A live, open, worldwide interactive video forum on the Internet for 45 minutes at www.bigmarker.com/orangutan/palmoil

Listen to the speaker, ask questions, give your own point of view by voice or instant messaging.

Saturday, Nov 26, 2011 for 45 minutes only (for those in North America, Europe and Africa; Sunday, Nov. 27 in Australia and Southeast Asia)

Join an interactive video web forum live from Sabah, Malaysian Borneo about orangutans and palm oil plantations, following the 9th annual Roundtable Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) this week in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The leading cause of the destruction of the rain forest habitat of orangutans is palm oil plantations in Borneo and Sumatra, but the producers have responded by creating certification for sustainable palm oil. The RSPO meeting in Kota Kinabalu this week was attended by over 1,000 delegates from 34 countries around the world representing growers, consumer markets and NGOs. Did they make any progress? Is this a workable solution or just a smokescreen for the exploitation of the rain forest?

speaker: Haji Kler of HUTAN - KOCP in Sabah, Borneo

moderator: Shawn Thompson, author of The Intimate Ape: Orangutans and the Secret Life of an Endangered Species

Part of the purpose of this forum is to foster a community of people communicating with each around the world to work together to save orangutans. This will be the second interactive video web forum in this series at www.bigmarker.com. Ideas for future broadcasts include hearing from leading ape scientists, conservationists and campaigners, like Marc Ancrenaz in Borneo, live video tours of different ape sanctuaries around the world, and a special session on musicians, music and apes. Other forums can be organized on topics of your choice.

You can reach the moderator and organizer Shawn Thompson at www.bigmarker.com/orangutan or intimateape@hotmail.com

Starting times around the world: 5 p.m. Saturday eastern time (U.S.); 4 p.m. Saturday central time (U.S.); 3 p.m. Saturday mountain time (U.S.); 2 p.m. Saturday Pacific time (U.S.); 8 p.m. Saturday Brasilia, Brazil;10 p.m. Saturday London, England; 11 p.m. Saturday Amsterdam; 11 p.m. Saturday Barcelona, Spain; 11 p.m. Saturday Berlin, Germany; 12 a.m. Sunday Cape Town, South Africa; 12 a.m. Sunday Helsinki, Finland; 4 a.m. Sunday New Delhi, India; 5 a.m. Sunday Jakarta, Indonesia; 6 a.m. Sunday in Kota Kinabalu; 6 a.m. Sunday in Kuala Lumpur 6 a.m. Sunday Perth, Australia; 6 a.m. Sunday Singapore; 6 a.m. Sunday Shanghai, China; 6 a.m. Sunday Beijing, China; 5 a.m. Sunday Singapore; 9 a.m. Sunday Sydney, Australia.

HUTAN is a grassroots NGO founded by the well-known French scientists Marc Ancrenaz and Isabelle Lackman in Sabah that works to develop and implement innovative solutions to conserve the orangutan (and other wildlife) in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. See: http://www.hutan.org.my

The RSPO says of itself: "In response to the urgent and pressing global call for sustainably produced palm oil, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was formed in 2004 with the objective promoting the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders. The seat of the association is in Zurich, Switzerland, while the secretariat is currently based in Kuala Lumpur with a satellite office in Jakarta. RSPO is a not-for-profit association that unites stakeholders from seven sectors of the palm oil industry - oil palm producers, palm oil processors or traders, consumer goods, manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental or nature conservation NGOs and social or developmental NGOs - to develop and implement global standards for sustainable palm oil." See: http://www.rspo.org