PERKONGSIAN ILMU

Orangutan in Borneo.

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Note 6 - Population of Orang utan in Indonesia

According WCS-IP, in 1996 there were around 35,000 orangutans in Indonesia -- 23,000 in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, and 12,000 in Sumatra, but the massive 1997 forest fires cut the population of orangutans in Kalimantan by about one-third, bringing Indonesia's total population to around 27,000. Since then, continued deforestation has taken a heavy toll of the species which shares 95-97 percent of the genetic material found in humans.

Environmental groups have warned that red ape could be extinct in the wild without urgent conservation measures. Recently WWF has launched the "Heart of Borneo" campaign to pressure Indonesia's government to protect orangutan habitat by establishing reserves and cracking down on illegal logging and oil palm plantations.

Action plan launched to stabilize population of orangutans+ Dec 10 09:46 AM US/Eastern BALI, Indonesia, Dec. 10 (AP) - (Kyodo)—An action plan to stabilize the population of orangutans, which are on the brink of extinction, was launched Monday on the sidelines of a U.N. climate change conference. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono launched the Strategy and Action Plan for National Conservation of Orangutans, the first of its kind, as more than 10,000 delegates from 189 countries gathered to seek ways to tackle global warming. Once ranging throughout Indochina and south to Java, the population of the great apes is currently declining and is restricted only to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra due to the degradation of forests caused by illegal logging, forest fires and poaching. "In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If it continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050," Yudhoyono said during the launch of the action plan. Under the plan, Indonesia is committed to stabilizing the orangutan population and their habitat from now until 2017 and to return them to the wild by 2015. A 2004 survey data showed that 6,650 Sumatran orangutans and 55,000 Bornean orangutans remain in the wild. But deforestation has led to the death of 3,000 orangutans yearly since the 1970s. "One million hectares of planned forest conversion projects are in orangutan habitat. Sustainably managing these forests, in accordance with the orangutan action plan, can save 9,800 orangutans," Erik Meijaard, a scientist for the Jakarta-based Orangutan Conservation Services Program, said. According to Meijaard, protecting the forests where orangutans live will also keep 700 million tons of carbon locked up in trees. Orangutan conservation has largely failed in Indonesia. Previous commitments since the administration of former President Suharto were never backed with concrete actions and supporting legislation. Supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the idea for the action plan came from a forum of scientists in 2004 when they were reviewing data on the viability of the orangutan population and their habitats. "Polar bears represent a problem of global warming, but orangutans stand for forest protection and climate change mitigation," Meijaard said. Indonesia has 120 million hectares of forest -- the world's third largest after Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Deforestation, which releases a significant amount of carbon dioxide, has made Indonesia the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the United States and China, a World Bank report released early this year said. Rising carbon dioxide levels have been identified as the primary cause of global warming since 1950 and tropical deforestation already contributes between 10 and 30 percent of global warming emissions, experts say.

http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/index.html