Sustainable Forest Management Increases Orangutan Population In East Kalimantan

JAKARTA - Orangutan population density increased by 17 percent in the Gunung Gajah Abadi forest concession and by 46 percent in the Karya Lestari forest concession in East Kalimantan.

The Nusantara Nature Conservation Foundation (YKAN) stated that sustainable forest management practices at a landscape scale could increase the orangutan population in East Kalimantan.

YKAN's Endangered Species Conservation Specialist, Arif Rifqi, said the increase in population could be seen from monitoring forest concessions in the area.

"It is estimated that there is an increase in the value of orangutan density in the PT Gunung Gajah Abadi and PT Karya Lestari areas compared to the baseline from four years ago," he said in a statement quoted by ANTARA, on March 1.

The monitoring of orangutans uses the method of counting the number of nests on a line transect. The total monitoring is 33 segmented lines with a distance of four kilometers between the lines which represents the area of ​​the study.

The forest management area carried out by the two companies is the monitoring site of orangutan populations in the Wehea-Kelay Landscape.

Furthermore, Arif said that orangutans are protected animals, both nationally and internationally.

According to him, the animal is an umbrella species because it plays a role in forest regeneration by spreading the seeds of the trees they consume. If orangutans disappear, this condition can affect the loss of other species in that habitat.

Orangutans have a 93 percent similarity to human DNA, so there is still much that can be learned from the ecology of these great apes to improve human welfare.

"Many things about orangutans have not been revealed, there is still a long way to go to explore the role of orangutans in human life. No less important, confirming the role of humans for orangutans," said Arif.

East Kalimantan Indonesian Forest Entrepreneurs Association (APHI) Regional Commission Chairman Asrul Anwar said production forest management is inseparable from the ecological side in the form of biodiversity.

APHI plans to carry out biodiversity activities and research throughout the region so that the association will have comprehensive and complete information.

"We hope that East Kalimantan can become a national pilot," said Asrul.