With Gratitude and Appreciation

My trip to Malaysia and Indonesia

I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest thanks to all of you for all your support, encouragement, and prayers before, during, and after my trip to Asia.  Also I want to share some highlights of my trip.

One of my Asia trip objectives was to attend The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) conference and analyze first hand the Palm Oil Plantation Crisis. During The RSPO conference I had the opportunity to meet many people from different businesses, and organizations.  It was great to see over 900 (RSPO record attendance) world-wide delegates working together to find solutions to a complex problem: palm oil.  After going over my conference notes and reflecting I found it interesting that wildlife conservation and health issues relating to palm oil were hardly mentioned or even touched upon. 

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is a global nonprofit organization encouraging sustainable harvesting of palm oil to meet the worldwide demand for the oil.   The RSPO has very detailed certification guidelines in which companies must meet strict criteria from each level of the production process.  One concern is how it is very hard to identify the real sources where the palm oil is being collected.  Most companies that utilize palm oil do not know where it is coming from.  Another challenge is to get rid of pesticides and/or look for eco friendly solutions.

I am excited with what the RSPO is doing.  I think trying to get companies and small holders to use better practices when planting oil palms is a great start.   In fact RSPO has been influential and inspirational in many ways to other organizations and individuals.  As educator I am inspired to continue offering our guests all the different perspectives about palm oil and the many opportunities to take action.  From what I have researched and observed it is very important to consider palm oil workers and consumers health issues among other issues.  It was very powerful to witness at the conference a group of six delegates representing 80 families evicted in Indonesia from their lands by big palm oil companies. They came to the RSPO conference looking for solutions while trying to get their land back.  Unfortunately RSPO could not offer any solutions to their problems. 

During my trip I was able see many species of wildlife including Sumatran elephants, Sumatran orangutans, short and long-tailed macaques, different wild birds and insects.  I also saw many species of plants including wonderful flowers, trees and the most delicious fruits including durians, manggis, sauh, passion fruit, pineapple, papaya, watermelon and more.  I communicated via e-mail with regular updates for the El Paso Zoo blog (http://www.epzooadventures.blogspot.com/ ) and facebook the majesty and spectacular views of the rainforest as well as many of my experiences.  This trip was definitely one of the best experiences I have had in my life.  The Sumatran and Bornean Rain Forest are amazingly gorgeous!  Now it is my goal to create solid biodiversity conservation education programs at our zoo using the Malaysia and Indonesia magnificent trip experience as one of my resources.

I believe that having participated in this wonderful experience we have set a new standard or responsibility towards this wonderful organization, to inspire people and other organizations to support, celebrate and conserve natural resources.

I also want to present sincere thanks to our El Paso Zoo Director Steve Marshall, El Paso Zoological Society, my supervisor and our zoo Education Curator Rick LoBello, Administration Personnel, Education Department, Zoo Volunteers, and all the other people in this organization who contributed in any way to the success of my trip to Malaysia and Indonesia.

I look forward to seeing each of you and express my gratitude.
I am ready to continue my adventure!

Sincerely,

Antonia Alvarado

Education Specialist

4001 E. Paisano Dr.

El Paso, TX 79905

alvaradoax@elpasotexas.gov

(915) 521-1864

A meeting with the director from the Orangutan Information Centre.

I was fortunate enough to meet with Panut Hadisiswoyo, the founder and current director of the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC).  Mr. Hadisiswoyo took our group to visit a reforestation site and tree nurseries including the Gunung Leuser National Park restoration site in the Besitang sub-district of Langkat, North
Sumatra.

The OIC is a nonprofit organization sponsored by the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) who is dedicated to the conservation of Sumatran orangutans and their habitat.  The SOS works to support grassroot organizations and their efforts in conservation.  Some of their projects are habitat restoration, ecotourism and the very unique creation of conservation villages which are models of conservation minded living.

Next February the OIC restoration team will be clearing acres of palm oil trees and replanting them with native plants and trees.  Mr. Hadisiswoyo is gathering all the equipment together to accomplish the restoration as fast as possible.

The OIC's mission statement as told by Mr. Hadisiswoyo is to "promote public awareness of the plight and value of the critically endangered Sumatran orangutans and its unique habitat through grassroots educational programs that empower local communities living near the last remaining orangutan habitat."

OIC's reforestation/planting objectives include:

• To help enhance the rehabilitation of degraded Gunung Leuser National Park (GLNP) areas as a result of deforestation and conversion to palm oil plantations by replanting land with indigenous tree species.
• Conduct regular maintenance of planted trees to help ensure their survival and growth.
• Monitor the land and planted trees within the GLNP to ensure continued security and protection from any further encroachment.
• To improve the capacity of local communities to help with conservation and forestry programs in an effort to increase ownership and responsibility towards the sustainability of the GLNP.

Two groups of seedlings will be replanted in the national park:
• Indigenous hardwood tree species that naturally grow in the forests of the GLNP.
• Fruit tree species to be planted in an area designated for a community forestry program to reinforce buffer zones adjacent to the park.

In regards to ecotourism, orangutans, their habitat and their future Mr. Hadisiswoyo added:
“Many are finally catching on to the fact that if tourism is to provide a sustainable livelihood opportunity for the local community, it must be carried out responsibly and managed correctly. This is a good sign for the future.”

I was honored to have the opportunity to drink tea with Mr. Hadisiswoyo during my visit.  I was also invited to share the ride back from Besitang to Medan in their vehicle so we could continue our chat.  We had long conversations about what can be done to alleviate the Palm Oil Crisis and to prevent the extinction of the orangutan and other species.

Mr. Hadisiswoyo has been vocal in the community and to media about the severity of these issues.  Click here to read a recent article regarding an orangutan as a pet in which Mr. Hadisiswoyo firmly states his side. 



To get a feel for the habitat, ecoystem and wildlife in the Gunung Leuser National Park watch this video put together by the OIC. 

Antonia

Wild orangutans - An adult female and her baby!

For the past few days I have been exploring Bukit Lawang which is located about 60 miles from Medan, the largest city in Indonesia's Northern island of Sumatra.  Bukit Lawang literally means "door to the hills".   Bukit Lawang, also called an orangutan sanctuary, lies within the Gunung Leuser National Park.  The Gunung Leuser National Park is considered to be one of the two remaining habitats for the Sumatran orangutan.

Female orangutan and her baby in Bukit Lawang, North Sumatra (Indonesia)

I was very lucky to be led by a park guide into the rainforest on a mission to find an orangutan.  To our delight we spotted a female orangutan with her one baby only about ten feet from us.  The orangutans stayed in the treetops above our heads for about ten minutes while my guide directed me on the trail as I could not take my eyes off the orangs!

My mission to see a wild orangutan is accomplished!  While thinking about my journey to Malaysia I was hopeful that I would be able to see a wild orangutan but knew it was unlikely.  Sumatran orangutans are critically endangered and their population is estimated at less than 8,000 in the wild.  Thanks to some amazing guides, I was able to make my dreams become a reality.  It was an incredible experience and I am so happy I was able to snap a picture to share with everyone.  I tried to take a video but there was a lot of mud making it very slippery and it was not helping that I was crying and shaking in sheer excitement of witnessing wild orangutans.  I am still in awe from my experience!

One of the rangers from Bukit Lawang (a small village in north Sumatra) said to me, "You are a very lucky person because you have spirit."  This experience will stay in my memory forever and inspire my work in the future.

Wild Sumatran orangutans!

As you can imagine hiking through the rainforest for about four hours was exhausting.  I took a shower at the river and now my legs and knees are ready for some rest!

Antonia

More Pictures from Tangkahan, Indonesia

I have had a great time exploring the rainforest.  The people here have been nothing but helpful and kind. The sites of the rainforest and palm oil devastation have been heartbreaking.



This picture is from a restoration or replanting area at the Gunung Leuser National Park restoration site in Besitang in North Sumatra.  Located in Sumatra is the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC), a nonprofit dedicated to the conservation of the Sumatran Orangutan and their habitat.  The OIC has worked since 2005 to restore about 1,236 acres of forest that was illegally cleared and planted by two large palm oil plantation companies and small palm oil companies.  The OIC is the first and only NGO granted permission to conduct restoration work within the national park.  To date they have planted over a half a million trees!  To read more about their work click here.  The OIC has many projects involving grassroots conservation on the ground.   Some of their projects include developing ecotourism to provide the opportunity to tourists to see semi-wild and wild orangutans, responding to reducing the amount of human-orangutan conflict and education of the communities and teachers in the area about the importance of conservation to preserve the orangutans.  I encourage you to check out their website http://www.orangutancentre.org/ and watch this video put together by the OIC:

Here are some more pictures from my adventures in the rainforest:



This is one of my awesome ecoguides in the forest, Darma.  Darma works as a keeper at Bukit Lawang as well.   

Dadi, one of our guides in Tangkahan made me a plant fan to keep me cool and brush away the bugs.

This is a hibiscus flower from Tangkahan, Indonesia. It is edible and can be boiled for a relaxing tea

This is cocoa from Tangkahan, Indonesia. It tastes good and the seed inside has a strong taste.

Cheers to more adventures!

Antonia