Indonesian Conservation Media Center

Palm Oil, a Grave for Orangutans

Palm oil plantations in Sumatra and Kalimantan now play one of the biggest threats to orangutan survival. Hectares and hectares of forest have now be converted into plantations at cost of decreasing habitat and the killing of orangutans just that humans can make a huge profit. If one day the forest does disappear who should be to blame? The orangutans who have been in these forests for thousand of years, suddenly find themselves being kicked out of areas they used to call home. If they make a wrong step they may even be killed. Is this fair?

            According to information from COP (Centre of Orangutan Protection) (2008), field investigations show that palm oil companies part of RSPO, like Wilmar, IOI, and Agro Group continue to cut down trees with orangutans always becoming the victims. Even though laws clearly state that it is against the law to disturb any primary forest which contains more than one conservation value.

            Many things are done to try and save the orangutan, but it just seems that nothing can match those huge, modern machines. Even the Forestry Department is almost incapable of doing anything the orangutans that happen to be outside of conservation areas. According to COP there has not yet been one case of orangutan poaching,  catching, or killing in a palm oil consensus area that has ended up in court.

            The rapid expansion of oil palm plantations in Borneo is the response to international demand (the oil is used for cooking, cosmetics, mechanics, and more recently as a source of bio-diesel) has accelerated habitat losses. Between 1984 and 2003, the area planted with palm oil on Borneo increased from 2,000 km² to 27,000 km²: about 10,000 km² is located in Kalimantan; 12,000 km² in Sabah and 5,000 km² in Sarawak. Many areas used to be prime habitat for orangutans: eastern lowlands of Sabah, the plains between the Sampit and Seruyan rivers in Central Kalimantan, etc. (http://www.iucnredlist.org/).

            The sad fact is that a lot of Indonesia feels that oil plantations are more important than orangutans. The high profit that comes from this makes people forget the environment and anything else to do with orangutans. The government itself likes to turn a blind eye on what is really going on and how this state has become an emergency. According to information from COP, the Directing General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation in the Forestry Department doubted that oil plantations played any threat on the orangutan population at all.