Borneo and Sumatra

American companies and consumers are inadvertently contributing to Indonesian rain forest and tiger habitat destruction by buying toilet paper and other tissue products made with fiber from Asia Pulp & Paper.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species changed the Sumatran elephant's status.

A new report documents a tiger sanctuary under threat from deforestation.

One of Asia Pulp & Paper’s (APP) suppliers is clear cutting its widely advertised tiger sanctuary in Sumatra, Indonesia, an investigation by a coalition of environmental groups finds. 

Unique financing approach used by U.S. and Indonesian governments to protect forests.

WWF released rare video footage of three Sumatran tiger cubs playfully chasing leaves in the forests of the Bukit Tigapuluh landscape in Indonesia.

Dramatic new video footage of two critically endangered Javan rhinos and their calves was released by WWF and Indonesia’s National Park Authority

A frog with no lungs, a “ninja” slug that fires love darts at its mate, and the world’s longest insect are among new species discovered in the past three years on the island of Borneo and featured in a World Wildlife Fund report released today.

Camera traps set deep in the Indonesian jungle have captured first-time video footage of a rare female Sumatran tiger and her cubs, giving World Wildlife Fund (WWF) researchers unique insight into the elusive tiger’s behavior.

A massive logging operation planned by one of the world’s largest paper companies will destroy the forest home of 100 great apes that are part of the only successful reintroduction program for Sumatran orangutans, conservationists have learned.

New figures released by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) today show that only 1 percent of the sustainable palm oil available on the market has been bought, raising concerns that one of the major solutions to halting deforestation of tropical forests is not catching on fast enough.  Rapid increases in the production of palm oil, which is found in everything from cosmetics to ice cream to chocolate bars, has caused extensive land clearing in places like Borneo and Sumatra, resulting in loss of habitat for endangered species like tigers and orangutans and contributing to climate change.

Lack of law enforcement against illegal trade in Indonesia threatens the survival of orangutans and gibbons on Sumatra, a new study by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC shows.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) hailed today's commitment by the government of Indonesia to more than double the size of Sumatra's Tesso Nilo National Park, one of the last havens for endangered Sumatran elephants and critically endangered Sumatran tigers.

The Borneo pygmy elephant may not be native to the island of Borneo after all. Instead, the population could be the last survivors of the Javan elephant race – accidentally saved from extinction by the Sultan of Sulu centuries ago, suggests an article co-authored by World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

WASHINGTON – Laws protecting the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger have failed to prevent tiger body parts being openly sold in Indonesia, according to a TRAFFIC report launched today.

Washington D.C.– An investigative report released today by World Wildlife Fund revealed that paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and its affiliates are in the process of constructing a massive  highway for logging vehicles that threatens one of Indonesia’s most important forests. The highway, described by WWF in the report as being “legally questionable,” would cut an enormous swath  through one of Sumatra’s last remaining large forest blocks, home to two tribes of indigenous people and endangered elephants, tigers and orangutans.

"The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is the premier international organization ensuring that forestry practices are environmentally, socially and economically responsible. Its decision to rescind the rights of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) to use the FSC logo shows that it is a robust and credible system that is committed to the responsible management of the world's forests.

WASHINGTON --WWF welcomes the announcement this weekend by the Australian and Indonesian governments of the Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership. The Australian Government aims to contribute $30 million over four years to the partnership and encourages other government, private sector and non-government organizations to meet a target of $100 million to protect and rehabilitate large areas of forest across Kalimantan (the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo).

Washington, D.C. - A new WWF study tracking pygmy elephants by satellite shows that the remaining herds of these endangered elephants, which live only on the island of Borneo, are under threat from forest fragmentation and loss of habitat.

WASHINGTON - A WWF camera trap inside an Indonesian national park has captured photographs of a Sumatran tiger in the wild that appears to have escaped from a snare by cutting its paw off.

WASHINGTON - Coffee lovers the world over are unknowingly drinking coffee that was illegally grown inside one of the world's most important national parks for tigers, elephants and rhinos, according to an investigative report released today by World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Illegally grown coffee from Indonesia is mixed with legally grown coffee beans and sold to such companies as Kraft Foods and Nestle among other major companies in the U.S. and abroad.

WASHINGTON - WWF today applauded the leaders of the three nations on the island of Borneo - Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia - for officially endorsing an historic agreement to conserve the "Heart of Borneo," a mountainous region of rainforests about the size of Kansas that is home to pygmy elephants, rhinos and orangutans. The endorsement came in the "Leaders Statement" at the 3rd Summit of the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines - East ASEAN Growth Area.

WASHINGTON - Scientists have discovered at least 52 new species of animals and plants this past year on the island of Borneo. The discoveries, described in a new WWF report, include 30 unique fish species, two tree frog species, 16 ginger species, three tree species and one large-leafed plant species.

WASHINGTON - A new report released today details how one of the world's largest pulp and paper companies has broken numerous promises to protect forests in Indonesia, and is clearing forests in violation of Indonesian regulations. Many of the paper products used in homes and offices in the U.S. are supplied or manufactured by Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).

Jakarta, Indonesia/Washington - Scientists have found signs of four Javan rhinos born in recent weeks in Indonesia, a surprising baby boom for a species that may number fewer than 60 individuals in the wild.

WASHINGTON - A new species of snake, with the ability to spontaneously change color, has been discovered in one of the most biologically diverse forests on earth, the "Heart of Borneo," a mountainous rainforest larger than Kansas. The ability to change colors is well-known in some reptiles such as the chameleon, but highly unusual and poorly understood in snakes. The, newly-named, "Kapuas-Mud-Snake" was discovered by a German researcher who described it with the collaboration of two American scientists.

Washington - A motion-triggered camera trap set up in a remote jungle has captured the first-ever photo of a rhino in the wild on the island of Borneo, World Wildlife Fund and the Sabah Wildlife Department announced today.

WWF researchers have discovered that ten endangered wild Sumatran elephants are being kept chained to trees without enough food or water in the Riau Province on the Indonesian island of Sumatra in violation of an agreement the government signed in 2004 known as the Riau Human-Elephant Conflict Mitigation Protocol. The elephants have been made homeless by the destruction of the forest they inhabited. Government authorities captured the elephants ten days ago after they raided crops and terrorized residents of a nearby village.

WASHINGTON - World Wildlife Fund today praised a surprise decision by the government of the Malaysian state of Sabah to protect its most important remaining lowland forests on the island of Borneo. This decision will permanently preserve one of just two places in the world where the endangered orangutans, Bornean Pygmy elephants and the critically endangered Sumatran rhino co-exist and where forests are still large enough to maintain viable populations of each.

Washington - World Wildlife Fund today released the results of a field survey from the island of Borneo which found that poaching has significantly reduced Borneo's population of Sumatran rhinos, but a small group continues to survive in the "Heart of Borneo," a region covered with vast tracts of rain forest.

Washington - Following the apparent poisoning of a herd of endangered Sumatran elephants last week, the Indonesian Forest Protection and Nature Conservation Agency (PHKA) and World Wildlife Fund, announced plans to immediately begin implementing a protocol to reduce human-elephant conflict in central Sumatra. PHKA also called for an immediate stop to the clearing of all natural forests remaining in Riau Province, site of ongoing human-elephant conflict.

The World Wildlife Fund was featured in an article on the front page of the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Feb. 23.

Sabah Wildlife Department and World Wildife Fund-Malaysia (Asian Rhinoceros and Elephant Action Strategy - AREAS Project) with support from SARAYA Co. Ltd. (Japan) successfully located and treated an injured Borneo Pygmy elephant at Bukit Permata, Lower Kinabatangan on Jan. 24, 2006.

Washington - In the past decade, at least 361 new species have been discovered on Borneo, one of the most important centers of biodiversity in the world. And a new report by World Wildlife Fund finds that there are likely to be thousands of plant and animal species left to discover on the world's third-largest island.