Summary

Northeast Bornean Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus morio) are present in Kutai National Park.
It has been estimated that 1,700 individuals occur in the site.
The orangutan population trend is decreasing.
The site has a total size of 1,927 km².
Key threats to orangutans are habitat destruction due to agricultural expansion, logging and fires, and poaching.
Conservation activities have focused on reforestation, habitat restoration, running ecotourism projects and research.

Site characteristics

Kutai National Park was first established in 1934 as a 2 million ha nature reserve. In 1995 the site was declared a National Park, but its area was reduced in size to 198,629 ha (Lee et al. 2019). In 2014 the area was reduced again to 192,709 ha due to human settlement within the park (Lee et al. 2019). The forests of Kutai National Park are extremely rich in tree diversity and represent one of the last intact canopies of East Kalimantan, Borneo. The park is also home to at least 80 mammal, 369 bird and 1,287 plant species (Lee et al. 2019). In addition to orangutans, the park is important for the protection of proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larvatus), Malayan sunbears (Helarctos malayanus) and the Javan banteng (Bos javanicus). Kutai National Park also plays an important role in regulating water supply to nearby towns, attracting tourists, and its forests serve as a valuable carbon sink (Lee et al. 2015)

Table 1. Basic site information for Kutai National Park

Area	1,927 km²
Coordinates	0.376863 N, 117.458969 E
Designation	National Park
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical mangrove vegetation above high tide level, subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical/tropical swamp forest, subtropical/tropical heavily degraded former forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

With an estimated 1,700 orangutans (PHVA 2017), the park is likely to hold East Kalimantan's largest population of Northeast Bornean orangutans (Lee et al. 2015). Between 1999 and 2015, the orangutan population across Borneo decreased by more than 100,000 individuals (Voigt et al. 2018).

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Kutai National Park

Species	Year	Abundance estimate (95% CI)	Density estimate [ind./ km²] (95% CI)	Encounter rate (nests/km)	Area	Method	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Pongo pygmaeus morio

Threats

Key threats to orangutans in Kutai National Park include forest clearing for small scale and industrial agriculture, coal mining, fires, and poaching (PHVA 2017, Lee et al. 2015).Climate change has been recently been identified as an important emerging threat; higher temperatures are likely to exacerbate drought conditions, which lead to wildfires and a range of other negative impacts on wildlife in the park (Lee et al. 2015). In general, the orangutan population in Borneo has sharply declined due to the impacts of logging, deforestation, poaching and industrialized plantations (Voigt et al. 2018).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Kutai National Park

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	High	Encroachment by small scale agriculture as well as habitat conversion for industrial agriculture (Lee et al. 2019).	Ongoing (2019)
3. Energy production & mining	3.2 Mining & quarrying	Present, but threat severity is unknown	Coal and oil deposits inside the park; status of permits for coal exploration remains unclear (Limberg et al. 2009).	Ongoing (2009)
4. Transportation & service corridors	4.1 Roads & railroads	Present, but threat severity is unknown	A public road runs close, along the opposite side of the Sangata River. Local people clear and settle on the land between the road and the river. Such easy access to this part of the park leaves the area very vulnerable to illegal entry (Lee et al. 2019).	Ongoing (2019)
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Present, but threat severity is unknown	Poaching and killings as a result of human-orangutan conflict when orangutans raid crops (Lee et al. 2019).	Ongoing (2019)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Present, but threat severity is unknown	Illegal logging (Lee et al. 2019).	Ongoing (2019)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance		Unknown
7. Natural system modifications	7.1 Fire & fire suppression	High	Fires in 1982-1983 destroyed most of the orangutans’ known major food sources. Humans have been responsible for some fires (Lee et al. 2019).	Ongoing (2019)
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases		Unknown
9. Pollution		Unknown
10. Geological Events		Absent
11. Climate change & severe weather	11.5 Other impacts	Present, but threat severity is unknown	Effects of ENSO events, which resulted in severe drought and fire damage. ENSO is a major driver of the very high variation in food availability that orangutans face (Lee et al. 2019).	1982-83, 1997-98, Ongoing (2019)
12. Other options		Absent

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

The management of the park created a partnership called Mitra Taman Nasional Kutai (Friends of Kutai National Park) with several companies situated next to the park (Lee et al. 2019). The park authorities also collaborate with local coal mining companies for habitat restoration work in the park. Research activities are conducted in collaboration with different research institutions and universities (Lee et al. 2019).

Table 4. Conservation activities in Kutai National Park

Category	Specific activity	Description	Year of activity
1. Residential & commercial development	Not reported
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	Other	Reforestation programmes have successfully planted large numbers of seedlings (Lee et al. 2019).	Ongoing (2019)
3. Energy production & mining	Not reported
4. Transportation & service corridors	Not reported
5. Biological resource use	Not reported
6. Human intrusion & disturbance	Not reported
7. Natural system modifications	Not reported
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases	Not reported
9. Pollution	Not reported
10. Education & Awareness	Not reported
11. Habitat Protection	11.2. Legally protect primate habitat	The site was designated a National Park in 1995.	Ongoing (2021)
12. Species Management	Not reported
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	13.4. Run tourist projects and ensure permanent human presence at site	Tourists can view wildlife at three ecotourism sites: Bontang Mangrove Park, which focuses on promoting mangrove conservation; Sangkima, a visitor centre on the Sangatta road with boardwalk and canopy-bridge and bird-hide where education is focused on biodiversity; and Prevab, a ranger station that hosts tourists and researchers (Lee et al. 2019).	Ongoing (2019)

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

The national park protection status has not prevented illegal activities from happening, such as logging, wildlife poaching, forest clearing for small scale agriculture, and constant encroachment of people, especially along the eastern boundary of the park (Limberg et al. 2009).

Table 5. Challenges reported for Kutai National Park

Challenge	Source
Lack of law enforcement	Lee et al. 2019
Lack of financial means	Lee et al. 2019

Research activities

The ‘national park’ protection status does not impede illegal activities from happening, such as logging, wildlife poaching, forest clearing for small scale agriculture, and constant encroachment of people, especially along the eastern boundary of the park (Limberg et al. 2009).

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Kutai National Park

Behavior	Source
Not reported

External links

Orangutan Conservancy - Kutai National Park

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

Russon, A.E., Kuncoro, P. and Ferisa, A. (2015). Orangutan behavior in Kutai National Park after drought and fire damage: Adjustments to short‐ and long‐term natural forest regeneration. Am. J. Primatol., 77: 1276-1289. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.22480
Lee, A.T.K., Carr, J.A., Ahmad, B., Arbainsyah, Ferisa, A., Handoko, Y., Harsono, R., Graham, L.L.B., Kabangnga, L., Kurniawan, N.P, Keßler, P.J.A., Kuncoro, P., Prayunita, D., Priadiati, A., Purwanto, E., Russon, A.E., Sheil, D., Sylva, N., Wahyudi, A. and Foden, W.B (2019). Reforesting for the climate of tomorrow: Recommendations for strengthening orangutan conservation and climate change resilience in Kutai National Park, Indonesia. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. viii + 70pp.
G. A. Limberg, M. Moeliono, Y. Indriatmoko, R. Iwan, N. A. Utomo, E. Purwanto & A. Mulyana. (2009). Incentives to conserve or convert? Can conservation compete with coal in Kutai National Park, Indonesia?, International Journal of Biodiversity Science & Management, 5:4, 190-198, DOI: 10.1080/17451590903525226
PHVA (ed.) (2017). Orangutan Population and Habitat Viability Assessment: Final Report. Apple Valley, MN: IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group.
Voigt, M., Wich, S.A., Ancrenaz, M., Meijaard, E., Abram, N., Banes, G.L., Campbell-Smith, G., d’Arcy, L.J., Delgado, R.A., Erman, A., Gaveau, D., Goossens, B., Heinicke, S., Houghton, M., Husson, S.J., Leiman, A., Sanchez, K.L., Makinuddin, N., Marshall, A.J., Meididit, A., Miettinen, J., Mundry, R., Musnanda, Nardiyono, Nurcahyo, A., Odom, K., Panda, A., Prasetyo, D., Priadjati, A., Purnomo, Rafiastanto, A., Russon, A.E., Santika, T., Sihite, J., Spehar, S., Struebig, M., Sulbaran-Romero, E., Tjiu, A., Wells, J., Wilson, K.A. and Kühl, H.S. (2018). Global demand for natural resources eliminated more than 100,000 Bornean Orangutans. Current Biology 10.1016/j.cub.2018.01.053.

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: 15/01/2021

Kutai National Park

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