The eyes have it
Images are a powerful way of telling a story especially when they capture emotion.
On Tuesday evening a small crowd which attended a public seminar, organised by Greenpeace and the Indonesia Human Rights Committee, on the palm industry and rainforest destruction, got a chance to see and hear what is happening in Indonesia, Malaysia and West Papua right now.
There were the expected photos of burning rainforests and landscapes looking like war zones but the most powerful images were close-ups of the two faces which were part of a presentation by Hauraki farmer Max Purnell who travelled to Indonesian in August to see first hand what was happening.
Max doesn’t claim to be a photographer but he knows a good image when he sees one. The two he highlighted in his talk were not ordinary close-ups of faces. He’d cropped them so all that you could see were the eyes. Max had been there when these photos were taken and having met and talked with the subjects could see how survival was wearying them down. You could certainly see it in their eyes.
Raji Annis is a village leader in Kuala Mulia. He has seen the rainforest which has been home to generations, cut down, burnt and drained of water to make way for palm plantations. Adding insult to injury he and his villagers have then been blamed for lighting the fires which have wiped out their livelihoods. The look of a proud man defeated has affected Max. Knowing what it’s like to live off the land Max wonders how they will survive and says Raji and his plight are often in his thoughts.
The eyes of a director of an orangutan rehabilitation centre looked less harrowed but equally tired from an unrelenting struggle – this time to save the remaining forest habitat in Sumatra. He says that if this isn’t done within the next two years it, and the orangutans and tigers that live there, will be lost forever.
The photos of these two men helped put a face to what’s happening in Indonesia. There were many facts and stories from three other speakers – Greenpeace climate campaigner Simon Boxer, IHRC spokesperson Maire Leadbeater and Green MP Catherine Delahunty – each focusing on the influence New Zealand can have on this issue.
Greenpeace is calling on John Key to force Fonterra to stop importing palm kernel due to the impact its production has on climate change and the fact that it’s not needed as a supplementary feed.
Catherine Delahunty is fronting a bill that would ensure timber, and possibly some associated products like paper, could only enter New Zealand with recognised sustainability accreditation and IHRC is pushing for a similar deal with kwila, a rainforest timber, currently been logged.
All four speakers are happy to stand up for what they believe is the right thing, not just for New Zealand but also for Indonesia, Malaysia and West Papua.
Now it’s time for Fonterra to show its face. What emotion will we see in the eyes of Fonterra CEO Andrew Ferrier when he tries to defend importing one quarter of the world’s production of palm based animal feed knowing the devastation its production causes to millions of people and the environment?
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you should be protesting K.F.C. they cook with palm oil. the palm trees are not grown for Fonterra,it is a subsiduary R D 1 that imports pke along with others like Swaps in matamata.
What will happen to all the farms and the people that work on them when you”ve closed them down
Will Greenpeace supplement the New Zealand economy for the lost earnings