Background Information About the Endangerment of the Orangutan

Background information about the endangerment of the orangutan

In every country of the world the number of endangered and extinct species is growing. Because we don’t know how many species there are, we can only guess at how many are endangered or extinct – at the moment scientists believe that between 50 and 150 animals and plants become extinct every day.
Most animals and plants become endangered because their natural environment is changed or reduced. In most cases this is caused by people. People cut down forests, build more cities, towns and roads, replace natural forests with farmland, pollute rivers and waterways and over-hunt and over-fish.
Unless people change their behaviour many of the animals and plants of the world will not survive.
In Indonesian and Malay, orang means ‘person’ and utan comes from hutan, which means ‘forest’. Therefore orangutan means ‘person of the forest’.
The orangutan is highly endangered in Indonesia. The animal is found only in some areas of Sumatra and in Kalimantan. Estimates on orangutan numbers in Sumatra have fallen from over 12,000 in 1994 to just over 7,000 today and in Kalimantan numbers of orangutans have halved.
Sumatran orangutans have lost about 80% of their natural habitat from forestry, the clearing and burning of land for agriculture and the development of new towns and roads.
Orangutans need large areas of forest in which to live as they live mainly on fruits and seeds. Fruit trees, vines and plants need many other plants and animals around them in large areas of healthy forest to survive.
Although Indonesia is only a small country (it has 1.3 per cent of the world's land area, compared to Australia’s 5.3%, it has 10 per cent of the world's flowering plant species, 12 per cent of all mammal species, 17 per cent of all reptile and amphibian species and 17 per cent of all bird species. Most of these species are found in the country's forests.
In fact, in these and other rain forests of the world (such as the Amazon) there are many species that have not yet been found, described and named.
Illegal logging leads to the endangerment of a wide range of plants of animals. Because it takes away the plants that hold the soil together, it also ruins the land for farming.
Research has shown that the burning of the thousands of hectares of rubbish left from illegal logging causes serious health problems in people and pollution of the air and water systems.
Scientific research in the Amazon and in Asia has shown that reduced area of forests leads to less rain in those areas and hotter air temperatures. This means that water supplies for communities and for farming are lower, and often leads to drought.
The risk of extinction is high for orangutans in Indonesia. The Sumatran orangutan is closer to extinction because fewer remain and they have less habitat than they need.
In Kalimantan, scientists estimate that the population of orangutans will halve in the next 3 years.
The loss of forest habitats is the main threat to the orangutan. They depend on the forest for everything in their lives and so cannot survive without it. Orangutans need fruiting trees and although these are not generally the ones wanted by the timber industry, the damage caused to the fruit trees and vines during the logging process does not allow the orangutans to survive.
Legal and illegal logging are both threats to the survival of the orangutan.
Over twenty million Indonesians depend on forests for their living. People rely on all the different parts of the industry – from cutting trees to driving trucks, to building roads to creating furniture or working in a timber mill. However, the huge amount of illegal logging is ruining the efforts of those that are trying to work in the industry legally. Illegal loggers take the oldest, rarest and most valuable trees. They do not allow the timber time to regrow or time for the forest to recover. They sell the timber in huge quantities to overseas buyers and do not allow Indonesian people to benefit from the industry, keeping most of the profits for a few people.
Shade grown coffee refers to growing coffee bushes under a canopy of trees. This allows for more biodiversity, including bird and insect habitats. When plants of different kinds or different heights are grown together, the soil is kept moist and healthy and does not wash away in heavy rains. Birds, insects and other animals control pests, and because the plants are healthier and shaded, less chemicals and pesticides are needed. Growing coffee in this way is closer to the way plants grow together in healthy forests. Not only are shade-grown coffee farms second only to undisturbed forest in maintaining bird life, but the coffee beans take longer to mature in the shade, also resulting in a better tasting coffee bean.
When full-sun coffee is grown, forests need to be clear-felled to make way for the bushes to be planted close together. The birds and insect species leave, so the coffee bushes need pesticides and chemicals to stop pests and help them grow.
The pesticides and chemicals are unhealthy for the farmers who handle them, the species that come into contact with them and they also get into the waterways killing fish and other species, and harming the lives of all those who rely on clean water.
Orangutans will only survive if they are given enough habitat and protection to live safely. They are large mammals and do not have babies very often. The female is pregnant for 8.5 months and they nurse their babies until the baby is able to take care of itself. It also takes them 12-15 years to develop to an age where they can have babies themselves. This means that they cannot reproduce often enough to replace the large numbers dying from lack of habitat.
Strict laws, that can be enforced, are required to stop illegal logging and the capture of animals for food or pet markets.
Tanjung Puting National Park is a conservation area that has been developed to preserve forest habitats. However there are many problems in the area. Illegal logging, threats to the staff from illegal loggers and the poorer local people, illegal mining and forest clearing for community plantations are amongst the problems. Unless laws, and the people enforce those laws, protect the park, it may not survive.
Local people are divided on the benefits of parks like Tanjung Puting National Park near their towns.
Some see that the Park brings jobs through tourism and members of the community working in the park itself. Others see the Park as taking away their land (that could be used for farming) and restricting their access to the forest for hunting, mining and logging. They see it as taking money away from them and leaving them in poverty.
Many people do not realise the environmental benefits that the Park brings. It helps to control floods and erosion, preserves clean water in streams and rivers, and provides nurseries for fish, a major source of food in the area.
It is estimated that about 40% of the park has been damaged by illegal activities. Unless the local people and others help prevent this, the Park may one day be too damaged to survive.
Newspaper, magazine and website articles can be used to tell the world about the problems of endangered species.
Journalists may interview scientists, locals and other people who are prepared to share their stories. They then work with photographers and cameramen to present stories and reports that alert governments and non-government organisations to illegal activities that lead to the endangerment of species.
Visit some of the websites of conservation agencies such as World Wildlife Fund, the World Conservation Union, Greenpeace, web newspapers and magazines to see how journalists and photographers present their stories.