The Orangutan Foundation

The Orangutan Foundation works actively to help conserve orangutans by protecting their globally important habitat, the tropical forests of Borneo and Sumatra, working with local communities, and promoting research and education. Since its foundation in 1990, the Orangutan Foundation has developed a diverse range of programmes in various ecologically important regions to help protect orangutans and their unique habitat, which is rich in biodiversity. 

In the last 30 years, orangutans have lost 80% of their forest habitat as a result of oil palm plantations, acacia plantations, illegal logging, fire, mining and demands from the growing human population. As a result, Bornean orangutans are now classified as critically endangered (IUCN, 2023) with as few as 7,300 remaining. Experts estimate that if this rate of deforestation continues, then orangutans could become extinct in the wild in less than 25 years.

The Orangutan Foundation works actively to help conserve orangutans by protecting their globally important habitat, the tropical forests of Borneo and Sumatra, working with local communities, and promoting research and education. Since 1990, the Orangutan Foundation has developed a diverse range of programmes through various ecologically-important regions to help protect orangutans and their unique habitat, which is rich in biodiversity.

Blackpool Zoo helps to support the projects associated with Lamandau Wildlife Reserve.

Lamandau Wildlife Reserve (Borneo, Indonesia) is a 158,000-acre conservation area of diverse peat swamp forest habitat. The reserve is of high-ecological significance, home to self-sustaining populations of gibbon, proboscis monkey, 600 orangutans and a network of local communities that act as guardians of the forest and form the backbone of the Orangutan Foundation's work through environmental stewardship.

Through a dedicated team of 65 local staff operating from five camps and eight guard posts, the Orangutan Foundation are able to coordinate several key conservation projects:

• A soft-release programme to give orphaned orangutans the opportunity to learn necessary life skills before being re-introduced to the forest.
• Rescue and translocation operations to remove orangutans from areas where they are at risk of human-wildlife conflict.
• A habitat protection programme to orchestrate regular patrols and eliminate illegal activity, such as logging, encroachment, and hunting in the forest.
• A reforestation programme to cultivate, nurture, and plant native tree species to regenerate degraded areas.
• Collaborating with local communities through events, workshops, and formal teaching to raise awareness on the importance of protecting local wildlife and habitat through sustainable living.

The success of these projects is fundamental to conserving wild orangutans for the future. Since its creating in 1998, efforts in Lamandau have increased the area of prime forest under conservation by 29%, facilitated 111 wild orangutan births, maintained annual population surveys of other important species like proboscis monkey, and encouraged a noticeable increase in the amount of reported orangutan sightings - reflecting the positive impact that education awareness programmes are having on people's attitudes towards conservation.