Man of the forest vulnerable to forest conversionCommon Name: Orang-utan (Eng & Bahasa Melayu)Kogiu (Orang Sungai language) Scientific Name: Pongo pygmaeus (Borneon orang-utan)Habitat: Lowland forests, also found in tropical, swamp and mountain forestsStatus: Endangered globally. Vulnerable in Sabah & SarawakPopulation: Estimated to be about 12,300 in Sabah & Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.

Background

Asia’s only great ape, the orang-utan or ‘man of the forest’ is found only on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Globally classified as endangered due to their habitat being destroyed, fragmented and poaching, orang-utans in Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) are probably best classed as ‘vulnerable’. Much of their prime habitat has been converted to plantations and the rate of habitat loss has hit a very low level in recent years. There is almost no hunting of this species in Malaysia, and most of the remaining populations are found in forests that are protected or under natural forest management.Borneo is unique in that it has three distinct populations or subspecies of orang-utans:

Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus (northwest populations)

Pongo pygmaeus morio (northeast and east populations)

Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii (southwest populations)

Orang-utans in the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak occur mainly in the lowlands. In Sarawak, there are about 1,300 orang-utans, almost all in the Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary and Batang Ai National Park in the south next to West Kalimantan, Indonesia. In Sabah, there were five main areas of special importance with a total of 20,000 orang-utans in the mid 1980s (by WWF-Malaysia working with the Sabah Forestry Department, 1986).

By 2004, the orang-utan population in Sabah had dropped to about 11,000 individuals (by Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project working with Sabah Wildlife Department, 2003). This decline in their numbers in the last twenty years was caused by planned conversion of forests to plantations in the eastern lowlands. Physical and species description Orang-utans generally have brown and rust-coloured shaggy fur. Weighing in at an average of 50 kg, female orang-utans grow to about 1.1 m in height and weigh 30 - 50 kg. Males weigh 50-90 kg and stand 1.2 - 1.5 m tall.

Ecology, Habitat & Distribution

Fruit eater sleeps in new nest every nightImagine sleeping 2 storeys and above up in the trees every night. The arboreal orang-utan lives up in trees where they bend twigs and small branches together to make a large nest-platform for sleeping. They are the largest tree dwelling mammal in the world. Adult orang-utans are solitary, except during mating. Orang-utans are not territorial, maintaining a loose relationship in a given area although adult males are hostile to one another. Crowding may cause them to fight over the limited supply of fruits. An adult female gives birth about once every six years.DietOmnivorous, orang-utans eat both plants and animals but feed mainly on fruits, young leaves, bark and insects. By about the age of ten, an orang-utan can recognise over 200 different food plants. The orang-utan’s favourite food is fruit.Population decline of 40% in last two decadesOrang-utans in Sabah and Sarawak live mainly in lowland rainforests but are also found in tropical, swamp and mountain forests. Sarawak has about 1,300 orang-utans, almost all in the Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary and Batang Ai National Park to the south bordering West Kalimantan, Indonesia. In Sabah, there are about 11,000 individuals today, the population having declined by over 40% in the last 20 years due mainly to planned conversion of forests to plantations in the eastern lowlands. Drought and forest fires, especially during the El Nino events of 1982-83 and 1997-98, but also 1987 and 1991, contributed to the decline.

Threats

Destruction of natural forests and unreliable food sourcesWild orang-utan populations need a reliable source of a variety of fruits and young leaves to survive. They can survive only in extensive natural forests. The availability of food all year round means not all forests can support long-term breeding populations. We now know that this gentle ape can survive only in lowlands - where fertile soils and constant water availability allow steady food production - or where there are several forest types with different fruiting and leaf-producing seasons. There is little point in putting orang-utans where they have historically not existed, as lack of food supply may eventually cause them to die. There are six areas in Malaysia with quite large populations but this does not mean that any one of these places is unimportant. There is always the risk that one or more populations could be devastated by disease, drought or fires.

Maintaining natural forests with viable wild breeding populations and restoring degraded forests is vital for the continued survival of orang-utans in Malaysia. Hence, the Sabah government’s initiative to retain the largest orang-utan population in the Ulu Segama-Malua Forest Reserves under sustainable forest management (SFM) deserves full support. The Deramakot forest management model, which produces controlled amounts of timber for international auction, certified according to international standards since 1997, shows what can be done. SFM could reduce forest damage and provide enough time for the forest to regenerate. In SFM, reforestation is necessary to ensure the forest rehabilitation or restoration take place in any sustainably managed forest. In the Lower Kinabatangan, various isolated forest patches need to be joined through restoration.

Mangroves - making it right

The need to preserve the country’s remaining tracts of swamps and to reforest eroded coastlines has never been more pressing than after the tsunami. This plot in Sg Hj Doranim, Sg Besar, Selangor, is where FRIM tries to find the best way to plant mangroves.

THERE'S something riveting about a budding patch of green rising up from a bed of mire.
The tenacity in which those seedlings try to break loose from the deluge of mud, its shoots reaching up for air and life, is a sign of revitalised hope. Like a spark of life amid the murk.But by the end of a year, for every one that survives, six fail to last out the harsh elements.T

he survival rate of replanted mangroves is dismal to say the least, says expert Dr Shamsudin Ibrahim.For years, the country's foresters and many green groups and firms have spent endless hours and millions of ringgit rehabilitating mangrove forests the usual way, which is to lodge the seedling into a hole in the swamp and tie it to a stick for support.

Unfortunately, the young plant is no match for waves, wind and bad sediment.The sleepy, scenic fishing village of Sg Hj Dorani, Sg Besar, Selangor is one example. Mud along the coast is so soft that no trees would grow.

"During high tides, the mud moves. If you plant it here, the next day, the plant moves elsewhere.

"There's no chance for the seedling to establish itself," says Shamsudin, forestry and environmental director of the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM).How can delicate saplings rise above towering crashes of waves, strong winds and liquid mud to anchor themselves firm enough into the ground and grow then?

This is where the challenge is for FRIM, tasked under a national initiative to find the best way to plant mangroves.

FRIM chose the worst place to start -- the 120km-from-town Sg Hj Dorani -- where erosion is so bad it is listed as risk 1, imminently threatening properties and economic activities nearby.Mangroves stretching 1km out into the sea half a decade ago are now a mere 200m strip left holding up the Kuala Bernam forest reserve.

But Dr Raja Barizan Raja Sulaiman, project leader for the innovative planting technique component, found that the answer lies in a little intervention and creative planting methods.The Department of Irrigation and Drainage used RM1 million to build four geotubes, each a giant sack stuffed with sand and water, to break the waves in front of the 2ha study plot.More than 5,000 seedlings were then planted with the help of fishermen using the conventional method and three other innovative ways -- the comp-pillow, comp-mat and bamboo encasement methods.During low tides, the team waded gingerly into the thigh-high slush to sow the seedlings in. To reach plots further out, they glided across the mud in wooden boxes called tongkah.

One and a half years on, the backbreaking efforts paid off. Today, row upon row of apple green stalks dot the otherwise sombre mudflat.Not all seedlings rose to the occasion though. Some are playing catch-up while others washed away.Those which survived progressed well under comp-mat, especially the two Rhizophora species -- bakau kurap and minyak -- with a survival rate of over 70 per cent.Seedlings are protected in a coated wire mesh filled with loose coconut fibre and mud.

Within three weeks of being lodged soundly into the mud, roots develop and bind themselves to the cage for support.Comparatively, only a quarter survived under conventional planting."Anything less than half the survival rate is not successful," says Raja Barizan, adding that FRIM is applying for intellectual property rights over the invention.

As for the api-api or Avicennia alba, it thrives best under comp-pillow, where the seedling nestles in compressed coconut fibre held together by nylon strings. Its pencil roots are free to spread out and anchor themselves to the ground.The five-year research may still be in its early days, but both Shamsudin and Raja Barizan are confident of the outcome.

The two successful methods are being applied in Perlis, Kedah and Penang. FRIM has also been invited to rehabilitate degraded forests in Pulau Bintan, Indonesia and Singapore.Mangroves have made their lack of presence truly felt.