Return of the orangutan
20% rise in population of primates in totally protected areas
KOTA KINABALU: The orangutan population in totally protected areas (TPAs) in Sabah’s Lower Kinabatangan has risen by 20% with the increase in the number of protected forests, said a conservationist.
“The increasing population reflects a commitment by all, especially the state government, to protect more forest areas,” said orangutan conservationist Dr Marc Ancrenaz.
The latest good news came in the wake of a recent scientific study published in the PLOS ONE journal by a team of experts, who found that the Borneo orangutan began experiencing a major demographic decline between 200 and 2,000 years ago.
However, Dr Ancrenaz, who is codirector of the Hutan-Kinabatangan Orang Utan Conservation Programme (Hutan-KOCP), did not disclose the number of orang utan within the totally protected forest areas.
The Sabah Forestry Department had recently increased the acreage under its totally protected forest reserves to further help in the conservation of orang utan and other species, such as the Borneo pygmy elephant, the Sunda clouded leopard, sunbear, hornbills and others.
“The areas recently re-gazetted as Class I (totally protected forest reserve) are lowland forests, which are favoured for agriculture development.
“But the state government has shown that it places more value on environmental security in the long term by making them TPAs instead of going for short-term profits,” said Dr Ancrenaz, a wildlife veterinarian who has been working on wildlife issues in Sabah since 1998.
In a statement, primotologist Dr Isabelle Lackman, who is a co-director Hutan-KOCP, said the biggest issue for orangutan conservation in Sabah remained the problem of isolation and fragmentation of protected forests.
“While the Kinabatangan area has been protected by the Sabah Wildlife Department since its gazettement in 2005, the sanctuary is very broken up with some forests being totally isolated.
“This is not healthy for the longterm survival of orangutan in the area,” said Dr Lackman.