Indonesia’s new forest capital in Borneo heightens fears for orangutans’ future

(CNN) — The steamy, jungle-covered tropical island of Borneo was once considered one of the remotest, wildest places on earth. A place where orangutans and headhunters lurked undisturbed.

Together with neighboring Sumatra, it’s one of just two places in the world where the orangutan lives in the wild.

As deforestation accelerates and more species are lost and threatened, now more trouble lurks.

Almost three years after announcing it, the Indonesian government is moving ahead with its plans to relocate the nation’s capital to the dense but dwindling jungles of East Kalimantan province.

That is, 730 miles (about 1,175 kilometers) away from sinking, overcrowded Jakarta to a new “forest capital,” as President Joko Widodo calls it, in Borneo’s hilly hinterland.

An orangutan eats a pineapple at the Samboja Lodge eco-tourism resort, operated by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation.

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Orangutans’ habitat continues to shrink

The government envisages the “smart city in the forest” as an innovation hub.

But alongside the excitement, there’s also deep concern for the shrinking lowland tropical rainforest and its wildlife. The UN says humans are driving the orangutan to extinction.

This has led to fears that while securing a future for the sinking megalopolis, Indonesian officials are sinking the future of one of the planet’s most remarkable creatures.

A juvenile orangutan plays at the Samboja Lodge eco-tourism resort.

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“This inevitably will create huge changes to the surrounding habitats.”

The foundation’s orangutan rehabilitation work began in East Kalimantan in 1991.

Since 2006, its orangutan sanctuary, Samboja Lestari, has been caring for injured and orphaned orangutans, rescued from jungle destroyed by logging and palm oil crops.

It lies precisely in the area of the new capital.

Today, staff here take care of over 120 rescued orangutans in a conservation area of regenerating forest. The idea is to release them back into “areas of safe, secure natural habitat” if they regain their health. But what if the fruit-rich forests suffer further losses?

“The neighboring Sepaku and Samboja districts (earmarked for Nusantara) do not have wild orangutan populations,” Nurcahyo says.

“But the orangutan rehabilitation center is located here, on 1,850 hectares of forest, which needs to be preserved in its current condition.”

NGOs and locals worry that a new city of some 1.5 million residents may be disastrous for the environment.

The influx, mostly of civil servants and their families from Jakarta, could force the dispossession of people and animals.

This aerial picture taken on August 28, 2019 shows the area around Sepaku, where Indonesia’s new capital is set to be built.

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The extent of the threat to rare wildlife will depend on the ongoing planning and surveys, says BOS.

“With the unique ecosystems in East Kalimantan, it is vital to have a mitigation plan in place tailored to these specific environmental needs,” Nurcahyo insists.

“That plan is still being developed. The first step will be to evaluate and map the impact of the move.”

Local government promises environment will be protected

Nurcahyo says about 57,350 orangutans survive in Borneo, “spread into 42 pockets of wild population.”

The big worry is that most orangutans in Kalimantan exist outside of protected areas. Or, as the WWF puts it, “in forests that are exploited for timber production or are in the process of being converted to agriculture.”

Kato — a large male orangutan — is carried in a cage from a small boat from the River Bemban to his release site in Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park in Central Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia in 2017.

Jonathan Perugia/In Pictures/Getty Images

Officials have moved to allay fears about the impact of the new capital on the environment.

The Indonesian government has pledged no protected forests…