Saving Sumatra's Orangutans

Last night nearly 200 people gathered at Eden to hear from Dr Ian Singleton, one of the world's foremost orangutan conservationists. Ian has spent the last two decades buried deep in the Leuser ecosystem, a biodiversity hotspot, and the last great refuge for Sumatra's four charismatic species; rhino, tiger, elephant, and of course orangutan.

As with all charismatic mega fauna, these four species tend to get all the air-time and media attention; but perhaps less understood is that their decline is emblematic of an ecosystem scale, if not continental scale, degradation of natural heritage and wonder.

As is common to nearly all battles for biodiversity the habitat losses associated with orangutan decline are piece-meal and incremental: just a few hectares here, a few hectares there, blink, turn around, and 'poof' just like that the forest is gone. And so it's going with Leuser; a mountainous landscape rich in tropical rainforest and peat swamps (which also happen to be one of the planet's great carbon sinks).

Ian told the story of how he came to dedicate his life to saving Sumatra's orangutans. Beginning his career as a zoo keeper he then embarked on a PhD that explored the ranging behaviour and seasonal movements of orangutans in swamp forests. He was subsequently hired by PanEco, a Swiss conservation group, to help develop orangutan projects and the rest, as they say, is history.

As a side-note, the etymology of 'orangutan' is pretty interesting: it derives from the Malay and Indonesian words orang 'person' and hutan 'forest'; thus 'person or people of the forest'. It might be said that after two decades in Sumatra Ian has also now become a person of the forest...

But, in all stories like this there is an enemy narrative and in this case the primary one is palm oil and the companies and governments complicit in the decision-making that allows pristine forest to be converted to gigantic monocultures. This faceless 'enemy' is found in an almost unimaginably vast array of food, drinks, cosmetics, and cleaning products.

The story of how and why palm oil came to dominate the world's vegetable oil marketplace is long and complex, but this quick fact sheet from WWF highlights some of the main reasons. Its invisible ubiquity and undeniable utility arguably make this particular enemy rather a tough foe for people like Ian. And, true to form, the conversation in the room around palm oil was pretty heated with questions such as, "is there any such thing as 'sustainable' palm oil?" and "so tell me, should I boycott palm oil?".

Ian is pretty stoic about these matters and after laying out the complexity of the issues and demonstrating that 'sustainable' oil, if not perfect, is probably a step in the right direction, his ultimate response was, "you should do what makes you happy. If you want to boycott, boycott. If you want to support sustainable palm oil, then support it."

We heard heart-breaking stories of orangutans being beaten, shot, and held captive in tiny cages for years, but we also heard stories of hope. Of animals rescued, rehabilitated, and released back into the wild. Importantly, some of the creatures Ian has rehabilitated are being used to 'seed' genetically viable orangutan populations in areas of forest that haven't had these great apes in for centuries. He likened his excitement at this particular project to the thrill certain Americans have at being able to prove lineage from the Pilgrim Fathers. His poetic hope is that one day wild orangutans will sit chatting in protected forest bragging about their ancestry... Which is a nice thought.

Sadly, not all the rescued animals can ever make it back to the wild, but Ian also has a grand plan for them too. Orangutan Haven will be a sanctuary for individuals who are too arthritic, blind, or old to return to the wild and will set a global benchmark for the husbandry of apes in captivity (even a grand captivity such as this). Ian also hopes that the Haven will become a place of education; to teach students, business leaders, and government officials of the genuine peril these remarkable animals are in and what we can all do about it.

Personally, I find the demise of the last remaining orangutan - and all the great apes for that matter - populations unconscionable. I dread the conversations we will have to have with future generations who may only know these beautiful animals, and one of our closest living relatives, from pictures in books or on some future version of the internet. When asked by some, as yet unborn, person in 30, 40, or 50 years time, "so, what was an orangutan?" I may only be able to muster the sad reply: "Oh, yeah, them. Those things were pretty cool, but I'm afraid when it came to the crunch we rather preferred processed food, instead. Sorry."

Ian's tale was one of passion, leadership, courage, and how a lifelong curiosity can lead to a career filled with purpose and ambition to help those more vulnerable than himself. Which is a pretty good lesson for all of us I think...

About Dan: Dan is Learning Curator at the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK. Dan creates, facilitates, and consults on learning and development experiences for the higher education and business communities.