OC Provides New Support to Orangutan Information Centre

photo courtesy of the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC)
photo courtesy of the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC)

The Orangutan Conservancy’s philosophy is that no single project alone can ever possibly solve all of the issues that orangutans face in their daily battle for survival.

We believe in strategically supporting complimentary yet unique projects that together offer pragmatic solutions to orangutan conservation.  Our project support encompasses several areas, including orangutan scientific research efforts, rescue and rehabilitation centers, in situ workshops, educational programs and other endeavors that together can achieve much for our forest friends.

OC is pleased to welcome the well-respected Orangutan Information Centre (OIC)  in Medan, Sumatra as a new project that we are now helping to  support. Specifically, we have just funded their important Human Orangutan Conflict Response Unit (HOCRU) project that is consistently achieving impressive results in North Sumatra and Aceh.

The Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) is an Indonesian organization founded in 2001 by a group of dedicated local conservationists for the conservation of Sumatran orangutans and their rainforest habitat. The OIC restores degraded forests, responds to and mitigates human orangutan conflicts, conducts environmental awareness visits to schools and villages, conduct forest patrol, and provides training to help local people work towards a more sustainable future. The OIC’s programs are conducted by Indonesian conservation professionals from conservation science, forestry and environmental education backgrounds. They have been working on community-based conservation, sustainable development, and forest restoration projects for 15 years, involving more than 20,000 local people throughout the provinces of North Sumatra and Aceh in the development of Conservation Action Plans and establishing sustainable livelihoods that are compatible with the conservation. With nearly one and half million tree seedlings planted across North Sumatra and Aceh, they have extensive experience in conducting forest restoration, environmental education and sustainable development program.

In 2010, OIC established their Human Orangutan Conflict Response Unit (HOCRU) to tackle the human orangutan conflict fueled by agricultural expansion. This unit is responsible for investigating and mitigating conflict between farmers and orangutans. The team patrols throughout North Sumatra and Aceh, evacuating orangutans from conflict situations and providing training for agricultural communities around the Leuser Ecosystem in safely dealing with human orangutan conflict, helping them protect their crops without harming wildlife. They have successfully conducted the rescue and evacuation of a total of 89 orangutans from conflict situations and assisted the people living adjacent to these areas in mitigating and preventing the effects of conflict. This shows a positive impact on orangutan conservation, as before the HOCRU program began, orangutan conflict issues were simply not being addressed by any agencies.  The HOCRU is the only specialist unit in Sumatra addressing the HOC problem, and administering direct, immediate help to these critically endangered apes in conflict situations. HOCRU serves as a ‘safety net’ in response to the ongoing problem of orangutans being displaced from their shrinking forest homes. 

The Orangutan Conservancy hopes to offer more help in the future to the Orangutan Information Centre and we ask you to help us to do that by visiting our Donate Now page.

 

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