Indonesian police arrest Greenpeace activists in Sumatra

Nov 25, 2009, 8:12 GMT

   Jakarta - Indonesian police on Wednesday arrested 14 Greenpeace activists for blocking the export facilities of a major pulp mill company in eastern Sumatra.

   The activists were in police custody in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau in eastern Sumatra, for questioning while four others were still tied to cranes on the site, media reports and witnesses said.

   Nine of the detained activists were foreigners, and the activists still blocking the crate-loading crane chains were said to be from Germany, the Netherlands and the Philippines.

   Police and officials of the Asian Pulp and Paper (APP) company were trying to negotiate with them, the state-run Antara news agency reported.

   Greenpeace said in a statement that the activists blocked the crane activity to stop pulp exports.

   The activists displayed banners reading: 'Forest Destruction: You can stop this,' and urged world leaders including Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to act to avert climate chaos and to provide a global fund for forests.

   'Deforestation is one of the roots of the climate crisis,' said Shailandra Yashwant, Greenpeace's campaign director for South-East Asia.

   'We are shutting down the exports of one of the world's largest pulp mills at the frontline of forest destruction to tell our elected leaders that they can - and must - pull us back from the brink of catastrophic climate change,' Yashwant said.

   Greenpeace is also campaigning to preserve peat-swamp forests in Kampar Peninsula, Riau, ahead the upcoming Copenhagen UN Climate Summit in December. They alleged sustained intimidation by the authorities including threats, arrests and deportations.

   Paper giant APP sells its products in China, the US, Europe and Australia and supplies many international brand distributors with paper products, including Vogue, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Marc Jacobs.

   Greenpeace accused the company and its main competitor, APRIL, of destroying rainforests and carbon-rich peat soil across Indonesia.

   'Indonesia is climate change's ground zero,' said Bustar Maitar, a Greenpeace spokesman. 'Stopping forest destruction here and around the globe is not only one of the quickest but also one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent runaway climate change.'

   Indonesia is the world's third-largest polluter after China and the US, mainly as a result of the ongoing destruction of its forests and their peat soils.

   Globally, 1 million hectares of forests are destroyed every month - an area the size of a football pitch every 2 seconds - emitting so much carbon dioxide that deforestation is blamed for about 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.