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• Conservation Glossary

Borneo, Southeast Asia: Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project (KOCP)

Conservation at a Glance

• Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is home to a rich diversity of plants, animals, and indigenous populations. In the last year alone, 52 new species of animals and plants were discovered in Borneo.
• Orang-utans live in the forests of Borneo and are dependent upon them, living almost exclusively in the trees and rarely coming to the ground.
• Unfortunately, Borneo’s forests have been disappearing at an alarming rate due to logging and conversion to oil palm plantations. In the last 20 years, 80% of the Lower Kinabatangan River Region has been converted to oil palm plantations.  Palm oil is used primarily as biofuel.
• The Philadelphia Zoo supports the Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conervation Project (KOCP), which focuses on orang-utan conservation using field research, community involvement, ecotourism support.
• Orang-utan populations in Borneo have become fragmented by deforestation that blocks gene flow and leaves small populations vulnerable to extinction.
• KOCP staff plant trees and construct man-made tree bridges across gaps in the forest to increase habitat available to orang-utans and to combat population fragmentation.