When it comes to protecting orangutans, people matter. They matter because hundreds of rural and indigenous communities live alongside and within remaining rainforest ecosystems in Indonesia. And like orangutans, they’re often struggling to survive.
When people lack access to a sustainable income, they’ll often turn to illegal logging and poaching to feed their families, or be forced to work in unsustainable plantations.
We’re working hard to turn that around, so everybody benefits from protecting the rainforest!
Help us support communities to support orangutans!
The Orangutan Project has a unique approach to conservation. We know that no species exists in isolation, and that to solve a problem as complex as the orangutan extinction crisis means addressing all of the issues that have contributed to orangutans becoming Critically Endangered in the first place - like the mass destruction of rainforests for unsustainable monoculture plantations, which only ever benefits the greedy few.
When you join The Orangutan Project, you’ll be helping us and our partners legally protect remaining lowland ecosystems in Indonesia. This supports every being who relies on that ecosystem - including Critically Endangered orangutans, tigers and elephants and local and indigenous communities!
We work closely with local communities, providing practical education on sustainable agriculture and developing a whole range of rainforest-friendly and sustainable employment opportunities.
We resource local men and women to become highly-trained Wildlife Protection Officers, who patrol these ecosystems day and night. These teams also work with poor, subsistence farmers on strategies to mitigate human-wildlife conflict, and to protect their crops and livestock without resorting to poisons and traps.
We also work with local communities to restore and replant degraded forests and to establish long term eco-friendly opportunities like growing vanilla or cultivating jungle honey which requires the shade of big healthy trees.
A great example of our holistic approach is in the Bukit Tigapuluh Ecosystem in Sumatra, where we and our partners are protecting a 495,000 acre rainforest ecosystem, safeguarding Sumatran orangutans, tigers and elephants.
More than 25 Wildlife Protection Officers are employed as well as many orangutan carers and trackers. The children of the indigenous Talang Mamak tribe, who live within the ecosystem, receive a daily nutritious school meal, sourced and cooked by local women.
Our goal is to make sure everybody benefits from protecting the rainforest and that everybody is invested in securing the survival of Critically Endangered orangutans!
Support this game-changing work for orangutans