It’s official! Dr. Galdikas has saved about 153 acres of swamp peat rain forest from the palm oil companies. The villager who sold it to her was an elderly man in poor health who wanted to save the land before he died. The Dayak village near the Orangutan Care Centre is one of the few in the area where many villagers have not sold out most of their land to the palm oil companies. Palm oil companies are hounding the villagers to sell. They ply them with cigarettes and wave bundles of cash, trying to get them to sell their land.
There is also the possibility of buying land next to this land that is owned by this elderly man’s daughter.
But much more pressing is the 80 hectares of dry land rain forest nearby owned by three elderly Dayak sisters. Dr. Galdikas has been negotiating with them for over a year. Now she’s afraid that if she doesn’t buy soon, they will sell to the palm oil companies. The price on this land is $550/hectare.
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Latest on Fri, 07:31 am: I am so impressed by the Hutan Project and Tech Networks of Boston's leadership to protect the peat rain forests. By doing so, you're protecting a myriad of species including the orangutan; the people who live in and depend on the forest; and the stability of our climate, which affects [...]