(Summary Response 2) A message from the orangutan’s extinction

According to Lone Drescher-Neilsen in his article, “This environmental destruction amounts to orangutan genocide; Comment,” because the demand for palm oil is providing the destruction of the rainforests and extermination of the orangutan, people have to protect the orangutan from this problem. Also, the author explains the orangutan’s role in controlling the climate and what they do in the rainforests. And while he is mentioning what Borneo Orangutan Survive (BOS) is doing today, he persuades people to have a force and knowledge about these environmental damages. Moreover, he likens the orangutan to the human being, who has a high level of intelligence and an ability to solve problems, and maternal instinct. For these reasons, the author emphasizes that because the orangutan is typical of well-being of nature, humans’ right to live will be influenced if the orangutan is threatened.

As a result of demand for the palm oil, the rainforests are being destroyed, and the orangutan is becoming extinct. As the author said, I think that people should prevent extinction of the orangutan, and safeguard them. Because the orangutan and a human being are very similar, orangutans' extinction is also our problem. In order to prevent their extinction, we have to know about the situation that we and the orangutans are in first. And we have to provide the surroundings where the orangutan is able to live. Also, in Borneo, many communities are depending on the palm oil, we have to find the best way to live together in harmony.

First, according to his article, the orangutan looks very much like a human being. That is, orangutans have a mental faculty that knows how to live as a human being. Although they have such an ability, they are dying by destruction. It means that human being also will die finally. For example, even though orangutans can control the climate, if they can’t live, people are also influenced by this same condition.

Second, we have to know about orangutans first thing. If we don’t know, we can’t help them. For example, there is Manchurian black bear in Korea. They live in Korea, China, the Maritime Province and so on. In Korea, they live in Ji-Ri Mountains at over 1500 meters in alpine regions; however, they have been exterminated by excessive hunting and the Korean War. So, the Korean government projected a plan to keep them alive, and tried for it. After making the policy, the Ji-Ri Mountains had a lot of trees planted on them, and the policy looked successful. But, the breeding of the Manchurian black bear failed. What is worse, they die more and more. That is because the government only focused on not their ecosystem, but human’s. That is, we should know about them for them to survive.

Third, a problem for Borneo’s orangutans is that because many communities there depend on the palm oil, the government can’t resist local communities’ progress. If they give up the industry related with palm oil, they will be troubled with poverty. In contrast, if they disregard nature, it causes the extinction of the orangutan. It will also give a problem to human beings. Therefore, we have to find the way to live together, because there is a circulation system in the natural world like a pyramid structure. If some creatures can’t survive, human being also can’t survive either.

Destruction of rainforests and extinction of orangutans have been happening in Borneo. It is not a problem of only that place. By making orangutans disappear, climate in rainforests can’t be controlled. This has an effect on humans as well as the ecosystem. Therefore we should recognize these problems in our life, and try to know about them. To do this, we have study the way to keep them alive, and we have find ways to live together.

Reference:

Drescher-Neilsen, L. (2009, May 1). This environmental destruction amounts to orangutan genocide; Comment. The Independent Retrieved May 7, 2009, from Lexis Nexis database.