Every year deliberately lit fires rage across Indonesia. They destroy pristine rainforest, endanger orangutans and contribute to climate change. A young carbon trading entrepreneur goes in search of a solution.
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The orangutans
Orangutans are the lone species of Asian great ape; all the others come from Africa. The South East Asian islands of Borneo and Sumatra are the only habitats in the world where these gentle creatures exist. The Borneo orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus, morio and wurmbii) is classified as endangered by the World Conservation Union, with a population of 40,000 remaining in the wild. The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) is under even greater threat: there are only 7,300 remaining, and the species is considered critically endangered. The American Zoo Association’s 1998 survey estimated that the population is as low as 13,000 Borneans and 6,000 Sumatrans, due to the dramatic losses in the Burning Season of ’97-’98. The United Nations Environment Program’s recent assessment projects that orangutans will be virtually eliminated in the wild within twenty years if current trends continue.
Orangutans share 96.4% of our DNA, and are one of our closest relatives. They are the largest arboreal (tree-living) mammal on earth. The name ‘orangutan’ derives from the Indonesian/ Malay language, in which ‘orang hutan’ means ‘people of the forest’. The origin of the name of the genus – pongo – is an interesting story. In the 16th century, an English sailor called Andrew Battell was held hostage in Angola by the Portuguese. In his account of his imprisonment he describes two humanoid monsters named Pongo and Engeco. It’s likely they were gorillas, not orangutans (or monsters). In 1799, when the French naturalist Lacépède named the orangutan genus, he chose the term from Andrew Battell’s monstrous tale, because at that time all great apes were thought to be the same.
These solitary animals have always been reclusive: in ‘Martin’s Natural History’ S.A. Myers wrote, “These animals are rare, and inhabit the impenetrable forests of Borneo…and Sumatra…” That was in 1870.
Orangutans are a keystone species for conservation. The diversity of foods they eat and their wide path through the forest means that they are crucial to the distribution of seeds which regenerate the forest. Indeed, some plants won’t even germinate until after they have been through the animals’ digestive system. The loss of the orangutans could have dramatic consequences for the ecosystem, with the subsequent depletion of thousands of plants.
