The Environmental Investigation Agency presents

Orangutans in Crisis

 
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Photo Credit: Nanang Sujana/EIA/Kaoem Telapak

Asia’s only species of great ape are declining rapidly due to habitat loss, illegal killing, and wildfires. EIA urges the President of Indonesia to commit to protecting all remaining orangutans in the country.

Indonesia's Endangered Orangutan Habitat

This map depicts the extent of Bornean orangutan habitat in Kalimantan as reported in the 2016 Population Habitat and Viability Assessment. The dark green areas represent orangutan habitat located in Conservation Forest, which are protected areas set aside to conserve wildlife and ecosystems. The light green areas represent orangutan habitat located in Protection Forest, which are protected areas set aside for watershed management. The red areas represent orangutan habitat located in Production Forest, which are unprotected areas identified to produce forest products through activities like logging and timber plantations.

Data source: Orangutan habitat layer – PHVA 2016; Conservation, Protection, and Production Forest layers – Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry; Basemap - OpenStreetMap contributors

Photo of a fire near Kelekat Village, East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Fire near Kelekat Village, East Kalimantan, Indonesia.
©Nanang Sujana/EIA/Kaoem Telapak

Orangutans are in crisis. Asia’s only species of great ape are declining rapidly due to habitat loss, illegal killing, and wildfires. Found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, all three species of orangutans (Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli) are classified as Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). An estimated 148,500 orangutans vanished from Borneo’s forests between 1999 and 2015. By 2050, an additional 45,300 will be lost based on current rates of habitat destruction. Sumatran orangutans face similarly bleak prospects. Scientists predict that the total Sumatran orangutan population may decline by nearly one-third by 2030. The Tapanuli orangutan, only identified as a separate species in 2017, consists of less than 800 individuals and faces the most immediate risk of extinction of the three species.

Destruction of Borneo and Sumatra’s rainforests is the biggest threat driving orangutans toward extinction. From 2016 through 2019, 797,054 ha of orangutan habitat was deforested in Indonesia and Malaysia according to an analysis of Indonesian Government forest loss data by EIA and MapHubs. The vast majority (739,249 ha) occurred in Indonesia, accounting for a fifth of all deforestation across the country during this time period. If this rate of loss continues, orangutan forests could largely disappear, and with them three of the Earth’s most iconic species.

Photo of Bornean orangutan in Sebangau National Park, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Bornean orangutan in Sebangau National Park, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Often closely linked to habitat destruction, the illegal killing of orangutans is a key driver of orangutan population decline. Human-orangutan conflict, poaching for meat, and fear of wild orangutans are among the core motivations for orangutan killing, which on average claims the lives of an estimated 2,200 Bornean orangutans each year.

This illegal killing in turn fuels the illegal capture and trade of live orangutans. Infant orangutans are sometimes kept as pets in Indonesia and are also trafficked internationally to buyers in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe for the pet trade or to supply zoos and similar wildlife exhibition facilities. Orangutans stay with their mothers for the first eight years of their lives, so it can be assumed that at least one adult female orangutan was killed for every baby orangutan that enters into trade. Killing, capture, possession, and trade in orangutans is prohibited under Indonesian law, yet enforcement by the Government of Indonesia has been woefully inadequate to present a meaningful deterrent to orangutan-related crimes.

Photo of a firefighter attempting to put out a wildfire burning in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Firefighter attempting to put out a wildfire burning in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.
©Denny Bhatara/EIA/Kaoem Telapak

Fire-setting to clear land for agricultural production often results in out-of-control wildfires that burn in and around orangutan habitat. These wildfires directly cause orangutan deaths and drive orangutans out of the forest where they are likely to come into conflict with humans as they seek refuge in agricultural lands, or risk starvation if their access to food resources are cut off. The Indonesian Government has prosecuted a handful of companies for their role in the spread wildfires linked to their concessions but has struggled to enforce court-ordered penalties and appears to reluctant to revoke the licenses that allow companies to continue operating their concessions.

The government’s solution to dealing with displaced wild orangutans that find themselves in close proximity to human settlements as a result of habitat destruction is often to translocate them to a new area with intact forest. While necessary in legitimate emergency situations, this practice can be abused to preemptively move orangutans out their forests to facilitate land use change and can have negative impacts on resident orangutan populations that may already reside in the translocated orangutan’s destination forest.

Photo of Palm oil plantation in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Palm oil plantation in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.
©Nanang Sujana/EIA/Kaoem Telapak

Despite the grave threats facing these critically endangered species, the Government of Indonesia has signaled a willingness to accept further orangutan population declines. The Government currently does not have a national orangutan conservation strategy and action plan in place to guide national, provincial, and local actions to protect orangutans. A 10-year plan published in 2019 was shelved only five months after it was released, purportedly to incorporate new information on forest protection policies, however no revised plan has since been approved by the government. That now-defunct 2019 plan set a specific numerical target for orangutans to be protected, which was significantly lower than any contemporary population estimates including population estimates conducted with and endorsed by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. In other words, the most recent articulation of Indonesian government policy on orangutans apparently determined that further population decline was not only anticipated but acceptable.

Photo of a Mother and infant Bornean orangutan in Sebangau National Park, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Mother and infant Bornean orangutan in Sebangau National Park, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.

This is no time for apathy; the current outlook for orangutans is dire. Indonesia has the expertise and capacity to protect critically endangered orangutans and reverse their population declines if it desires. Achieving this will require political will at the highest levels and ambitious goal-setting in order to leverage the Indonesian government’s considerable resources to take the steps necessary to save these irreplaceable species. EIA is calling on Indonesian President Joko Widodo to commit to protecting all remaining orangutans in Indonesia, including those outside protected areas, and to mobilize all relevant Indonesian government agencies and the parliament to protect all remaining orangutan forests and to bring fire-setting under control.

  • Finalize and approve a revised Orangutan Conservation Strategy and Action Plan that includes among its objectives full protection for all remaining orangutans in situ in Indonesia and achieving the recovery of all three orangutan species.
  • Actively prosecute cases of orangutan killing, capture, possession, and trade by implementing Law No. 5/1990 Concerning the Conservation of Natural Resources and their Ecosystems and ensure penalties are proportional to the crime committed.
  • Conduct intelligence-led investigations into the domestic and international trade in infant orangutans to disrupt and prosecute criminal networks involved.
  • Conduct orangutan translocations only as a last resort in legitimate emergency situations.
  • Provide financial and technical support to communities, NGOs, and companies who live and operate in or near orangutan habitat to reduce incidents of human-orangutan conflict.
  • Immediately halt construction of the Batang Toru dam and launch a study of the Batang Toru ecosystem and Tapanuli orangutans in line with the IUCN PSG SGA recommendations.

  • Place orangutan habitat (primary forests, secondary forests, and forest fragments) under formal protection by including them within the permanent forest moratorium area (PPIPBB), designating them Conservation Forest (Hutan Konservasi), or otherwise ensuring their protection, especially habitat that provides metapopulation connectivity.
  • Expedite recognition of customary (adat) forest claims for indigenous peoples and local communities living in and adjacent to orangutan forest habitat.
  • Permanently reinstate the moratorium on new palm oil leases by issuing a Presidential Regulation to allow time for the evaluation of existing permits and to halt all natural forest conversion. See EIA/Kaoem Telapak report Deforestation and Deregulation for EIA’s complete recommendations to Indonesia regarding its palm oil sector.
  • Require the protection of all remaining orangutan habitat on existing palm oil concessions, especially habitat that provides metapopulation connectivity.
  • Include all of Indonesia’s remaining primary forest and peatlands under the permanent forest moratorium on the clearance of primary forest and peatlands, and upgrade the permanent moratorium from a Presidential Instruction to a Presidential Regulation.
  • Reverse the rollbacks of environmental protections resulting from the adoption of the Omnibus Bill on Job Creation.

  • Extend the BRG’s mandate indefinitely, expand its remit to Indonesia’s entire 24.1 million-hectare Peat Hydrological Unit, and provide sufficient dedicated funding to the BRG so that it may successfully achieve its peatland restoration mandate.
  • Increase KLHK fire brigade personnel, patrols, posts and monitoring, prioritizing vulnerable peatlands and orangutan habitat.
  • Expand programs on non-indigenous community fire awareness and land preparation without burning to all villages in fire-prone provinces and provide residents with transition training, financial assistance and equipment.
  • Step up efforts to prosecute companies and individuals responsible for fires that destroy orangutan habitat and/or injure or kill orangutans, and revoke licenses for concession holders that are the worst offenders in fire-related activity.
  • Enact legal reforms to require and speed the payment of fines resulting from administrative violations or court sentences related to wildfires, including making court verdicts public immediately after issuance. Companies that miss fine payment deadlines face severe penalties including revocation of licenses.

Map of forest cover loss from 1990 to 2019

Data source: Indonesia Ministry of Environment and Forestry; Basemap - OpenStreetMap contributors