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Reforesting for the climate of tomorrow: Recommendations for strengthening orangutan conservation and climate change resilience in Kutai National Park, Indonesia
Abstract
Recommendations for strengthening orangutan conservation and climate change resilience in Kutai National Park, Indonesia.
In Indonesia, Kutai National Park is home to what is likely to be East Kalimantan’s largest population of the Critically Endangered eastern subspecies of the Bornean Orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus morio. It also hosts an astounding diversity of other species including ~80 mammal, 369 bird and 1287 plant species. The park plays an important role in regulating water supply to neighbouring towns, attracts tourism and its forests serve as a valuable carbon sink. Yet East Kalimantan faces many challenges in maintaining and protecting biodiversity from threats, particularly from population expansion into the protected area with associated hunting and forest clearing for agriculture, fire, and coal
mining. More recently, climate change has been identified as an emerging threat, with both observed and projected changes indicating with high confidence that higher temperatures are to be expected. These are likely to exacerbate drought
conditions, which enable wildfires and lead to a range of other negative impacts on the species of Kutai National Park. To date, however, few initiatives have attempted to assess the vulnerability of the region’s biodiversity to climate change, nor to develop strategies to minimise negative impacts.
Forest restoration, also referred to as reforestation, presents a valuable opportunity to restore biodiversity and function to degraded areas that were once forested. Reforestation initiatives are being carried out in Kutai National Park, ranging from protection to enrichment planting in areas that were previously burnt but are now recovering. While several of these programmes have successfully planted large numbers of seedlings, little attention has been placed on restoring species richness, ecological function or selecting species that are of value for orangutan survival. In addition, most fail to consider climate change and hence that selected species must be able to establish and survive in the warmer and drier climatic conditions of the future. There is a clear and pressing need to update Kutai National Park’s existing restoration practices to ensure forest integrity, provide opportunities for threatened species, and guide consideration of how to build climate change resilience. By doing so, the forests that orangutans need to survive into the future are more likely to persist.
To meet the need for guidance on climate change resilient reforestation practices, we collaborated with park authorities and other experts to identify the tree species that are most vulnerable to climate change and those likely to be most climate change resilient. The importance of orangutans in Kutai National Park’s conservation objectives led us to expand our scope to identify those tree species that are valuable resources for them, and this extended further to addressing the need for identification of those that are ecologically and commercially important; those that are iconic (have tourist potential); those
that are most representative of primary forest; those resilient to fire; as well as those that are locally threatened. To assess climate change vulnerability and resilience, we examined the biological characteristics or traits of species that are associated
with their sensitivity and/or adaptive capacity to the anticipated climate changes and the resulting altered fire regimes. We examine restoration case studies, remind readers of restoration best practice, and present sets of tree species from a set of ~250 considered in the analysis that are likely to be suited to various restoration targets for Kutai National Park, e.g. with a focus on habitat restoration for orangutan; or a focus on conservation of rare and useful species. Given the fire prone nature of the area, two species stand out due to their resilience to fire events: Borassodendron borneense, and
Eusideroxylon zwageri: known locally as Bendang and Ulin respectively. The following species emerged as most important food plants for Orangutan: Dracontomelon dao, Merremia mammosa, Kleinhovia hospita, Alangium hirsutum, Dillenia reticulata, Callicarpa pentandra, and Ficus obpyramidata. Species that are most likely to be climate change resilient were dominated by pioneer or invasive species.
It emerged from workshops held in Bontang, Indonesia, that supply of seedlings for restoration projects is a challenge.
Special provision must also be made for the collection of seedlings for masting species, as these events provide a rare
opportunity to source otherwise rare stock for key species such as those of the Dipterocarpaceae. This family in particular emerged as vulnerable to climate change, but also one that is regionally important. Furthermore, the success of any restoration project lies in addressing the issues that lead to deforestation in the first place. These issues need to be addressed and long term monitoring needs to be in place to ensure the success of all restoration projects.
The intended audiences of this work include: orangutan researchers, government, mining companies, nurseries and other companies that are seeking guidance on habitat restoration for climate change resilience in East Kalimantan, as well as those wishing to support biodiversity conservation and/or restoration in the region.
... Our third aim, then, is to contemplate what an analytic of responsibility can bring to ongoing scholarly conversations about the Anthropocene, a powerful "commoning" figure that has increasingly reshaped biodiversity conservation's models and tropes of responsibility (Holmes 2015). Its influence is evident in orangutan conservation, which has recently been grappling with both Anthropocenic phenomena (e.g., climate change, forest fires, plantation expansion) and emerging Anthropocenic discourses-particularly regarding human-orangutan coexistence in anthropogenic landscapes (e.g., Hockings et al. 2015;Lee, Carr, and Ahmad 2019;Meijaard 2018;Spehar et al. 2018;Wich et al. 2015). As such, orangutan conservation constitutes a "problem space" (Moore 2016, 27) through which to think (about) responsibility in the Anthropocene. ...
In an era of mass extinction, who gets a life jacket, who is left to drown or swim—and on what basis? This article addresses these questions by analyzing how tropes and practices of responsibility are variously enacted, reworked, contested, and refused across the global nexus of orangutan conservation. Drawing on multisited, collaborative ethnography, we trace the mutually constitutive relation between multiple orangutan figures and commons imaginaries at different nodes of conservation—from environmental activism in the Global North to NGO‐villager encounters in rural Borneo. In so doing, we “uncommon” international conservation's encompassing planetary imaginaries, showing how dominant portrayals of the orangutan as a global responsibility are translated and fragmented in different settings. We further contemplate what an analytic of responsibility might bring to ongoing discussions about the “commoning” planetary epoch in which conservation is increasingly embedded: the Anthropocene. [ commons , uncommoning , responsibility , orangutan conservation , the Anthropocene , Borneo , Indonesia ]
Based on a case study of orangutan ecotourism in Indonesian Borneo, this paper examines the role of photography in the ecotourist experience. Particular attention is paid to the tendency of photography to commodify nature and the implications for both tourists and nature of such commodification. It is recommended that more consideration be given to the educational aspects of ecotourism when formulating tourist management plans.
Theory and evidence indicate that trees and other vegetation influence the atmospheric water-cycle in various ways. These influences are more important, more complex, and more poorly characterised than is widely realised. While there is little doubt that changes in tree cover will impact the water-cycle, the wider consequences remain difficult to predict as the underlying relationships and processes remain poorly characterised. Nonetheless, as forests are vulnerable to human activities, these linked aspects of the water-cycle are also at risk and the potential consequences of large scale forest loss are severe. Here, for non-specialist readers, I review our knowledge of the links between vegetation-cover and climate with a focus on forests and rain (precipitation). I highlight advances, uncertainties and research opportunities. There are significant shortcomings in our understanding of the atmospheric hydrological cycle and of its representation in climate models. A better understanding of the role of vegetation and tree-cover will reduce some of these shortcomings. I outline and illustrate various research themes where these advances may be found. These themes include the biology of evaporation, aerosols and atmospheric motion, as well as the processes that determine monsoons and diurnal precipitation cycles. A novel theory—the ‘biotic pump’—suggests that evaporation and condensation can exert a major influence over atmospheric dynamics. This theory explains how high rainfall can be maintained within those continental land-masses that are sufficiently forested. Feedbacks within many of these processes can result in non-linear behaviours and the potential for dramatic changes as a result of forest loss (or gain): for example, switching from a wet to a dry local climate (or visa-versa). Much remains unknown and multiple research disciplines are needed to address this: forest scientists and other biologists have a major role to play. New ideas, methods and data offer opportunities to improve understanding. Expect surprises.
Afforestation and reforestation projects in the karst regions of southwest China aim to combat desertification and improve the ecological environment. However, it remains unclear at what scale conservation efforts have impacted on carbon stocks and if vegetation regrowth occurs at a large spatial scale as intended. Here we use satellite time series data and show a widespread increase in leaf area index (a proxy for green vegetation cover), and aboveground biomass carbon, which contrasted negative trends found in the absence of anthropogenic influence as simulated by an ecosystem model. In spite of drought conditions, aboveground biomass carbon increased by 9% (+0.05 Pg C y−1), mainly in areas of high conservation effort. We conclude that large scale conservation projects can contribute to a greening Earth with positive effects on carbon sequestration to mitigate climate change. At the regional scale, such ecological engineering projects may reduce risks of desertification by increasing the vegetation cover and reducing the ecosystem sensitivity to climate perturbations. Since 2000, China has attempted to vegetate huge portions of eroded landscape in its south west, bordering Vietman, Laos, and Myanmar. This study finds that this ecological engineering is combating desertification as vegetation regrows and stores carbon.
The equatorial island of Borneo is a deforestation hotspot. However, the influence of forest loss on the island's climate remains largely unexplored. Here, we examine how forest loss is related to changes in ground-based records of temperature (1961–2007) and precipitation (1951–2007), and MODIS data for temperature (2002–2016). Analyses were performed for the entire island, lowland areas (<200 m ASL), and nine selected watersheds. We found a strong island-wide relationship between forest loss and increases in daily temperature and reductions in daily precipitation. The relationship between deforestation and changes in local climate was most pronounced for watersheds in southeast Borneo, which have lost 40%–75% of their forests since 1973. These watersheds also had a significantly higher frequency of temperatures above 31 °C. Watersheds in north and northwest Borneo, which have lost 5%–25% of their forest cover, maintained a more stable climate with a similar distribution of mean and extreme warm temperatures between forest and modified forest areas. Watersheds with >15% forest loss had a >15% reduction in rainfall. We conclude that loss of forest in Borneo has increased local daily temperatures and temperature extremes, and reduced daily precipitation.
Unsustainable exploitation of natural resources is increasingly affecting the highly biodiverse tropics [1, 2]. Although rapid developments in remote sensing technology have permitted more precise estimates of land-cover change over large spatial scales [3, 4, 5], our knowledge about the effects of these changes on wildlife is much more sparse [6, 7]. Here we use field survey data, predictive density distribution modeling, and remote sensing to investigate the impact of resource use and land-use changes on the density distribution of Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus). Our models indicate that between 1999 and 2015, half of the orangutan population was affected by logging, deforestation, or industrialized plantations. Although land clearance caused the most dramatic rates of decline, it accounted for only a small proportion of the total loss. A much larger number of orangutans were lost in selectively logged and primary forests, where rates of decline were less precipitous, but where far more orangutans are found. This suggests that further drivers, independent of land-use change, contribute to orangutan loss. This finding is consistent with studies reporting hunting as a major cause in orangutan decline [8, 9, 10]. Our predictions of orangutan abundance loss across Borneo suggest that the population decreased by more than 100,000 individuals, corroborating recent estimates of decline [11]. Practical solutions to prevent future orangutan decline can only be realized by addressing its complex causes in a holistic manner across political and societal sectors, such as in land-use planning, resource exploitation, infrastructure development, and education, and by increasing long-term sustainability [12].
Six extant species of non-human great apes are currently recognized: Sumatran and Bornean orangutans, eastern and western gorillas, and chimpanzees and bonobos [1]. However, large gaps remain in our knowledge of fine-scale variation in hominoid morphology, behavior, and genetics, and aspects of great ape taxonomy remain in flux. This is particularly true for orangutans (genus: Pongo), the only Asian great apes and phylogenetically our most distant relatives among extant hominids [1]. Designation of Bornean and Sumatran orangutans, P. pygmaeus (Linnaeus 1760) and P. abelii (Lesson 1827), as distinct species occurred in 2001 [1, 2]. Here, we show that an isolated population from Batang Toru, at the southernmost range limit of extant Sumatran orangutans south of Lake Toba, is distinct from other northern Sumatran and Bornean populations. By comparing cranio-mandibular and dental characters of an orangutan killed in a human-animal conflict to those of 33 adult male orangutans of a similar developmental stage, we found consistent differences between the Batang Toru individual and other extant Ponginae. Our analyses of 37 orangutan genomes provided a second line of evidence. Model-based approaches revealed that the deepest split in the evolutionary history of extant orangutans occurred ∼3.38 mya between the Batang Toru population and those to the north of Lake Toba, whereas both currently recognized species separated much later, about 674 kya. Our combined analyses support a new classification of orangutans into three extant species. The new species, Pongo tapanuliensis, encompasses the Batang Toru population, of which fewer than 800 individuals survive.
Tropical rainforests, naturally resistant to fire when intact, are increasingly vulnerable to burning due to ongoing forest perturbation and, possibly, climatic changes. Industrial-scale forest degradation and conversion are increasing fire occurrence, and interactions with climate anomalies such as El Niño induced droughts can magnify the extent and severity of fire activity. The influences of these factors on fire frequency in tropical forests has not been widely studied at large spatio-temporal scales at which feedbacks between fire reoccurrence and forest degradation may develop. Linkages between fire activity, industrial land use, and El Niño rainfall deficits are acute in Borneo, where the greatest tropical fire events in recorded history have apparently occurred in recent decades. Here we investigate how fire frequency in Borneo has been influenced by industrial-scale agricultural development and logging during El Niño periods by integrating long-term satellite observations between 1982 and 2010 – a period encompassing the onset, development, and consolidation of its Borneo's industrial forestry and agricultural operations as well as the full diversity of El Niño events. We record changes in fire frequency over this period by deriving the longest and most comprehensive spatio-temporal record of fire activity across Borneo using AVHRR Global Area Coverage (GAC) satellite data. Monthly fire frequency was derived from these data and modelled at 0.04° resolution via a random-forest model, which explained 56% of the monthly variation as a function of oil palm and timber plantation extent and proximity, logging intensity and proximity, human settlement, climate, forest and peatland condition, and time, observed using Landsat and similar satellite data. Oil-palm extent increased fire frequency until covering 20% of a grid cell, signalling the significant influence of early stages of plantation establishment. Heighted fire frequency was particularly acute within 10 km of oil palm, where both expanding plantation and smallholder agriculture are believed to be contributing factors. Fire frequency increased abruptly and dramatically when rainfall fell below 200 mm month⁻¹, especially as landscape perturbation increased (indicated by vegetation index data). Logging intensity had a negligible influence on fire frequency, including on peatlands, suggesting a more complex response of logged forest to burning than appreciated. Over time, the epicentres of high-frequency fires expanded from East Kalimantan (1980's) to Central and West Kalimantan (1990's), coincidentally but apparently slightly preceding oil-palm expansion, and high-frequency fires then waned in East Kalimantan and occurred only in Central and West Kalimantan (2000's). After accounting for land-cover changes and climate, our model under-estimates observed fire frequency during ca. 1990–2002 and over-estimates it thereafter, suggesting that a multi-decadal shift to industrial forest conversion and forest landscapes may have diminished the propensity for high-frequency fires in much of this globally significant tropical region since ca. 2000.
The success of restoration projects is known to vary widely, with outcomes relating to numerous biotic and abiotic factors. Though many studies have examined the factors associated with long‐term restoration success, few have examined which factors impact the establishment of restoration plantings.
In Australia's Wet Tropics, we used a large replicated restoration experiment to assess seedling survival for 24 native rainforest species commonly used in local restoration efforts. The experiment allowed for a rigorous assessment of the effects of species functional traits, planting conditions, and landscape‐ and local‐scale biotic and abiotic factors on seedling survival. This study reports on seedling survival between three different time periods of 0–4, 4–9 and 9–31 months post planting.
The probability of seedling survival was influenced by multiple factors, varying in importance over time. Across the whole study period, seedlings with high wood density and which were planted closer to intact forest consistently displayed the highest probabilities of survival. Transient factors affecting seedling survival across the three time periods included plot aspect (0–4 months only), the identity of the planter and slope (4–9 and 9–31 months). Overall, species survival did not differ between the low (6 species) and high (24 species) diversity treatments, but was significantly lower in monocultures of Flindersia brayleyana by the end of the study.
We demonstrate that early‐stage seedling survival depends on species wood density and planting location. Our results support the use of species with more conservative growth strategies when limited funds are available for follow‐up plantings. High wood density species had significantly higher survival than lower wood density, early successional species typically used in rainforest restoration plantings.
Synthesis and applications . Our study highlights the importance of wood density and landscape structure to the initial survival of rainforest plantings. Factors influencing seedling survival shifted over time but, most importantly, our results highlight that, when planting into abandoned pastures, it may be preferable to select species with higher wood densities to maximize survival during the crucial early stages of establishment and growth.