Dr. Isabelle Lackman

http://www.hutan.org.my/category/wildlife-2/
Director, Kinabatangan Orang-Utan Conservation Programme, Sabah, Malaysia
President, French NGO Hutan active in wildlife research, conservation and community development
Research Fellow, Pittsburgh Zoological Society
Scientific Adviser, Sabah Wildlife Department

Title: Orang-utans on the edge: fragmented sanctuary and wildlife corridors in the Lower Kinabatangan

Abstract:

The Kinabatangan floodplain in Eastern Sabah is one the largest and most biodiverse in Malaysia. In the last decades however, the region has been subjected to large-scale landscape changes that have seriously impaired the floodplain’s ecological integrity.

Hutan - Kinabatangan Orang-Utan Conservation Programme is a grassroots organization working for wildlife and habitat conservation in Sabah since 1998. Today our team is composed of 52 highly skilled staff hailing from the native Kinabatangan community.

The Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary was created in 2005, a first step towards the protection of rare Bornean endemic species such as the orang-utan and the elephant. Yet the sanctuary is small and fragmented, driving many local wildlife populations to the edge of extinction. Human-wildlife conflicts are also on the rise.

Over the past eighteen years, Hutan has developed a holistic approach combining scientific research, wildlife and habitat protection, policy work, capacity building, environmental education, as well as community outreach and development. Hutan is now working with a wide range of partners - including communities, government agencies, local industries as well as international zoo partners - to mitigate the effects of forest fragmentation and to find realistic solutions for the long-term conservation of the Kinabatangan’s unique biodiversity.