Since Autumn 2006, Born Free has been supporting ground-breaking research into human-orangutan conflict in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Under the leadership of Gail Campbell-Smith, a PhD student at the Durrell Institute of Conservation Ecology, seven Indonesian field assistants have been funded by Born Free to assist with the two-year fieldwork.
With Indonesia’s tropical rainforest being continually depleted, and the remaining tracts of wild areas becoming ever-more fragmented from each other, orangutans are being forced to forage on farmland to supplement their fast-disappearing forest food sources. The result is direct conflict with humans, equally dependent on their crops to survive. Such competition invariably impacts negatively on both humans, in terms of economic losses from damaged crops, as well as orangutans, who are often trapped, poisoned or shot by understandably vengeful farmers.
The project aims to not only highlight and better understand the nature and extent of increasing competition between orangutans and humans for land and food, but also to explore and develop ways in which local communities can be encouraged to identify and implement solutions to the problem.
The research should be completed in Autumn 2008, and the completed thesis will be made available to read online during 2009.
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