TUESDAY February 9, 2010

And it is more rain for LA!!

Today we have an interview for you to read through if you like.   This was sent to me by our lovely tour guide who has been with OFI for a very long time, producing the yearly OFI Borneo Tour.

http://www.orangutan.org/7daytrip.php

This interview is very informative because it includes the Co-Founder of the Hutan NGO in Sabah, Dr. Marc Ancrenaz’s take on the movement toward a conservation commitment on the part of palm oil companies.

Earlier blogs have mentioned the organization World Growth.  We spoke of their statements about the supposed misleading ideas coming from conservation groups about the palm oil industry as a leading cause of the decline of the orangutan.

We also have spoken much about the huge decline of orangutans in Sabah, Malaysia.

HUTAN’s Q&A with Dr. Marc Ancrenaz.
Do you agree with claims by organisations such as World Growth
<http://news. mongabay. com/2009/ 1102-palm_ oil.html> that the oil palm
industry is not directly responsible for the decline of orang-utan?
Dr. Ancrenaz: These claims are untrue, irresponsible and are misleading.
Genetic studies in Sabah show that orang-utan population have declined by 50
to 90% over the past few decades. This severe decline is due to several
causes such as hunting and pet trade, but the foremost reason is forest
losses when the forest is cut down and converted to agriculture. In Borneo
and Sumatra where wild orang-utans live, forest is primarily converted to
palm oil and industrial tree plantations. Forest conversion results in an
extreme loss of biodiversity and the destruction of species like the
orang-utans. There is no doubt about this.

In this case why does World Growth
<http://news. mongabay. com/2009/ 1102-palm_ oil.html> and others in the palm
oil industry make such false claims?

Dr. Marc Ancrenaz: I think this is because you have two “groups”, the
orang-utan group and the palm oil group. People on both sides are so
passionate that it becomes difficult to have an impartial view of the true
situation on the ground. The industry is under attack by environmentalists
and has adopted a very defensive “greenwashing” approach denying there are
the root cause of the problem. NGOs have adopted the opposite strategy
called “blackwashing” <http://news. mongabay. com/2009/ 1112-blackwashin g.html>
and blame the industry for all problems encountered in the field, which is
not true either. This situation is very sad since the debate in its current
stage cannot move in any direction at all. We all need to work together to
identify solutions.

Is this why you worked with the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) recently?

Dr. A: Here, I have to begin by paying tribute to the former Director of the
Sabah Wildlife Department, the late Datuk Patrick Mahadi Andau. As a Board
Member of the Borneo Conservation Trust (BCT), he was approached by the MPOC
to develop a project in Sabah and he suggested to look at the status of
orang-utans within the palm oil landscape. This survey provided the occasion
to deliver precise and immediate information directly to MPOC in order for
the industry to incorporate these findings in their land use strategies.
Since MPOC opened the door for some collaboration, I felt it was crucial for
environmentalist and this industry to sit together and try to find solutions
to improve the situation on the ground.

But why look within oil palm plantations?

Dr. A: Surveys conducted in 2004 by HUTAN and the Sabah Wildlife Department
revealed that there were 11,000 orang-utans in Sabah but an amazing 62% were
found outside of Protected Areas in non-protected forests mostly exploited
for timber. However nothing was known about orang-utans “inside” oil palm
plantations and we wanted to investigate if orang-utans were found inside
the palm oil landscape.

So what is the situation within the oil palm landscape in Sabah Dr.
Ancrenaz?
Dr. A: Today, oil palm plantations cover a staggering 14,000 square
kilometers of Sabah, that’s equal to having 20 Singapore in landmass of palm
oil! This is why Sabah is the number one producer of Malaysian palm oil.
Palms need to be planted in lowlands below 500 meters, unfortunately these
lowland forests used to be inhabited by large concentrations of orang-utans
and other wildlife before the forest was converted to agriculture.
Developing oil palm plantations in lowland habitats is therefore destroying
the home of the unique biodiversity found in Borneo. On a more localized
scale, we have been studying orang-utans in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife
Sanctuary since 1998. The Sanctuary is home to about 1,000 orang-utans, but
this habitat is highly “broken up” in isolated patches of forests that are
surrounded by oil palm plantations. We recently realized that young male
orang-utans were disappearing from our study site but we didn’t have any
clue where were they going? Of course, we wanted to investigate this
further, and this project conducted under BCT with funding from MPOC gave us
the opportunity to investigate this situation in Eastern Sabah.

And what did you find?

Dr. A: We found a surprising high number of orang-utan nests within
extremely isolated and degraded tree patches located within oil palm
plantations and in mangrove forests that have been cut off from mainland
forests by the development of oil palm plantations. We estimate that a few
hundred individuals are found in the extensive palm oil landscape of Eastern
Sabah, namely the watershed of the Kinabatangan, Segama and Sugut Rivers…

Does this mean that the orang-utans have adapted to surviving within palm
oil plantations?

Dr. A: I want to be absolutely clear here, so that these findings are not
misquoted by others again, orang-utans have not adapted to the palm oil
landscape and cannot survive within the palm oil landscape in its present
condition today. It is equivalent to asking a human to survive on eating
potatoes alone. Just as humans need a variety of food sources for survival
and health, so do the orang-utans. In the course of our research in the
Kinabatangan we have identified more than 300 different species of
plant-life being consumed by the orang-utans in the forest, which is their
natural habitat.

But Dr. Ancrenaz, if you found orang-utans within the palm oil landscape
does that not mean they are surviving?

Dr. A: No, it does not. We need to consider the ecology of the orang-utans.
First, when they reach adulthood, the males are leaving the forests where
they have been born in search of new forests to establish their territory
and this is what we call “dispersal”. However, today the forest is heavily
fragmented, cut off and isolated in smaller patches, especially in places
like the Kinabatangan floodplain. In Sabah this is mostly due to oil palm
plantations. So, the orang-utan has no choice, they take the risk crossing
the oil palm landscape looking for forest patches. During their travel in
the plantations, they eat the fruits and young leaves of the palm for
survival as they search for new forest. They have to walk on the ground and
make nest in tree patches that they find. The question is how long does it
take for them to find forest patches that are large enough for their
survival, a week, a month? Do they make it? Are they getting lost in this
vast uniform landscapes? We don’t know all the answers to these questions
yet.

Why can’t they just stay put in the forest they are in, why do they
disperse?

Dr. A.: Through dispersal the animals mix their genes and this process
prevents inbreeding and other genetic disorders to happen in populations. In
addition, small forests fragments can lead to overcrowding and fighting
between orang-utans who are competing for scarce food resources. In this
case, dispersal is necessary to regulate the number of animals who can
survive in isolated forest patches.

So, what now?

Dr. A: There is so much we can do right now to help the orang-utans in Sabah
and our findings really give the opportunity to the oil palm industry to
contribute to the protection of this species after having heavily
contributed to its decline in the past. The priority would be for
plantations to make serious effort to establish forest corridors throughout
their estates to link isolated forests that are still home to orang-utans.
However, this approach is site specific. Let me take the Kinabatangan
Floodplain as an example. The participants of the recent 2009 Orang-utan
Colloquium organized in Kota Kinabalu asked for the establishment of a
contiguous corridor of forest for an absolute minimum of 100 meters along
the river bank. Such a corridor would go a long way to assisting orang-utan
crossing the oil palm landscape when they disperse as well as other wildlife
such as the Bornean Elephant which is only found in Sabah and on the border
with Indonesian Kalimantan.

Hasn’t this been done yet? Much has been written about such contributions
within the Kinabatangan by the palm oil industry?
Dr. A: Yes, much has been written and said about Kinabatangan, but in many
places you still find palms up to the river banks along the Kinabatangan
River, leaving no chance for animals to disperse but going through the
plantations. Recreating forest corridors along the river would provide the
animals with pathways and food. In addition, these corridors will benefit
other wildlife species and will greatly contribute to improve water quality
by buffering the negative impacts of agriculture practices on the
environment. Some palm companies are already engaged in corridor recreation
in their estates, but the amount of land given is minuscule, and real action
has to be taken at the landscape level if we want to secure the future of
Kinabatangan overall. The State Government is already taking action via the
Sabah Wildlife Department and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and
Environment who are working to create this “Corridor of Life” for the Lower
Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. Meanwhile, it is sad that so much resource
is allocated for greenwashing activities promoted by organizations like
World Growth especially when unfounded claims are continuously made towards
promoting the value of orang-utans without trying improving the situation on
the ground. Let me be clear on this, what I mean here is that it is high
time to solve or at least minimize the problems on the ground in order to
increase the chances of orang-utan survival. Stop greenwashing and start
putting money into replanting corridors and forest patches in adequate size.
As recognized during the Colloquium, there is a general feeling that this
industry has taken much from the natural resources and that it is time to
give back before the collapse of the ecosystems. At the end, no one argues
against the economical value of palm oil and its possible contribution for
development. However it is important to do the right thing and then truly
settle this debate and issue of sustainable palm oil.

Dr. Marc Ancrenaz is a wildlife biologist with 20 years of experience in
Africa, Saudi Arabia and Borneo. He has published numerous articles in
peer-reviewed journals such as PLOS Biology, Nature, Animal Conservation,
etc and is a reviewer for several scientific journals himself.. Dr. Ancrenaz
is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of French Non Governmental Organisation
(NGO) HUTAN which is based in the village of Sukau along the Kinabatangan
River located on the East Coast of the State of Sabah, Malaysia on the
island of Borneo. Since, 1998, HUTAN has been working with the Sabah
Wildlife Department on orang-utan conservation issues in the wild. Dr.
Ancrenaz is also a member of the Advisory Panel with the Sabah Wildlife
Department. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Section for
Great Apes in the IUCN Species Survival Commission of the Primate Specialist
Group.

MONGABAY.COM