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| the stark forest battle line |
battle for their disappearing habitat. Their forest home is being rapidly converted to palm oil plantations, so ecologically sterile that they cannot survive there. A 'viral' video captured the brave efforts of an orangutan attempting to fend off a bulldozer as it destroyed its home. Orangs are considered agricultural pests by palm industry workers, either shot on sight or poisoned. Yet the world remains largely unconcerned about the highest primate besides ourselves. Perhaps that is due to the fact that palm oil is a pervasive ingredient in our processed foodstuffs. The eighteen million acres of palm oil plantations in Borneo produce 87% of world supply. Today the orangutan is critically endangered, only about 104,000 survive in the wild, sacrificed to palm oil industry, which slashes and burns 80% of the forest. The clearances produce so much air pollution the index hits 1000 according to the World Bank. 300 is considered hazardous to humans and animals.
The Indonesian government supposedly has a moratorium on new palm oil plantations since 2918, but it is not enforced, and local governments ignore the federal policy with impunity Palm oil companies that already hold local permits can still establish new plantations. The reason for the destruction of so much of Borneo's forest cover is straightforward: economics. Palm Oil surpassed oil and gas as the biggest contributor to Indonesian GDP in 2016. The industry employs about 30% of the workforce. As one orangutan conservationist said, "ou cannot talk conservation with hungry people. Give people a way to find an alternative livelihood."
In 2011, Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation was unable to release a single rescued animal back into the forest. Unable to obtain help from the federal government BOSF turned to local governments. In Kalamatan, they reached agreement to allow the group to purchase palm oil plantation licenses, valid for sixty years, and pay property taxes for suitable habitat. The group now has 557 orangutans in captivity waiting for a chance to live again in the wild. Many orangutans and other animals are too old to be released
back into the wild and must remain in captivity as permanent residents--a life behind bars. A volunteer working in a rescue center told interviewers, “For example, most of the national parks are already full
of eagles, and eagles are territorial, so we almost can’t release more .The forests are overfilled and conservation centers
are at maximum capacity. The solution isn’t to make more cages, but to
build enclosures, sanctuaries and mini-forests...“You go to rehabilitation centers and see the big orangutans who have
already spent 15 years in the cage. You see their eyes. They look empty.
No hope; it’s like a loss of soul. I work so hard, not for the baby
eyes, but to get these orangutans out of the cage,” [photo: J. Sihite]If the orangutan is to be saved, part of the solution must come from reducing the demand for the product that is destroying lives and forest. Developed countries must required the substitution of palm oil in food products that use it. Norway did not ban palm oil but demanded sustainability production; other countries need to follow Norway's lead. Indonesia alone is not going to prevent the orangs extinction, there is too much money riding on the industry, It is illegal to kill an endangered species; doing so could result in up to five years in jail and a fine of $7,400. Despite some arrests of individuals, the Indonesian legal system has never handed down a full sentence commensurate with the crime. Every day 25 orangutans die due to habitat destruction. Without international pressure, and perhaps a complete ban on palm oil imports, the people of the forest will disappear, forever.