This year on International Orangutan Day Rainforest Trust is working to protect critical habitat in Indonesia for the Critically Endangered Bornean Orangutan.
Orangutans are large, arboreal mammals found in rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. These primates—Asia’s only great ape—spend nearly all of their life in trees, building nests, sleeping, and swinging amongst the forest canopy.
Indonesia’s disappearing rainforests are the final stand for the Critically Endangered Bornean Orangutan and other struggling species. Asia’s only great ape faces a projected 82% decline in its global population by 2025 as expanding agriculture wipes out prime habitat and illegal hunting further decimates its remaining populations.
Protecting the Bornean Orangutan’s vital habitat in the Labian-Laboyan corridor has been an ongoing priority for years. Surveys from 2023 show steep population declines—with just 202 individuals in the adjacent Danau Sentarum National Park to the south and a further 71 within the southern corridor. This Rainforest Trust project is essential to connecting habitat as populations plunge.
Rainforest Trust and local partner Yayasan Sangga Bumi Lestari are working together to support the designation of 179,000 acres of Customary Forests. This designation by the Indonesian government formally recognizes ownership and rights of Indigenous Peoples to manage and shield ancestral lands against commercial-scale logging, mining, illegal hunting, and other threats endangering vulnerable wildlife like the Bornean Orangutan.
To learn more about Rainforest Trust, visit www.rainforesttrust.org.
