the value of the hardwoods these forests contain. It is a one time windfall, it is not sustainable, and it is a tragedy. Orangutans are not the only animals to suffer. We have chosen just one species as an example, a flagship, one of our closest cousins, and one with an uncertain future.

Things are not hopeless, but we need to make things change. Help us get this message heard.

The Oil for Ape Scandal - New Ape Alliance/FoE publication

"Palm-oil production is linked to species extinction, human rights abuse and worker exploitation. But there is not a single British supermarket that can guarantee that its products aren't fuelling the destruction. Most haven't even worked out where the palm oil in their products comes from."

Friends of the Earth's Executive Director (UK), Tony Juniper

"Governments in countries providing finance or a market for palm oil must legislate to make their corporations responsible and accountable for their impacts. If not, it is we who will have to explain to our children in a few years' time that the orang-utan became extinct, not because of a lack of knowledge, but because of corporate greed and a lack of political will."

Ian Redmond, Ape Alliance's Chairman and Chief Consultant to GRASP (UNEP/UNESCO Great Ape Survival Project)

"The orang-utan is endangered because of habitat loss. Today the greatest threat to orang-utan habitat is the continued expansion of oil-palm plantations. Palm oil is the greatest enemy of [the] orang-utan and their continued survival in the wild."

Professor Birute Galdikas, Orangutan Foundation International

Quotes taken from Helen Buckland's (BOS-UK) new report for Friends of the Earth:
The Oil for Ape Scandal, how palm oil is threatening the orang-utan

Working in Sumatra - huge thanks to the STCP

We spent a fortnight working together with the Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program. Having travelled up from Jakarta through West Java and via ferry to southern Sumatra, we then embarked on an uncomfortable but enjoyable journey - crammed like sardines amongst all our kit - that took us half way up the bumpy roads of Sumatra, interviewing people and filming wildlife and palm oil along the way. Finally we arrived in the beautiful natural forests that the Tiger Protection Units patrol. With the help of STCP we filmed elephants, gibbons, hornbills and a beautiful variety of Sumatran wildlife. This incredible biodiversity demonstrates all that is in jeopardy through the growth of palm oil - the mono-crop main character of the film - that is replacing these natural forests at a rapid rate throughout Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Evie filming confiscated skins, bones and teeth at STCP Field Station

We also spent valuable time on the oil-palm plantations whilst working in Sumatra. They're everywhere you look and hard to avoid. Even many private gardens house a mini nursery of palm oil saplings to sell. Wildlife conflict was in evidence wherever we went. Simpai (leaf monkeys) in stranded tree stands deep within oil palm plantations, elephant damage in the plantations where they had been driven out of their forests by the illegal loggers (able to penetrate the valuable timber forests), unusual pets found in the plantation tethered up round every corner.

Nick with field coordinator Pak Yunus (left) and some members of the TPUs

We would like to thank Pak Waldemar, Pak Daniel, Pak Yunus and Pak Neil, along with all the dedicated members of the Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program and their Tiger Protection Units for their immense help and good humour whilst we were shooting with them in Sumatra. Thanks to their shared enthusiasm for the project we managed to shoot a huge amount of great material that will be invaluable in telling the palm oil story. Please visit the site of the Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program - the work they are doing is incredibly important, and they are tirelessly committed in their efforts to protect the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger. They deserve our support.

First Images from the Film: Another Crude Oil

We're back in England now, and are reviewing our footage and working quickly to get the documentary together. Here are some of the first images we have reviewed since our return. Still frames from "Another Crude Oil":

Film Frame from "Another Crude Oil" copyright Cockroach Productions 2005

Above: A female orangutan in shock. Here her head is cradled by a BOSF paramedic as the team work to stitch up her knife wound from an attack on the oil palm plantation.

Film Frame from "Another Crude Oil" copyright Cockroach Productions 2005

Above: Eko, a BOSF paramedic, draws blood for routine tests for Hepatitis A, B, C; Herpes Simplex 1 & 2, HIV and Tuberculosis.

Film Frame from "Another Crude Oil" copyright Cockroach Productions 2005

Above: Eko works to close a wound on the female orangutan's hand.

Post-production for the film is now underway. We are entering our second round of fundraising and sponsorship negotiations. Please contact us if you would like to become a part of this effort by supporting our film, and making these images of suffering a thing of the past.

cockroachproductions@gmail.com

Meet the characters: Chanee - Radio Kalaweit

On Location: Radio Kalaweit, Central Kalimantan, Borneo
July 2005

"Thousands of orangutans, gibbons and other animals are now exterminated by bulldozers to create enormous palm oil concessions. Every day, our radio station (Kalaweit FM) broadcasts messages to sensitise people about the oil palm issue in Indonesia" Chanee, Radio Kalaweit.

Nurpradawati, Chanee and their son, Andrew outside Radio Kalaweit

One of the characters you will meet in the documentary is Chanee. Originally from France, Chanee now lives and works in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan,where he and his wife, Nurpradawati, founded the radio station 99.1 Kalaweit FM. Radio Kalaweit mixes popular and mainstream Indonesian music with an environmentally-friendly and educational focus - regularly broadcasting messages informing the listeners about the negative impacts of the illegal animal trade and the detrimental impacts of capturing wild animals to keep as pets, as well as providing advice on what to do if you do come across an illegally captured animal. The station has massive popular appeal - particularly with the young of Kalimantan - and the number of listeners continues to grow. Chanee is now planning the to extend the geographical range of the station's broadcast capabilities across Kalimantan. Chanee's idea to establish Radio Kalaweit stemmed from his long term involvement in, and committment to, saving the gibbon. Chanee started out working in zoos in France, until, becoming disillusioned with idea of keeping animals in captivity, he travelled to Thailand in order to help with gibbon conservation in the wild (it was here that he got his name - "Chanee" means "gibbon" in Thai). Following the huge forest fires that destroyed vast quantities of forest in Kalimantan and kept much of South East Asia under a blanket of thick smog for months in 1997, Chanee successfully gained permission from the Indonesian government to establish a gibbon sanctuary in central Kalimantan. His gibbon island, near to Palangkaraya, has provided a sanctuary for gibbons confiscated from those keeping them illegally as pets ever since.

A victim of the illegal trade in gibbons

With financial support from the Arcus Foundation, Chanee then established Radio Kalaweit (kalaweit meaning gibbon in Dayak) having perceived the importance of education amongst ordinary Indonesian people in the struggle to protect the gibbon from extinction. The station now has so many committed listeners that Chanee often receives animals from owners who have felt pressurised into giving them up by the sheer weight of disapproval from their friends, neighbours, and relatives. Through providing listeners with information, encouragement, and advice, Radio Kalaweit is taking very positive steps in developing a public awareness of, and aspiration towards, wildlife and forest conservation in Kalimantan.

Return from Kalimantan, Next Destination: Sumatra

Earlier this week we finished shooting in Central Kalimantan, following a successful field trip to Danau Sembuluh and Tanjung Puting National Park. We spent two days filming interviews and talking to people in the villages surrounding Lake Sembuluh, where everyone has a story, either about hardship caused by the encroachment of palm oil plantations, or about encountering wild animals such as orangutan, sun bear, and mouse deer who no longer have enough forest left to avoid encounters with local human populations. On the eastern borders of Tanjung Puting National Park a plantation-built track (running 6.4km into the park) has been made for the express purpose of facilitating illegal logging. The more degraded the national park land becomes through illegal logging, the easier it is for the palm oil companies to win concessions for the forest - why protect forest which has already been destroyed? You can hear the chainsaws working.

Tomorrow we leave for Bukit Tigapuluh National Park in Sumatra, where we plan to film the work of the Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program. Sumatra has a longer history with palm oil, some of the estates being over 100 years old. Still the expansion of oil palm and also the pulp and paper industries is putting serious pressure on natural forest. The World Bank estimated that all un-potected lowland forest would dissappear from Sumatra by the end of 2005. Let's hope this is not going to be true. There are certainly some very dedicated people working in the STCP who are working on expanding park boundaries and with it protected lowland areas. These areas are home to the Sumatran Orangutan (with only 7000 left in the wild) and the Sumatran Tiger (with only 500 left in the wild!). There are numerous other endangered species in these forest and we hope to capture footage of some of these over the next few weeks.