Pilot Project Endangered Forests and Orangutans in Aceh Indonesia

NAGAN RAYA, INDONESIA - JUNE 8: A local farmer removes weeds on a tract of land with over 15,000 oil palm seedlings for a pilot project sponsored by Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari (YEL), an Indonesian conservation group, June 8, 2009 in Aceh province, Indonesia. Seedlings will be planted on fallow land with donated labor from villagers who will benefit from the sale of harvested palm oil. YEL's concept is to halt the cutting of virgin rainforest land and the draining of valuable peat swamp tracts by farming land already cleared. Palm oil is used as vegetable oil in products from chocolate bars and breakfast cereals to shampoo. It is also classified as a bio-fuel. Indonesia and Malaysia are the world's largest palm oil producers. Threatened orangutans and other rare species of wildlife live in the rainforest tracts now being cleared. (Photo by Robert Nickelsbeg/Getty Images)