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30 years ago Lewis Leaky, on an opinion formed during a single brief meeting, sent a young Dr. Birute Galdikas deep into the wild jungles of Borneo, a Canadian with the lifelong dream of studying the great ape of Indonesia. To this day she remains in Borneo, huddled in the dense peat swap forests- surrounded by foreign owned palm oil plantations, poachers, illegal loggers and gold miners – a single force fending off the rapidly developing world from the last of these great apes – the Orangutan.

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I have spent a great deal of time with her and her primates, discussing the future of this majestic animal, its place on the critically endangered species list and the effects the events in Borneo are having on climate change.

The extinction of the Orangutan and climate change, seemingly unrelated events, share a similar root. In short, the very events that are driving the Orangutan to extinction are the same that contribute wholesale to climate change. In the name of business, specifically Palm oil and mining, thousand of miles of Peat Swamp Forest are burned every year. Sadly, peat swamp forests also contain vast amounts of carbon, which when burned, is released into the atmosphere, making Borneo, a small non industrial island, the third largest producer of Carbon in the world. 

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Tragically, thousands of orangutan inhabitants are exterminated in the process.

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What is being done:  with the help of Sponsors, Dr Galdikas is attempting to out bid the palm oil companies for the forests, at approximately $150 per acre. The hope is to purchase 12,000 acres over the next few years – effectively preserving a habitat for the primate as well as preventing millions of tons of carbon from escaping into the atmosphere.

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If you can help, please click www.Orangutan.org and contribute what you can. Mention, Habitat and Expedition Earth.