Ecoregional Assessment of Biological Diversity in East Kalimantan

East Kalimantan Ecoregional Assessment: Chapter 2 – Target Ecological Systems
The low viability ranking of the Lowland Forest occurrences in Kutai National Park is
somewhat disturbing. Clearly, a large part of this important national park, which is crucial
for the conservation of Lowland Rainforest ecosystems, has been very badly damaged.
However, there is promising new information on the ability of this forest to recover, if
protected from further damage. Therefore it was retained in the proposed conservation
portfolio. This recovery potential may be offset by the fact that illegal human settlements and
agriculture have occurred within the National Park, and illegal logging continues unabated.
Lowland Rainforest is frequently further subdivided into hill dipterocarp (0-300 m a.s.l.), and
two other categories 300- 800 m a.s.l. and >800 m a.s.l. The RePPProT types that most
frequently represent these altitudinal groupings are well represented in the portfolio,
confirming further that the use of these landsystem types in portfolio assembly does a good
job in capturing altitudinal gradients that are classically suggested to represent such
vegetation changes. See Appendix III for the representative quantities of each of the
landsystem types for each ecological system type in the portfolio. Charts in Appendix III also
show the amount of each forest type captured within the three precipitation zones present in
the planning area.
Orangutan Conservation Issues
This ECA would be remiss if it neglected to highlight conservation issues surrounding the
most globally charismatic of its megafauna – the orangutan. Much has been published about
its ecology and the challenges the conservation community faces in terms of ensuring longterm
survival of this close human primate relative (see Our Vanishing Relative by Neijman &
Meikjaard). Little has been done on the ground however, short of establishment of
“rehabilitation centers” which may send mixed messages to the general public on the urgency
of native habitat protection for this complex great ape.
Predictions of the orangutan’s demise in the wild follow those of the disappearance of its
intact lowland rainforest habitat – that is, 10 years give or take a few. Although this rate of
deforestation has been known for about a decade or more, not much has been done to abate
the threat in meaningful terms. National parks and reserves set aside on paper, supported by
national laws that technically prevent destructive activities within them, have done little to
actually stem the tide of forest loss through illegal logging, illegal settlements, and wildfire
associated with these activities. The future truly looks dim for this primate species and its
habitat in the wild.
The threats are synergistic in nature, difficult to tease apart, and these entanglements must be
understood to have any hope of abating them. Strategies to deal with the threats must be
targeted at the sources of threat and must be coordinated at all levels of government to
effectively reverse the trends of loss. Therefore, each source of stress will be simply listed
here to acknowledge its role in the decline of the wild orangutan populations in Kalimantan.
Detailed treatment of these threats and sources and strategies for abatement will be
accomplished in Site Conservation Planning specific to the individual portfolio sites
recommended in this assessment.
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