They are threatened by the reduction and splitting up of their habitat, due to logging and oil palm plantations (to produce palm oil). Young orangutans also suffer from the illegal exotic pet trade, and the species could become extinct in the next 10 years.

Conservation actions

For 10 years, the members of HUTAN follow up daily 25 orangutans and have developed an eco-tourism project with the local population. Thanks to their work, the research area of the association has been declared “nature reserve”.

Moreover, the HUTAN teams try to understand how oil palm plantations impact the life of orangutans, in order to find the best way to make them cohabitate.

At the same time as these conservation actions dedicated to orangutans, HUTAN has initiated a conservation project for Borneo elephants, focused in particular on human-wildlife conflicts. A tight collaboration with the local communities is highly necessary to make them aware of wildlife preservation. To avoid the destruction of farming lands by elephants, HUTAN has trained rangers who patrol around those lands and build fences, thus limiting the number of elephants shot by private land owners.