New Population of Orangutans Discovered

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http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2002/2002-11-22-07.asp

 

New Population of Orangutans Discovered

 

By Cat Lazaroff

 

WASHINGTON, DC, November 22, 2002 (ENS) - The known

number of orangutans in the world has increased by

about 10 percent, thanks to a remarkable discovery by

a team of researchers surveying a remote forest on the

southeast Asian island of Borneo. The discovery by the

team from The Nature Conservancy offers a rare

opportunity for conservationists working to save the

endangered primate.

 

The research teams documented 1,600 orangutan nests,

indicating that between 1,000 and 2,500 orangutans are

living within a 540 square mile (1,399 square

kilometer) area of lowland forests in the province of

East Kalimantan, part of the Indonesian portion of

Borneo. This is the largest viable population of wild

orangutans known to exist in East Kalimantan, a

province about the size of New England.

 

" This find represents one of the last, best chances to

protect a large, healthy population of wild orangutans

anywhere in the world, " said Steve McCormick,

president and CEO of the U.S. based Nature

Conservancy.

 

Orangutan experts echoed the Conservancy's excitement

over this find. Earlier this month, the nonprofit

Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) reported that

the orangutan faces almost certain extinction within

the next five to 10 years if the current trend in

illegal logging and forest loss continues in its

Indonesian rain forest habitat.

 

The newly discovered orangutan population offers new

hope, said Dr. Birute Mary Galdikas, president of OFI.

 

 

" The discovery of a large, biologically viable,

previously unsurveyed orangutan population in East

Kalimantan is very significant, " Galdikas said. " This

find extends the orangutan's known range and gives us

hope that we can save orangutan populations from

extinction in the wild. "

 

The Nature Conservancy team used a survey plan

developed by Harvard University primate expert Andrew

Marshall. Because spotting the rare and elusive

orangutan is difficult and takes a very long time,

Conservancy consultants recruited and trained

indigenous Dayaks to identify and count orangutan

nests, an accepted method for assessing the size of

orangutan populations.

 

Using the survey results, Marshall then calculated the

size of the orangutan population.

 

" Given that conservation funds are always limited and

that political support and logistical constraints vary

in different places, it is crucial that financial

resources be focused on areas where the chances of

protecting viable orangutan populations are greatest, "

Marshall said. " The orangutan habitat area in East

Kalimantan is one of those places. "

 

On Wednesday, the Conservancy signed a joint

declaration with the Berau District of East Kalimantan

- the district in which the orangutan population is

located - and the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry,

committing all three parties to conserving and

managing orangutan habitat in the district. The

document states that the central and local Indonesian

governments and the Conservancy recognize the

orangutan's importance and the need to conserve its

habitat.

 

The parties also pledged to protect the function and

ecology of the orangutan habitat area and agree to

promote forest conservation through forest

certification. While the forest where the new

orangutan population was found has not been heavily

logged, it is facing pressure from both legal and

illegal logging operations.

 

An estimated 14,000 to 25,000 orangutans are left in

the wild, found only on Borneo and Sumatra, another

southeast Asian island. Primate experts have predicted

that orangutans will be extinct in the wild by the

year 2020 unless immediate steps are taken to address

threats to the animals' survival.

 

In 1997 and 1998, fires sparked by loggers and farmers

clearing land destroyed more than five million

hectares (12.3 million acres) of forest in Kalimantan,

devastating orangutan populations and slashing the

amount of habitat available to survivors.

 

The orangutan continues to lose habitat to

uncontrolled deforestation and habitat fragmentation,

and poachers regularly take the primates for food and

the pet trade. For example, Indonesia, home to some of

the Earth's most biologically diverse and threatened

tropical forests, is also the world's top supplier of

wood. It is estimated that 70 percent of the wood

taken from Indonesian forests is harvested illegally.

 

To combat the threats to orangutans posed by

unsustainable and illegal logging, The Nature

Conservancy is working with local East Kalimantan

communities and the Indonesian government to create

economic incentives to manage forests sustainably and

protect prime habitat.

 

The Home Depot, a major hardware and home improvement

chain, has pledged $1 million to the Conservancy, to

be used over the next five years to combat illegal

logging and promote sustainable timber harvesting. The

Home Depot is the largest single buyer of wood in the

United States, so the company's commitment is expected

to have a major influence on the rest of the industry,

even though less than one percent of the company's

wood supply comes from Indonesia.

 

" The Home Depot has led the retail industry toward

sustainable forestry by using its purchasing dollars

to show the company's preference for certified wood, "

said Ron Jarvis, The Home Depot merchandising vice

president for lumber and building materials.

 

The gift from The Home Depot augments funding provided

since 2001 by the U.S. Agency for International

Development for the conservation of orangutan habitat,

combating illegal logging and promoting sustainable

forest practices through work with the timber

industry, local governments and indigenous Dayak

villagers. Additional funding provided by the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service and private donors is paying

for further orangutan surveys and other key habitat

conservation efforts.

 

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All

Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

 

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