KOTA KINABALU: Fragmented forests due to human activities remain the largest threat to orang utan survival in Sabah, says an expert.
Currently, there are around 11,000 orang utan in Sabah, according to estimates by Hutan, a research and conservation organisation.
Hutan scientific director Dr Marc Ancrenaz said while Sabah still has a lot of protected forests where most orang utans are living, these forests are usually fragmented or in other words separated or dispersed, due to development activities.
He said when moving from one place to another in search of food and carrying out daily activities, more of these species would enter non-forest and non-protected areas, hence getting into contact with humans.
He warned that it would be very difficult to protect and save orang utans if people do not accept their presence in estates and plantations.
“We need more oil palm and other big plantation companies to be part of orang utan protection by creating forests within estates, building riparian forests (a wooded area next to a river or lake), or high conservation value areas and forest bridges for orang utans to move around,” he said.
“If we stop harassing orang utans, there is a chance for them. The major issue is fragmentation and to fight this, we need more companies to be on board.”
Ancrenaz was asked to comment on the importance of protecting such critically endangered apes, with World Orangutan Day commemorated today.
Ancrenaz said translocating is not the best conservation strategy because orang utan by nature travel and will return to plantations even after they have been moved into forests, and should only be applied when the lives of animals are at life threatening risks like fires.
He said it was important to save the orang utan because they are the only species of great apes living in Asia, and are synonymous with Sabah’s namesake as a leading conservation nation in this region.
As such, many initiatives, including the Orangutan Diplomacy initiative launched in May 2024, but officially started last year, are in place to protect and conserve the orang utan population.
Daniel Pamin, the Malaysian Palm Oil Green Conservation Foundation (MPOGCF) conservation and sustainability executive in charge of the orang utan diplomacy programme together with Sawit Kinabalu, said this initiative focuses on “in-situ” conservation.
In-situ conservation refers to protecting and recovering populations of species in their natural environment.
He said the foundation has been promoting orang utan conservation work done by Sawit Kinabalu at the Sg Pin Conservation Area (SPnCA) even before the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed in 2025.
“Our programme does not involve any close interaction with the wild orang utan at the SPnCA as only the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) has the authority to manage and handle wildlife issues such as rehabilitation, translocation and rescue efforts,” said Pamin.
He added they focus more on capacity building of the Sawit Kinabalu conservation unit, including training for rangers in collaboration with wildlife expertise from the SWD and NGOs, purchasing patrol boats, and planning on building more orang utan bridges within the SPnCA.
The MPOGCF and SWD are currently conducting a new population survey of orang utan in Sabah, and are expected to get the data by the end of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027.
The public is also donating towards the initiative via a dedicated webpage.
