Ready to help save the Borneo's rainforest

The search for ten amazing young leaders to spend five months in Borneo to implement the DeforestACTION project has begun. These ten action heros will work in the jungle and connect with the world though the web, providing updates for millions of students across the globe who are responsible for driving, developing and owning the project.

TakingITGlobal is working together with Microsoft Partners in Learning on DeforestACTION, a global action project involving students from around the world in protecting the world's forests. We've teamed up with acclaimed conservationist Dr. Willie Smits and Orangutan Outreach to develop a project that will save endangered rainforest and orangutans, create awareness about the destruction caused by deforestation, restore a full forest eco-system and provide a sustainable livelihood for the local community. The project will also create the world's largest and most technology rich orangutan sanctuary on earth.

Award-winning production company Virgo Productions is developing a 3D feature documentary about the project in collaboration with National Geographic Entertainment. Shooting will take place over five months in Borneo, commencing in June 2011. Cathy Henkel, (The Burning Season, The Man who Stole my Mother’s Face) will produce and direct Project Borneo 3D: An Action Movie, to be shot by acclaimed cinematographer Don McAlpine (Moulin Rouge, Romeo + Juliet, Wolverine) and Paul Nichola (Cane Toads: The Conquest 3D).

Time is running out for Borneo's rainforest!

Deforestation is a global problem, not only in tropical countries but all around the world. About 30% of the carbon we use is captured by boreal forests, but Borneo has the highest deforestation rate in the world. The equivalent of 300 football fields are destroyed every hours. While politicians - usually focused on short-term economic issues - don't give enough importance to this problem, Borneo's biodiversity-rich forest is inexorably vanishing.

Seen from above, analysis of satellite images paint a frightening picture of Borneo. During the past twenty years, two millions acres were cleared annually and the deforestation rate is not decreasing. Industrial large-scale clearing of forests for monocrop agriculture such as palm oil and cattle grazing is the main cause of deforestation in this region. In addition, gold mining is causing an ecological disaster, polluting rivers and affecting the local people.

In Borneo and Sumatra, consequences of deforestation are dramatically impacting the local biodiversity and orangutans are one of the many victims. Powerless against human environmental dictatorship, some associations such as the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, laid by Dr Willie Smits, have been fighting on their behalf.

The destruction of the Borneo rainforest may seem a world away from the urban comforts of industrialised civilisation, but raising their awareness about the importance of conservation is a major step towards a better future. Education of young generations is the key and by involving them in the fight, they will make better decision-makers.

The long-term consequences of global deforestation would jeopardise life on Earth as we know it. What makes life sustainable on this planet is the many recycling processes involved. Cutting down trees remove natural fertilisers such as leaves and animal faeces and the consequence is a poorer quality of soil, which is the main cause of desertification. Forest destruction is damaging the ability of the earth to absorb carbon, and damaging these carbon sinks directly contributes to rising temperatures, pollutions and erosion.

Many environmental groups such as DeforestAction are heavily involved in the fight against deforestation, and using the power of the web and the media, they develop collaborative projects with schools and young people from all over the planet.

Please visit www.deforestaction.com