Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biological Conservation journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biocon Perspective Threats and lessons learned from past orangutan conservation strategies in Sarawak, Malaysia Joshua Pandong a,b, ⁎ , Melvin Gumal a , Zolkipli Mohamad Aton c , Mohd. Shahbudin Sabki d , Lian Pin Koh b,e a Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Malaysia Program, No. 7 Jalan Ridgeway, 93200 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia b School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia c Sarawak Forestry Corporation, Lot 218, KCLD, Jalan Tapang, Kota Sentosa, 93250 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia d Forest Department Sarawak, Bangunan Wisma Sumber Alam, Jalan Stadium, 93660 Petra Jaya, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia e Conservation International, 3131 East Madison Street, Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98112, USA ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Bornean orangutans Community livelihood Government policy Hunting Law enforcement Sarawak ABSTRACT In 2015, the Sarawak Government made a public pledge to stop illegal logging in the State, to create more national parks, and to move towards a zero-loss policy of orangutans and their habitats in Sarawak. Conservationists welcomed this policy in view that threat level for the Bornean orangutans under the IUCN Red List has been upgraded to Critically Endangered in 2016. The main threats to orangutan survival include habitat degradation and forest loss which is rapidly driven by large-scale development of unsustainable land-use change. The cultural taboo against orangutan hunting is slowly eroding with evidence of the species being killed in vulnerable areas. We discussed shortfalls of conservation responses in the past 60 years in Sarawak which in- cluded unknown rate of illegal orangutan killings, inadequate law enforcement, and incomprehensive com- munity development strategies. The recommendations to address these shortfalls then include: a) inter-agency collaboration for orangutan population monitoring, b) technological application and intelligence networks to intensify enforcement strategies, c) alternative community livelihood development and self-enforcement, and d) increased public support for conservation policies. The implementation of the zero-loss policy is anticipated to emphasize the needs for orangutan protection amid rapid development plans around critical habitats. 1. The global status of Bornean orangutans The orangutan (Pongo spp.) is the largest and most charismatic ape in Asia. Historically, they ranged from the foothills of the Himalaya to the Sunda islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Java, covering a distribution area of 150 million ha (Rijksen and Meijaard, 1999; Bacon and Long, 2001). In the 17th century, records by early European explorers found their range size to be only on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra (Cribb et al., 2014; Payne and Prudente, 2008). At present, their geographical range sizes are 21% and 2.3% of the island landmasses respectively (Ancrenaz et al., 2016; Singleton et al., 2017; Nowak et al., 2017). It was only in the past 15–20 years that the scientific community recognized orangutans on the two islands as different species, Pongo pygmaeus in Borneo and Pongo abelii in Sumatra (north of Lake Toba) (Lu et al., 1996; Warren et al., 2000; Groves, 2001). In 2017, a third species named Pongo tapanuliensis (south of Lake Toba) was described (Nater et al., 2017). The Bornean species P. pygmaeus is divided into three subspecies, P. p. morio, P. p. pygmaeus and P. p. wurmbii (Ancrenaz et al., 2016; Warren et al., 2000; McConkey, 2005). The three Bornean subspecies are distributed across 42 geo- graphically distinct population and metapopulation units (Utami- Atmoko et al., 2017). P. p. morio are found in larger numbers in the Malaysian state of Sabah, with smaller populations in the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan. P. p. pygmaeus is found mainly in the Batang Ai-Lanjak Entimau (BALE) Landscape of the Malaysian state of Sarawak as well as in Betung Kerihun and Danau Sentarum in the In- donesian province of West Kalimantan. P. p. wurmbii occurs mainly in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan (Wich et al., 2008; Husson et al., 2009). A habitat suitability study by Struebig et al. (2015) estimated an approximate loss of up to 24% or 7 million ha of core orangutan range between the 1950s and 2010. Given continued land cover and climate https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.03.016 Received 14 September 2018; Received in revised form 18 February 2019; Accepted 11 March 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author at: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia. E-mail addresses: jpandong@wcs.org (J. Pandong), mgumal@wcs.org (M. Gumal), zolaton@sarawakforestry.com (Z.M. Aton), shahbudi@sarawak.gov.my (M.S. Sabki). Biological Conservation 234 (2019) 56–63 0006-3207/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T