Bustar Maitar, campaigner at our Climate Defenders Camp in Indonesia, has told pulp and paper giant APRIL that the activists will not leave the concession until the company publicly commits to halting all deforestation and peat land destruction in the Kampar Peninsula.

Heavy rain has began pouring down where the direct action is taking place, and Greenpeace activists are still preventing company personnel from accessing the excavators used to destroy the forest.

As Barack Obama arrives in Asia for his first visit to the region as President and while the United States continues to block progress ahead of the critical UN climate negotiations at Copenhagen next month, a 50-strong international team of Greenpeace activists issued him an urgent call to action from the heart of Indonesia’s threatened rainforests

A number of police arrived onsite earlier from the local town of Teluk Merante to observe the action. They left with no arrests made.

Greenpeace has issued a Press Release highlighting the urgency of halting all deforestation and calling on President Yudhoyono and world leaders to protect forests worldwide and prevent runaway climate change.

One group of activists unfurled a 20x30 meter banner in a freshly destroyed area of rainforest urging Obama to take strong leadership and work closely with other Heads of State to help avert a climate crisis. Another group locked themselves to seven excavators to halt rainforest destruction.

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