When visiting Sabah for the first time back in 1994, Dr Marc Ancrenaz, together with Dr Isabelle Lackman, realised that many orangutans were hanging around in disturbed and over-logged forests. They decided to establish an intensive study site in the fragmented forests of Lower Kinabatangan to study orangutan adaptation to habitat disturbance, and thus, the NGO Hutan was born. Then in 1998, they established the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Programme (KOCP) in the village of Sukau, and switched from a purely scientific approach, to a more holistic one, by incorporating the needs and aspirations of the local communities. How has this approach worked in favour of orangutan conservation in the area? Following International Orangutan Day 2021 which was celebrated on the 19th of August, we speak to Dr Marc Ancrenaz, scientific director of Hutan and co-director of KOCP, to discuss this and more.

Image source: Hutan