Orangutan Land Trust

Find out more about the projects Orangutan Land Trust are currently working on:

Orangutan Releases 2012

After years of planning and negotiating, delays from countless obstacles, and dedicated efforts to rescue and rehabilitate hundreds of orangutans, 2012 will finally be the year that BOS Nyaru Menteng Project can begin to re-introduce its orangutans to the wild! BOS Samboja Lestari will also be reintroducing rehabilitated orangutans to safe forests in East Kalimantan for the first time in over 7 years. The required land has been secured, but the costs associated with translocating orangutans, monitoring them, and managing their new forest home are tremendous. Orangutan Land Trust is one of many organisations working to help fund these efforts and this is one of the greatest priorities in 2012.

Lone Droscher Nielsen, founder of BOS Nyaru Menteng and President of Orangutan Land Trust, says, “For me, this is everything we have worked for–to return these orangutans to the wild, where they belong.”

We need all the help we can get to make this goal a reality for as many orangutans as possible.

Orangutan Islands

Orangutan Land Trust continues to help BOS Nyaru Menteng in securing, renting, and managing the river islands for orangutans undergoing the rehabilitation process. We are working closely with the team to try to secure another large island which can not only be used to provide a training ground for up to 100 orangutans from the project, but also can serve as permanent sanctuary for those orangutans that cannot be properly released to the wild, such as disabled orangutans. Your support means we can help keep these essential areas maintained for the orangutans.

Central Kalimantan Ecosystem Restoration Projects

Central Kalimantan represents both great needs and opportunities for ecosystem restoration. Many forests, including carbon-rich peatland forest, are under great threat due to drivers of deforestation such as illegal logging, oil-palm development, mining and fires. Home to thousands of wild orangutans, these forests are amongst the most at risk in all of Indonesia, and protecting them means preventing the extinction of the orangutan in the wild.

With your help, Orangutan Land Trust can support large scale projects in Central Kalimantan such as the Mawas Project and the Murung Raya orangutan release areas as managed by BOS Foundation. Concentrating on areas with known significant populations of orangutans, investments into these areas means an investment into the future of a species. Orangutan Land Trust intends to support the BOS Foundation’s efforts to release orangutans into safe areas of forest, where they can create new and viable populations. Visit our website often, because as more details become available about these projects in development and how you may be able to support them specifically, we will post those details here.

East Kalimantan Ecosystem Restoration Concessions

Hutan Lestari Project (Everlasting Forest)

Various initiatives related to reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) have begun in Indonesia with environmental NGOs playing a major role in developing pilot projects in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) is one such non-profit organization that has begun to develop a REDD project in East Kalimantan. BOS, along with their partner PT Restorasi Habitat Orangutan Indonesia (RHOI), has secured from the Department of Forestry  an Ecosystem Restoration Concession with the intention of using the forest area as a release site for rehabilitated orangutans. The Scientific Advisory Board of BOS has determined that this area would be sufficient for the release of all orangutans currently in the care of Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation’s Samboja Lestari and Wanariset projects in East Kalimantan who are eligible for release (over 200 individuals).

The concession is in East Kalimantan and encompasses 86,450 ha of the ex-PT Mugitriman International (MGI) timber concession and is now referred to as Kehje Sewen Forest. and is to be managed by PT Restorasi Habitat Orangutan Indonesia. BOS requires sustainable funding for managing and safeguarding this forest and is currently exploring the option of an avoided deforestation/REDD project where the sale of carbon credits would pay the management costs.

Early in 2012, BOS F plans to begin to relocate orangutans to Kehje Sewen Forest.

Significant financial support in the crucial development stage is required in order to prepare the area for the release of several orangutans  and to manage and restore the forest.

Sabah, Malaysia

Malua  Bio-Bank

The Malua Wildlife Habitat Conservation Bank (Malua BioBank) is a first-of-its-kind business model for rainforest conservation. Located next to one of the last areas of virgin rainforest in Sabah, Malaysia on the island of Borneo, the Malua BioBank will restore and protect 34,000 hectares (80,000 acres) of critical orangutan habitat called the Malua Forest Reserve.The Malua BioBank sells Biodiversity Conservation Certificates, with each certificate representing 100-square meters of rainforest restoration and protection.

The Project has been developed by a joint effort between New Forests, the Sabah Forestry Department, Yayasan Sabah and other partners. Orangutan Land Trust is proud to endorse this project and hopes to work with New Forests to develop more biobanks in Indonesia.

For more information please visit www.maluabank.com.

Seeking partners in West Kalimantan, Sumatra and Sarawak, Malaysia

There is a need to find and secure suitable habitat in West Kalimantan for the eventual release of several dozen orphaned orangutans from that region.  If you can help Orangutan Land Trust acquire such an area, please get in touch.

Sumatra is home to the Critically Endangered Sumatran Orangutan, as well as other iconic species such as Sumatran Tiger and Pygmy Elephant. Orangutan Land Trust would very much like to be part of any strong initiatives to secure and protect orangutan habitat within Sumatra.

Sarawak has fewer orangutans than Sabah and Kalimantan, but with extensive historical deforestation, every last bit of orangutan habitat is crucial to their survival. Orangutan Land Trust seeks partnerships to protect these remaining strongholds for orangutans and other wildlife.

Sustainable Palm Oil Campaign

Orangutan Land Trust is a member of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil, and very active in efforts to ensure that the palm oil industry works as sustainably as possible. We have helped to develop the new Guidelines for New Plantings Procedure for the RSPO which will help companies wishing to become certified sustainable to achieve this goal. We have also negotiated partnerships between major palm oil producers and NGOs to help train staff in Best Management Practice to minimise the risk of human-wildlife conflict in areas of oil palm.