Conesrvation efforts

In large measure, the fate of the orangutans lies in the hands of the Indonesians and Malay peoples. Still, there is a role for the international community of governments and conservation organizations.

The United States has allocated $1.5 million for orangutan conservation efforts in Indonesia this year. But WCS agrees that will not be enough.

WCS is calling for a moratorium on logging in old-growth forests until the political situation has stabilized and improved enforcement to prevent illegal logging. The organization hopes to work with both the government and local communities and governments to stop illegal logging.

''The documented long-term decline in orangutan numbers is both depressing and a call to action,'' says Josh Ginsberg, WCS director for Asia programs. ''tough changes in natural resources management and protection of remaining habitat are critical to ensuring a future for the orangutan.''

ORANGUTANS LOSING BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL

Headlines screaming ''ethnic cleansing,'' ''massacre,'' and ''head hunting'' make it easy to overlook the impact civil unrest is having on animal populations in Indonesia.




The ongoing fighting and political instability provide a textbook case of human activities leading directly to the extinction of a species, warns a study released by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which appears in the current issue of the journal Oryx.
Orangutans will be extinct in the wild less than ten years unless conditions are reversed immediately. At present, all remaining forests that are accessible by road river are subject to a seemingly unstoppable pandemic of illegal logging, regardless of their protection status.

Man of the forest

Orangutans are unique creatures, it is suggested that the ancestry of orangutans and humans may be more closely entwined than had thought.
''It appears the orangutan may possess a privileged status among human kindred,'' said James Lee, the Harvard University psychologist behind the research.
Both orangutans and chimpanzees share about 96% of their DNA with humans although molecular studies suggest that chimpanzees are more closely related.
The study comes at a time when orangutans are endangered as never before. Once found throughout Asia, they are now confined to two islands, Sumatra and Borneo, and are highly endangered as a result of habitat loss and poaching.
Malaysia's land surface was once almost entirely covered with forest. Today, only about 50% remain under natural forest cover, the rest having given way to development of natural disturbances. As we write, an estimated 13 hectares of the world's forest are lost. In the next 30 seconds, another 13 hectares will disappear. Within a minute, mankind succeeds in undoing 1000 years of natural evolution.
'' The man of the forest needs our help''. In the world toady there's a few organization that is taking action by educating people on the state of orangutans and other species. But in truth it's not enough, we the people should take apart of taking care of our planet and it's habitats, little things can go a long way if we bond together and act.