Blog 3 Orangutans 'face greater threat'.

Webpage address: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6337107.stm

Date: 07-02-2007

Summary:
This article is about illegal logging is destroying forests in South-East Asia quicker than had been feared, with dire implications for orang-utans, a UN report has said. If there is no action taken, 98% of the forests on the island of Sumatra and Borneo may gone by 2022. Expect from the orang-utans, this would have serious consequences for local people and other wildlife (tigers/rhinos/elephants). Multinational firms are illegal logging in national parks. The Indonesian government made a plea for Western Consumers to reject smuggled timber and has trained Ranger teams to chase loggers out of his parks. But experts say it is not enough.

Opinion:
I think it is a difficult situation. Many of us in the Western countries will have our furniture made out of hardwood from the rainforests. First thing we have to say is that we won’t buy furniture and timber any longer without a certificate. It means that we have to pay a lot more, because for each tree that has been chopped, the logging companies have to replant three young trees. The countries like Indonesia should fight harder against the illegal logging companies, if necessary with aggression. But for the local people it is hard to survive, they use the timber to cook, but in comparison with the huge logging companies it is nothing. These companies are the problem.