How do we save the worlds remaining wildlife? Animals like Orangutan need huge areas to survive and thrive

One proposal, is named as half earth. The idea is to set aside half of the land on earth as a human-free nature reserve in order to preserve biodiversity, proposed by Eo Wilson.

It is asad fact, that were humans to disappear from the planet tomorrow, Orangutans would probably recover pretty quickly. Photo credit Carine06

Now the problem with this idea, is that people currently live in these areas, which would require billions of people to be moved. Would all people in poor places be required to move to rich countries?

One of the animals that could be fully saved in this way, is Borneo. The third largest island on earth, and once covered in rainforest, the Borneo Orangutan requires this huge rainforest to live in significant numbers. This is because the rainforest does not create a great deal of fruit, which means that Orangutans live alone and need to be able to roam large areas to find enough food to survive.

Now, it is true that animals such as the Bornean Orangutan can be saved without setting aside half of all land. Indeed, it is probably better to work in specific countries.

There is a simple fact: Bornean rainforest is not only important for the Orangutan, but also for climate change. It is also true, that at the moment deforestation only accounts for half of the Orangutan deaths in Borneo, the other half is down to direct killing by people because they fear them.

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