The world on Saturday, August 19, 2017 observed the International Orangutan Day with events organised globally to raise awareness about the plight of the now critically endangered primate, whose DNA is said to be 97% the same as humans.

The Rainforest Action Network (RAN), for instance, spoke up for orangutans and against forest destruction.

In a campaign focused on a major orangutan stronghold in Indonesia, the not-for-profit group claims that millions of acres of rainforest in the Southeast Asian nation are destroyed each year for the production of Conflict Palm Oil.

“Snack food giant PepsiCo uses an immense amount of Conflict Palm Oil and is driving this destruction. As more and more of its forest habitat are lost, the orangutan is being driven closer to extinction in the wild,” RAN insists, saying that stopping the destruction caused by PepsiCo will go a long in saving the orangutan.

The group adds: “We have convinced more than a dozen of the world’s biggest snack food corporations to adopt responsible palm oil sourcing policies that ensure the palm oil they use is not destroying the orangutan’s home. Today, we demand that PepsiCo cleans up its supply chain by putting an end to the use of Conflict Palm Oil in its products. When orangutans are gone, they’re gone forever. We must fight for the orangutan!”

In 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) changed the classification of the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) from endangered to critically endangered, citing the main causes of its population decline as habitat loss and fragmentation, primarily for logging and oil palm plantations, along with illegal hunting and fires.

The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) is also listed as critically endangered. There are now only about 14,600 left in the wild.

These are estimated to be between 55,000 and 62,000 Bornean orangutans living in the wild, split into three distinct subspecies.

The IUCN says the population trend is a decrease for both species.

Orangutans’ solitary nature and slow reproductive rates leave them particularly vulnerable when there is forest loss. The rate of population decline is such that it is difficult for the populations to recover because of the lengthy birth intervals.

In findings published in Nature Research’s Scientific Reports in July 2017, a group of researchers concluded that Bornean orangutan populations had declined by 25 percent over the past decade.

The researchers estimated that the overall density of orangutans on the island of Borneo from 1997 to 2002 was about 15 individuals per 100 square kilometres. The density was reduced to 10 individuals per 100 square kilometres in 2009–2015.

“Survival rates of the species are lowest in areas with intermediate rainfall, where complex interrelations between soil fertility, agricultural productivity, and human settlement patterns influence persistence,” the researchers concluded.

The researchers said their study highlighted the urgency of determining specific management interventions needed in different locations to counter the trend of population decline.

The scientists point to the difficulty of accurately assessing the rate of population decline.

“Over the years, different estimates of population sizes have been proposed by various authors, leading to confusion about the conservation status of the species.”

The rate of decline and the drivers of the population change of orangutans are difficult to assess because of the species’ cryptic behaviour, and because surveys of orangutans are typically restricted to small geographic areas, are conducted over short time periods and employ different survey protocols, the researchers say.

The executive director of the UK-based charity, the Orangutan land Trust (OLT), Michelle Desilets, says she would prefer not to get caught up trying to give current population figures.

The OLT spearheads the PONGO (Palm Oil and NGO) Alliance, which was formed in 2015 and aims to protect orangutan habitat in an oil palm landscape.

Desilets points out that 10,000 orangutans are living in areas that have been identified for industrial oil palm cultivation in Borneo. “There is an urgent need for collaborative innovation to protect these animals in mixed-use landscapes.”

There is a genuine commitment from major growers in the PONGO Alliance, Desilets says. “And the alliance has brought together experts and orangutan conservation organisations, who are developing new strategies for the protection of orangutans in legally unprotected areas. All this is quite a positive shift.”

The helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil) has been classified as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2015. The bird, which was once common on Sumatra, has virtually disappeared there, as the IUCN notes.

Helmeted hornbills face a two-pronged threat: poachers and palm oil. Rampant hunting and plantations encroaching on its lowland rainforest habitat are behind the decline.

Poachers hunt the birds for their keratin “casque”, an enlargement of the beak. Unlike other hornbill species, the helmeted hornbill’s casque is solid, making it attractive for carvers and particularly valuable for poachers. There is also a market for the bird’s feathers.

China is the main destination market for the poached bird parts, where the “red ivory” fetches up to $6,150 per kilo. The bird’s casques have been carved into jewelry, ornaments and belt buckles for centuries. Demand has exploded over the past five years, however.

Currently, poachers are focusing on Indonesia: in the year 2013, an estimated 6,000 helmeted hornbills were killed in West Kalimantan alone. They also target juvenile birds, a practice that has an outsize impact on the population. As soon as the supply from Indonesia dwindles, it is expected that the poachers will move on to Malaysia’s forests.

While international trade in hornbill parts has been illegal since 1975, the ban has not helped the birds, it was gathered. Organised crime syndicates operate with impunity and profit handsomely from the trade, which is – in theory, at any rate – punishable by up to five years in prison.

Strict enforcement of the existing laws will be crucial to preventing the helmeted hornbill’s extinction in the very near future, according to the Rainforest Rescue, which has taken up a campaign to save the bird species by demanding that concerned persons sign a call-to-action petition to the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and China.

The letter reads in part:

To: the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and China

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Your countries bear great responsibility for the survival of the helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil). The bird has been classified as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2015.

If you do not act, the species will become extinct in the very near future.

Poaching, which has increased dramatically over the past five years, is driving the helmeted hornbill’s alarming decline. The bird’s casque – an extension of its beak – is in great demand as “red ivory”, fetching up to $6,150 per kilo in China. A further factor is habitat loss due to plantations encroaching on its native lowland rainforests.

While international trade in helmeted hornbill parts has been banned since 1975 (CITES Annex I), trafficking is still rampant. Poachers and criminal traders operate with impunity.

To save this majestic bird from extinction, your countries must work together closely. We call on you to intensify your efforts against the poaching and trafficking of helmeted hornbills.

Yours faithfully,