Commemorating Orangutan Caring Week in Village Forests

By Edi Rahman, Field Director  Every November there is a very exciting week for all of us to invite the community to protect and preserve orangutans and their habitat. This event is Orangutan Caring Week, known in Indonesia as Pekan Peduli Orangutan, was November 12-18th this year.  We commemorated Orangutan Caring Week in 3 of […]



Sampai Jumpa Nanti (See You Later)

By Natalie Robinson, Program Coordinator For the past seven years I have been a part of the GPOCP/Yayasan Palung team, most recently as the Program Coordinator. In August, I said a bittersweet goodbye to my colleagues and friends at GPOCP/YP as I began my doctoral program at Rutgers University, where I am now a member […]



Taking Action to Prevent Wildfires

By Hendri Gunawan, Hutan Desa Coordinator Fires present an ongoing and serious threat to wild orangutans, and the forests that they inhabit, especially in areas outside the National Park that are close to human habitation. In Simpang Hilir District, North Kayong Regency, and particularly in the Village Forests (Hutan Desa) we work with, there are […]



My Return to Gunung Palung

By Caitlin O’Connell, Deputy Director Hello to all our friends and supporters! I am thrilled to be back working with GPOCP again as the new Deputy Director, a position I started in July. I first traveled to Indonesia in 2010 as a first-year PhD student working with our Executive Director, Dr. Cheryl Knott. I spent the summer […]



Yayasan Palung and Village Forest Management Boards (LPHD) Fight Fires

By Robi Kasianus, Village Forest Field Officer From August 2023 to early September 2023, Ketapang Regency and North Kayong Regency experienced a particularly dry period. During the dry season, peatland areas are very vulnerable to fire, and we have seen an increase in the frequency and severity of fires in recent years. These fires, especially in peat […]



Wild Orangutans in the Heart of Borneo with the Leakey Foundation

By Cheryl Knott, Executive Director  As a child growing up in the 1960s, I remember being enraptured by the grandfatherly Louis Leakey describing his discoveries of human fossil ancestors in National Geographic TV specials.  This ignited a lifelong interest in trying to understand where we came from, how we got here and why we are […]