Indonesia: Orangutan Sanctuary Haven For Illegal Loggers say Activists

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 18 Feb 11;

Activists have warned that an 86,450-hectare orangutan sanctuary in East Kalimantan is open to illegal logging, thus leaving the endangered apes vulnerable to the same threats that drove them out of their original habitats.

The previously logged area was designated a sanctuary in August and awarded to Restorasi Habitat Orangutan Indonesia, a subsidiary of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, for a fee of Rp 13 billion ($1.5 million) over 60 years.

However, the foundation only received permission to begin releasing orangutans into the wild there last month and plans to release its first batch in May.

On Thursday, Hardi Baktiantoro, principal of the Center for Orangutan Protection, an NGO focusing on rescuing the apes, said the sanctuary in Muara Wahau district, a five-hour drive from the East Kalimantan capital Samarinda, was still rife with illegal activities.

“There are still forest crimes there, from illegal logging to oil palm plantations,” he said. “When we went down the Muara Wahau River, we found plenty of illegal sawmills, and orangutans being kept as pets.”

He added the COP had managed to rescue four orangutans from locals and shooed at least 10 of the apes out of oil palm plantations on the periphery of the sanctuary.

“Almost all oil palm plantations or mining concessions in this country are heavily guarded by the military or police, so the same should apply to orangutan concessions because orangutans are state assets,” Hardi said.

“If there isn’t tight security, the whole cycle will be repeated where we have to rescue the orangutans, rehabilitate them and reintroduce them into the wild.” He added it would cost at least $3,500 per year to rehabilitate an orangutan, and six to seven years to prepare them for release into the wild.

Togu Manurung, chairman of the BOS Foundation, agreed that protecting the orangutan sanctuary was the government’s job, but said the generally poor state of law enforcement made it unlikely to happen.

“It’s already widely known that no [forest] area in this country is safe from illegal logging,” he said. “We’ll conduct our own monitoring, do our own patrols and work with local people to guard the areas.”

Darori, director general of forest protection and natural conservation at the Forestry Ministry, said there was no need to increase security in orangutan release areas.

“If those areas are rampant with illegal logging or plantations, then we’ll need to find other, safer areas,” he said.