A recent assessment by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) projects that orangutans will be virtually eliminated in the wild within two decades if current trends continue. Orangutans are native to the tropical forests of Indonesia and Malaysia, where rapid forest loss and degradation are threatening orangutans and other species, including the Sumatran tiger, the Sumatran rhinoceros and the Asian elephant. UNEP's Rapid Response Assessment: The Last Stand of the Orangutan evaluates recent trends and major threats to orangutans in Indonesia and recommends actions to protect this endangered species.

Threats to Orangutans

The Bornean orangutan and Sumatran orangutan are classified by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as Endangered and Critically Endangered respectively, with the population of Sumatran orangutans down by 91 percent since 1900. Current estimates suggest that 45,000 to 69,000 Bornean orangutans and 7,300 Sumatran orangutans remain in the wild. The degradation, fragmentation and outright loss of tropical forests impact orangutans by reducing the availability of food trees and shelter. According to the UNEP assessment, displaced orangutans that are forced within close proximity of human populations are often captured for illegal trade, hunted for meat, or killed to protect crops.

Changes in Orangutan Distribution in Borneo

Source: UNEP, 2007. Rapid Response Assessment: The Last Stand of the Orangutan

Drivers of Deforestation in Indonesia

Given current deforestation rates, the Assessment estimates that 98 percent of Indonesia's forest may be destroyed by 2022. Leading drivers of forest loss include:

• Illegal logging. In 2003, an estimated 73 to 88 percent of all timber logged in Indonesia was illegal, affecting 37 of the country's 41 national parks. According to the Assessment, global demand for wood products exceeds the supply that can be legally harvested. Asian, European and North American markets are major recipients of Indonesia's illegally logged wood products.
• Oil palm plantations. Palm oil comprises a significant share of the global vegetable oil supply and is currently the most productive source of biodiesel fuel, for which the global demand is expected to increase rapidly. Conversion of forests into oil palm plantations is the primary cause of permanent rainforest loss in both Indonesia and Malaysia.
• Forest fires. Small-scale farmers and commercial plantation developers set fire to forests to make way for crops. These fires spread rapidly in over-logged forests and during the dry season; for example, man-made fires destroyed 95 percent of the forest in Kutai National Park in 1997-1998.

Deforestation Trends in Borneo

Source: UNEP, 2007. Rapid Response Assessment: The Last Stand of the Orangutan

Domestic and International Action

The Rapid Response Assessment argues that immediate on-the-ground action is required to back up international efforts towards achieving sustainable wood production, which include long-term initiatives such as implementing forest certification and changing market mechanisms. In the short-term, domestic actions to enhance the monitoring and protection of Indonesia's national parks and efforts by the international community to reduce their demand for illegal wood will be vital to saving the remaining orangutan population.

Export of Wood Products from Indonesia

Source: UNEP, 2007. Rapid Response Assessment: The Last Stand of the Orangutan

RELATED LINKS:

Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP)

The Jane Goodall Institute

Global Forest Watch: Indonesia

EarthTrends