T

he fate of Indonesia'€™s forested landscapes will heavily influence the future prospects of many species, humans included.

But when considering strategies to address the drivers of the rampant deforestation and forest degradation that this country is witnessing, too often we concern ourselves with the interests of just one species '€” our own!

This dichotomized thinking is epitomized by the disciplines of '€œeconomy'€ on the human side and '€œconservation'€ on the species side. Both have mostly been carried out without regard to each other.

The obvious shortcoming of this approach is that what may seem appealing in theory does not fit in practice. Overlaps between the actions and interests of humans and other species, in a finite world, are inevitable.

This is illustrated well by the case of orangutans. These primates, one of the world'€™s four species of great ape, are highly vulnerable to the dynamics of forest loss. The Sumatran orangutan numbers only 7,500; the Bornean orangutan is considered endangered, numbering between 45,000 and 69,000.

Indeed, the need for a more holistic approach to sustainable development is a fundamental theme of the post-2015 global development agenda.

The factors that directly threaten orangutans have been known for decades: hunting and the illegal wildlife trade, and habitat loss through deforestation, fire and land conversion '€” particularly agricultural plantations, logging and mining. Our understanding is by no means complete, however.

A recent report by the Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) undertook a pioneering modeling exercise to project the combined impact of land use change and climate change upon orangutan habitats in Borneo up to 2080. The report predicted a three-to five-fold greater decline in habitat resulting from both factors combined, than that from deforestation projections alone.

Therefore conservationists can no longer focus upon protected areas alone. As confirmed by GRASP, orangutan habitats are shrinking faster than we thought. Competition for land, particularly with agriculture, is relentless. Only about 25 percent of wild orangutans are in formally protected areas anyway; and protection is mostly inadequate.

Given the nature of the landscapes within which orangutans will increasingly be found, it is critical that actors concerned with human development and those concerned with species conservation talk to one another. Further, they must work out approaches to landscape management that deliver their specific objectives.

For conservationists, it means moving beyond seeing the world in the black and white terms of unprotected and protected, natural and unnatural. For those concerned with human and economic development, it requires overcoming the typical '€œethics vs economics'€ dichotomy to appreciate alternative metrics of value, including that of natural capital.

 The example of the Sabah Green Development Corridor is illuminating. Sabah '€” in Malaysian Borneo '€” has lost more than 40 percent of its forests in the past century, with the remainder at varying stages of degradation.

About 60 percent of the orangutans in Sabah live in unprotected areas, where they are threatened by a number of demographic, economic and environmental actors. The state of Sabah is implementing a network of interconnected, well-protected protected areas within a broader landscape of timber concessions, plantations and human inhabited areas.

Managing multifunctional landscapes to deliver sustainable outcomes is demanding from an institutional perspective. Indonesia'€™s Forest Management Units are a good example of the type of institutional approach that is commensurate with landscape management. Flexibility in responding to the characteristics of the landscape is an essential characteristic of management institutions '€” a characteristic whose relevance is deeply underscored by climate change.

The loss of the orangutan, one of the most recognized global conservation icons, would be a landmark failure. As has been argued by scientists such as Erik Meijaard, it would singularly confirm the inability of humans to develop lifestyles that are compatible with ecological needs of the natural world.

The callousness of this outcome would be heightened by the fact that orangutans are one of our closest genetic relatives.

Solutions will be delivered only if those with claims upon a landscape communicate with one another and agree to find solutions that work for all. The GRASP report has set a new standard for a type of conservation thinking that overcomes traditional binaries and assumptions, and addresses head on the complex political economies that will determine the fate of orangutans in Borneo.

All of us who understand our roles as contributing in some way to a sustainable future must learn from, and be inspired by these lessons.
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The author is the director and executive head of the UN Office for REDD+ Coordination in Indonesia (UNORCID)