Campaign Alerts
Support our campaigns on critical issues which threaten the orangutans' last remaining habitat. Each action below will only take a few minutes, and adding your voice to these calls for change will make a big difference.
1) Ask HSBC to stop funding destructive oil palm plantations
The bank says that it has "a long standing commitment to protecting the environment", but provides funding for palm oil companies which are tearing down forests in Sumatra and Borneo. Ask them to stop!
2) Call for an end to palm oil being used for power in the UK
Support Lush's campaign against biofuels being used for power in the UK - this potentially huge increase in demand for palm oil could be disasterous for the remaining forests in Indonesia. Click here to send a letter to Chris Huhne, Energy and Climate Change Secretary, to stop incentives and subsidies for these fuels.
3) Reject the classification of oil palm plantations as "forests"
The EU Commission is proposing to reclassify palm oil plantations as “forest” in order that biodiesel from palm oil plantations can still meet EU biofuels sustainability criteria under the Renewable Energy Directive.
Please click here now to support the campaign to overturn this proposal.
The Issues:
Palm Oil/Biofuels
The expansion of oil palm plantations into high conservation value forests is now the most critical threat to wild orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo. The Indonesian palm oil industry has announced that it intends to expand plantations rapidly in order to meet growing worldwide demand for palm oil as a biofuel.
Click here to find out more
Illegal Trade
The illegal trade in orangutans in Indonesia continues to be an activity that is decimating remaining wild populations. Whilst frequently a by-product of logging and clear cutting for plantations, the illicit trade requires the killing of the mother orangutan to obtain the infant ape. It is estimated that for every orangutan orphan that is sold at the marketplace on Java, Bali or a foreign land, six to eight orangutans die in the process of capture and transport. This horrific trade must stop if we are to ensure the survival of wild orangutans.
Click here to download a petition asking the Indonesian government to enforce the existing laws that protect orangutans, and put a stop to the illegal trade of protected species.