All About Animals

The Sumatran Orangutan's survival is seriously threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation. Forests continue to be cleared at the large and medium scale for oil-palm plantations that can each cover hundreds of square kilometres. On a smaller scale, logging for timber (both legal and illegal) remains a threat, as does the creation of new roads, which fragment populations and gives access to illegal settlements and further encroachment for agriculture and plantations (also frequently illegal), and to wildlife poachers. When industrial plantations are established, the resident orangutans are forced to seek refuge in adjacent forest patches, if any remain, but in the long term they are likely to succumb to malnutrition and starvation due to competition and limited resources. Such forest fragments are often subsequently cleared as well. Sumatran Orangutans are frequently killed deliberately, completely illegally, and surviving infants end up in an illegal pet trade. This trade tends to be a by-product of habitat conversion, for example, if an Orangutan is found in an isolated patch of trees during the conversion process, there is a high probability it will be killed. Sumatran Orangutans are also regularly killed in human-wildlife conflict situations, for example, if raiding fruit crops on farmland at the forest edge.

By far the largest single current threat to the Sumatran Orangutan comes from a spatial land-use plan ratified by the government of Aceh Province in 2013. Conservation of the Leuser Ecosystem being obligated by Aceh’s own special autonomy law due to its designation in 2007/8 as a National Strategic Area for its environmental function (which requires its inclusion and special consideration at all levels of spatial planning). But alarmingly the current Aceh spatial plan completely ignores the Leuser Ecosystem’s existence. Both the provincial and national governments have publicly acknowledged the illegality of the Aceh spatial plan, but to date it remains officially ratified at the provincial level and has not been formally cancelled by the national government. As of early 2016, legal challenges are attempting to rectify this situation and to have the current Aceh spatial plan replaced with one that complies fully with all relevant laws, is based on sound environmental sensitivity analyses, and affords appropriate protection to the Leuser Ecosystem in accordance with existing legislation. However, whilst the status quo persists, the Aceh Provincial Spatial Plan of 2013 allows huge tracts of Sumatran Orangutan habitat to be designated for new plantations, and timber and mining concessions, and will lead to many more Sumatran Orangutans being lost in the ensuing years. The existing plan also effectively legitimizes numerous roads cut illegally through the forest, which further fragment Orangutan populations and provide yet more access to hunting and encroachment.