Green Options

Legend has it, an ape-like man has been roaming the forests of Sumatra for years.  For two weeks, a team of British explorers from the Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ), along with an Indonesian guide, tracked the creature deep within the Kerinci National Park to find evidence of the ape-like man known as Orang Pendek, or short man.

In a heartbreaking setback to Sumatran rhino conservation, the Cincinnati Zoo’s beloved Emi has died.

Emi the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) was the heart of the world’s only successful captive breeding program for the critically endangered species.

Authorities fear that the killing of Sheila the tiger at Jambi’s Rimbo Zoo is a shocking new development in the illegal wildlife trade. The tiger’s skin, along with body parts in demand for traditional Asian “remedies”, were taken from the tiger’s enclosure.

Officials noted that even the tiger’s blood had been collected.

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Of the great apes–a group that includes chimps, gorillas, and bonobos–the orangutan (found only in the tropical rain forests of Sumatra and Borneo islands) is the most endangered, currently. Recent wild fires, tribal conflicts and on-going deforestation has seriously dwindled their total habitat. Some primatologists believe that the orangutan is the closest primate relative to humans–more than even the chimpanzee.

In the largest debt-for-nature swap the U.S. government has organized so far under the U.S. Tropical Forest Conservation Act, the United States has signed an agreement with Indonesia to forgive nearly $30 million in debt.

The U.S. government has agreed to forgive $30 million in Indonesian debt in exchange for Indonesia’s agreement to protect Sumatran forests, according to Conservation International.

Indonesia is said to be the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, behind the United States and China, because of its deforestation rate. These forests are home to critically endangered Sumatran rhinos, tigers, orangutans, and other rare wildlife.

How it works (in a nutshell)

Instead of repaying the debt, Indonesia is to place the money in a trust, to be paid over eight years, which will be used to protect 13 forest areas on Sumatra. Grants from the trust will be issued for critical forest conservation and restoration work in Sumatra.

Ecologist Erik Meijaard of the The Nature Conservancy posted on their site last week about the discovery of up to 1000 or slighly more Borneo Orangutans, which are an endangered species. Human demand for timber and agricultural products is reducing their habitat swiftly.

In fact the nearby Sumatran Orangutan is critically endangered and has an estimated population of about 7,000 in the wild. Borneos may be as many as 50,000 total.

That may seem like a large number, but their habitat is being altered so rapidly they could be wiped out just as swiftly. In 2007 a United Nations report indicated 98% of orangutan range in both Borneo and Sumatra could be wiped out by 2022.

Eyes on the Forest, a conservation coalition, has released a research report on the clash between commercial logging and Sumatran tigers living in forests clear cut by the paper industry.

Their analysis shows that most of the tiger - human violence occurring in Sumatra has taken place near areas being deforested by Asia Pulp and Paper. Over the last 12 years, 55 people and 15 critically endangered Sumatran tigers have lost their lives in the violence. Seventeen of the tigers have been captured alive.

The WWF has called for a halt to Indonesian deforestation in light of the recent tiger maulings that have left 6 people dead in less than a month.  The last three victims all appeared to be working at illegal logging camps in protected forests.

The Sumatran tiger (the worlds most endangered tiger subspecies) is having a hard time coping with a diminishing habitat.  Forest destruction and fragmentation have led the tigers to lay claim to woods near populated areas.

World Species Survey details gloomy outlook for many animal species.In early October of 2008, the results of a global species  survey, conducted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, were released.  The numbers are startling:

• At least a quarter of mammal species are headed toward extinction in the near future.
• Nearly 80 percent of the primate species in southern and southeastern Asia are immediately threatened.
• At least 22 percent of reptile species are at risk of extinction.
• Perhaps 40 percent of North American freshwater fish are threatened.
• In Europe, 45 percent of the most common bird species are rapidly declining, and so are the most common bird species in North America.

But perhaps these figures are a bit too abstract. Here’s a more precise way to look at the present state of bio-diversity on Earth.