WEST KALIMANTAN: Dramatic footage released today shows starving
orangutans being rescued from an oil palm concession in Borneo after their forest
homes were bulldozed by a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
(RSPO), in flagrant violation of the body’s rules.
Conservationists have urged oil palm firm Bumitama Gunajaya Agro (BGA)
to cease further clearing immediately amid credible concerns that more of
the endangered species are trapped inside the concession and will die if not
relocated.
According to RSPO statutes BGA should have carried out High Conservation Value
assessments prior to clearing in the concession, setting aside areas that are home
to the endangered species.
However, International Animal Rescue Indonesia (IAR Indonesia) and
government conservation staff have already rescued four orangutans, including
a pregnant adult and a baby, from the concession in Ketapang Regency, West
Kalimantan. Other individuals remain at risk if BGA continues to ignore RSPO
rules.
Adi Irawan, Program Director of IAR Indonesia Foundation in Ketapang, said: “We
know that there are more orangutans isolated in small patches of forest in this
plantation along with other protected wildlife such as proboscis monkeys.
“All the animals in this plantation are under threat and therefore this company
should stop all land clearing immediately, carry out habitat assessments and
develop strategies to protect all the endangered wildlife in their estate”.
The concession is operated by BGA subsidiary PT Ladang Sawit Mas (LSM) in a
forest buffer next to Gunung Palung National Park, an area that hosts one of the
largest populations of Central Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) in
West Kalimantan.
The footage released today shows IAR Indonesia’s Orangutan Rescue Team and
the Regency Agency for Natural Resources Conservation (BKSDA) rescuing the
orangutans from areas cleared by LSM, to move them to areas with sufficient
food for their survival.
Karmele Llano Sanchez, Executive Director of IAR Indonesia Foundation, said:
“We were appalled to see the condition of these rescued orangutans. All of them
had gone through long periods of starvation before we rescued them, as the area
where they were found, since the company had cleared most of the forest, was
too small to provide them with enough food.
“One of the rescued orangutans had lost her baby, probably killed before the
rescue team arrived. More orangutans could die if this company does not take
immediate action”.
According to Indonesian Law Act Number 5 year 1990 concerning the
Conservation of Living Resources and their Ecosystems the killing of orangutans
or other protected wildlife is prohibited and can be severely punished.
EDITORS’ NOTES
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is a UK-based Non Governmental Organisation
and charitable trust (registered charity number 1145359) that investigates and campaigns
against a wide range of environmental crimes, including illegal wildlife trade, illegal logging,
hazardous waste, and trade in climate and ozone-altering chemicals.
RSPO Criterion 7.3 dictates that new plantings since November 2005 cannot replace any
areas required to maintain or enhance one or more High Conservation Value. This includes
“Forest areas containing globally, regionally or nationally significant concentrations of
biodiversity values (e.g. endemism, endangered species).”
To view the footage of the rescue go to
For further photos of the rescued orangutans please contact Tom Johnson
at tomaszjohnson@eia-international.org
Interviews are available on request: please contact Karmele Llano Sanchez
(IARI) at karmele@internationalanimalrescue.org or Tom Johnson (EIA)
at tomaszjohnson@eia-international.org
Caption for attached picture: An adult female orangutan who was rescued
with her baby by IAR Indonesia in Ketapang, March 2013.
https://vimeo.com/63254306
