An Indonesian student has his hair cut off during a news conference held on yesterday, to urge the world to save the Indonesian rain forest.
A group of Indonesian students in Taiwan held a press conference yesterday to call for local awareness and assistance in saving the Indonesian rain forest, which is being rapidly destroyed.
Indonesia, which has the second-largest rain forest in the world, is facing a severe environmental crisis that even the people of Taiwan cannot overlook, said group leader Denni, a junior at the Transworld Institute of Technology in Yunlin County.
Denni was one of five Indonesian exchange students at TIT's Department of Environmental Resources Management who made the appeal. They all came from the Indonesian island of Sumantra.
Indonesia's rain forest is vanishing at frightening speed because of illegal logging, corruption and global warming he said, adding that the destruction has led to the deaths of more than 1,000 orangutans, 33 Sumatran tigers and numerous other endangered species every year.
"People may think that Taiwan has nothing to do with the status of the Indonesian rain forest. But most people don't realize that Taiwan has been hurting the Earth more than other countries. That is why we should offer our help more than anyone else, " said Chang Tzu-chien, a professor at TIT, who also noted that the average greenhouse gas emission per person of Taiwan ranks third-highest globally.
The group of Indonesian students have been engaging in an international exchange project, titled "Sustainable Sumatra, " a collaboration of TIT's Department of Environmental Resources Management and Bodhicitta Mandala Conservation, an Indonesian non-government organization that focuses on environmental conservation.
"Well-known NGOs such as the World Wildlife Foundation and Conservation International have been trying to save the rain forest but the rate of destruction has not slowed, largely as a result of poverty," Chang said.
He said the exchange project aims to work with local organizations to improve the local economy, public health, provide clean water and environmental protection.
"We feel obligated to so something for our home country. Hopefully, what we do today can raise the awareness of Taiwanese people on the issue, " said Hendra, a sophomore from Medan.
˙Students raise awareness of plight of tropical forest
An Indonesian student gets his hair cut at an event in Taipei City yesterday in a symbolic act representing the destruction of Indonesia's rain forests.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
SEEING GREEN: Despite its small size, Taiwan is the third-highest producer of carbon dioxide per capita in the world and the 22nd worst polluter overall
By Max Hirsch
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Aug 08, 2007, Page 4
Indonesian student Budi Kosasih, 19, squirmed and grimaced while two classmates from Yunlin County-based Transworld Institute of Technology held him down and cropped his hair, dyed green, with a straight razor and scissors, almost nicking his scalp.
By the end of what could fairly be described as a "hairdo assault," clumps of green fuzz littered the floor and Budi fell silent.
"Budi's hair is like the rainforests of Indonesia," one environmentalist present said. "They're getting slashed and burned."
Joined by a handful of other Indonesian and local students and teachers at a Taipei venue, Budi yesterday was a willing participant in a skit symbolizing the destruction of his country's tropical forests -- a phenomenon closely linked to the consumption habits and future of Taiwanese.
Every year, swaths of tropical forest equaling two-thirds of Taiwan's surface area are leveled in Indonesia, home to the world's second-largest rainforest after South America, Taiwan Environmental Protection Union officials said during the event. Farming and other development is to blame, they said.
For Taiwan, the rapid disappearance of oxygen-producing rainforests in nearby Indonesia will mean higher temperatures and dirtier air in years to come, said Chang Tzu-chien (張子見), a professor of environmental resources management at the institute who periodically travels to Indonesia to survey its deforestation problem.
Greedy consumers in Taiwan are feeding a huge demand for forest-related products while churning out some of the highest levels of carbon dioxide in the world, Chang said.
Unleashing more than 2.17 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually -- or nearly 1 percent of the global total -- Taiwan generates more greenhouse gases than all but 21 countries, the Environmental Protection Administration said.
The country's per-capita emissions level, Chang said, is the third-highest in the world.
In other words, Taiwan is fueling global warming more than most countries while contributing to the destruction of the very habitat that helps mitigate global warming, particularly in Asia, he said.
"Despite their size and the rapid rate at which they're vanishing, shrinking rainforests in Indonesia are basically ignored as an environmental issue compared to the same problem in South America, which receives a lot of attention," Chang told reporters.
The press conference yesterday followed a week-long tour of the nation by Indonesian students studying natural resources management at the institute.
In a press release, the students called on Taiwanese "to pull together to save the lungs of the earth."
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˙印尼雨林待救 學生剃頭急呼
【台灣立報記者黃依歆台北報導】俗稱「地球之肺」的印尼雨林，規模是全球第二，卻正以每年2／3個台灣的大小消失。雨林內的生物豐富度佔全球第3大：紅毛猩猩、蘇門達臘虎都是當地特有種，但數量正嚴重消減。環球技術學院幾位印尼籍學生利用暑假進行寶島行腳，參訪台灣各地生態環境，吸取台灣之相關技術經驗；昨日他們以「剃光綠色頭髮」演出行動劇，大聲疾呼印尼雨林的危機。
雨林消失影響水資源，造成一億人口欠缺飲用水、1300萬孩童嚴重腹瀉、120條河道乾枯；每年動物的死亡數更是不計其數。
消失中的印尼雨林
印尼雨林的主要消失原因為砍伐原木，也包括雨林火災、動植物非法交易、天然林轉作其它林作，開放人民住宅等原因。環球技術學院環境資源系教授張子見表示，當地人民貧窮飢餓，易受財團煽動而伐林，從事移植如棕櫚樹木等經濟活動，政府對此睜一隻眼閉一隻眼，財團買下整片雨林之事時有耳聞。
張子見分享他3年前前往雨林勘查的經驗，看見整片被火燒光的雨林，極為震撼。較有利用價值的雨林都已被砍伐，印尼幾年前因國際壓力而訂定的反砍伐雨林法，因執行不力而停滯，當地人乾脆以一把火燒光，原地販售。
改善貧窮是保育關鍵
張子見說，改善當地人經濟狀況可避免雨林砍伐，首要方法是深入社區進行經濟、技術、教育、衛生醫療改造。他說，當地人少有儲蓄習慣，月入約台幣6千元，而其中1／3拿去買煙草，另外1／3繳機車貸款，因而迫於生活所需去伐林。張子見建議可用合作經濟、窮人銀行等經濟改善方法提高所得，並提供種香菇、藥材植物等種植技術，進一步發展生態旅遊。
印尼大三留學生梁淼生來自印尼蘇門達臘北部亞齊市，他跟著環保聯盟參訪台南縣七股潟湖時，想起自己的家鄉，他表示七股生態保護區受管制，顯得單調乾淨，而亞齊市歷經南亞大海嘯後已修復，目前政府沒有規劃保育，也暫無破壞情形。他一直知道印尼雨林的問題，但是經學習後，才知道情況有多嚴重，他認為，印尼當地生態保育主要缺乏經濟、支援技術因素。
拒買邪惡雨林產品
目前環球技術學院環境資源管理學系籌擬與印尼菩提心曼茶羅基金會合作，計畫在台籌募印尼雨林保育基金，協助當地產業發展並提供台灣的技術經驗。張子見提供幾點民眾可消極保護印尼雨林之方法：多使用回收紙張；對於咖啡、橡膠、棕櫚油等產品應查明來源，發現為雨林砍伐區時應拒買；另外台灣目前大量進口廉價印尼木炭，多為油脂多之紅樹林，民眾應減少烤肉等活動之使用量。
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