In Borneo, GIS played a critical role
in conserving orangutan habitat which is diapering at a rapid rate.
Borneo is a large Indonesian Island and one of only two places in the
world which wild orangutans live. These great apes are losing habitat
at an alarming rate. In just ten years; from 1992-2002 39% of
orangutan habitat was lost in Borneo. Much of this loss was due to
illegal logging.
A large scale effort was made by GIS scientist and biologist to curtail the logging in Tanjung Puting National Park, a 4,000km park that is home to 6,000 orangutans. This was the first large scale mapping and GIS analysis conducted on wild orangutan habitat. Because little GIS data previously existed about the area, the first step was to obtain Landsat imagery and start delineating habitat types and park boundaries. The Landsat data provided 30-meter spatial resolution in 7 spectral bands. This enabled the GIS technicians to differentiate 40 images classes which could be recorded into 14 major habitat types. After habitat types were identified data layers were obtained from universities and non-profits working in the area. These files contained vector shapfiles of physical and political features.
With this information, areas of critical habitat were identified, as well as areas of illegal encroachment. With the analysis of the boundary completed, GIS scientists discovered that a single palm oil plantation had encroached 3 miles into the National Park boundary. The same plantation owner had made plans to clear more land illegally just 2 months from the discovery, which was stopped.
The protection of critical orangutan habitat is still a huge conservation issue and Tanjug Puting National park still faces threats from encroachment. However, GIS was able to provide a spatial context for much needed habitat analysis.
http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/spring05articles/the-orangutans.html
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