Forest loss, wildfires in Indonesia put orangutans at high extinction risk

Orangutan populations are at a higher risk of extinction amid soaring forest loss and raging wildfires across key habitats in Sumatra and Kalimantan, as the world struggles to keep up with the global target of halting biodiversity loss by 2030. In a joint report published on Oct 24, environmental groups Mighty Earth and Satya Bumi issued a “red code” warning for the Tapanuli orangutan, often considered world’s rarest great ape, which is facing a higher extinction risk. The species is endemic to the fragmented forests of the Batang Toru ecosystem in South Tapanuli regency, North Sumatra. But the ape faced another danger when at least 58 individuals inside the ecosystem were killed by the cyclone-induced floods and landslides in the region in 2025, leaving only an estimated 658 Tapanuli orangutans remaining in the wild.

In their report, the environmental groups noted the disaster had damaged more than 8,300 hectares of forest in the western Batang Toru ecosystem, the largest of the three forest blocks inhabited by the orangutans. Enforcing a moratorium on industrial expansion, smallholder agriculture and small-scale logging, which are among the main drivers of rainforest destruction in orangutan habitat, remains vital, according to Phil Aikman, Southeast Asia campaign director of Mighty Earth. Limiting the business may pave the way for a recovery plan for the species, which includes restoration of the fragmented rainforest canopy across the ecosystem. “There is now far too little Tapanuli orangutan habitat left to allow any further rainforest loss,” Aikman told The Jakarta Post on Sunday. Weeks after the 2025 disaster, President Prabowo Subianto suspended business permits for 28 companies for alleged environmental breaches that worsened the impact of the disaster. Among…