Adelaide Zoo protests over palm oil protests!

[Chlidonias]

I'm surprised no-one has posted about this yet (unless I missed it somewhere).
Every article I've seen mentions New Guinea ("the palm oil industry in Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea causes the mass deaths of orangutans through loss of habitat.") but I'm pretty confident that the Adelaide Zoo is savvy enough to realise orangutans don't come from there!! (So I blame the journos )
Zoo defends anti-palm oil posters - Yahoo!7

Adelaide Zoo says it does not think it should have to remove anti-palm oil posters plastered on its orangutan enclosure.

The posters by international activists, the Palm Oil Action Group, suggest the palm oil industry in Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea causes the mass deaths of orangutans through loss of habitat.

Malaysia's tourism minister saw the posters during a zoo visit last month.

Adelaide Zoo chief executive Chris West says the posters help consumers make informed decisions about buying palm oil products.

"The facts are that if you continue to cut down rain forests in habitat areas of orangutans to convert it to palm oil plantations then orangutans will disappear," he said.
"We don't think that the Australian public want orangutans to disappear within five to 10 years from now."

Australian zoo defends anti-palm-oil stance | Earth Times News

An Australian zoo said Tuesday that it would not bow to pressure from Malaysia to remove anti-palm-oil posters from its orangutan enclosure.

The posters from the conservation-lobbying organization the Palm Oil Action Group accused palm-oil plantations in Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea of hastening the extinction of orangutans through loss of habitat.

"The facts are that if you continue to cut down rainforests in habitat areas of orangutans to convert it to palm-oil plantations, then orangutans will disappear," Adelaide Zoo chief executive Chris West told local radio.

"It's only fair that Australian consumers get a choice so they know that they are complicit in the extinction of amazing creatures like the orangutan," he said.

Official protests from Malaysian authorities followed a recent visit by Malaysian Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen to Australia, where she became aware of the posters.

"We are countering the lies spread by these activists and making known our objections to the Australian authorities," Malaysian Palm Oil Council chief Tan Sri Yusof Basiron told the Malaysian newspaper The Star.

"The allegations against us are very serious and damaging to the image of not only our palm-oil industry but also the reputation of peninsula Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah," he said.

West said he did not want to get into a row with Kuala Lumpur over the posters.

"This isn't about our relations with the Malaysians," West said. "We are about public awareness, and we want to make our visitors aware that the animals they are looking at are incredibly vulnerable, they are fragile and they are disappearing."

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

I suspect that here the notion of palm oil industry spread across the Wallacea region is to blame ... as well as journalistic (in-)competence or ignorance (the former is worse of curse ... ).

To put it plainly PALM OIL is not an economic virtue and has many damaging economic qualities (and not just biodiversity loss or habitat encroachment).

It is high time that these action oriented group approach become engrained in more traditional economic thinking ... as opposed to short term economic gain / growth considerations.