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Case Study: Central Kalimantan - Orangutans in Crisis
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Case Study: Central Kalimantan - Orangutans in Crisis

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Nick Lyon is a group administrator Nick Lyon  Pro User  says:

Here's one of the locations we visited whilst shooting "Another Crude Oil"

"The orang-utan is endangered because of habitat loss. Today the greatest threat to orang-utan habitat is the continued expansion of oil-palm plantations. Palm oil is the greatest enemy of [the] orang-utan and their continued survival in the wild."

Professor Birute Galdikas, Orangutan Foundation International


On Location: Central Kalimantan, Borneo, July 2005

Make way jungle, we want oil!

The New Forest of Indonesia - Oil Palm, Kalimantan 2005


This is the nursery for a new oil palm plantation. In the distance you can see the forest still standing. This nursery is smack in the middle of 30,000 hectares of primary forest that has been given as a concession to a PT Oil Palm group for conversion into an Oil Palm plantation.

This means that by the end of the year this land will have been logged of all its valuable hard wood trees. The land will then be totally clear cut. Not a tree will be left standing. The whole landscape will be empty. Then the palm oil will be planted.

twoinforest

This photo is tragic, not sweet. These orangutans should be with their mothers, but their mothers are dead. They are now cared for and in the process of rehabilitation through the dedicated work of BOSF. We are concerned however that there will be nowhere to release them if things don't change now.


The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation that rescue orangutans from the plantations in this area put their best professional estimate at about 600 orangutans living in this concession that is earmarked for imminent conversion. The fragments of natural forest left are saturated - i.e. they have reached their carrying capacity for orangutans. Orangutans need large home ranges for their survival. Hundreds of orangutans will no doubt die. I don't know where the others will end up.

Many will surely enter a life of misery in the illegal pet trade. Driving through the rough jungle track for an hour on the back of a tractor we see the mighty forest all around us. I smell the sickly sweet smell of fermenting fruit. I look over to Melky from the rescue team, he nods - its the smell of orangutan. It is right there in the trees nearby, or had been very recently. A rusa deer crosses our path and maroon leaf monkeys move in the trees. All this is about to be lost.

GPS logging of new rescue location

Eko, BOSF paramedic, logs a future rescue location

The situation is incredibly sad. We stand in the midst of this vast strecth of jungle, knowing that it is doomed. Eko, a BOSF paramedic logs the position of the camp in his GPS system. He knows he will be returning in the months to come to rescue orangutans. But where will they go? Habitat is dissappearing too fast now. We are told at the rescue centre that they are reaching maximum capacity - too many orangutans are coming in. Their forest home needs to be protected right now.

The situation is simply crazy. It is not that land is at a premium for development. There are vast areas of land standing empty in Kalimantan. Huge expanses of grasslands that were once forest. No crops have been planted here, but still what little primary forest left standing is at risk of conversion for oil palm. The simple reason for this is the value of the hardwoods these forests contain. It is a one time windfall, it is not sustainable, and it is a tragedy. Orangutans are not the only animals to suffer. I have chosen just one species as an example, a flagship, one of our closest cousins, and on with an uncertain future.

Things are not hopeless, but we need to make things change. Help us get this message heard. Below is one of the orangutans that we met during our time in the field. She was attacked by palm oil workers. Don't worry, she is alive and being treated for her wounds. She is recovering and will hopefully be released soon. But we shouldn't be seeing images like this. She was one of the lucky ones...

cradled head

We need to shout about what's happening. Investment in these destructive plantations IS coming from Western nations. Palm oil is now found in 1 in 10 supermarket products (often labelled vegetable oil). Let's get our governments and industries to take proactive steps towards non-destructive palm oil production. The Bornean orangutan is endangered, the Sumatran orangutan is critically endangered.

"Governments in countries providing finance or a market for palm oil must legislate to make their corporations responsible and accountable for their impacts. If not, it is we who will have to explain to our children in a few years' time that the orang-utan became extinct, not because of a lack of knowledge, but because of corporate greed and a lack of political will."

Ian Redmond, Ape Alliance's Chairman and Chief Consultant to GRASP (UNEP/UNESCO Great Ape Survival Project)

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