Borneo orangutans face threat of extinction

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.