National Geographic Society

This week from Monday 10 November to Sunday 16 November, the Orangutan Foundation will be celebrating the Orangutan Awareness Week. This is a tradition started ten years ago to provide a forum for individuals and organizations to actively participate in spreading awareness and raising funds for the conservation of the Orangutan, Asia's only great ape.

This year, the event will highlight the importance of orangutan habitat - the tropical forests of Borneo and Sumatra - in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It is known that deforestation is the second largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. According to Andrew Mitchell, Director of the forest conservation organization, Global Canopy Programme and a trustee of the Orangutan Foundation, "If deforestation is the front line for forests in the war on climate change then orangutans are the ambassadors being burnt at the stake."

"Emissions from deforestation are equivalent to 36 million people flying from London to New York every day and unless this is halted we will lose the fight against Global Warming. The global community has one year to agree a workable mechanism for including forest emissions in the global climate deal to be agreed next year in Copenhagen. We along with our orange cousins watch with fear and hope," adds Mitchell.

This week, the Orangutan Foundation blog at WildlifeDirect will be featuring daily blog entries about the event including guest posts by personalities such as Gary Shapiro of Orangutan Republik Education Initiative blogging about how Orangutan Awareness Week began and Ian Singleton from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme reporting about their efforts to save the Tripa Swamps in Sumatra.

This year's event will also introduce an exciting special day termed the Orange for Orangutan Day. On this day, 14 November 2008, people are encouraged to dress in orange clothes, wear orange wigs, or for those who are bold enough, dye their hair orange! You can then engage in awareness and fundraising activities around your block or residential area, at work, in school or wherever you are.

"If everyone who gets involved in this way donates £1 or $1.50, then we will be able to raise huge amounts of money to invest in conserving the orangutans and their forest home," says Cathy Smith of the Orangutan Foundation. That is a fun way to contribute to the conservation of orange cousins. So go ahead and gather your friends and "Go Orange for Orangutans".

Please visit the Orangutan Foundation Blog for more information about this event and to learn how you can participate in this exciting and noble cause. To show our support, we at WildlifeDirect will highlight this special event in our website's homepage.