Emergency Fire Fund — BORNEO IS BURNING!

borneo

Update: October 13, 2023

It's fire season and once again Borneo is burning. Palm oil companies, farmers, and small land holders are setting fires that are burning out of control. Any fire that is set has the potential to become all-encompassing due to the drying effects of climate change on the forests. The fires, smoke, and haze are threatening the health and lives of the animals and people in the Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) provinces. Those fighting the fires are working in hazardous conditions. Everyone in the area is affected by the air quality, which easily reaches dangerous levels.

The biggest challenge the fire prevention teams face is making sure the Indonesian peat forests don't catch fire, because once peat fires start burning, they are almost impossible to extinguish. When this happens countless animals perish and devastating smoke and haze spread across the region. Teams need to be making regular patrols in high-risk areas and when they are confronted with flare-ups; they need to be equipped with proper equipment.

The Orangutan Outreach Emergency Fire Fund supports BOSF, IAR (YIARI), BNF and CAN with their firefighting efforts. Alongside local communities and government officials, teams are working around the clock to put out fires as well as patrol forests and peat swamps in remote areas of Borneo.

Please make a donation to the Emergency Fire Fund! Donations will help pay for staff, equipment, medical supplies and fire-fighting gear. The situation is critical! Thank you for your support! {:(|}

Suggested donations:
US $10.00: Daily wage for a fire-fighter
US $25.00: Supplies gear: gloves, goggles, eye drops, masks, isotonic drinks, vitamin packs
US $50.00: Reforestation: 10 tropical hardwood saplings
US $100.00: Builds a dam to block the ex-logging canals in the peat forests
US $500.00: Equips a fire-fighting team with hoses, nozzles and safety equipment

All donations made via this PayPal button will be earmarked for our Fire Fund.

Who's involved?

Orangutan Outreach (OO)
Orangutan Outreach's mission is to protect orangutans in their native habitat while providing care for orphaned and displaced orangutans until they can be returned to their natural environment. The registered 501(c)(3) New York-based non-profit raises funds and promotes public awareness of orangutan conservation issues by collaborating with partner organizations around the world. One of the key issues facing orangutans in the wild is the loss of habitat due to fire. In order to prevent and mitigate the damage from forest fires, Orangutan Outreach is supporting a network of partners in the field who are working to prevent the fires from spreading.

BOSF-logo-hi-resBorneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS)The BOS Foundation has dedicated teams working throughout their forest-based programs, orangutan reintroduction sites and long-term conservation areas in Central and East Kalimantan (Borneo). These teams are responsible for working together with local communities and other stakeholders on early detection and suppression of fire outbreaks and outreach education and awareness locally to change land-clearing practices through the use of fire. Together with local people their teams are actively fighting fires and implementing the strategies needed to significantly reduce negative environmental impacts within orangutan habitat. Funds are desperately needed to buy the equipment and support the teams undertaking this critical activity.

iar-logo-globeInternational Animal Rescue (Yayasan IAR)
Fire-prevention and animal rescue teams from YIARI conduct fire-fighting training workshops with local villagers based in and around Ketapang, West Kalimantan. Funds are needed to scale up the workshops so villagers in more remote regions can be trained to prevent forest fires. The patrol units are also trained to confront wildlife poachers and are on the lookout for orangutans in need of medical help or relocation to safer areas of forest. IAR has also implemented the use of drone technology to discover and monitor fire hotspots and needs funds to develop programs in conjunction with local authorities. The goal is to be able to locate and address fires in remote locations without delay and be able to better utilize limited human resources to be as effective as possible in the field. Learn about The Power of Mama all female fire-fighting team here.

Borneo Nature Foundation
The Borneo Nature Foundation supports community fire-prevention that protects Sebangau National Park, home to the largest protected population of wild orangutans in the world. Funds are needed to provide and maintain essential equipment for the fire-fighting and patrol teams, to undertake training sessions in fire-prevention and fire-fighting with local villages, and to mobilize teams to identify and extinguish peat fires during the dry season. BNF also works with teams of local villagers to restore damaged peat lands by building dams on illegal-logging canals in order to prevent the peat swamps from drying out. The team at the BNF research station fights desperately to put out fires in the peat forests. If these fires get out of control they could decimate the wild orangutans living there.

Conservation Action Network (CAN)
As soon as the dry season arrives, CAN gets to work on fire mitigation and firefighting. As the rivers dry up and the fragmented forests start to burn, new hotspots will be on the rise. The CAN extinguishing team works tirelessly to stop the fire rate and CAN has set up a fire rescue team to urgently support the government. Efforts to manage and mitigate the impact of forest fires on ecosystems and wildlife include fire prevention, controlled burns, improved firefighting techniques, and post-fire restoration activities. Conservation strategies that focus on habitat protection, landscape connectivity, and the preservation of natural fire regimes are also important for maintaining healthy forest ecosystems and supporting wildlife populations.

Please make a donation to the Emergency Fire Fund!

All donations made via this PayPal button will be marked as 'Fire Fund'.