The Indonesian government must act immediately to break down Abdul Rasyid's corrupt stranglehold on the Province. Telapak is an independent environmental non-profit group based in Bogor, Indonesia. It has profited by the open commercial destruction of Tanjung Puting National Park. Tanjung Puting National Park provides the only protected orangutan habitat in Central Kalimantan. It is the site of Professor Birute Galdikas' 25-year research project into orangutan behaviour.
Habitat loss poses the greatest threat to orangutan survival.
Around 80 per cent of the orangutan's forest habitat has been destroyed in the last two decades. A report by the Indonesia-UK Tropical Forest Management Programme found illegal logging to be greater than legal timber production in Indonesia. Wild orangutan numbers have fallen by 50 per cent in the last decade and only between 15-25,000 are left. Indonesia is home to 80 per cent of the remaining orangutans.