Growing threats to watch in Batang Toru forests, home to unique orangutan population

We are facing a serious challenge in Sumatra, where a large new hydrodam project threatens to damage the Batang Toru Ecosystem, home to a genetically unique Critically Endangered population of orangutans. The Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP) has been working on protection of this forest ecosystem and its orangutans for more than a decade.

Not only will this dam cause huge environmental damage, fragmentation and isolation of sub-populations of this unique population of orangutans and several other Critically Endangered species, but it will also negatively affect the indigenous communities living in and around this important water catchment area.