Would have wrecked rainforest and coral reef

March 2011: Plans to build a coal-fired power plant in pristine rainforest in Borneo have been stopped after a successful campaign by environmentalists.

The proposed plant, as well as being in the rainforest of Sabah, would also have been on the edge of one of the most biologically-diverse coral reefs on the planet.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/borneo-pollution.html#cr

04/03/2011
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Gibbons are small, arboreal, highly endangered apes that are understudied compared with other hominoids. At present there are four recognized genera and approximately 17 species, all likely to have diverged from each other within the last 5 - 6 million years. Although the gibbon phylogeny has been investigated using various approaches (i.e. vocalization, morphology, mitochondrial DNA, karyotype, etc.), the precise taxonomic relationships are still highly debated. 

http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/03/02/molbev.msr033.abstract

02/03/2011
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Panorama last week reported on the disturbing destruction of orangutan habitats in Indonesia for palm oil plantations. But are there benefits from these plantations for local people?

Environmentalists have long decried the destruction of Indonesia's rainforests, first for timber and more recently for palm oil.

The logging was a one-time deal that mostly benefitted the country's corrupt elite and foreign corporations.

But does palm oil have the potential to generate new wealth for this nation of 250 million people?

There is one key fact that is often overlooked in the debate.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8534031.stm

01/03/2011
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After disturbing evidence that flesh from endangered species is being sold in British markets, we reveal how this grotesque practice could have terrible consequences.

Which kind of meat costs slightly less per kilo than fillet of beef but is around twice the price of Welsh lamb and four times that of free-range chicken? The answer is chimpanzee and if you think that's a) sick or b) cheating because you can't buy chimp meat in Britain, you could be right on the first count but you're wrong on the second.

Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/231821/Scandal-of-the-rare-ape-meat-butchersScandal-of-the-rare-ape-meat-butchers#ixzz1FU26Jrj5

01/03/2011
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Africa | March 2011
Over 100 seizures of wildlife protected by the 
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
 were made in a two-week transregional operation in January and February 2011 
to combat the illegal cross-border trade in great apes and other wildlife species including their derivatives.
Increasing wildlife crime and associated corruption is a matter of grave concern to governments and the international community; 
being on the frontline at international border crossings enables 
Customs to play a critical role in the fight against transnational organized crime which is 
more often than not linked to the smuggling of endangered species. 

01/03/2011
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Chimpanzee meat is for sale in restaurants and market stalls in Britain, it has emerged.

Trading standards officials uncovered the illegal bushmeat from the endangered species whilst testing samples believed to be seized from vendors in the Midlands.

The meat, which can cost more than £20 a kilogram, is part of a lucrative black market trade that experts describe as ‘rife' in Europe.

Last year, the first research on the import of bushmeat into Europe found over 270 tonnes passing through the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris alone. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1361149/Chimpanzee-meat-discovered-British-restaurants-market-stalls.html

28/02/2011
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