Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07JAKARTA1660
2007-06-15 01:59:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Jakarta
Cable title:  

ORANGUTAN CONSERVATION INDONESIA

Tags:  SENV TBIO TPHY ID 
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VZCZCXRO5920
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #1660/01 1660159
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 150159Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5108
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 001660 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MTS,OES/IET AND OES/ETC
DEPT PASS USAID: ANE/JWILSON AND EGAT/AGRIMES

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV TBIO TPHY ID
SUBJECT: ORANGUTAN CONSERVATION INDONESIA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 001660

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MTS,OES/IET AND OES/ETC
DEPT PASS USAID: ANE/JWILSON AND EGAT/AGRIMES

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV TBIO TPHY ID
SUBJECT: ORANGUTAN CONSERVATION INDONESIA


1.(U) SUMMARY: Embassy Jakarta Charge d'Affaires and
USAID/Indonesia Mission Director led a 9-person U.S. delegation to
Central Kalimantan province on Indonesian Borneo May 23-25, 2007 to
monitor progress of the U.S.-funded orangutan conservation programs,
meet with local government and national park officials, and
introduce broader assistance for these endangered great apes and
their habitat. The trip, guided by renowned orangutan scientist Dr.
Birute Galdikas, affirmed for USG representatives the serious
threats to orangutan habitat in Indonesia, and the importance of the
work undertaken through the USAID Orangutan Conservation Services
Program (OCSP).


2. (U) The group's conclusion is that immediate and critical
interventions are needed to prevent the conversion of primary forest
into deforested land and the resulting permanent loss of this
valuable forest resource and the mega biodiversity it supports. END
SUMMARY.

Broadening Partnerships for Conservation
--------------


3. (U) Indonesia has experienced sharp declines in total orangutan
population in recent years, driven by forest conversion for palm oil
plantations, forest fires, logging and mining. Poor land use
decisions accelerated the loss of forest habitat, following the push
toward decentralization and the economic crisis of 1997-1998.
Second tier threats include hunting and the illicit wildlife trade.
The decline of this great ape warrants a sense of urgency. In
Sumatra, the situation is critical with only 7,000-7,500 orangutans
surviving in a fragmented forest landscape. Some 43,000 Bornean
orangutans remain, but while their numbers are greater than are
those on Sumatra, they are also at risk being scattered over almost
50 geographically isolated areas, several of which experts believe
are unsustainable over the long term. Recent predictions indicate
that the orangutan could be virtually extinct by 2050 if current
trends of habitat destruction and degradation continue unabated.


3. (U) Orangutan habitat conservation is a specific priority for the
U.S. Congress. USAID has actively promoted this objective in
Indonesia since 2001, focusing $11.5 million of

congressionally-directed funding over the period FY2004-2008 as a
key investment to help Indonesia preserve the world's last two
remaining areas with significant orangutan populations in the wild:
the islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra. In March 2007, USAID
initiated a new 3-year $8 million Orangutan Conservation Services
Project (OCSP) to safeguard stronghold populations by reducing or
removing current threats and influencing major drivers of those
threats at specific sites, as well as at the policy and
institutional levels. OCSP goals are to reduce threat levels to
select orangutan populations; mobilize stakeholders at various
levels around land use policy and decisions; establish improved
networks among law enforcement and conservation management, and;
create sustainable financing mechanisms in support of long-term
conservation at key sites. Development Alternatives, Inc.
implements OCSP in partnership with The Nature Conservancy,
Orangutan Foundation International, and other NGOs.

Local Government Welcomes Park Protection
--------------

4. (SBU) During their visit, the U.S. delegation met with the Regent
of Kotawaringin Barat District, Mr. Ujang Iskandar, key
representatives of government agencies including a member of the
provincial parliament, and military based in the district. The
Regent expressed strong commitment to protecting the Park and
welcomed U.S. collaboration with the regency government to assist in
its conservation efforts. Mr. Iskandar emphasized the need for
coordination among levels of government, as well as prevention of
encroachments into the Park. Further, the delegation discussed with
him the potential for economic development concurrent with orangutan
conservation, focusing on agriculture and eco-tourism.

Camp Leakey Field Research
--------------

5. (U) The U.S. delegation visited Tanjung Puting National Park
(TPNP),in Central Kalimantan province, guided by renowned orangutan
specialist, Dr. Birute Galdikas, and the Head of TPNP, Mr. Bambang
Darmaja. Tanjung Puting supports an orangutan population estimated
at 6,000, making it the second largest single population in the
world. At 400,000 hectares of fairly intact habitat, TPNP is home
to some 180 species of mammals, 17 species of reptiles, and 220
species of birds. In 1971, Dr. Birute Galdikas founded Camp Leakey
in TPNP, naming it after acclaimed scientist Dr. Louis Leakey. Dr.
Galdikas was one of three female primatologists mentored and
supported by Dr. Leakey in the early 1970s (together with Jane
Goodall, studying chimpanzees in Tanzania, and Dian Fossey, studying
gorillas in Rwanda). Challenged by Dr. Leakey to apply modern field
research methods to orangutan conservation in Indonesia, Dr.
Galdikas and the Orangutan Foundation International (OFI),the

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non-profit organization she founded, have operated from TPNP's Camp
Leakey continuously for 36 years. Dr. Galdikas' work has been
featured over the years by National Geographic, and her book,
REFLECTIONS OF EDEN, details the remarkable and substantial
contributions to orangutan conservation she and OFI have made.

U.S. Programs and Senators Help GOI Halt Logging
-------------- --

6. (U) With U.S. support, World Education and Orangutan Foundation
International have collaborated to further unite the interests of
the park and nearby villages. By acting as a bridge between the
villagers and the park authorities, both the World Education and OFI
staff provide visible, daily evidence of support for the
communities. OFI set up participatory patrolling of the park with
community members, WE, OFI staff and the national park rangers. OFI
established 17 guard posts at strategic locations in the park and
currently manages patrol operations in cooperation with the national
park rangers. Together, OFI and the park rangers provide extensive
ground coverage and protection to the core of the park. The U.S.
delegation spoke with OFI patrol guards at Pondok Tangui guard post.
The guards emphasized the importance of the central government's
crackdown, "Operation Wanalaga," in 2003, in which President
Megawati, upon receiving a letter from 12 U.S. Senators, deployed
national police to remove illegal loggers from TPNP. From that
point on, the local patrols effectively brought illegal logging to a
halt in TPNP, an outstanding success that continues to this day.


7. (U) The U.S. delegation also visited Kubu Village and Sekonyer
Village, both located on the edges of the park. The subdistrict and
village heads of these as well as other communities surrounding TPNP
thanked the delegation and USAID for the agricultural assistance
provided to them through World Education initiatives. The World
Education program has improved rice yields up to three-fold and
greatly improved vegetable, medicinal, rubber, and agroforestry
yields as well as animal husbandry in neighboring communities. By
improving livelihoods and problem solving skills in community
forums, World Education's activities have reduced the level of
threat from farming, fires, and hunting inside the Park. Many
former illegal loggers who later received natural resources
education on sustainable forestry management through the World
Education and OFI programs now either work on park patrols or on
successful, legally profitable farms outside the park.


8. (U) A key threat to TPNP and its orangutan is the proposal by the
newly created Seruyan district government--whose jurisdiction covers
the Eastern side of TPNP--to reduce the size of the park and convert
16,000 hectares inside the park (4% of its total area) to palm oil
concessions. Seruyan District also proposes to convert an
additional 20,000 hectares of orangutan habitat adjacent to the park
to three palm oil plantations. The Ministry of Forestry has so far
refused permission to the Seruyan district. The Charge d'Affaires
offered to discuss the pending proposal with the Minister of
Forestry and to stress the important biodiversity conservation value
of this primary forest and the negative consequences of its
conversion. Given the vast areas of deforested land that are
available and undeveloped in Kalimantan and Sumatra, there is no
justification for clearing primary forest for palm oil.


9. (U) Indonesia has made considerable progress in combating illegal
logging in recent years nationwide. Soon after he became president,
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono declared 'war' on illegal logging in a
November, 2004 speech near Tanjung Puting National Park. Similar
commitments were made at the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI)
meeting in January, 2005. In March of that same year a presidential
decree to stop illegal logging (Inpres 4/2005) was issued, forming
an 18-agency task force. The Inpres was followed by "Operation
Hutan Lestari," a large scale program to address illegal logging.
Since the President's speech and the Indonesian government's
follow-up efforts, illegal loggers have left Tanjung Puting and many
other sites throughout Kalimantan and Sumatra, particularly in
places with enforcement patrols. The Ministry of Forestry has
developed a national orangutan conservation strategy and aims to
apply it to influence land use decisions. Other major donors and
international NGOs are providing assistance to the GOI for forest
conservation, both focused on specific sites and at the national
policy level. The U.S.-supported program is coordinating with the
GOI and a range of key players in forestry and orangutan
conservation to ensure maximum synergy and program impact.


10. (U) The Charge d'Affairs and Mission Director flew over Tanjung
Puting National Park to observe the scope and scale of the threats
to the orangutan habitat. Illegal logging, slash and burn
agriculture, and fires have damaged nearly forty percent of the
park's forests. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the largest fire
in all of human history took place there last year. By boat, the
delegation also visited zircon sand mining operations on the park
border that have left vast, deforested areas in places that should
serve as forest buffer zones. U.S.-supported OFI park patrols have

JAKARTA 00001660 003 OF 003


assured that mining has not spread into the park.

Forest Habitat is Key to Survival of the Orangutan
-------------- --------------

11. (U) The group traveled by boat to Camp Leakey, OFI's base of
field operations in TPNP. Camp Leakey offers visitors an
opportunity to see semi-wild orangutan at close range, as it has
become a refuge for ex-captive orangutan. Forest conversion, fires,
mining and logging have shrunk habitat, leaving many orangutans
orphaned. Plantation workers and loggers shoot the mother and
attempt to sell the baby orangutan. Officials or concerned
individuals routinely rescue orphaned orangutans from the illicit
pet trade. Indonesia now has over 1,000 orangutan held in various
forms of captivity, of which a small number are being gradually
reintroduced into the wild. The availability of intact forest
habitat is, however, a severely limiting factor, particularly since
lowland forest is more easily accessible for logging and conversion
to palm oil plantations compared to mountainous forest. However,
orangutans live in low elevation forest, ideally peat swamp forest.
Thus, the highest conservation value will result from protecting the
remaining lowland habitat of populations in the wild, in Tanjung
Puting and in other key forests in Kalimantan and Sumatra.


12. (U) The U.S.-supported Orangutan Conservation Services Program
(OCSP) will build on previous programs at the site level in
Kalimantan and Sumatra for sustainable and community-based forest
management and improved law enforcement. But since larger threats
require intervention at the national level, OCSP will also add
support to GOI policy efforts and coordinate private sector and
government partnerships to set aside and protect high conservation
value orangutan habitat. The program further aims to set up an
umbrella forum and fund for orangutan conservation, providing
various groups a neutral focal point for advocacy and long-term
support toward the common goal of ensuring the long-term survival of
the orangutan.

COMMENT: (U) USAID's Orangutan Conservation Services Program is a
crucial part of the U.S. Government's effort to protect and promote
Indonesia's orangutan population, tropical rainforest and
biodiversity. This effort fits into the efforts here to help
Indonesia cut its greenhouse gas emissions.

HEFFERN