The last known 800 Tapanuli orangutans on Earth face
having their Indonesian forest home ripped from beneath them -- by a
British company’s thirst for gold.
Jardine Matheson and its gold mining company want to destroy this
precious ecosystem in Batang Toru, Northern Sumatra out of pure
greed -- driving the rarest great ape to extinction.
Just in the past month, satellite images revealed a new
expansion of the Martable Mine into the heart of orangutan
territory. But if we act fast with a massive public
campaign exposing Jardine Matheson, we can stop the mine’s expansion
and protect the orangutans and their habitat before it’s too
late.
Tell
Jardine Matheson to STOP expanding its mine into orangutan territory
NOW.
The Tapanuli orangutan, which is the rarest great ape in the
world, was first documented by scientists in 2017. It’s the first
great ape to be recorded for a century and it only lives in the
Batang Toru Forest in Indonesia. Sadly, there are only 800
of the charismatic primates left.
Unfortunately for the newly identified and already
endangered great ape, its forest home sits on top of a rich seam of
gold - which is currently being mined by a British
company.
Jardine Matheson has been run by the same British family, the
Keswicks, since the Victorian era. It bought the Martabe gold mine
in 2018 and has expanded it further into the habitat of the Tapanuli
orangutan ever since.
So far, the Martabe mine has already destroyed at least 30 ha of
Tapanuli orangutan forest habitat -- an area of the Batang Toru
forest equivalent to at least 42 football fields.
If we don’t act now, scientists warn that the entire
Tapanuli orangutan population could be decimated in less than 10
years.
Tell
Jardine Matheson to put the survival of the rarest great ape over
its greed for gold.
The survival of the Tapanuli orangutan truly is a test for
humanity, but in reality it’s a simple one. All that Jardine
Matheson needs to do is to halt any future expansion projects in
Batang Toru and work with the International Union for Conservation
of Nature on a plan to preserve the rarest great ape and its
habitat.
When SumOfUs members come together, we achieve wonders. In May
2015, we got together to tell Jardine Matheson and its luxury hotel
subsidiary Mandarin Oriental to save and protect the Sumatran
Elephant, and it listened to all of us. Today, an even
greater threat is looming over the last Tapanuli orangutans
and we must ramp up the pressure on Jardine Matheson to do the right
thing once again.
Tell
Jardine Matheson to put the survival of the rarest great ape over
its greed for gold.