IFAW expands wildfire response as orangutans are displaced in Borneo

Protecting wildlife and communities 

For animals already in danger, rescue can provide an immediate lifeline. The 10 orangutans moved to safer forests demonstrate what rapid intervention can achieve, while the three receiving medical care illustrate why rehabilitation capacity is also an essential part of wildlife disaster response. 

IFAW support grows as fires continue 

This latest grant means IFAW is now supporting three locally led wildfire response efforts in Indonesia. 

Earlier emergency grants to Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI) and the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program (GPOCP) are helping community firefighting teams protect critical orangutan habitat in West Kalimantan, providing resources including firefighting equipment, protective gear, fuel and transport, personnel support, and access to urgently needed water. 

The additional support to CAN strengthens another critical part of the response, helping teams both fight fires and respond when wildlife is already injured or displaced. Together, these efforts span the different stages of a wildfire emergency, from detecting and suppressing fires before more habitat is lost to rescuing and rehabilitating individual animals affected by them. 

IFAW sends emergency support as long-time partners respond to multiple disasters 

19 August 2026

Fires are burning through forests and carbon-rich peatlands in West Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, threatening communities and critical habitat for critically endangered Bornean orangutans and other wildlife. Community firefighters are working in dangerous conditions to contain the flames, with some teams struggling to access enough water to hold the fire line.

At the same time, a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake has struck eastern Indonesia, causing widespread destruction, loss of life, and displacement. The earthquake struck while IFAW was already in Indonesia conducting disaster preparedness training with our long-time partner, the Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP). Several COP team members taking part in the training, both as trainers and participants, stepped away to support the earthquake response as the emergency unfolded. 

The timing underscores why preparedness and building local response capacity matter. When disasters strike, local organisations and trained responders are often among those able to act quickly for animals and communities.

Meanwhile, the wildfire situation in West Kalimantan remains urgent. In Sungai Paduan, three of four Village Forests have been burning and fire has reached the boundary of the fourth. Flames have come within approximately 300 metres of a patrol camp, while elsewhere in the landscape fires are moving increasingly close to homes. These remaining forests have become an important refuge for orangutans displaced by previous habitat loss, with monitoring showing that their numbers in Sungai Paduan have more than doubled in just three years. 

IFAW sends emergency support to West Kalimantan  

Across both responses, IFAW funding will help put essential resources into the hands of community firefighters, including pumps and hoses, protective equipment, fuel and transport, personnel support, communications, and other field supplies. In Sungai Paduan, where the lack of accessible water is severely constraining firefighting efforts, funding will also help establish reliable water points so teams can continue holding the fire line. 

A vital refuge for orangutans under threat 

Some of the most severe fires are affecting the Sungai Paduan Village Forest area, part of an important orangutan corridor within the Mendawak landscape north of Gunung Palung National Park. 

These forests have become increasingly important for orangutans as surrounding habitat has been cleared. Monitoring by GPOCP shows the number of orangutans in Sungai Paduan has more than doubled in just three years, as animals displaced by habitat loss have moved into the remaining Village Forests. 

For some of these orangutans, the forests now threatened by fire have become a refuge after their previous habitat was lost. 

Protecting wildlife in Pematang Gadung 

Further south in West Kalimantan, another community-led response is underway in Pematang Gadung Village Forest. 

More than 7,000 hectares of community-managed coastal peatland provide habitat for an estimated 200 Bornean orangutans. The forest also supports threatened wildlife including proboscis monkeys, silvered langurs, Bornean agile gibbons, Sunda clouded leopards, and numerous bird and freshwater species. 

It is a landscape where local communities have worked for years to protect and restore. Since 2016, restoration initiatives have replanted more than 300 hectares with over 150,000 trees, while joint protection efforts have helped keep approximately 7,000 hectares of high-conservation-value forest intact. 

Peat fires pose a particular threat to this progress. In degraded or drying peat, fire can spread below ground and re-emerge even after it appears to have been extinguished. Early detection and rapid suppression are therefore critical, as is returning to affected areas to monitor for re-ignition. 

IFAW is supporting Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia, known as YIARI, and its community partners to strengthen firefighting capacity in Pematang Gadung through these most critical months of the dry season. 

Communities protecting their forests 

Among those working to protect Pematang Gadung are the women of The Power of Mama, a community-led firefighting and forest protection initiative supported by YIARI. 

The group works alongside other local responders to monitor fire-prone areas, identify threats, and help extinguish fires before they spread. Their experience demonstrates the impact locally led preparedness can have. In 2025 alone, members of The Power of Mama extinguished six large fires and helped prevent more than 150 additional fire incidents from spreading. 

IFAW’s emergency support will help community firefighting teams remain equipped, mobile, and ready to respond throughout the current fire season. Funding will support essential firefighting equipment, pumps and hoses, personal protective equipment, repairs, transport, fuel, communications, and field supplies. 

The importance of these resources is especially apparent in Sungai Paduan, where access to water has become one of the most significant challenges facing firefighters. Some fires are burning in areas without nearby rivers or canals, and community members have been attempting to dig down to find water while teams work to contain the fires. 

IFAW is supporting GPOCP to help address these urgent needs. Funding will help establish more reliable water points by drilling down to the water table, provide additional hoses and firefighting equipment, support personnel in the field, and provide protective equipment for responders. Longer hoses can allow water points to be established in safer locations while still enabling firefighters to reach fires hundreds of metres away. 

Preparedness matters when disaster strikes 

The events unfolding simultaneously across Indonesia demonstrate that disaster response can take many forms. While IFAW’s emergency funding is currently directed towards the wildfire response in West Kalimantan, our disaster preparedness work with COP is helping strengthen the skills and capacity of local responders who can mobilise when emergencies occur. 

Seeing members of the training step away to assist with the earthquake response as it unfolded was an immediate reminder that preparedness is not an abstract exercise. Local responders live and work in the communities at risk, and their ability to act quickly can make a critical difference when disaster strikes. 

Protecting animals before they need rescue 

Disaster response for wildlife is often associated with rescuing and treating animals after they have been injured. In West Kalimantan, there is an opportunity to intervene earlier by helping communities prevent fires from destroying the habitat wildlife depends on. 

For an orangutan living in one of these forests, protecting habitat means preserving the trees that provide food, shelter, routes through the forest, and places to raise their young. The same forests sustain many other species and support the communities that have taken an active role in managing and protecting them. 

They are also important for the climate. Pematang Gadung and adjacent forests are estimated to hold approximately 40 million tonnes of stored carbon. Protecting carbon-rich peatlands from fire can therefore benefit wildlife and communities while helping prevent significant stores of carbon from being released into the atmosphere. 

The people working to protect these forests are central to that effort. Community firefighters bring local knowledge and experience that allow them to identify threats and respond quickly, while conservation organisations provide the coordination, expertise, and long-term relationships needed to support their work. 

Through emergency support to YIARI and GPOCP, IFAW is helping strengthen this locally led response across two threatened landscapes in West Kalimantan. By helping community firefighters access the equipment, water, protective gear, and operational support they need, we can help protect individual animals, important wildlife populations, and the forests that both people and wildlife depend on.