Creating New Homes for Orangutans in Borneo
Reforestation Provides New Habitats for Rescued Orangutans
Jul 8, 2009
Indonesian orangutans are constantly under threat from habitat destruction and degradation, as forests are cleared for farming, palm oil plantations and illegal gold mines.
More than 70 per cent of Indonesia's original forest cover has been lost in recent decades, and the wild orangutan population has decreased by 50 per cent in the last 10 years.
Palm Oil, Farming and Gold Mining Threaten Orangutans
Palm oil production, a growing industry in Indonesia, involves clearing native forest to replace with oil palm plantations.
Increasing logging and deforestation results in many baby or young orangutans being orphaned, as the orangutans move closer to the villages looking for food.
Some villagers kill orangutans for meat –‘jungle meat’ – others kill the adults because baby orangutans are a high status symbol as pets for wealthy Indonesians.
Illegal logging destroys over 2.4 million hectares acres per year, while gold mining, also illegal, removes the top soil. It could take centuries for the forest to recover.
Gold Mining Risky for Forest and Humans
These gold mines are another way for villagers to make an income, but it is extremely hazardous, involving chopping down the trees, then sluicing great areas of cleared soil with hoses to get to the gravel supposedly containing gold. This gravel is then mixed with mercury – by hand – to separate out the gold.
Obviously this is extremely damaging to the forested areas, as well as being hazardous to the health of the villagers!
Rescued Orangutans Need New Homes
There are several organisations operating orangutan rehabilitation centres in Indonesia, including the Australian Orangutan Project .
These give the orphaned animals shelter and teach them how to forage for suitable food, make social contact with one another and find safe places to live and mate. However, as the orangutans’ natural habitat shrinks, finding suitable release sites for rehabilitated animals is increasingly difficult.
Teaching Villagers to Value Trees and Orangutans
Vet and conservationist Dr Bayu Wirayudha and his organisation, Friends of the National Parks Foundation (FNPF) have developed a community-led solution. As well as providing rehabilitation facilities for the young orangutans, in which they learn survival skills before they are returned to a safe area in rainforest, Dr Bayu’s organisation focuses on creating new areas of forest for the primates.
This community-based action supports both the villagers and the orangutans. The villagers are taught how to plant and nurture trees, some of which they can later harvest sustainably, providing them with an income and the orangutans with a home.
The villagers are also taught to value the orangutans as tourist attractions, and are trained to assist with eco-tours taking visitors to see the orangutans living in their area.
According to the FNPF, local villagers in the Kalimantan area have cultivated at least 60,000 seedlings of 47 varieties of rainforest trees. Once the seedlings are strong enough, they are planted out in previously cleared areas.
So far, 100 hectares of rainforest around Kalimantan have been reforested and another 100 hectares are planned for reforestation. As the trees are fast growing, some of the timber has already been harvested by villagers for furniture making or repairing temples.
FNPF has also planted 35,000 seedlings at several sites on the island of Nusa Penida with farmer’s groups, village elders, temple board members, schools and government institutions. They hope to plant out another 100 hectares on the island in the next year.
Rescuing Endangered Bird Species
Dr Bayu and FNP have also achieved a near miracle in rescuing the almost extinct Bali Starling, and rehousing it on the island Nusa Penida.
To read more, see Indonesian Vet Saves Endangered Bali Starling.
You might also like to read Saving Biodiversity in Sarawak.
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