Julie Sherman

• Managing Director at Wildlife Impact

For more than 50 years, Critically Endangered Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) have been rescued from poachers or captors, rehabilitated, and released into natural habitats. Wild orangutans are also translocated—intentionally captured from habitat patches and insecure situations for the purpose of releasing them into areas considered to be safer...

Wildlife poaching and illegal trade threaten the survival of many rare species. We assessed spatiotemporal patterns in illegal killing, injury, capture, possession, and sale of orangutans, as well as law enforcement efforts, and conservation interventions affecting Critically Endangered orangutans in Indonesia from 2007 to 2019 using data collected...

Various global-scale proposals exist to reduce the loss of biological diversity. These include the Half-Earth and Whole-Earth visions that respectively seek to set aside half the planet for wildlife conservation or to diversify conservation practices fundamentally and change the economic systems that determine environmental harm. Here we assess the...

Conservation strategies are rarely systematically evaluated, which reduces transparency, hinders the cost-effective deployment of resources, and hides what works best in different contexts. Using data on the iconic and critically endangered orangutan (Pongo spp.), we developed a novel spatiotemporal framework for evaluating conservation investments...

Critically Endangered orangutans are translocated in several situations: reintroduced into historic range where no wild populations exist, released to reinforce existing wild populations, and wild-to-wild translocated to remove individuals from potentially risky situations. Translocated orangutans exposed to human diseases, including Coronavirus Di...

Wild orangutans (Pongo spp.) are captured and moved (wild-to-wild translocated) primarily to prevent crop foraging or out of concern for orangutans’ survival in fragmented habitat. Little is known about wild-to-wild translocation frequency, circumstances, and possible species conservation and individual welfare outcomes. We investigated orangutan w...

Aim We assess the potential long‐term viability of orangutan populations across Borneo, considering the effects of habitat loss, and various forms of population reduction, including hunting, retaliatory killings and capture and translocation. Location The study focused on the island of Borneo, a region that has experienced substantial deforestatio...

We outline the feasibility and risk assessments that are essential prerequisites to conservation translocation of great apes, while upholding the precautionary principle to avoid harms to conspecifics, sympatric taxa and ecosystems. As part of a strategic planning process, we addressed key questions on the costs and benefits of a translocation of G...

Non-human great apes-chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, and orangutans-are threatened by agricultural expansion, particularly from rice, cacao, cassava, maize, and oil palm cultivation. Agriculture replaces and fragments great ape habitats, bringing them closer to humans and often resulting in conflict. Though the impact of agriculture on great apes i...

Despite decades of conservation management, many orangutan populations are on the brink of extinction. This is primarily due to habitat loss and direct killings. A study from 2008/2009 suggested that killing was impacting orangutan populations at a rate sufficient to cause local extinctions. As an illegal and taboo behavior that is difficult to mea...

Forty years of deforestation and logging have degraded and fragmented much of Borneo’s lowland forest. This poses a threat to the island’s unique biodiversity, which can be exacerbated by hunting and killing. Although orangutans sometimes persist in small forest patches, it is unclear if such highly fragmented habitats can sustain viable population...

Non-human great apes – chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, and orangutans – are threatened by agricultural expansion particularly from rice, cacao, cassava, maize, and oil palm cultivation. Agriculture replaces and fragments great ape habitats, bringing them closer to humans and often resulting in conflict. Though the impact of agriculture on great ape...

Translation of English article available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109744. Abstrak: Perburuan liar dan perdagangan ilegal mengancam kelangsungan hidup banyak spesies langka. Kami menilai pola spatiotemporal dalam pembunuhan ilegal, pencederaan, penangkapan, kepemilikan, dan penjualan orangutan, serta upaya penegakan hukum, dan interv...

Assessing where wildlife populations are at risk from future habitat loss is particularly important for land-use planning and avoiding biodiversity declines. Combining projections of future deforestation with species density information provides an improved way to anticipate such declines. Using the critically endangered Bornean orangutan (Pongo py...

Assessing where wildlife populations are at risk from future habitat loss is particularly important for land-use planning and avoiding biodiversity declines. Combining projections of future deforestation with species density information provides an improved way to anticipate such declines. Using the endemic and critically endangered Bornean orangut...

Historically, orangutans ( Pongo spp.) lived in large contiguous areas of intact rainforest. Today, they are also found in highly modified and fragmented landscapes dominated by oil palm or industrial timber plantations; a situation that calls for new conservation approaches. Here we report signs of orangutan presence in more than 120 small forest...

The Tapanuli Orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) is the most threatened great ape species in the world. It is restricted to an area of about 1,000 km 2 of upland forest where fewer than 800 animals survive in three declining subpopulations. Through a historical ecology approach involving analysis of newspaper, journals, books and museum records from th...

The Tapanuli Orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) is the most threatened great ape species in the world. It is restricted to an area of about 1,000 km² of upland forest where fewer than 800 animals survive in three declining subpopulations. Through a historical ecology approach involving analysis of newspaper, journals, books and museum records from the...

Using data on the iconic orangutan (Pongo spp.), we developed a novel spatiotemporal framework for evaluating conservation investments. We show that around USD 1 billion was invested between 1999 and 2019 into orangutan conservation by governments, non-governmental organizations, companies and communities. Broken down by allocation to different con...

The Tapanuli orangutan ( Pongo tapanuliensis ) is the most threatened great ape species in the world. It is restricted to an area of about 1,000 km 2 of mostly hill forest where fewer than 800 animals survive in three declining subpopulations. Through a historical ecology approach involving analysis of colonial-era and other literature, we demonstr...

Selama lebih dari 50 tahun, orangutan Borneo (Pongo pygmaeus) yang Terancam Kritis telah diselamatkan dari pemburu liar atau penangkap, direhabilitasi, dan dilepaskan ke habitat alami. Orangutan liar juga dipindahkan-secara sengaja ditangkap dari petak-petak habitat dan situasi yang tidak aman dengan tujuan untuk melepaskan mereka kembali ke area y...

Orangutans (Pongo spp.) occur at low densities and therefore large areas are necessary to sustain viable metapopulations, defined here as sets of conspecific units of individuals linked by dispersal. Historically, orangutans lived in large contiguous areas of intact rainforest, but are now increasingly found in agricultural and other landscapes mod...

Many tropical countries continue to devolve forest management to forest-dwelling communities. The assumption is that local knowledge of forests and community engagement in forest management will attain multiple social and environmental co-benefits, such as poverty alleviation and reduced deforestation and fires. Evidence for this, however, is scant...

Populations of the Critically Endangered Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) are declining despite more than 10 years of conservation action plan implementation. Here we analyzed the impacts on species' population and habitat from orangutan conservation strategies implemented between 2007 and 2017. We also assessed data on investments into orangutan...

A recent report, published by the Government of Indonesia with support from the Food and Agricultural Organization and Norway's International Climate and Forest Initiative, states that orangutan populations (Pongo spp.) have increased by more than 10% in Indonesia from 2015 to 2017, exceeding the government target of an annual 2% population increas...

Report on the Status of Great Apes to the CITES Standing Committee by United Nations Environment Programme Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Borneo Futures - Science for Change. Putting Research into Action ... for Borneo’s wildlife and people...

What is sustainability? When do the ’benefits’ of deforestation weigh up against the costs? Sustainable choices made today can change the current course of degradation, save billions of US$, and ensure a bright future for Borneo’s wildlife, lands and people

The views and findings of Borneo Futures about conservation management of Bornean orangutans

Description of the work of Wildlife Impact, an INGO working to address the essential need for outcome evaluation by conducting independent evidence-based assessment of conservation and welfare impacts for projects and organisations working in developing countries. WI provides valuable strategic planning tools, capacity development and support syste...

Previous research has associated specific animal images with negative sequelae such as reduced conservation concern and increased demand as pets. This study catalogued 247 images of animal-human contact posted on Facebook by 16 African ape sanctuaries. Over 90% of the images were of staff, volunteers or other professionals interacting with the anim...

Previous research has associated specific animal images with negative sequelae such as reduced conservation concern and increased demand as pets. This study catalogued 247 images of animal-human contact posted on Facebook by 16 African ape sanctuaries. Over 90% of the images were of staff, volunteers or other professionals interacting with the anim...

Over the last few decades, primate sanctuaries have become more numerous, particularly in Africa. Sanctuaries play an obvious and vital role in the battle against the illegal trade in wildlife and provide opportunities for local people to learn about the importance of protecting habitat and laws governing wildlife trade. Given the multi-disciplinar...