Action needed for the orangutan

Action needed for the orangutan



Feb 2007 - Emergency action is 
needed to ensure survival of the orangutan, a new United 
Nations report warned Tuesday. The great apes' only habitat, 
the Indonesian rainforest, is being destroyed at a rate up to 
30 percent higher than previously thought by illegal logging, 
fire, and clearing for palm oil plantations. 
The report, "Last stand of the orangutan: State of emergency," 
says the natural rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo are being 
cleared so rapidly that without urgent action up to 98 percent 
may be destroyed by 2022. 
This assessment moves up the UN's estimated date of Indonesian 
forest destruction by 10 years due to an acceleration in the 
past five years of illegal logging, estimated to account for 
more than 73 percent of all logging in Indonesia. 
This young orangutan may not live to become an adult if its 
rainforest habitat is logged. 
"Without direct intervention in the parks, orangutans and 
other forest-dependent wildlife will become progressively 
scarcer, until their populations are no longer viable in the 
long-term," according to the Rapid Response report from the UN 
Environment Programme, UNEP. 
The report was tabled at the 24th Session of the UNEP 
Governing Council / Global Ministerial Environment Forum 
taking place all this week in Nairobi. 
The scale of illegal logging, even in national parks, is 
likely to increase not only in Indonesia, but also in other 
parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America, said the leader of 
the Rapid Response team Dr. Christian Nellemann from the 
Norwegian Institute of Nature Research and UNEP's Norwegian 
center GRID-Arendal. 
"The situation is now acute," Nellemann warned. 
From left, Rachmat Witoelar, Indonesian Environment Minister, 
and Christian Nelleman, UNEP-GRID Arendal introduce the 
orangutan "State of emergency" report at the UNEP meeting in 
Nairobi. 
The report was prepared by GRASP, the Great Ape Survival 
Partnership, led by UNEP and the UN Educational, Scientific 
and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, in collaboration with a 
wide range of nongovernmental organizations. 
Sumatran orangutans are classed as Critically Endangered with 
no more than 7,300 animals left on the Indonesian island of 
Sumatra. 
On the island of Borneo, recent estimates suggest there are 
between 45,000 and 69,000 Bornean orangutans. They are classed 
as Endangered. 
The report notes that Indonesia is active in fighting illegal 
logging and has worked with a series of international programs 
and initiatives to reduce the logging. 
Illegal logging operation on the Indonesian island of Sumatra 
threatens not only orangutans but Asian elephants. 
As demand for lumber grows, the industry and international 
market are running out of cheap illegal timber. Loggers are 
now entering the national parks, the orangutan’s last refuge, 
where the only remaining timber available in commercial 
amounts is found. 
"At current rates of intrusions, it is likely that some parks 
may become severely degraded in as little as three to five 
years, that is by 2012," the authors warn. 
To save the oranguntan, Indonesia’s own efforts must be 
strengthened with the rapid deployment of reconnaissance 
units, removal of illegal plantations, mining and agricultural 
development inside the parks and enhanced international law 
enforcement programs against illegal logging, the report 
advises. 
UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner noted that the logging 
is not done "by individual impoverished people, but by 
well-organized elusive commercial networks," and he called on 
the international community to aid the Indonesian authorities 
with equipment, training and funding to patrol their national 
parks from illegal loggers. 
UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner stresses the urgency of 
orangutan conservation. 
"National Parks form a cornerstone in the 2010 target to 
reduce the rate of biodiversity loss and are also so valuable 
for eco-tourism and in generating new livelihoods," Steiner 
said. "Their protection is vital to these international goals 
and to the entire concept of protected areas." 
Most long-term initiatives, like reducing corruption and 
certification of timber, require the support of the 
international community including recipients of illegally 
logged timber, as well as massive changes in management 
regimes and long-term institutional change, according to the 
report. 
"Some or all of these responses may potentially have paramount 
effects in the long-term, but they will generally take too 
much time to develop to an effective level and will fall short 
of the immediate crisis in securing the future survival of the 
orangutan and the protection of national parks," the authors 
warn. 
The report recommends, "immediate on-the-ground action" to 
back up ongoing "global-scale efforts towards sustainable wood 
production." 
Reducing the rate of deforestation over Indonesia as a whole 
will also have a dramatic impact on regional carbon dioxide 
emissions, and thus help to prevent dangerous levels of global 
climate change, the report points out. 
"If the logging of national parks continues unchallenged, it 
could undermine the protected area concept worldwide," the 
report concludes. "The Indonesian initiatives to strengthen 
protection of their parks therefore urgently need substantial 
support from the international community if the orangutan 
habitats and national parks are to be rescued from this 
growing state of emergency." 

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