Just outside Indonesia’s planned new capital on Borneo, an orangutan catches a banana with one hand, thrown by a conservationist on a boat, while her other hand clings to a tree branch.
She is one of 127 orangutans that the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) is caring for in the Samboja District of East Kalimantan Province. They have lost their homes due to deforestation, often linked to coal mining, and palm oil and timber plantations.
The giant apes could face an even bigger threat as Southeast Asia’s largest country builds from scratch Nusantara — a US$32 billion city.
Photo: Reuters
The government has promised to protect wildlife and undertake major reforestation in parts of the capital, which has been marketed to investors as a smart and green city.
Environmentalists are wary that construction in an area spanning nearly 260,000 hectares — almost four times the size of Singapore — would disturb some of Borneo’s endemic fauna, including endangered long-nosed monkeys, Irrawaddy dolphins and orangutans.
“Our biggest concern is Balikpapan Bay will turn into a giant pond, a place for residual waste from Nusantara’s activities,” said Mappaselle, a director with local environment group Pokja Pesisir.
About 400 hectares of mangrove forests along the coastline of Balikpapan Bay have already been cleared, to make way for a coal port and oil refinery, the group said.
He feared more could be razed when a new toll road is built connecting Nusantara to the nearest city of Balikpapan, as well as a port to bring in construction materials.
The Nusantara Capital City Authority said that mangroves would be replanted in other areas and guidelines have been made for workers encountering an animal.
“It’s a very high concern of how we’ll try to have harmony between people, nature and culture ... because that’s the soul of the city,” Nusantara Capital City Authority head Bambang Susantono said.
Foundations are being laid for government buildings. Later this year, homes are to be built for 16,000 civil servants, military and police officers due to move in next year.
For now, conservationists hope the government stays true to its pledge to care for animals.
“We hope that with the capital city being here, we can pave the way for animals to live side by side [with humans],” BOSF manager Aldrianto Priadjati said.
“At least provide an area for orangutans so they can live a better life,” Priadjati added.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
CHEER ON: Students were greeted by citizens who honked their car horns or offered them food and drinks, while taxi drivers said they would give marchers a lift home Hundreds of students protesting graft they blame for 15 deaths in a building collapse on Friday marched through Serbia to the northern city of Novi Sad, where they plan to block three Danube River bridges this weekend. They received a hero’s welcome from fellow students and thousands of local residents in Novi Said after arriving on foot in their two-day, 80km journey from Belgrade. A small red carpet was placed on one of the bridges across the Danube that the students crossed as they entered the city. The bridge blockade planned for yesterday is to mark three months since a huge concrete construction
RSS