Current Crisis
We are robbing one of the earth's greatest rainforests, the Borneo Rainforest. We are destroying, burning, and taking over one of the most biodiverse parts of the world.
(Vanishing Borneo: Saving One of the World’s Last Great Places, 2017)
Current Crisis
We are robbing one of the earth's greatest rainforests, the Borneo Rainforest. We are destroying, burning, and taking over one of the most biodiverse parts of the world.
(Vanishing Borneo: Saving One of the World’s Last Great Places, 2017)
Current Crisis
We are robbing one of the earth's greatest rainforests, the Borneo Rainforest. We are destroying, burning, and taking over one of the most biodiverse parts of the world.
(Vanishing Borneo: Saving One of the World’s Last Great Places, 2017)
What Orangutans Provide
We are robbing one of the earth's greatest rain forests, the Borneo Rain forest. We are destroying, burning, and taking over one of the most biodiverse parts of the world.
Ecologically, What DO They Provide?
Orangutans play a critical role in seed* dispersal (chewing up fruit and spitting the seeds out and in their dung), which in turn keeps forests healthy. Many fruits, like durian fruit, jack durian fruit, and rambutan, depend on orangutans to disperse their seeds around the forest to allow for plant reproduction; in turn expanding biodiversity (Tarszisz, Tomlinson, Harrison, Morrogh-Bernard, & Munn, 2018)
*these seeds grow food (like fruits); contributing to the diets of many other animals
If orangutans become extinct, the whole ecosystem around them could collapse. The food chain the contribute to would be off-balance; several plants will not be able to reproduce, causing a large portion of the ecosystem's producers to be cut off or go extinct in the tropical rainforest. (Montana Hull, 2016).
Durian Fruit
Rambutan Fruit
This species act as an umbrella species; important because their wide geographic range helps protect other organisms within their ecosystem (Montana Hull, 2016).
Orangutans' role in biodiversity is important for people and many other animals living around them, including other endangered species, such as tigers, elephants, and rhinos. This is why it is so important that we protect these animals; as they help regulate a healthy ecosystem (WWF, 2019)
Orangutans are also an example of a keystone species, meaning their presence and niche within an ecosystem has a disproportionate effect on other organisms within the system (Study.com, 2019).
They make a new nest to sleep in every evening; breaking branches and allowing light through the thick canopy onto the forest floor, in turn helping young plants to thrive and grow, increasing biodiversity. (Orangutan Facts, 2019)
Ecological Values
Orangutans have been around for millions of years. Humans come in and all the sudden they are threatened; closer to extinction than they have ever been. Why do humans, closer connected in DNA to orangutans than almost any other animal, act like they don’t have the right to exist? Is palm oil, logging, and money worth more than this entire species?
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Ecotourism is a huge factor when the instrumental value of a species is considered. Regarding orangutans, ecotourism is helpful in protecting the natural environment in Borneo, by not only giving the citizens a reason to preserve the land but by supplying the poor country with an alternative income than harmful palm oil plantations. Where tourists come to the countries of Borneo, they spend money on plane tickets, housing, and tickets to enter national parks; which helps the people living there. (“The Effects of Ecotourism on Borneo,” 2020)
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Not only are orangutans essential for contributing to the health and biodiversity of their ecosystem, but they are amazing looking as well! What other animals are orange and furry? Imagine a world without our closest relative!
Economic Values
By keeping this species alive, we allow future generations to appreciate these creatures, and this could be expressed in tourism within Borneo, as orangutans already are a place of pride for the island, and will continue to be if we help them survive.
The habitat of the bornean orangutans pays millions. At the cost of the biodiversity the Indonesian rainforests maintain. Indonesia is producing over half of the world’s palm oil… and they made approx. $16.5 billion, and Malaysia comes in second producing over a quarter of the world’s palm oil… and they made approx. $8.7 billion. (World’s Top Exports, 2019) This was in 2018 alone… so if the orangutans go extinct, then it only means that we’ve depleted the forests so thoroughly that a species that has been around before homo-sapiens were ever a thing, dies... we have a problem.
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Indonesia and Malaysia’s forests are paying people’s rents, yes, but they are also providing rich habitat of which natives have lived there long before palm oil industries came in like a wrecking ball. These rainforests provide shelter for hundreds of species, and with Indonesia’s rainforests taking up just 1%, it’s impressive that it contains 10% of the world’s plant species and 12% of the mammal species many of which are becoming endangered ("Indonesia’s Rainforests: Biodiversity and Endangered Species - Rainforest Action Network,” 2018) These species keep this country thriving, ecology and economically. This biodiverse land is why the country is such an economic powerhouse.
How Bornean Orangutans Help Us Economically
For 4+ million people in Sumatra, the rainforest is an extremely important support system, providing clean water and food. And destroying the rainforest where Bornean orangutans live exposes the natives to flooding and landslides due to increased erosion from the loss of vegetation. Orangutan habitat is also important for the global fight against climate change, due to the amount of carbon stored in Sumatra’s forests. (“The Crisis - SOS – Sumatran Orangutan Society,” 2013)
What It Would Cost To Save This Magnificent Species
To Save:
Indonesia and Malaysia make +$20 bil from palm oil (World Bank, 2017), and to save the orangutans, they would have to sacrifice some of that money in order to preserve and rehabilitate the land. While this may halt the production of goods it would greatly help the country in the long run. These resources won’t last forever and 55% of Indonesia forests are commissioned for logging (WWF, 2019)… How long until it's all gone? It is possible to harvest wood sustainably and in the end, it would not only help Indonesia’s economy but their overall habitat. Indonesia and Malaysia may lose temporary money, but they would save for the future when more money could be made… doubling their prices- due to the knowledge that soon most other resources in other countries will be completely depleted.
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To Continue to Plunder the Land:
If the world continues to rob this biodiverse ecosystem, we will soon find that secondary succession will be impossible. If the world continues in this direction, over the next 10 years the forest will be so depleted that though their economy is thriving right now, it will soon crash, and it would take a while before Indonesia or Malaysia could recover (“The world has just over a decade to get climate change under control, U.N. scientists say,” 2018). This may seem hypothetical, and yet scientists have been warning of the consequences of diminishing one of the world’s most diverse land.
ACT NOW!
Protecting One of the World’s Most Endangered Species