Threats

Habitat Loss

The reasons for the sudden decline in orangutan numbers are complex but largely traceable to pressure from the rapidly expanding human population. Indonesia has grown from 10 million people at the beginning of the 20th century to over 200 million at present. This has led to a scramble for land to accommodate settlements and agriculture.

Foreign investors have also extracted great amounts of timber, making Indonesia a leading exporter of hardwoods. Poor land management and severe habitat degradation has exacerbated drought conditions and made habitat vulnerable to fire. These conditions are further aggravated by periods of extreme weather such as El Niño. Massive fires, many of which were set by humans, recently destroyed millions of hectares of orangutan habitat.

National parks are not immune to these threats: illegal logging has recently occurred in 37 of 41 national parks in Indonesia, and it is estimated that many protected areas harboring orangutans will be severely degraded within the next few years.

Loss of orangutan habitat has recently been accelerated by the rapid expansion of oil palm agriculture in response to high international demand (oil palm is used for cooking, in cosmetics, as a mechanical lubricant and a food additive, and to produce biodiesel). Oil palm plantations are a highly destructive, unsustainable monoculture with a useful life of only 20 years. Along with industrial logging, oil palm plantations destroy soil fertility, often result in more fire and drought, and completely eradicate the orangutan's natural forest habitat. The development of plantations also creates social conflicts, particularly with local communities that struggle to assert authority over their village forests and sustainably manage their natural resources.

Illegal loggers constructed these rails called "kuda kuda" to transport timber from Gunung Palung's interior (photo: Tim Laman)

Orphans such as this one often kept illegally. (Photo: Sonya Kahlenberg)

Poaching & Illegal Animal Trade

Threats to the endangered orangutan posed by incremental habitat loss are worsened by poaching and the illegal trade in live animals. Orangutans are illegally hunted for food or killed when they forage in plantations, gardens and farms. During past fires, many orangutans were slaughtered as they fled the burning forests and sought refuge in village crops. Females are often killed in order to sell their babies as pets. Though it is illegal to own an orangutan, hundreds of young orangutans are taken from the wild for the pet trade every year. Most die before even reaching the market as a result of capture-induced trauma or diseases contracted in transit. Orangutan pets are often kept in deplorable conditions (e.g., in chains or small cages) and are neglected. They make dangerous pets, as they quickly grow to be much stronger than their human caretakers.

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