The Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP) is a collaborative project involving

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari (YEL) - as the main implementer in Indonesia, its

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

partner the PanEco Foundation, and the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s Directorate General of Natural Resource and Ecosystem Conservation (Ditjen KSDAE), under several Memoranda of Understanding ( MoU) starting in 1999. The SOCP deals with all aspects of the conservation of the

Critically Endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

Sumatran orangutan (''Pongo abelii'') and the 2017 newly identified species of orangutan, the Tapanuli orangutan (''Pongo tapanuliensis''), including: a. the confiscation of illegal captive orangutans, their

quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals, and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have bee ...

and

reintroduction Species reintroduction is the deliberate release of a species into the wild, from captivity or other areas where the organism is capable of survival. The goal of species reintroduction is to establish a healthy, genetically diverse, self-sustain ...

to form new wild populations, b. education and awareness raising, c. behavioral and ecological research on wild orangutans, d. surveys and monitoring of remaining wild orangutan populations and habitat, and e. habitat protection.

Activities

Built in 2001, the SOCP maintains the only centre in Sumatra that quarantines and cares for orangutans confiscated from the illegal pet trade. To date, the SOCP has rescued over 340 illegal pet orangutans of which more than 260 have been rehabilitated and reintroduced back to a life in the wild, 180 at its reintroduction centre next to the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park in

Jambi Jambi is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the east coast of central Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of i ...

province and an additional 88 since 2011 at its centre in the

Jantho Kota Jantho (''Jantho town'') is a small town in Aceh province of Indonesia. Jantho is the seat of local government for the Aceh Besar Regency. It covers an area of 592.5 km2 and had a population of 8,443 at the 2010 Census and 9,440 at the 2020 C ...

Pine Forest Nature Reserve in

Aceh Aceh ( , ; , Jawi script, Jawoë: ; Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, Old Spelling: ''Atjeh'') is the westernmost Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the northern end of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capit ...

province. The goal at both locations is to establish entirely new, self-sustaining and genetically viable populations of this Critically Endangered species in forests within their historical range, as a 'safety net' should catastrophe befall the remaining truly wild Sumatran orangutan populations.

Field conservation

The SOCP also manages several other field conservation projects across the entire species’ range, with much of its work focused on the naturally remaining wild populations in the 2.6 million ha Leuser Ecosystem, and the largest natural orangutan population outside of the Leuser Ecosystem, the Tapanuli orangutans of the upland forests of the Batang Toru area in the Tapanuli region of North Sumatra. The SOCP is the number one source of data, knowledge and information regarding the conservation status of the species, reflected by its leading role in the 2012 island-wide orangutan survey initiative, the Orangutan Population Habitat and Viability Analysis process, the development of the Indonesian National Strategy and Action Plan for Orangutans 2007-17, its representation on a number of international scientific bodies (e.g.

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

/SSC Primate Specialist Group - Great Apes, UNEP GRASP{{Cite web, url=http://www.un-grasp.org/the-partnership/partners/categories/partner-profiles/, title=Conservation Organisations – Great Apes Survival Partnership, website=www.un-grasp.org, access-date=2016-09-30), along with numerous scientific publications and popular print and film media items. The SOCP also has many years’ experience of community development and livelihoods programmes throughout the region, including

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...

, health and sanitation projects,

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

development.

References

Nature conservation organisations based in Asia Environmental organizations based in Indonesia Environmental organizations established in 1999 Medan Orangutan conservation 1999 establishments in Indonesia