Help protect orangutans from the forest fires!

The dry season is here and the fires raging across Sumatra and Kalimantan have already caused the Indonesian government to declare a state of emergency.

Extensive peatlands and lowlands, such as those found throughout the Gunung Palung landscape, are particularly vulnerable and prone to fires. 
Male orangutan in Central Kalimantan moving through the forest filled with smoke from the fires all around. Photo by orangutan researcher Elizabeth Barrow (now GPOCP Orangutan Nest & Drone Survey Manager), Tuanan Research Station, 2015.

Lone villager fighting the fires in Gunung Palung landscape in 2015.
Photo from the documentary ''Person of the Forest '' with filmmakers Melissa Lesh, Tim Laman, Wahyu Sustanto and Robert Suro. 

Forest fires in West Kalimantan devastate not only the human populations living here who are dependent on the forest for ecosystem services and livelihoods, but also seriously damage prime orangutan and other critically endangered wildlife and habitat and pushing them further towards the risk of extinction.  
Aerial photo of a fire in Gunung Palung landscape, in 2015. Photo credit Tim Laman. 

To combat the fires, we need fire-fighting equipment such as pumps, hoses, and protective clothing.
We are training our local community groups on how to safely fight these fires and properly maintain the equipment. Please consider helping fund the equipment to save our forests from these devastating flames. 

One kit is $1,772 so we are trying to get enough for at least 3  kits at $ 5,316. 

Help protect critically endangered orangutans and their rainforest home!  

Fire at the border of Gunung Palung National Park in 2015. Photo by GPOCP Research Director Wahyu Susanto. 

If you'd like to support this campaign but also want something in return - Check out SLOTHGRIP who are fundraising with us and giving you a special patch or sticker designed for GPOCP!

You can also support the project and  help fundraise for fire fighting equipment through our T-shirt website at https://gpocp.teemill.com/ 

Information about Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program:
Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program’s (GPOCP) mission is to conserve a vital orangutan population and forest habitat in and around Gunung Palung National Park (GPNP) in West Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia.
Since its inception, GPOCP has evolved into a landscape-level conservation organization, working towards the protection of Gunung Palung National Park, and the surrounding ecological areas as a whole, using the orangutan as a flagship species for conservation.

To achieve this, we employ a multi-faceted conservation approach currently consisting of five main strategies: (A) Forest Protection, (B) Wildlife Crime Investigation and Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation, (C) Sustainable, Alternative Livelihoods (D) Conservation Awareness and Education and (E) Orangutan Research.

Recognizing that most threats to orangutan survival are human-induced GPOCP strives to develop a local community that is motivated to protect orangutans and the rainforest biodiversity while implementing conservation action to conserve remaining forest areas. The forests and communities in this region are regularly exploited by outside economic interests. As timber, palm oil and minerals are exported, these resources are depleted, destroying biodiversity and leaving local people with limited long-term economic options. GPOCP works with the communities surrounding Gunung Palung National Park – primarily drawing our staff from the local area – to reverse these trends. Through scientifically sound, community-based work, we are protecting orangutans and forest habitat while building long-term conservation capacity, fulfilling our mission of ensuring a future for wild orangutan populations in this critically important area.