Originally published on August 29, 2014, at ForceChange.com

Target: Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia

Goal: Prevent illegal gold mining and deforestation from demolishing a national park

Even though it is currently illegal to deforest national parks in Indonesia, corporations are overtly breaking the law by logging and gold mining on Borneo. These rapidly depleting forests are home to the endangered orangutans and proboscis monkeys. The Indonesian government needs to enforce the law and protect its rainforests from corporate greed.

Although the Indonesian government has chosen to impose a temporary moratorium on the deforestation of their country’s rainforests, corporations continue to illegally raze the ground at Borneo’s Tanjung Puting National Park. A palm oil company is tearing down trees in order to make room for new plantations, while gold mining corporations contaminate the environment. These companies must be punished for their violations and kept out of the national park.

Refusing to perform environmental impact assessments, the corporations are allegedly bribing local officials to acquire permits. Villagers protest the decimation of their land as endangered orangutan and proboscis monkey populations are under the threat of possible extinction. Hundreds of species of birds and trees are also at risk due to this blind avarice.

By signing the petition below you will urge the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to enforce the law and prosecute those responsible for illegal mining and deforestation at Tanjung Puting National Park and other protected Indonesian rainforests.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,

Corporations are openly violating your country’s current moratorium on destroying rainforests. By allowing these companies to break the law, your government is only encouraging local corruption and environmental damage. I urge you to investigate these allegations of corrupt local officials and unsustainable deforestation at Tanjung Puting National Park.

A palm oil company is tearing down trees to make room for large plantation fields. Gold miners witness this crime going unpunished and have decided to join in the destruction of your beautiful rainforests. Their only concern is profit, not the health or lives of the people, plants, and endangered animals inhabiting the land.

You have the power to save your national parks and rainforests from irreparable damage. When the original moratorium expired, your government chose to extend it for two more years. Why bother renewing a law you have no intention of enforcing? This is your chance to both save lives and weed out corrupt government officials. What will you decide?

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo credit: einalem via Flickr