98% of orangutan habitat in Borneo, Sumatra gone by 2022
February 6, 2007
Over the past five years, logging of rainforests in Borneo and Sumatra has accelerated for timber harvesting and oil palm plantations used for producing palm oil, an increasingly important source of biofuel. The UN report, titled "The last stand of the orangutan: State of emergency", estimates that more than 73 percent of all logging in Indonesia is illegal and that illicit logging is now taking place in 37 of the country's 41 national parks.
"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", states the study.
Young orangutan in Borneo. Photo by Rhett Butler
In 2006 Indonesia had the world's highest deforestation rate. Preliminary figures indicate that the nation may have lost more than 30,000 square kilometers of forest -- one of the largest areas of forest loss on record. Greenhouse gas emissions released from burning and forest conversion have made Indonesia the third largest contributor to global warming.
Saving Orangutans in Borneo I'm in Tanjung Puting National Park in southern Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. At 400,000 hectares (988,000 acres) Tanjung Puting is the largest protected expanse of coastal tropical heath and peat swamp forest in southeast Asia. It's also one of the biggest remaining habitats for the critically endangered orangutan, the population of which has been great diminished in recent years due to habitat destruction and poaching. Orangutans have become the focus of a much wider effort to save Borneo's natural environment.
Why is oil palm replacing tropical rainforests? Recently much has been made about the conversion of Asia's biodiverse rainforests for oil-palm cultivation. Environmental organizations have warned that by eating foods that use palm oil as an ingredient, Western consumers are directly fueling the destruction of orangutan habitat and sensitive ecosystems. So, why is it that oil-palm plantations now cover millions of hectares across Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand? Why has oil palm become the world's number one fruit crop, trouncing its nearest competitor, the humble banana?