Jakarta- This World Orangutan Day marks a critical time for the Bornean Orangutan, whose numbers are rapidly declining experts say. This is despite new claims from the Indonesian government that orangutan populations have increased by more than 10% between 2015-2017.[1]<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry says in a new report, \u2018The state of Indonesia\u2019s forests 2018\u2019, that orangutan numbers have increased. This is at odds with the findings of a 41-strong team of scientists, led by Maria Voigt, who published their peer-reviewed research<\/a> in March. World Orangutan Day is this 19 August.<\/p>\n \u201cBased on the life-history traits of orangutans, such a rapid growth rate isn\u2019t possible \u2013 not even in zoos. From the most comprehensive compilation of observation data available to science, we estimated a 25-30% decline between 2005 and 2015. It is not likely that after one year there was a complete change in the situation,\u201d said Maria Voigt of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.<\/p>\n The team found that half of all Bornean Orangutans are impacted by resource extraction, and that their numbers fell by more than 100,000 over the sixteen years of the study from 1999 to 2015.[2]<\/p>\n \u201cIf hunting and forest loss are halted in the future this decline could be reversed, but to the best of our knowledge that has not happened yet. It is therefore not clear how the authors of the report reached their conclusions about increases in orangutan numbers,\u201d said \u00a0Prof. Serge Wich at Liverpool John Moores University, leading co-author of the research, published in the journal Current Biology.<\/p>\n A Greenpeace International investigation recently revealed an illegal logging operation<\/a> in a critical peat landscape in Sungai Putri, West Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo \u2013 home to one of the key remaining wild orangutan populations.[3] On the same site in 2017, Indonesia\u2019s Minister of Environment and Forestry instructed timber concession holder PT Mohairson Pawan Khatulistiwa (PT. MPK) to stop its operations and fill in a drainage canal which the company cut deep into the peat landscape. Photos taken by Greenpeace Indonesia in March 2018 revealed PT. MPK had failed to comply, and its machinery remained on site.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government has promised to protect Indonesia\u2019s remaining peatland forests and the orangutans that rely on them. It cannot let this kind of destruction continue, while at the same time downplaying the harm to wildlife by releasing reports at odds with scientific evidence. The government must ensure and prioritise the full and permanent protection of the biodiversity of our forests,\u201d said Ratri Kusumohartono, Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner.<\/p>\n According to figures released by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, around 24 million hectares of Indonesia\u2019s forest was destroyed between 1990 and 2015 \u2013 an area almost the size of the UK.[4]<\/p>\n All three types of orangutan, the Bornean, Sumatran, and recently discovered Tapanuli species,[5] qualify as Critically Endangered according to the IUCN\u2019s Red List.<\/p>\n Greenpeace released this week a powerful new 90-second animation<\/a> voiced by Emma Animated Rang-tan video story available here www.greenpeace.org.uk\/rangtanfilm<\/a><\/p>\n Notes: Contacts:<\/p>\n Sol Gosetti, sol.gosetti@greenpeace.org<\/a>, +44 (0) 7380845754<\/p>\n Rully Yuliardi, Media Campaigner, Greenpeace Indonesia, 62- 811-8334-409, email rully.yuliardi.achmad@greenpeace.org<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThompson that highlights how orangutans are being pushed to the brink of extinction because of deforestation for palm oil. Photos available here<\/a><\/p>\n
\n[1] The State of Indonesia\u2019s Forests 2018<\/a> p.105 states this 10% figure, citing reports from the Directorate of Biodiversity Conservation from 2017 and 2018, which in turn are based on fewer than ten orangutan sampling locations, and show widely fluctuating estimates. See for example \u2018Laporan Kinerja Ditjen KSDAE 2017\u2019 p.129<\/a>
\n[2] https:\/\/www.cell.com\/current-biology\/fulltext\/S0960-9822(18)30086-1<\/a>
\n[3] Greenpeace \u2013 Over 1000 orangutans threatened by illegal operations in Indonesia <\/a>
\n[4] Taken from Indonesia\u2019s FREL Annex 5.1, pp90-91 at United Nations: Framework convention on climate change<\/a> plus subsequent annual Ministry of Environment and Forestry deforestation reports
\n[5] How the Batang Toru megadam threatens a new orangutan species with extinction<\/a><\/p>\n