Brace yourselves - 2011 will be 'International Year of Forests'
The fun at Turtle Bay never stops. This, apparently is all down to the Croats, as Croatia’s Assistant for Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Ivica Grbac was keen to point out that it had 'initiated the General Assembly resolution designating 2011'. Thanks a bunch Ivica.
Indonesia’s Minister of Forestry M.S. Kaban reckoned it will be a 'a momentous occasion', but possibly sensing he had strayed over into hyperbole then declared it was 'an important commemoration for forests and the forestry community'. Doubtless Sumatra's clear cutters will swell with pride come 1/1/11. and Costa Rica’s Vice Minister of Environment Jorge Rodriguez wants 'to consolidate the global dialogue on forests'. Indeed, Jorge, indeed. Hans Hoogeveen of the Netherlands wants it to be 'more than a celebration of forests'. Any suggestions for how one might celebrate forests? Tree hugging? Baby Bio all round?
Lest anyone think that the UN only produces lots of pious chin music, "Performing as a part of today’s launch of preparations for the International Year was the Young People’s Chorus of New York City. Jim Papoulis, Composer and Founder of the Foundation for Small Voices of the United States, also spoke. Shamsul MomenPalash of the Organization of Art for children and Proprietor of BanChashi Nursery in Bangladesh also made a statement".
And to think that bien pensants were scandalised by John Bolton's quip that "The Secretariat building in New York has 38 stories. If you lost ten stories today, it wouldn't make a bit of difference."
Indonesia’s Minister of Forestry M.S. Kaban reckoned it will be a 'a momentous occasion', but possibly sensing he had strayed over into hyperbole then declared it was 'an important commemoration for forests and the forestry community'. Doubtless Sumatra's clear cutters will swell with pride come 1/1/11. and Costa Rica’s Vice Minister of Environment Jorge Rodriguez wants 'to consolidate the global dialogue on forests'. Indeed, Jorge, indeed. Hans Hoogeveen of the Netherlands wants it to be 'more than a celebration of forests'. Any suggestions for how one might celebrate forests? Tree hugging? Baby Bio all round?
Lest anyone think that the UN only produces lots of pious chin music, "Performing as a part of today’s launch of preparations for the International Year was the Young People’s Chorus of New York City. Jim Papoulis, Composer and Founder of the Foundation for Small Voices of the United States, also spoke. Shamsul MomenPalash of the Organization of Art for children and Proprietor of BanChashi Nursery in Bangladesh also made a statement".
And to think that bien pensants were scandalised by John Bolton's quip that "The Secretariat building in New York has 38 stories. If you lost ten stories today, it wouldn't make a bit of difference."
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This year was the international rape a child year for the UN wasn`t it ? A wonderful organisation . I cannot say how much I respect it .....
I feel sorry for the translators, note takers and so forth.
I am probably the only person here who has been to Sumatra - and indeed, been in a jungle in Sumatra. (Although HG may have been.)
It's dense. They should cut more trees down and make decent trails. Trudging up a tiny narrow muddy trail, slipping and clinging on (OK, I probably shouldn't have worn high heels; I will grant that point) was a nightmare. Being ferried across the river in a dug-out wasn't that entertaining, either. Admittedly, when one finally reached the top of the hill (you seldom see the sky in the jungle, by the way; it is a complete roof of trees)and staggered to the platform area where the orang-utans who are being rehabilitated get pails of milk and bananas, it was all worth while. The orang-utans who are being returned to the wild have this safety net of knowing there will be food on this platform at specific hours - and yes, they can tell the time.
I got there about 10 or 12 minutes before the keepers climbed up these vast, steep ladders carrying big pails of milk and bananas, and one or two orangs had already gathered. More came and they started standing on the edge, looking in the direction they knew the keepeers came from, for all the world like commuters looking down the line for the expected train.
There was also a clever little black monkey who had sussed out the situation - free food and lots of it - and had made itself into a regular.
Eventually, the orang-utans, growing more confident, venture further into the jungle and don't come back. The keepers keep records of all of them until they eventually rehabilitate themselves.
Those men climb the vertical ladders from the jungle floor - about 200 or 300 ft - carrying heavy stalks of bananas and heavy pails of milk. It is amazing.
Never been in a Sumatran jungle (or any jungle) I regret. (well, perhaps not, were you attacked by giant leeches Verity, like in the accounts of the war in the Far East? One of my professors raised a guerilla army in the Shan states in Burma to fight the Japanese. Many years later he was facing revolting trotskyoids and sent them off disheartened when he said' Have you ever raised a guerilla army Mr X? I have, and you should know that the porters' lodge is not a good place to start".
Oh, God, I didn't see a single leech! If I'd thought of leeches in advance, I probably wouldn't have gone!
A visit to Lombok or the Malaysian orang-utan rehabilitation centre is a totally wonderful experience. You are close enough (they have raised walkways and you are only a few feet away from the feeding platform, but the orangs aren't interested because they are concentrating on the food) to animals in the wild to almost touch them.
After their meal of bananas and milk (which they scoop up and drink out of plastic cups, by the way) they relax. They go for a spin around a vine hanging from a tree, or they lie back, with their hands clasped behind their heads and their legs crossed - just like us. They are about 4 or more ft tall.
Seeing them gather was interesting, too. As I said, they know the time, and you hear a noise in the trees and look up, and there is red-haired orang utan outlined against the sky as he swings from branch to branch and lands on the platform. And then does all but look at his watch. It is astounding to see how close to us they are. BTW, in Malay the word orang means man (mankind) and utan means jungle. Keeping one as a pet or in a circus is illegal in both Malaysia and Indonesia. If the authorities hear of one such (and people do report other people keeping them illegally) they are seized and taken to the rehabilitation people, where they are fed and safe until they get up the nerve to go off by themselves.
Next time you go to Oz, HG, you should stop off in Kuching in Sarawak in Borneo and go to the Malaysian centre.
My father helped set up the Malaysian National Insurance Company many years ago and I remember myself placing crop covers in Lloyds for rubber plants .
Theough this connection I knew a chap who was convicted of selling white goods guarantee without security .He was sent to prison for a lot longer than we would incacerate a murderer for this.
For all I know he is still there , his nake was Rudy Mendes.
I wonder if they still have the right idea with crime.
VERITY-I was hugely flattered to be abused in the same paragraph as you by the unspeakable one
Verity
Please do not put ideas into the heads of those urangs ,
No doubt the clever beasts will be over here claiming asylum in the near future.
The Hitch - they are a lot cuter than 92.93% of the immigrants we get at the moment and they are peacable. No bombs. And lady orang utans do not walk around in black bin bags.
Newmania - I felt dreadful about leaving Bel's civilised and intelligent blog, but I just couldn't abide interacting with Mr Axie and being bound by the rules of good manners. Iain's blog is so densely populated that one doesn't have to run into him.
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orang behaviour
Not unlike that of "African Americans"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsp_6IRT_uI&mode=related&search=
I dont trust anything with ginger hair .
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They're hair's not ginger, The Hitch. It's a rich auburn and most beguiling.
If The Croydonian had a way of posting pics, I would send in a couple, because you would fall madly in love with these sweet, sweet animals. Can you imagine being that large and that muscular and only eating bananas and other bits and pieces, but no meat? Their strength is awesome. And they are so pleasant-natured. They don't want to aggress against anything. Hence that little black monkey that came to their feeding platform - obviously a suave little habitué - joining in without fear.
Some fine anecdotes there, much appreciated. If you want to e-mail me the photographs, I'll be happy to start a new thread.
I dug out the pics, but they are of such poor quality, taken with just an ordinary camera before we all had digitals. If you think you could enhance them, I'll send them to you, but they are pretty grim. Out of focus, because these things swing through the trees so fast, and too high up, so camera pointed up from the dark of the jungle into the light.
Also, of course, the pics have faded.
If you have Photoshop, you might be able to do something - if you could be bothered. There is a very cute one of two little orphans sitting in a special cage with their feet dangling out.
I think it would be rather fun to see the orangs, although I'm a bit lacking in photo retouching software.
I'll send them over, Croydonian, but the photos are Amateur Night in Dixie - blurry, badly framed because orang utans move through the trees at speed.
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