Taking action at the frontline of climate change and rainforest destruction

The Climate Defenders’ Camp

Fifty Greenpeace activists and the French star of Quentin Tarantino’s new film, Inglourious Basterds, are taking action to prevent the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests and calling on world leaders to end global deforestation.

The activists built a dam across one of the canals that drain the rainforest and peat soils, and thus blocked further destruction. Its treatment of forests has given Indonesia the reputation of the world’s third largest climate polluter.

From their camp in the heart of the Indonesian rainforest, the activists intend to continue constructing dams in coming weeks across the Kampar Peninsula on the island of Sumatra. The region stores some 2 billion tonnes of carbon.

“Forest destruction is one of the main causes of climate change,” says actor Mélanie Laurent, speaking from the rainforest. “That is why I came here to the frontline of forest destruction with Greenpeace, to call on world leaders to end deforestation both here and around the globe. It is key to preventing a climate catastrophe.”

These forests are too precious to lose

Indonesia’s rainforests are unique in many ways. They are home to an incredible array of biodiversity including endangered animals such as the orang-utan, and the Sumatran tiger and elephant. Also, much of Indonesia’s forest grows on peat soils, which are particularly rich in carbon. These forests are too precious to lose.

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Forest Fund launched in Barcelona

Meanwhile, world leaders and negotiators are currently meeting in Barcelona, Spain for the final round of talks before December’s critical UN climate summit in Copenhagen.

Last night, Greenpeace released a National Forest Fund Plan in the Spanish city. The plan shows how the fund could help rapidly reduce emissions from deforestation.

“To pull the world back from the brink of a climate crisis, we need Kevin Rudd and other world leaders to commit to much deeper cuts in emissions from fossil fuels and to provide the critical funds needed to end deforestation,” says Greenpeace Forests campaigner Valerie Phillips.

“By defending forests we're not only protecting forest communities, endangered species like orangutans and tigers and some of the richest ecosystems in the world -- we're defending the global climate that's essential for all life on earth, including ours.”

Send a letter to Kevin Rudd asking him not to do a dirty deal at Copenhagen