Borneo orangutans face threat of extinction

The Jakarta Post, Nov 22, 2005:

Borneo orangutans face threat of extinction

Bambang Bider, Contributor, Kalimantan

Life becomes more meaningful when one becomes aware that everything

in this universe is a whole entity, the parts of which are

interrelated and interdependent.

From the point of view of internal ecology, there is an intrinsic

value in every creation. Whether one realizes it or not, destruction

is always linked with ignorance and a rejection of the intrinsic

value of the lives of others.

Just imagine if another's life happens to be an orangutan (Pongo

pygmaeus), an animal that is 97 percent genetically similar to

humans.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has stated that the orangutans in

Borneo (Kalimantan, Sabah and Sarawak) and Sumatra are now on the

verge of extinction.

The 2002 IUCN Red List puts Borneo orangutans in the category of an

endangered species while Sumatran orangutans are categorized as being

a critically endangered species.

More than 80 orangutan experts and observers from all over the world

gathered in Jakarta in January 2004 to attend the International

Workshop on Population Habitat Viability Analysis (PHVA), in which

the latest potential population of orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra

and the factors influencing the survival of these species were

analyzed.

According to an estimate made in 2004 by PHVA, the population of

Sumatran orangutans of the Pongo abelii species stands at 7,501,

spread in 13 habitats.

Meanwhile, Borneo orangutans have three subspecies, namely Pongo

pygmaeus pygmaeus in the northwest of Borneo, starting from the

northern part of Kapuas up to Sarawak, Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii in

Central Borneo, starting from the southern part of the Kapuas up to

the western part of Barito, and Pongo pygmaeus morio in the northeast

of Borneo, namely in Sabah and East Kalimantan.

The total population of Borneo orangutans is estimated to stand at

57,797, therefore bringing the total population of orangutans in

Borneo and Sumatra to 65,298.

Threat from tree felling

In the Workshop on an Action Plan for the Conservation of Kalimantan

Orangutans held in Pontianak in October 2005, Sri Suci Utami Atmoko

of Yayasan Penyelamatan Orangutan Borneo (BOS) said the total

population of orangutans was greater than what was estimated about a

decade ago. "However, this does not prove that there are now more

orangutans than one or two decades back."

More specifically, on Borneo orangutans, MacKinnon and Ramono (1993)

estimated the total population of orangutans in Kalimantan in the

1900s at over 200,000 but Sugardjito and van Schaik (1993) have found

that the figure has dropped to about 45,000.

Jito Sugardjito, who is also country representative of Fauna and

Flora International, said, "Tree felling to transform the function of

a forest area and to turn it into forest concession land is the main

threat to the population of orangutans."

In the Workshop on the Action Plan for the Conservation of Kalimantan

Orangutans, which was held in Pontianak after a similar workshop for

Sumatran orangutans held in September in Brastagi, Herry Djoko

Susilo, from the directorate general of forest protection and nature

conservation, identified the main threats facing the population of

Kalimantan orangutans.

These were: illegal logging, a shift in the function of a forest

areas, hunting, forest fires, unirrigated farming, drying of peat

forest areas and poor management of concession forest areas.

Meanwhile, the result of research done by A.D. John published in his

1992 research paper titled Vertebrate responses to selective logging:

Implications for the design of logging systems shows that the felling

of 18 trees in each hectare of orangutan habitat can damage 47

percent of the fruit trees and reduce their number by up to 50

percent.

On the same occasion, Julia Ng Su-Chen of Traffic Southeast Asia

said, "What is also saddening is that cross-border illegal trading of

orangutans is now flourishing." It is estimated that between 200 and

500 of them are traded every year.

She added that the trading of orangutans was flourishing because of

the high market demand for these primates as pets, for private

collections, souvenirs or as materials for traditional medicine.

Political will, vested interests

Meanwhile, Purwo Susanto of the Forest Conversion Initiative

(Kalimantan Region) of the World Wide Fund for Nature, has come up

with a more systematic cause for the fragmentation of the habitat of

orangutans, qualitatively and quantitatively, that has led to the

sharp drop in their population.

He said, "The main cause is both legal and illegal logging, RTRWK

(spatial plans for forest areas) that fail to accommodate the need

for orangutan conservation, as well as poor law enforcement and lack

of political will and political action to stop illegal trading.

"Also, critical are poor coordination among countries, between the

central government and regional administrations and among non- governmental organizations dealing in orangutan conservation, a lack

of information related to orangutan conservation, in terms of both

dissemination and equipment, on the one hand, and the quality of the

drafting of policies and of law enforcement, on the other."

Regarding the aspect of political will in relation to orangutan

protection, Julia Ng Su-Chen has said that Indonesia and Malaysia,

particularly Sabah and Sarawak, commonly have regulations protecting

these primates. The difference lies only in the political action in

enforcing these regulations.

"In Sabah and Sarawak sanctions are really imposed on hunting or acts

that may threaten the lives of orangutans to deter the recurrence of

such acts. In Indonesia, regulations are yet to be properly

enforced," she said making a comparison.

Of the total population of Borneo orangutans, 13,614 are found in

Malaysia, spread in a total of 17 habitats in Sabah and Sarawak. It

is understandable that orangutans in Sabah and Sarawak are highly

protected because their population is small.

Meanwhile, Purwo Susanto cited a plan for the development of 1.8

million hectares of coconut palm estates along the border areas

between Indonesia's Kalimantan and Malaysia's Sarawak as an example

of a policy of the Indonesian government that fails to accommodate

orangutan protection.

"The border area has forests of different status. In the context of

the development of coconut palm estates, it is not right to convert

an area into a coconut palm estate if it is still a forest and is

ecologically functional to a larger area," Purwo stressed.

In response to this problem, Herry said, " Of course, if it concerns

broader interests, we cannot view it from only one aspect. Our view

must be balanced, in the context of sustainable development."

Erik Meijaard of The Nature Conservancy said that it was very easy to

save orangutans. "Just don't kill them and don't damage their

habitat," he noted.

"Protect areas that must be protected. Do not damage protected forest

areas by converting the land to large-scale coconut palm and other

estates.

"Forest concessionaires must accommodate harmoniously orangutan

conservation efforts in their concession areas. Stop orangutan

hunting," he said.