聯合國環境計畫署(UN Environment Programme)表示,印尼在制裁非法砍伐方面的成效,給予了棲息於雨林中、已面臨瀕臨絕種危機的紅毛猩猩們一線希望。隨著非法砍伐行為迅速摧毀東南亞僅存雨林的同時,已有數以百計的紅毛猩猩逃離牠們的家園,並最後進入到「難民營」。
聯合國環境計畫署執行長史坦納(Achim Steiner)表示,「印尼不能也不該孤軍奮戰,特別是來自於木材進口國的支持與區域間的合作,對於僅存的紅毛猩猩與東南亞雨林的保育,以及仰賴此生態體系的居民們尤為重要。
7萬立方公尺非法林木的扣押,代表了3千輛卡車林木的承載量。史坦納指出,估計在印尼210萬公頃雨林中所進行的非法砍伐,每年市值約40億美元。
史坦納在討論關於華盛頓公約(CITES)的會議中表示,「在印尼進行的砍伐,等同於數十萬輛卡車的承載量,相當於從巴黎到曼谷的直線距離。」,此會議已於15日在荷蘭落幕。
Indonesia's efforts to crack down on illegal logging are holding out some hope for endangered oranguntans, the red-haired apes that inhabit the Indonesian rainforest, the UN Environment Programme says. But hundreds of orangutans have fled their homes and ended up in "refugee" camps as illegal logging rapidly destroys the last remaining rainforests of Southeast Asia.
UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner says, "Indonesia cannot and should not have to deal with this issue alone." International support and regional cooperation, especially from timber importing countries, is essential to preserve the remaining orangutans, the rainforests of Southeast Asia, and the people whose livelihoods rely on these ecosystems, he says.
The seizure of 70,000 cubic meters of illegal wood represents around 3,000 truck loads of timber, but Steiner points out that by some estimates illegal logging is clearing 2.1 million hectares of forest in Indonesia worth an estimated $4 billion every year.
"This may equate to several hundred thousand truckloads - corresponding to a continuous line of trucks from Paris to Bangkok," said Steiner, speaking at the conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES, that concluded Friday in The Netherlands.
全文及圖片詳見ENS報導