Bambang Bider, Contributor, Kalimantan – Life becomes more meaningful when one becomes aware that everything in this universe is a whole entity, the parts of which are interrelated and interdependent.
From the point of view of internal ecology, there is an intrinsic value in every creation. Whether one realizes it or not, destruction is always linked with ignorance and a rejection of the intrinsic value of the lives of others.
Just imagine if another's life happens to be an orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), an animal that is 97 percent genetically similar to humans.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has stated that the orangutans in Borneo (Kalimantan, Sabah and Sarawak) and Sumatra are now on the verge of extinction.
The 2002 IUCN Red List puts Borneo orangutans in the category of an endangered species while Sumatran orangutans are categorized as being a critically endangered species.
More than 80 orangutan experts and observers from all over the world gathered in Jakarta in January 2004 to attend the International Workshop on Population Habitat Viability Analysis (PHVA), in which the latest potential population of orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra and the factors influencing the survival of these species were analyzed.
According to an estimate made in 2004 by PHVA, the population of Sumatran orangutans of the Pongo abelii species stands at 7,501, spread in 13 habitats.
Meanwhile, Borneo orangutans have three subspecies, namely Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus in the northwest of Borneo, starting from the northern part of Kapuas up to Sarawak, Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii in Central Borneo, starting from the southern part of the Kapuas up to the western part of Barito, and Pongo pygmaeus morio in the northeast of Borneo, namely in Sabah and East Kalimantan.
The total population of Borneo orangutans is estimated to stand at 57,797, therefore bringing the total population of orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra to 65,298.
Threat from tree felling
In the Workshop on an Action Plan for the Conservation of Kalimantan Orangutans held in Pontianak in October 2005, Sri Suci Utami Atmoko of Yayasan Penyelamatan Orangutan Borneo (BOS) said the total population of orangutans was greater than what was estimated about a decade ago. "However, this does not prove that there are now more orangutans than one or two decades back." More specifically, on Borneo orangutans, MacKinnon and Ramono (1993) estimated the total population of orangutans in Kalimantan in the 1900s at over 200,000 but Sugardjito and van Schaik (1993) have found that the figure has dropped to about 45,000.
Jito Sugardjito, who is also country representative of Fauna and Flora International, said, "Tree felling to transform the function of a forest area and to turn it into forest concession land is the main threat to the population of orangutans." In the Workshop on the Action Plan for the Conservation of Kalimantan Orangutans, which was held in Pontianak after a similar workshop for Sumatran orangutans held in September in Brastagi, Herry Djoko Susilo, from the directorate general of forest protection and nature conservation, identified the main threats facing the population of Kalimantan orangutans.
These were: illegal logging, a shift in the function of a forest areas, hunting, forest fires, unirrigated farming, drying of peat forest areas and poor management of concession forest areas.
Meanwhile, the result of research done by A.D. John published in his 1992 research paper titled Vertebrate responses to selective logging: Implications for the design of logging systems shows that the felling of 18 trees in each hectare of orangutan habitat can damage 47 percent of the fruit trees and reduce their number by up to 50 percent.
On the same occasion, Julia Ng Su-Chen of Traffic Southeast Asia said, "What is also saddening is that cross-border illegal trading of orangutans is now flourishing." It is estimated that between 200 and 500 of them are traded every year. She added that the trading of orangutans was flourishing because of the high market demand for these primates as pets, for private collections, souvenirs or as materials for traditional medicine.
Political will, vested interests
Meanwhile, Purwo Susanto of the Forest Conversion Initiative (Kalimantan Region) of the World Wide Fund for Nature, has come up with a more systematic cause for the fragmentation of the habitat of orangutans, qualitatively and quantitatively, that has led to the sharp drop in their population.
He said, "The main cause is both legal and illegal logging, RTRWK (spatial plans for forest areas) that fail to accommodate the need for orangutan conservation, as well as poor law enforcement and lack of political will and political action to stop illegal trading.
"Also, critical are poor coordination among countries, between the central government and regional administrations and among non-governmental organizations dealing in orangutan conservation, a lack of information related to orangutan conservation, in terms of both dissemination and equipment, on the one hand, and the quality of the drafting of policies and of law enforcement, on the other."
Regarding the aspect of political will in relation to orangutan protection, Julia Ng Su-Chen has said that Indonesia and Malaysia, particularly Sabah and Sarawak, commonly have regulations protecting these primates. The difference lies only in the political action in enforcing these regulations.
"In Sabah and Sarawak sanctions are really imposed on hunting or acts that may threaten the lives of orangutans to deter the recurrence of such acts. In Indonesia, regulations are yet to be properly enforced," she said making a comparison.
Of the total population of Borneo orangutans, 13,614 are found in Malaysia, spread in a total of 17 habitats in Sabah and Sarawak. It is understandable that orangutans in Sabah and Sarawak are highly protected because their population is small.
Meanwhile, Purwo Susanto cited a plan for the development of 1.8 million hectares of coconut palm estates along the border areas between Indonesia's Kalimantan and Malaysia's Sarawak as an example of a policy of the Indonesian government that fails to accommodate orangutan protection.
"The border area has forests of different status. In the context of the development of coconut palm estates, it is not right to convert an area into a coconut palm estate if it is still a forest and is ecologically functional to a larger area," Purwo stressed.
In response to this problem, Herry said, " Of course, if it concerns broader interests, we cannot view it from only one aspect. Our view must be balanced, in the context of sustainable development." Erik Meijaard of The Nature Conservancy said that it was very easy to save orangutans. "Just don't kill them and don't damage their habitat," he noted.
"Protect areas that must be protected. Do not damage protected forest areas by converting the land to large-scale coconut palm and other estates. "Forest concessionaires must accommodate harmoniously orangutan conservation efforts in their concession areas. Stop orangutan hunting," he said.