Nature Alert: IN CRISIS: ORANGUTAN POPULATION IN KUTAI NATIONAL PARK

Wednesday, 13 May 2009

IN CRISIS: ORANGUTAN POPULATION IN KUTAI NATIONAL PARK

PRESS RELEASE

To save the last population of Orangutan sub species morio (Pongo Pygmaeus

Morio) in Kutai National Park, East Kalimantan, the Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP) urges the Commission for Corruption Eradication to immediately enforce the law. The number of orangutans in the area, which was 600 individuals in 2004, has fallen to only 30-60 individuals at present, due to massive destructions of the national park. The ones left are now living in the Prevab - Mentoko block separated from the Kaltim Prima Coal mine by the Sengata/Papa Charlie river.

Politicians and government officials had committed an act of omission and had sponsored the crimes occuring continously in the area until now. The East Kalimantan administration with permission from the Ministry of Forestry build the 60km Bontang - Sengata road crossing the Kutai National Park in 2002. The road development had badly damaged the orangutan habitat and had triggered a huge destruction of the forest. The government has ironically decided to turn the forest area to a village and a district of 23,712 hectares-wide.

"The Kutai National Park has been changing into a city, complete with an airport, gas stations, marketplace, BTS towers, a bus terminal, and prostitution complex. Only time will tell, whether orangutans can survive in the area," said Yon Thayrun, Habitat Campaign Manager of COP.

"The root of the problem with the Kutai National Park is a breach of duty committed by officials to get political and financial advantages. They gave away land spaces to people to win their votes in the local administration elections. They also mobilize people to seize the national park area. Their strategy to win people's hearts by giving away the land seemed successful," Yon Thayrun said.

"The best solution for the Kutai National Park is by bringing the corrupt officials and politicians to justice and sending them to prison. This will force their supporters to leave the looted land and stop their illegal activities," he said.

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.