The Sumatran Orangutan Society

The relentless destruction of Sumatra’s rainforests has pushed the Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutans to the edge of extinction. With fewer than 14,000 Sumatran orangutans and 800 Tapanuli orangutans remaining in the wild, these species are both classified as Critically Endangered. Orangutans’ forests in Sumatra are under immense and mounting threat. They are being torn down for farmlands, logging, hydropower projects, mining and roads. International demand for products such as palm oil and timber, combined with weak forest governance and short-sighted land-use policies are driving deforestation at an alarming rate.

⁠

For more than 4 million people in Sumatra’s Aceh province, the rainforest is a vital life support system, providing clean water and a whole host of other benefits. The destruction of the ecosystem exposes them to environmental disasters such as flooding and landslides.

Orangutan habitat is also a very important area for the global fight to limit climate change, due to the substantial amount of carbon stored within Sumatra’s forests and peat swamps. 

⁠

Help us protect orangutans in the wild, where they belong. Take action this year, consider donating, or taking part in one of the many current campaigns including: More Trees Please, Damming Evidence, or Sustainable Palm Oil City Oxford.

⁠

⁠As someone who is quite passionate about the loss of rainforests to big corporation's industrial agriculture farms, our UX Designer Hannah, feel like a ny organization that fights to save native species is a great one to follow and support.