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The effects of land-use policies on the conservation of Borneo’s endemic Presbytis monkeys

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Abstract

Despite supporting the highest biodiversity on Earth, tropical rainforests are undergoing intensive economic development. In particular, the island of Borneo has lost over 56 % of original lowland forest to resource extraction, fires, and illegal logging. Its rainforests contain 16 primate species, which serve as excellent ‘umbrella’ taxa for conservation initiatives. The genus Presbytis (Colobinae) is well represented across Borneo by four endemic species (P. chrysomelas; P. frontata; P. hosei, and P. rubicunda), but remains relatively understudied. Using ecological niche modelling, I calculated the distributions of the 12 Bornean Presbytis subspecies; evaluated habitat loss between 2000 and 2010, and examined the current land-use policies across remnant distributions. Subspecies experienced a mean 12.7 % (N = 12 sp.) habitat reduction over the 10 year period. 12.5 % of all habitats were allocated for conversion to oil palm and industrial tree plantations, while logging concessions accounted for a mean 26.3 % across distributions. While the current protected area networks encompassed an average 33.4 % of distributions, most PAs are underfunded, degraded and threatened by logging and mining operations. I therefore recommend priority gazetting of unallocated lands to new PAs within the distribution of Presbytis chrysomelas and Presbytis hosei sabana, which have experienced the highest forest loss in the last 10 years (22–50 %) and are critically endangered. Logging concessions appear to be at least as effective in maintaining forest cover as PAs and have the economic advantage for effective management, but may have detrimental effects to monkey populations. I recommend an urgent assessment of the effects of selective logging practices on species’ persistence, and further recommend population surveys to quantify the populations of critically endangered and data deficient subspecies.

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Acknowledgments

I thank the Indonesian State Ministry of Research and Technology (RISTEK), the Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation (PHKA) and CIMTROP for research permissions. Funding was provided by Chester Zoo and the North of England Zoological Society; Columbus Zoo and Aquariums, and Primate Conservation, Inc. Thanks also to Professors Vincent Nijman and KAI Nekaris, and Dr. Susan M. Cheyne and Dr. Suwido H. Limin. I am grateful to Professor Serge Wich and Dr. David Gaveau for providing the land-use data upon which much of this research was based and to Editor Professor David Hawksworth and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback on the manuscript. This research was conducted as part of the OuTrop multi-disciplinary research project, conducted in collaboration with CIMTROP-University of Palangka Raya.

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  1. Orangutan Tropical Peatland Project, Centre for the International Cooperation in Sustainable Management of Tropical Peatlands, Universitas Palangka Raya, Palangka Raya, 73112, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

    David A. Ehlers Smith

  2. Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Headington, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK

    David A. Ehlers Smith

  3. 75, Furnace Lane, Nether Heyford, Northamptonshire, NN7 3JS, UK

    David A. Ehlers Smith

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Ehlers Smith, D.A. The effects of land-use policies on the conservation of Borneo’s endemic Presbytis monkeys. Biodivers Conserv 23, 891–908 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-014-0639-0

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