Wildlife corridors through oil palm plantations. Local communities saving the world’s rarest crocodile from extinction. Sweeping new protections for EU seabed. A groundbreaking coalition for amphibian conservation. When conservation organisations have access to flexible, reliable funding, their impact can be revolutionary.
In this series, we look back at major victories facilitated by our long-term, trust-based funding strategy. Beyond the value of multi-year support, these stories prove that local communities have the power to resist destructive industry, protect threatened ecosystems, build their own visions for sustainable development, and restore the living world for the next generation.
How orangutan conservation inspired a paradigm-shifting reforestation project
Malaysian Borneo was once carpeted in 140-million-year-old rainforest—some of the most ancient on Earth. But over the course of the twentieth century, the majority of this was felled for timber, in some of the most aggressive deforestation in history. Today, the landscape has been largely replaced by a swathe of monoculture oil palm plantations, interrupted by occasional islands of surviving forest.
The Kinabatangan river snakes through this scarred landscape. Its floodplain once supported more than 20,000 orangutans, but today, fewer than 785 survive.
Hutan’s orang-utan team have been conducting research into the Kinabatangan’s orang-utans, and particularly how they interact with oil palm plantations. Image © HUTAN
When Isabelle Lackman and Marc Ancrenaz founded HUTAN in 1996, they planned to harness the expertise of local communities to research the declining orangutan population. But they quickly realised that information wasn’t enough. For the orangutan population to recover, the fragmented rainforest had to be reconnected.
For that, HUTAN had to go beyond conventional conservation. Rather than just protecting the few surviving patches of virgin forest, it needed to replant biodiverse, native forest where there had been monoculture oil palm. Isabelle remembers that when she started out, her peers were sceptical of the plan. Many believed degraded land was lost for good.
Restoring forests for Borneo’s wildlife
Tree-planting projects often fall short after the ‘number of trees planted’ quotas have been met. HUTAN’s women-led reforestation team ensure a high survival rate by meticulously caring for the trees as they grow. Image © Alexandra Radu
The next 30 years have proven them wrong. Since HUTAN’s founding, the organisation has planted more than 200,000 native trees in wildlife corridors through oil palm plantations. More importantly, its women-led, locally-based reforestation team, ensures the seedlings are cared for long after they’re planted, ensuring far higher survival rates. Wildlife, including orangutans, Bornean elephants, and rare hornbills, are already returning to the rewilded areas. Meanwhile, the women carrying out the reforestation work have gained economic independence, and some have gone on to pursue advanced degrees in conservation.
Synchronicity Earth has supported HUTAN since 2014, most recently through our Ape Fund. Our flexible and reliable support has enabled HUTAN to ambitiously expand its project. Much of our funding has specifically supported salaries for the reforestation team, interns, and Isabella herself. Reliable salaries, in turn, help the organisation remain stable, while increasing economic opportunity for local people.
Working together for the landscape
Creating connectivity between natural habitats within an agricultural landscape is crucial for the health of wildlife populations. Image © HUTAN
Then, in 2022, HUTAN became a finalist for the prestigious Earthshot prize, after being nominated by Synchronicity Earth. This new publicity and network has catapulted its model into the mainstream.
Melangking Oil Palm Plantation (MOPP) has worked with Hutan since 2017 to develop practical solutions for a more peaceful coexistence between wildlife and people in the Kinabatangan floodplain in Sabah.
“Joining forces and sharing resources with Hutan has supported us in integrating biodiversity conservation into our daily production operations,” says Muhammad Al-Shafieq bin Mustafah, Plantation Head of MOPP. “We aim to demonstrate that land sharing and innovative agriculture practices can bring tangible economic benefits to oil palm growers while being key to wildlife survival.”
Oil palm planters were once sceptical of the wildlife corridors, but now they are actually approaching Isabelle with requests to collaborate on reforestation projects.
A future for agroforestry and reforestation
HUTAN was a finalist in the ‘Protect and restore nature’ category of the Earthshot Prize. Image © HUTAN
In the future, HUTAN hopes to supplement its reforestation work with agroforestry, working with farmers to incorporate diverse, native trees into palm oil plantations. The acquired expertise of HUTAN’s local tree planters, many of whom have been involved with the project for almost two decades, have made this next stage possible. Preliminary results suggest that interplanting native trees with oil palms can increase productivity and resilience while creating additional habitat for endangered species, including orangutans.
HUTAN’s extraordinary impact reminds us that the future of Malaysian Borneo need not follow the disastrous trajectory of the twentieth century. A carpet of monoculture oil palm could transform into a rich, interconnected tapestry of protected forest, wildlife corridors, and biodiverse farmland, woven together for the benefit of local people and the many other species who call these forests home.
