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Greenpeace Activists: Obama Must Address Climate
Auckland, 13 November 2009 - An international team of Greenpeace activists, in the heart of Indonesia's threatened rainforests, has called on United States President Barack Obama to take urgent action on climate change.
The
call has been made as Obama arrives in Asia for his first
visit to the region as President and while the United States
continues to block progress ahead of the critical UN climate
negotiations at Copenhagen next month.
Greenpeace New
Zealand climate campaigner Simon Boxer reiterated the call
to stop rainforest destruction.
"We're continuing to
ask John Key to stop Fonterra importing unsustainable palm
kernel animal feed which is one of the products driving
rainforest destruction," he said.
One group of
activists unfurled a 20 x 30 meter banner in a freshly
destroyed area of rainforest that read "Obama: you can stop
this", urging him to take strong leadership and work closely
with other Heads of State to help avert a climate crisis by
ending global deforestation, responsible for about a fifth
of global greenhouse gas emissions. (1)
Another group
of activists locked themselves to seven excavators, owned by
Asia Pacific Resources International Holding Limited (APRIL
- RGE), one of Indonesia's biggest pulp and paper producers
(2), to prevent it destroying the rainforest to make way for
tree plantations (3), grown to make pulp and paper for
international customers, including UPM Kymmene. The action
took place two days before Obama joins 20 other Heads of
State in Singapore to discuss Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) and just weeks before leaders must agree
an historic deal to avert a climate crisis at the climate at
December's UN climate summit.
"Greenpeace is sending
President Obama an urgent call to action from the frontline
of climate and forest destruction. He has promised to take
decisive action on climate change, yet with just weeks left
before December's critical UN climate summit, his
administration is actively undermining and stalling global
climate change negotiations," (4) said Rolf Skar, Greenpeace
USA Forest Campaigner. "It is vital that Obama and other
world leaders attend the UN climate summit and agree to an
ambitious, fair and effective deal that includes ending the
destruction of the world's rainforests."
Greenpeace
estimates that ending global deforestation requires
industrialised countries to invest $42 billion US dollars
(E30 billion) annually in forest protection. This is less than the US gave to individual banks during
the financial crisis last year.
Yesterday's action
took place on the Kampar Peninsula on the Indonesian island
of Sumatra, where Greenpeace has set up a 'Climate
Defenders' Camp'. Rainforest and peatland destruction in
Indonesia emits huge quantities of CO2 and has driven it to
become the world's third largest climate polluter after
China and the US.(5) Activists at the camp are constructing
dams across the canals - built by paper companies to prepare
the land for plantations - in order to prevent them from
draining and destroying the rainforest's carbon-rich peat
soil. The peatland in this area alone stores approximately 2
billion tonnes of carbon, which will be released to the
atmosphere when it is destroyed. (6) The activists will
continue to protect the rainforest and its peatland in
coming weeks as the UN climate summit
approaches.
"President Yudhoyono of Indonesia recently
pledged to reduce emissions from deforestation and
Greenpeace is here in the heart of the rainforest to help
him turn his promise into action," said Greenpeace Southeast
Asia campaigner Bustar Maitar. "Indonesia is climate
change's 'ground zero'. Stopping forest destruction here and
around the globe is not only one of the quickest and most
cost effective ways to combat climate change but is
essential in order to avert runway climate change in our
lifetime."
Notes to Editors:
(1) Calculated from:
IPCC (2007). IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, Working Group
III, Final Chapter 1. Page 104. Figure 1.2: Sources of
global CO2 emissions, 1970-2004 (only direct emissions by
sector). http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg3.htm
(2) Most of the destruction of Indonesia's rainforests and peatlands for pulp and paper is caused by two main pulp and paper giants; Asia Pulp & Paper (APP - Sinar Mas) and its main rival, Asia Pacific Resources International Holding Limited (APRIL - RGE). Combined, these two companies control over 73% of Indonesia's total pulp capacity, and control two of the world's largest pulp mills.
(3) The 'conversion' of
forested peatland is a three-stage process:
- Usually,
the most valuable trees are logged for timber.
- A
network of canals is built in order to remove logs and drain
the peat so that it is suitable to grow plantations of oil
palm for vegetable oil or acacia trees for pulp and
paper.
- The remaining forest is cleared, which causes
the peat to dry out further and to release more CO2,
(especially in El Nino years).
(4) The short-term target of the US House of Representatives climate and energy bill is a paltry 4% reduction of 1990 levels by 2020. The IPCC recommends that developed countries slash emissions by at least 40% of 1990 levels by 2020. The massive offsets in the bill (2 billion annual tonnes) means that the US can continue at its current emissions level for years and huge giveaways mean a new generation of nuclear and coal plants."
(5) WRI 2008. Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) Version 6.0 (Washington, DC: World Resources Institute) http://cait.wri.org
(6) Greenpeace calculation based on Wahyunto, S. Ritung dan H. Subagjo (2003). Maps of Area of Peatland Distribution and Carbon Content in Sumatera, 1990 - 2002. Wetlands International - Indonesia Programme & Wildlife Habitat Canada (WHC).
For further information please see: http://www.greenpeace.org/climatedefenders
ENDS
Greenpeace
Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice.
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.
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