|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||
|
 |
|
|
|||
|
||||||
The Nature Conservancy Finds Population of Wild OrangutansIndonesian Government Commits to Conserving Key Orangutan HabitatThe Home Depot Donates $1 million to The Nature Conservancy to Target Threats to SpeciesArlington, VA—November 20, 2002—Researchers for The Nature Conservancy surveying a remote forest on the Southeast Asian island of Borneo have found a large population of orangutans, the size of which was previously unknown. This find increases the number of known orangutans by approximately 10 percent and offers conservationists a rare, hopeful opportunity in the race to save this highly endangered primate. Research teams recently documented 1,600 orangutan nests, indicating that between 1,000 and 2,500 orangutans are living within a 540-square-mile area of lowland forests in the province of East Kalimantan, part of the Indonesian portion of Borneo. This is the largest viable population of wild orangutans known to exist in East Kalimantan, a province about the size of New England.
"This find represents one of the last, best chances to protect a large, healthy population of wild orangutans anywhere in the world," said Steve McCormick, president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. Later today, The Nature Conservancy will sign a joint declaration with the Berau District of East Kalimantan — the district in which the orangutan population is located — and the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, committing all three parties to conserving and managing orangutan habitat in the district. The document states that the central and local Indonesian governments and The Nature Conservancy recognize the orangutan's importance and the need to conserve its habitat. They also pledge to protect the function and ecology of the orangutan habitat area and agree to promote forest conservation through forest certification. Experts estimate between 14,000 and 25,000 orangutans are left in the wild, found only on Borneo and Sumatra, another Southeast Asian island. Unless uncontrolled deforestation, habitat fragmentation and poaching are halted immediately, experts believe orangutans will be extinct in the wild by the year 2020. Indonesia, home to some of the Earth's most biologically diverse and highly threatened tropical forests, is the world’s top supplier of wood. It is estimated that 70 percent of the wood taken from Indonesian forests is harvested illegally. To combat the threats to orangutans posed by unsustainable and illegal logging, The Nature Conservancy is actively working with local East Kalimantan communities and the Indonesian government to create economic incentives to manage forests sustainably and protect prime habitat. In support of this work, The Home Depot is giving The Nature Conservancy $1 million to be used over the next five years to combat illegal logging and promote sustainable timber harvesting — even though less than one percent of the company's wood supply comes from Indonesia. "The Home Depot has led the retail industry toward sustainable forestry by using its purchasing dollars to show the company's preference for certified wood," said Ron Jarvis, The Home Depot merchandising vice president for lumber and building materials. The Home Depot, the world's single largest buyer of wood products, announced in 1999 that it would give purchasing preference to wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. "The Nature Conservancy is a great partner for The Home Depot in this effort," Jarvis said. The gift from The Home Depot augments vital funding provided since 2001 by the U.S. Agency for International Development for the conservation of orangutan habitat, combating illegal logging and promoting sustainable forest practices through work with the timber industry, local governments and indigenous Dayak villagers. Additional funding, provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and private donors, is paying for further orangutan surveys and other key habitat conservation efforts. The Nature Conservancy's orangutan survey plan was developed by Harvard University primate expert Andrew J. Marshall, utilizing established scientific survey methods. Because spotting the rare and elusive orangutan is difficult and takes a prohibitively long time, Conservancy consultants recruited and trained indigenous Dayaks to identify and count orangutan nests, a widely accepted method for assessing the size of orangutan populations. Using the survey results, Marshall then calculated the size of the orangutan population. "Given that conservation funds are always limited and that political support and logistical constraints vary in different places, it is crucial that financial resources be focused on areas where the chances of protecting viable orangutan populations are greatest," Marshall said. "The orangutan habitat area in East Kalimantan is one of those places." Other orangutan experts echoed The Nature Conservancy's excitement over this find. "The discovery of a large, biologically viable, previously unsurveyed orangutan population in East Kalimantan is very significant," said Dr. Birute Mary Galdikas, president of Orangutan Foundation International. "This find extends the orangutan's known range and gives us hope that we can save orangutan populations from extinction in the wild." For More Information:
|
