Orang-utan extinction threat shortens

The orang-utan could be virtually extinct within five years after it was discovered that the animal’s rainforest habitat is being destroyed even more rapidly than had been predicted five years ago. A United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report has found that illegal logging and fires have been overtaken as the primary cause of deforestation by a huge expansion in oil palm plantations, which are being created to meet soaring demand from Western food manufacturers and the growing zeal for biofuels. The UNEP report ‘The last stand of the orang-utan: state of emergency’ says natural rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia are being cleared so rapidly that up to 98 per cent may be destroyed by 2022, and the lowland forest stronghold of orang-utans much sooner, unless urgent action is taken. This is a decade earlier than the previous report estimated when it was published five years ago. Overall the loss of orang-utan habitats is happening 30 per cent more rapidly than had previously been thought. Satellite images reveal that illegal logging is now taking place in 27 of 41 national parks in Indonesia and is probably still on the increase. The report says: ‘At current rates of intrusions, it is likely that some parks may become severely degraded in as little as three to five years, that is by 2012.’ The report says: ‘Today, the rapid increase in [oil palm] plantation acreage is one of the greatest threats to orangutans and the forests on which they depend. In Malaysia and Indonesia, it is now the primary cause of permanent rainforest loss. The huge demand for this versatile product makes it very Worries about the survival of the orang-utan are deepening, according to a new UN report, writes Nigel Williams. Orang-utan extinction threat shortens