East Kalimantan BKSDA connects orangutan habitats in production forests

Only approximately 20 per cent, or 700,000 hectares, of ecological space is specifically set aside for conservation areas. East Kalimantan’s Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) is working to connect orangutan habitats within production forest areas. ‘Our main challenge is to engage all stakeholders to fully support wildlife-friendly conservation activities,’ said East Kalimantan BKSDA Chief M Ari Wibawanto in Samarinda on Friday. According to their records, East Kalimantan spans 12 million hectares, with 4 million hectares being natural orangutan habitats. The orangutan’s range in East Kalimantan extends from the northern waters of the Mahakam River to the southern lands along the Kelay River in Berau. According to Ari, this imbalance forces 80 per cent of remaining primates to inhabit concession areas whose management can easily change based on business interests. BKSDA is now surveying remaining tree cover to create habitat connectivity, uniting the landscape so wildlife’s ecological movement space does not become increasingly isolated. ‘Connecting these corridors is a crucial requirement to avoid inbreeding risks and ensure the stability and conservation of orangutan genetic diversity,’ Ari said. ‘Although reports of orangutan encounters in plantations are common, we have never found any evidence of armed poaching incidents,’ Ari stated. New regulations under Law No. 32 of 2024 on biodiversity conservation are seen as providing legal certainty through a scheme mandating conservation area obligations. ‘Under this regulation, business land managers must protect their conservation ecosystems or face operational license revocation as a penalty,’ Ari stressed.