![\"Baby](\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2018\/08\/9ee82908-gp0stqfo0_web_size_with_credit_line.jpg\")
Two baby orangutans Madara (left), two year-old and Syahrini (right), three year-old, playing on the ground at Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation in Nyaru Menteng, Central Kalimantanon. Madara was saved by a civil servant from a trader on November 2, 2014, in Madara village, South Barito. Syahrini was born on October, 31, 2013, in Nyaru Menteng rehabilitation center from a mother orangutan Suja that was repatriated from Thailand.<\/p><\/div>\n
It was a terrifying experience, which is just how it should be. These creatures are wild animals and our lives were never supposed to become so closely entwined with theirs. As I stood, rooted to the spot, he came lower to get a better look. His expression was so human-like I felt he could have begun talking at any moment. If he had, I\u2019m quite sure he would have said, \u201cWell done. No really, the mess you\u2019ve created is quite incredible\u2026 and you guys are supposed to be the intelligent ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
We met \u2013 this orange-haired, long-armed, character and me \u2013 in a sanctuary in Kalimantan. So our encounter wasn\u2019t how it should have been at all. Sanctuaries are where the lucky ones end up. It\u2019s far from ideal. They\u2019re limited to an area of forest too small for their range, reduced to relying on humans to survive. But it\u2019s a thousand times better than the treeless wasteland they\u2019re most often rescued from.<\/p>\n
Orangutans on the brink of extinction<\/strong> Rescued orangutans, robbed of their home, their independence, and frequently their family, are cared for by the most remarkably dedicated of people but resources are slim. Sanctuaries are overcrowded and rescues are stressful and upsetting for all concerned.<\/p>\n For each animal that survives, many more die. Rescue work is vital but it\u2019s a last resort and a losing battle unless the problem is tackled at source. There are no two ways about it – if we want to save orangutans from extinction we need to save their home.<\/p>\n Palm oil can be made without destroying rainforests<\/strong> \u2028Brands must take responsibility<\/strong> Despite now having \u2018no deforestation\u2019 policies, which is a huge step forward from a decade ago, no large company has managed to reject suppliers still guilty of producing \u2018dirty\u2019 palm oil (by which we mean oil grown on newly deforested land).<\/p>\n What they\u2019ve done instead, is to rely on the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an industry body responsible for certifying the \u2018clean\u2019 stuff. But time and time again the RSPO has been exposed for turning a blind eye to producers and traders breaking the rules.<\/p>\n In June, the world\u2019s largest palm oil trader, Wilmar, an RSPO board member and supplier to all the brands named above, was linked by Greenpeace to the destruction of rainforest totalling twice the size of Paris. This can\u2019t go on.<\/p>\n \u2028Forests are the lungs of the planet<\/strong> As well as orangutans, Sumatran tigers, rhinos and elephants have all dramatically declined. And people are suffering too. Conflict over land is causing violence, human rights abuses are rife and Indigenous peoples are losing their homes. In the last 25 years a forest area the size of the UK has been lost in Indonesia. This undermines efforts made to tackle climate change and affects us all.<\/p>\n For too long big brands and the palm oil companies they buy from have been getting away with murder \u2013 you could say quite literally. And for too long our response to orangutans has been \u2018ohhh, the poor thing\u2019 as we\u2019re shown photographs of them orphaned, thin and at death\u2019s door. But change is possible \u2013 we can make it so.<\/p>\n
\nNatural rainforest, the primary habitat of orangutans, is being destroyed throughout Indonesia and replaced with oil palms by greedy plantation companies. Their fruits are harvested to make cheap vegetable oil that ends up in over half the products on supermarket shelves.<\/p>\n
\nGreenpeace is working hard to force brands to clean up their palm oil supply chains. By forcing big brands to buy palm oil only from companies that can prove they\u2019ve no links to deforestation, we can finally create lasting change within the industry.<\/p>\n
\nNearly a decade ago, some of the biggest brands on the planet, including Unilever, Nestle and Mondelez (now parent company of Cadbury\u2019s), among others, promised to end their part in tropical deforestation by 2020. \u00a0Now, they have less than 500 days left to make that promise a reality.<\/p>\n
\nIn the last 16 years, 100,000 orangutans have died mainly due to deforestation. Some are shot dead by frightened farmers after straying out of the drastically diminished forest on to agricultural land. Others starve due to loss of habitat, fall as the tree they\u2019re clinging to is bulldozed to the ground, or suffocate and burn in forest fires deliberately started to clear land for planting.<\/p>\n