A Chinese state-run company is moving ahead with clearing the forest that makes up the home of the newly discovered eighth species of Great Ape in Indonesia.

A few months ago in November 2017, scientists announced that the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) is a species of great ape distinct from the Bornean (Pongo pygmaeus) and Sumatran (Pongo abelii) orangutans.  The small population of only 800 apes lives in northern Sumatra.

Pongo tapanuliensis

The problem is, their forest is in the lowlands of the Batang Toru ecosystem - where Sinohydro is at work clearing the land for a 510 megawatt Batang Toru Dam.  Sinohydro's environmental management plan makes no reference to the orangutans, and Indonesia's government approved the dam.

"Building the dam means chopping the orangutan population in half," said Erik Meijaard, the director of Borneo Futures.  "You end up with two smaller populations, and these will have much reduced chances of survival, because a small population is more likely to go extinct than a large one.

"With only 800 individuals of this species remaining, the hydrodam will significantly increase the likelihood of extinction," Meijaard added.

When the scientists announced the discovery of the Tapanuli orangutans, Indonesia claimed it would make the apes a priority.  But six months later, forest clearing goes on.  Conservationists do not see the need for the dam.

"(Northern Sumatra) has a surplus of energy now," said Gabriella Fredriksson, a scientist with the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programand a co-author on the paper describing the new species.  "The impact will not just be the destruction of the habitat where they want to build the dam and roads, tunnel, electricity lines, but it will cause the extinction of two of the three sub-populations, and in addition create access and destroy the most important habitat of the only viable population left."