Palm Oil
Mongabay.com: What does it take to discover a new great ape species?
An adult Tapanuli orangutan, by Andrew Walmsley. What does it take to discover a new great ape species? Geneticists, morphologists and behavioral scientists reveal the inside story of how their research led to the description of the Tapanuli orangutan. BY LAUREL NEME ON 19 FEBRUARY 2019 Mongabay Series: Great Apes, Southeast Asian infrastructure In a paper published November 2017,…
Read MoreMongabay.com: New Species of orangutan threatened from moment of its discovery
A juvenile Tapanuli orangutan, photo by Andrew Walmsley. New Species of orangutan threatened from moment of its discovery While scientists worked to confirm Tapanuli orangutans were a distinct species, pressure was mounting on the apes’ habitat. BY LAUREL NEME ON 20 FEBRUARY 2019 Mongabay Series: Great Apes, Southeast Asian infrastructure In a November 2017 article, an international team of…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Exclusive Look Into How Rare Elephants’ Forests Are Disappearing
Wildlife Watch In violation of a moratorium, oil palm grower clears vital habitat in Indonesian biodiversity hot spot. By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED March 8, 2017 A high-stakes game playing out in a remote biodiversity hot spot pits the palm oil industry against the ecological integrity of the last place on Earth where critically endangered Sumatran elephants, tigers,…
Read MoreHuffington Post: Schoolkids Write Book About Orphaned Orangutan
Henry Kurzawa and Maeve Igoe, PS 107 5th graders, celebrate the successful rescue of orphaned orangutan Budi while reading their newly published book. Photo courtesy of Ericka Novotny. THE BLOG 07/28/2016 Laurel Neme Author and freelance journalist Writing in “first person orangutan” isn’t easy. Just ask 10-year-old Caroline Mulcahy, a fifth grader at P.S. 107…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Schoolkids Write Adorable Book About Orphaned Orangutan
Henry Kurzawa and Maeve Igoe, PS 107 5th graders, celebrate the successful rescue of orphaned orangutan Budi while reading their newly published book. Photo courtesy of Ericka Novotny. Wildlife Watch A book about the plight of Budi the orangutan, who was taken from the wild and sold as a pet, is written and…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Palm Oil’s Human Cost Alleged in New Report
Indonesian plantations are accused of exploitative labor conditions and other harmful practices by a coalition of nonprofit groups. By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED June 8, 2016 Palm oil has oft been criticized for its alleged destructive impact on the environment—including clearing of tropical forests and peat swamps, destroying critical habitat for endangered species like orangutans, and contributing…
Read MoreHuffington Post: Orangutan Rescue in Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem
By Laurel Neme Author and freelance journalist Medical check of orangutan. Photo courtesty of Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (SOCP) The adolescent orangutan was on his way to becoming the illegal pet of a police lieutenant in Jakarta in 2004 when a team from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (SOCP) and the Ministry of Forestry’s Conservation…
Read MoreMongabay.com: Tripa’s Trials: protecting key orangutan habitat through the courts
First posted on 2016-04-13 Mongabay Series: Great Apes 13th April 2016 / Laurel A. Neme Prime Sumatran orangutan habitat is under attack by oil palm companies, but conservation NGOs are learning to use the law to halt that destruction. Many developing countries, such as Indonesia, have fairly good environmental laws against deforestation and protecting threatened species, such as orangutans.…
Read MoreMongabay.com: Leuser’s Legacy: how rescued orangutans help assure species survival
30th March 2016 / Laurel A. Neme Mongabay.com Meet two blind orangutans: Leuser and Gober, their offspring, and the people of the SOCP rescue group. Together they’re creating a future for Indonesian orangutans. Agribusiness is rapidly razing the prime forest habitat of Sumatra’s 14,600 remaining orangutans; replacing it with vast stretches of oil palm plantation. The species’…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Endangered Orangutans Gain from Eco-Friendly Shifts in Palm Oil Market
Oil palm plantations are a major threat to orangutans, but new initiatives for deforestation-free palm oil may help save them. Laurel Neme for National Geographic Published October 9, 2014 Orangutans are endangered. Now, they’re also at the epicenter of a quiet revolution, a transformation taking place on our grocery store shelves, as one company after…
Read MoreShop so Orangutans don’t Drop
From JeffCorwinConnect.com Laurel NemeJuly 14, 2011 Next time you shop, consider orangutans. While U.S. grocery stores may be physically far from the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia, where these endangered primates live, the impact of supermarkets on orangutan survival is not so distant. About one in every ten products on your grocery store shelves…
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