Loss of habitat is affecting many species around the world. In fact it was rainforest clearance while my wife and I studied Orangutans in Indoneisan Borneo that really changed my career direction and focussed my attention on reporting on environmental change. For the Orangutans things do not look good. With experts suggesting that with the current rates of logging (approx 2 million haper year, three quarters of which is illegal), that the populations of Orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra will be so low as not to be recoverable by 2008.

I photographed orangutans in Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan and also in Tanjung Puting. While there are some very dedicated rehabilitation efforts going on for orphaned or displaced animals (see Balikpappan Orangutan Society and Orangutan Foundation International), the over riding problem is lack of habitat for either the remaining animals or for these orphans to return to.

In Java, Indonesia's most populated island, habitat clearance, usually for plantations is also threatening many species. The only forest remnants are on the tops of the highest mountains - places where the land has been too steep to bother clearing for agriculture thus far. In some of these fragments I photographed the Javan Hawk-eagle (image left) and Silvery (Javan) Gibbon.
Both are endemic to Java and reliant on rainforest with primary structure for survival. Current population estimates for the JHE is around 200 pairs remaining in the wild while gibbon populations are not accurately known. Poaching remains one of the greatest threats usually for wealthy Indonesians looking for a status symbol.

Endangered species are not confined to the land. I photographed endangered Green Sea Turtles (image right) on the most visited beach in Indonesia by these turtles. Even here, not a single egg remains buried in the sand. Half are taken to market for human consumption, while the other half goes to turtle hatcheries across Indonesia. What effect this has on this species and what is a sustainable level of harvesting of the eggs is unknown.

There are several dedicated non-government organisations in Indonesia working on conservation issues. Some I have dealt with include Telapak, KPB CIBA (Javan Hawk-eagle), Conservation International and Nature Conservancy.

Back in Australia, another project which I have been fortunate enough to have photographed, is the Arid Recovery Project in South Australia. Located near Roxby Downs, this project has successfully reintroduced several species that have become extinct in the local area (some even on the entire Australian mainland) through protection with a feral animal proof fence and eradication of cats and rabbits from within the 50km2 fenced area. Species reintroduced include Greater Bilby, Greater Stick-nest Rat (image left), Western Barred Bandicoots and Burrowing Bettongs.