“Protect the Forest, Protect the Orangutan!”
This call echoed among the skyscrapers along Sudirman-Thamrin Road from dozens of cyclists as they passed through Car Free Day (CFD) in Jakarta on Sunday, August 25, 2024.
In an effort to unite small steps into a large movement, Satya Bumi, in collaboration with the Cycling Community Chemonk Gowes and Indonesian Journalistic Cameramen (KJI), organized a fun ride event named BIKE FOR yOU (OrangUtan) to commemorate International Orangutan Day, which falls on August 19 each year. The cycling route was 17.8 km long, symbolizing Indonesia’s Independence Day, starting from the Office of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
The activity, initiated by Satya Bumi and participated in by 100 cyclists, aims to raise awareness of the importance of the community’s role in supporting efforts to protect orangutans.
“Wildlife protection, especially orangutans, is an extremely important urgency for the sustainability of Indonesia’s natural biodiversity,” emphasized Executive Director Andi Muttaqien on Sunday, August 25, 2024.
The campaign in the form of a Fun Ride is a more creative way to promote orangutan conservation, while simultaneously promoting for a healthy lifestyle by involving broader community participation.
Previously, Satya Bumi also organized the World Orangutan Day Webinar: Protect the Forest, Protect the Orangutan, which was conducted via Zoom on Monday, August 19, 2024. The webinar was attended by dozens of participants ranging from academics and environmental activists to the general public who are concerned with conservation.
Orangutans are considered a keystone species due to their vital role in maintaining the balance of forest ecosystems. However, their existence is increasingly threatened by poaching, illegal trade, forest fires, and the impacts of climate change.
Indonesia has three species of orangutans: Pongo abelii, Pongo pygmaeus, and Pongo tapanuliensis, all of which are listed as Critically Endangered based on the IUCN conservation status. Unfortunately, various threats are causing orangutan populations to decline each year. This situation is also linked to a number of regulations and action strategies that the government has developed in an effort to protect orangutans.
“A number of regulations in Indonesia to protect orangutans, including the KSDAHE Bill, which was newly enacted in 2024 as a revision of Law Number 5 of 1990, are government initiatives to protect orangutans outside conservation areas by establishing Preservation Areas as regulated in Article 5A, Article 8 paragraphs (3) and (4), and Article 9. However, the establishment of these Preservation Areas must refer to a directional map that has not been specifically regulated in the latest KSDAHE law, which is feared will prolong the establishment process,” explained Satya Bumi Researcher Riezcy Cecilia Dewi.
Riezcy also highlighted problematic articles, such as Article 26, Paragraph (2), and Article 34, Paragraph (3), which regulate the use of environmental services for nature tourism, water and water energy, solar heat, wind, geothermal energy, and carbon. These regulations are feared to lead to misinterpretations by some people and perpetuate several existing projects, such as those in the Batang Toru ecosystem.
There are projects like the Batang Toru Hydroelectric Power Plant (PLTA), Sarulla Geothermal Power Plant (PLTP), Martabe Gold Mine owned by PT Agincourt Resources, and PT Toba Pulp Lestari, which overlap with the Batang Toru ecosystem—the only habitat for the Tapanuli orangutan.
The Executive Director of WALHI North Sumatra, Rianda Purba, explained that there are many serious threats to the Tapanuli orangutan habitat due to industrial expansion.
“The Tapanuli orangutan habitat is in a very threatened condition because of project permits, including the Batang Toru Hydroelectric Power Plant, which has been designated a National Strategic Project (PSN), cutting through the habitat and restricting the orangutans’ range. In the last few months, there has been massive deforestation, and four orangutan nests have been destroyed. There needs to be good governance planning, but instead, we see the release of forest areas for investment purposes,” he explained.
WALHI North Sumatra also published a report urging the government to establish an orangutan corridor that connects the western forest block with the Dolok Sibual-buali Nature Reserve, which has a dense canopy. The Batang Toru ecosystem is a disaster-prone area, so a comprehensive evaluation of extractive industry permits in the region is necessary. The presence of these projects is feared to threaten the sustainability of the forest ecosystem and increase the risk of ecological disasters due to large-scale land clearing.
In the Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh, deforestation is also a significant threat to the Sumatran orangutan. Alfarazi Kamal, a GIS Officer from Yayasan HAkA, pointed out that while the trend of deforestation in the Leuser Ecosystem during the 2019-2023 period has generally declined, in some critical areas, it has actually increased.
“Almost 72% of the deforestation in the Leuser Ecosystem occurs within forest areas, with the expansion of palm oil plantations being the main threat, causing many communities to encroach on the forest. The condition of the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve, which is the natural habitat of orangutans, is becoming increasingly concerning, with a significant spike in deforestation in 2022-2023. If this trend continues, the existence of orangutans and other wildlife in this area will be severely threatened,” he said.
Alfarazi also emphasized the importance of preserving the remaining habitats, restoring damaged habitats, and preventing further destruction. In the Leuser Ecosystem, efforts that can be undertaken include connecting corridors, preventing land-use changes, and addressing the issue of permits that have already been granted within forest areas.
Bornean orangutans also face similar challenges, including conflicts with communities who see them as pests in the Kubu Raya landscape of West Kalimantan. Sulidra Fredrick, the Wildlife Rescue Program Manager of the Palung Foundation, explained that the orangutan population has been declining since 2016 due to industrial timber plantation (HTI) concessions and palm oil plantations, which pose significant challenges to their protection.
“The Palung Foundation assists Indigenous Forest communities living in the Kubu Raya landscape, which directly borders the HTI concession of PT Mayawana Persada (PT MP). According to the IUCN, this PT MP concession is located within orangutan habitat. If the forest within the PT MP concession, which serves as orangutan habitat, is logged and the company is unwilling to provide suitable High Conservation Value (HCV) areas, local migration could occur. One of the potential outcomes is migration to village forests, which could lead to conflicts with local communities.”
The protection of orangutan habitats must continue to be advocated. Without orangutans, forest regeneration will be disrupted because forest plant seeds will not be dispersed naturally, reducing the diversity of plant species in the forest and causing changes in forest structure.
