15 January 2013: The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) published a report on logging concession areas in Indonesia and their impact on orangutan conservation. The study, titled “Understanding the Impacts of Land-Use Policies on a Threatened Species: Is There a Future for the Bornean Orang-utan?” reveals that 29 percent of the orangutans remaining in the wild inhabit forest concessions where selective harvesting is permitted. An additional 25 percent of the population can be found in undeveloped oil palm and tree plantation concessions.

The study suggests that managing forest concessions to encourage rehabilitation and restoration, while avoiding conversion to agriculture and plantations, can play an important role in ensuring the long-term survival of orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra. The research also indicates that forest sector development should focus on increasing yields in existing plantations, restricting the expansion of new plantations to deforested areas. Such steps, the study reports, could contribute to Indonesia meeting its pledge to stabilize all remaining wild populations of orangutan by 2017.

The findings of the study are based on a survey of orangutan distribution and a modeled distribution map covering 21 per cent of Borneo’s landmass. [Logging concession areas: Good for orangutans and forest conservation, says study] [Publication: Understanding the Impacts of Land-Use Policies on a Threatened Species: Is There a Future for the Bornean Orang-utan?]