Orangutans Protection Needs Government Policy

By Barrie | April 19th, 2007 | No Comments

Research has revealed that the Kalimantan orangutan population is estimated at about 50,000 in the wild, while the Sumatran population is estimated at only around 7000 individuals living on the border of Aceh and North Sumatra. Malaysia regards this animal as precious and is promoting it as an official state animal of Sabah as Didy Wurjanto writes in The Opinion.

The decline of orangutans in Indonesia is not only due to poaching and the illegal wildlife trade. A major factor posing the biggest threat to Orangutan is the conversion of vast areas of tropical forest to other land uses such as oil palm plantations, roads and other infrastructure developments.

All the initiatives are in the form of the management of national parks. In Kalimantan the works are implemented at Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan, Kutai National Park in East Kalimantan, and Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan, while in Sumatra efforts to save the Sumatran orangutan are being implemented in Gunung Leuser National Park.

It is clear that protecting the orangutan requires three factors: policy support, institution and management. A national park is able to accommodate these three factors, and although we cannot deny that habitat destruction due to illegal logging, forest fires and encroachment is still rampant inside the above national parks, such management is still able to slow down the shrinking of orangutan populations.

The male Sumatran orangutan (pongo abelii are smaller than their fellows from Kalimantan) grows to about 1.4 meters tall and 68 kilograms. Females are much smaller than males. It is predominantly solitary, and males are territorial towards other males. This species is more dependent on fruit than the Kalimantan type. It is truly arboreal and moves through the trees. In the wild it may live from 35 to more than 40 years.

Collective investigations have proved that baby Sumatran orangutans are often poached as highly prized zoo inhabitants, and the poachers often kill the baby’s mother as they try to protect their young. Wild orangutans are known to visit human-run facilities for orphaned young orangutans released from illegal captivity, interacting with the orphans and probably helping them adapt in their return to living in the wild.

In the past, research focused on the Sumatran orangutans mostly found in Gunung Leuser National Park. But more recently scientists have also been caring for around 400 individuals living outside conservation area, which is in west Batang Toru watershed, Tapanuli.

Batang Toru is a 150,000 ha water catchment outside the conservation area that encompasses three regencies: North Tapanuli, Central Tapanuli, and South Tapanuli. Primary rain forest dominates the vegetation cover, which grows on steep hillsides with a more than 60-degree slope.

Amid the negative perception that decentralization has led to natural resources exploitation for short-sighted regional revenue, the three regents of the above regencies in fact are committed to conserving the orangutan habitats in Batang Toru, as shown in their letters to the minister of forestry and the north Sumatra governor. Conserving orangutans in this area, as they argued, also means to conserve the surrounding nature that has unique resources, rich biodiversity and cultural value.

There is growing awareness among the decision makers in the three regencies that the presence of orangutans can be used to measure the quality of the environment as this animal is the best representative of a high quality tropical rain forest that produces healthy and maximum environmental benefits to the welfare and culture of the people of Tapanuli.

However, the regents’ commitment in fact is not that easy to carry out since Batang Toru holds several potential regional economic gains, such as a hydro-electric power plant that could produces 50 mega watts, a geothermal plant that could produce 330 mega watts, a gold mine, timber concessions and oil palm plantations. Therefore, a management concept that demonstrates that economic activities can live in harmony with orangutan habitats is absolutely needed.

Working with NGOs and international agencies, the local governments have launched a conservation drive development principle. Using the orangutan and its habitat as the anchor, the collaborative action started with embracing some of the villages that orangutan groups lived nearby. Agroforestry using clone rubber has been introduced to those village to provide additional income and reduce the pressure on the forests where the orangutans live.

In this scheme local communities in each regency must have access to both short- and long-term sustainable economic alternatives. If their immediate economic and income needs can be met, then they are more likely to be receptive to conservation efforts. As evidence of this, several villages have formed community-based wildlife monitoring units. The units now operate under forest guards’ supervision and supported by villagers living near orangutan habitats. The units’ main task is to reduce the threats to orangutans, which come from illegal activities such as poaching, smuggling, trading and encroachment and illegal logging.

The local governments are also aware that if conservation initiatives are applied, some form of environmental service is needed.

Conservation must be subsidized, especially in the early phase. That is now in the three regents’ minds. Interestingly, the local governments will turn the threat toward orangutan habits into conserving Batang Toru. The establishment of a sustainable conservation financing system is underway, not only from government sources of funding but also from the concerned enterprises.

Therefore, it is clear that a zoning system within the Batang Toru watershed should be worked out to determine which should be utilization or economic development zones, and conservation zones where the orangutans can live comfortably. It means that timber concessions and gold mining should only operate in areas far from the designated key biodiversity areas.

Law enforcement at a regional level is also undergoing attention. Installing management will be the answer. Thus the users of Batang Toru’s resources should be regulated, as with the absence of management the resources are similar to common goods that lead to open access, and the local governments find it difficult to cope.

The writer is currently working with Conservation International Indonesia. He can be reached at dwurjanto@conservation.org.