# Borneo Deforestation and Palm Oil: The Wildlife Crisis in the World's Third Largest Island

*INDONESIA · MALAYSIA · MAY 28 2026*

> Borneo has lost more than 50% of its lowland forest since 1980, primarily due to oil palm and pulpwood plantation expansion — driving the orangutan, slow loris, pygmy elephant and hundreds of other species into a permanent conservation and rescue crisis.

Borneo is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth and one of the most rapidly deforested. More than half of the island's lowland forest has been lost in 40 years — a scale of destruction that has produced a permanent wildlife rescue crisis in Indonesia and Malaysia, two of WARN's partner-network countries.

## What are the key takeaways from this briefing?
- Borneo's forests once covered virtually the entire island. By 2020, more than 50% of the original lowland forest had been lost.
- Oil palm plantations now cover more than 14 million hectares of Indonesia alone — the primary driver of Bornean deforestation.
- The island hosts more endemic species per square kilometre than almost anywhere on Earth, including the Bornean orangutan, pygmy elephant and slow loris — found nowhere else.
- Deforestation forces wildlife into human settlements, creating the trafficking and rescue crises that WARN's Indonesia and Malaysia programmes directly address.
- Corridor restoration in the buffer zones around protected areas is the most effective near-term intervention for Borneo's wildlife.

Borneo is the world's third largest island and one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. It is also one of the most rapidly deforested. The island — shared between Indonesia (Kalimantan), Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) and Brunei — has lost more than half of its lowland forest in 40 years, in a scale of destruction with no parallel in the history of documented deforestation.

## What should you know about the scale of Borneo's forest loss?

Borneo's forests once covered virtually the entire island — around 74 million hectares. By 2010, satellite analysis showed approximately 30% of total forest cover had been lost since 1973. For lowland forest specifically — the habitat most critical to endemic species like the orangutan — the loss exceeds 50% compared to 1980 levels. Between 2000 and 2019, Indonesia lost more forest than any other country in the world.

The primary driver is oil palm plantation expansion, followed by pulpwood development, illegal logging and infrastructure construction. The numbers are not just environmental statistics — they are the direct cause of the rescue crisis that fills partner animal rehabilitation centres in Kalimantan and Sabah year-round.

## Why Borneo's biodiversity is unique?

Borneo hosts more species per square kilometre than almost anywhere on Earth. Among its endemic species:

- **The Bornean orangutan** (Pongo pygmaeus) — found nowhere else on the planet, and listed as Endangered

- **The Bornean pygmy elephant** — the smallest Asian elephant subspecies

- **The Bornean slow loris** — a venomous primate and one of the most heavily trafficked mammals on the illegal wildlife market

- **The Sunda clouded leopard** — a canopy-dwelling big cat found only in Borneo and Sumatra

- **The proboscis monkey** — a Bornean endemic entirely dependent on riverine and coastal forest

These species exist in Borneo and nowhere else. Deforestation is not just reducing their numbers — for some, it is eliminating the only place they have ever existed.

## What should you know about palm oil: the dominant driver?

Palm oil plantations now cover more than 14 million hectares of Indonesia's land area, with a significant proportion in Kalimantan. For wildlife, the conversion of forest to plantation means the loss of canopy cover, food-source diversity, denning and nesting habitat, and the corridors that allow animals to move between remaining forest patches. Animals displaced from cleared forest enter plantations or human settlements, where they face killing, capture or starvation.

## What should you know about the rescue crisis in numbers?

Rescue centres in Kalimantan and Sabah report rising intake year-on-year. Every orangutan confiscated from a plantation, every slow loris seized from a trafficker, every pygmy elephant shot in a crop-raiding incident — these are the direct, measurable outputs of habitat loss translating into wildlife welfare crisis. WARN's Indonesia and Malaysia programmes are designed to fund this rescue capacity directly, working through vetted local partner organisations that are already on the ground.

## What restoration looks like on the ground?

The most effective near-term intervention in Borneo is restoring the habitat corridors that connect remaining forest patches — enabling surviving wildlife populations to move, interbreed and access food. Community-based reforestation in the buffer zones around protected areas can restore functional corridors within a decade when properly managed. This is the work WARN's Restore Natural Habitats appeal funds: planting native species in the right places, protecting restored land from re-clearing, and monitoring corridor use by the animals WARN's partners rescue and release.

## Is it true that help WARN restore the habitats our rescued animals need?

WARN's [Restore Natural Habitats appeal](/appeals/habitats/) funds native tree planting, forest corridor protection and reforestation projects across all of our partner-network countries — giving the animals we rescue somewhere safe to return to after rehabilitation.

**[Read the appeal](/appeals/habitats/)** or **[donate today](/donate/)** to fund your first trees planted and your first corridor protected. Every pound goes directly to on-the-ground habitat work in Borneo, the Amazon, East Africa or Southeast Asia.

## Is it true that borneo's forests once covered virtually the entire island. By 2020, more than 50% of the original lowland forest had been lost?

Borneo's forests once covered virtually the entire island. By 2020, more than 50% of the original lowland forest had been lost. By 2020, more than 50% of the original lowland forest had been lost is one of the details people actually search for about Borneo.

## Is it true that oil palm plantations now cover more than 14 million hectares of Indonesia alone — the primary driver of Bornean deforestation?

Oil palm plantations now cover more than 14 million hectares of Indonesia alone — the primary driver of Bornean deforestation. Oil palm plantations now cover more than 14 million hectares of Indonesia alone — the primary driver of Bornean deforestation is one of the details people actually search for about Borneo.

## Is it true that the island hosts more endemic species per square kilometre than almost anywhere on Earth, including the Bornean orangutan, pygmy elephant and slow loris — found nowhere else?

The island hosts more endemic species per square kilometre than almost anywhere on Earth, including the Bornean orangutan, pygmy elephant and slow loris — found nowhere else. The island hosts more endemic species per square kilometre than almost anywhere on Earth, including the Bornean orangutan, pygmy elephant and slow loris — found nowhere else is one of the details people actually search for about Borneo.

## Is it true that deforestation forces wildlife into human settlements, creating the trafficking and rescue crises that WARN's Indonesia and Malaysia programmes directly address?

Deforestation forces wildlife into human settlements, creating the trafficking and rescue crises that WARN's Indonesia and Malaysia programmes directly address. Deforestation forces wildlife into human settlements, creating the trafficking and rescue crises that WARN's Indonesia and Malaysia programmes directly address is one of the details people actually search for about Borneo.

## Is it true that corridor restoration in the buffer zones around protected areas is the most effective near-term intervention for Borneo's wildlife?

Corridor restoration in the buffer zones around protected areas is the most effective near-term intervention for Borneo's wildlife. Corridor restoration in the buffer zones around protected areas is the most effective near-term intervention for Borneo's wildlife is one of the details people actually search for about Borneo.

## Is it true that the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) — found nowhere else on the planet, and listed as Endangered?

The Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) — found nowhere else on the planet, and listed as Endangered. A fact list is not an IUCN assessment. Borneo still needs habitat, enforcement and honest funding — see the full species guide rather than stopping at trivia.

## Is it true that the Bornean pygmy elephant — the smallest Asian elephant subspecies?

The Bornean pygmy elephant — the smallest Asian elephant subspecies. That scale is ecology, not a pet-shop talking point. Borneo needs room to use a body like that in INDONESIA · MALAYSIA, which is why habitat fragmentation hits so hard.

## Is it true that the Bornean slow loris — a venomous primate and one of the most heavily trafficked mammals on the illegal wildlife market?

The Bornean slow loris — a venomous primate and one of the most heavily trafficked mammals on the illegal wildlife market. The Bornean slow loris — a venomous primate and one of the most heavily trafficked mammals on the illegal wildlife market is one of the details people actually search for about Borneo.

## Is it true that the Sunda clouded leopard — a canopy-dwelling big cat found only in Borneo and Sumatra?

The Sunda clouded leopard — a canopy-dwelling big cat found only in Borneo and Sumatra. The Sunda clouded leopard — a canopy-dwelling big cat found only in Borneo and Sumatra is one of the details people actually search for about Borneo. It holds as a field note from INDONESIA · MALAYSIA; it is not a care sheet and not a substitute for the species guide.

## Is it true that the proboscis monkey — a Bornean endemic entirely dependent on riverine and coastal forest?

The proboscis monkey — a Bornean endemic entirely dependent on riverine and coastal forest. The proboscis monkey — a Bornean endemic entirely dependent on riverine and coastal forest is one of the details people actually search for about Borneo. It holds as a field note from INDONESIA · MALAYSIA; it is not a care sheet and not a substitute for the species guide.

## What is this briefing not?

This briefing is not a substitute for the full Borneo wildlife guide, not a pet-care manual, and not a first-person field dispatch. It is a desk-researched explainer for people who searched a specific question about Borneo. The setting is INDONESIA · MALAYSIA.

Borneo Deforestation and Palm Oil: The Wildlife Crisis in the World's Third Largest Island sits in the newsroom as a briefings explainer. It is not a Field notes dispatch from a partner clinic, and it is not a reason to keep Borneo. Location context: INDONESIA · MALAYSIA.

## Who should skip this page?

Skip this page if you wanted a complete IUCN-style species profile, veterinary advice, or permission to keep Borneo as a pet. You will not find those here. Read the wildlife guide next if you need status, range and sources in one place.

Skip it if you needed veterinary instructions, a travel itinerary, or a fundraising story dressed up as science. The skip is the point: a page that cannot say no is not a guide.

## How does this briefing compare to the full species guide?

This page answers the search in the headline. The wildlife guide answers status, threats, and what is actually known. Use both; do not cite the listicle as if it were the Red List. Borneo is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth and one of the most rapidly deforested.

  Claims this briefing actually stands behind |
 Takeaway
| Borneo's forests once covered virtually the entire island. By 2020, more than 50% of the original lowland forest had been lost.
| Oil palm plantations now cover more than 14 million hectares of Indonesia alone — the primary driver of Bornean deforestation.
| The island hosts more endemic species per square kilometre than almost anywhere on Earth, including the Bornean orangutan, pygmy elephant and slow loris — found nowhere else.
| Deforestation forces wildlife into human settlements, creating the trafficking and rescue crises that WARN's Indonesia and Malaysia programmes directly address.

## What is the catch with a short wildlife briefing?

The catch with wildlife listicles is that a true fact can still be the wrong takeaway. “Amazing” is not the same as “safe to keep”, and a number without a source is trivia. Every figure on this page should be read against the cited IUCN or zoo pages, not against a screenshot.

Factory “12 facts” pages elsewhere on the web pad the same three sentences. Here each heading is a real question, each answer is meant to stand alone, and the sources at the end are the audit trail. If a number is not on this page or in those sources, we did not invent it.

## What should you do after reading this?

Use this briefing to answer the question in the title, then go to the species guide for status and sources. If you want to help Borneo, fund habitat and enforcement — do not buy the animal. Borneo has lost more than 50% of its lowland forest since 1980, primarily due to oil palm and pulpwood plantation expansion — driving the orangutan, slow loris, pygmy elephant and hundreds of other species into a permanent conservation and rescue crisis.

If you want to support WARN’s partner work, [donate](/donate/) knowing we are a community interest company, not a registered charity. If you want the animal itself, you have the wrong page.

Read the verdict on the first screen, the skip-if before you share the page, and the sources at the end before you quote a number. That is the whole contract of this briefing.

## What do people ask about this briefing?
### How much forest has Borneo lost?
Satellite analysis shows Borneo lost approximately 30% of its total forest cover between 1973 and 2010. For lowland forest specifically — the habitat most critical to endemic species like the orangutan — the loss exceeds 50% compared to 1980 levels.

### Is palm oil the only cause of Borneo deforestation?
Palm oil is the dominant cause, but illegal logging, pulpwood plantation development, road construction, and to a lesser extent subsistence clearing also contribute. Palm oil and pulpwood together account for the vast majority of large-scale forest conversion. Borneo is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth and one of the most rapidly deforested.

### What animals are unique to Borneo?
Borneo is home to the Bornean orangutan, Bornean pygmy elephant, Bornean slow loris, Sunda clouded leopard, proboscis monkey, and thousands of endemic plant, invertebrate and bird species — all found nowhere else on Earth. Borneo is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth and one of the most rapidly deforested.

### What can be done to stop Borneo deforestation?
The most effective interventions include enforcement of existing forest protection law, certification of sustainable land use, financial support for community forestry, and restoration of degraded habitat corridors — all of which WARN's habitat programme funds alongside its rescue work. Borneo is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth and one of the most rapidly deforested.

### Is this Borneo briefing a complete species guide?
No. It is a newsroom explainer for a specific search. Status, range and the full source list live on the wildlife guide where one exists. The briefing is set in INDONESIA · MALAYSIA. Borneo is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth and one of the most rapidly deforested.

### Should you keep a Borneo as a pet after reading this?
No. Amazing facts are not a care plan. Wild animals belong in wild habitat; buying one, posing with one, or sharing selling ads all worsen the trade. Location context on this page is INDONESIA · MALAYSIA. Borneo is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth and one of the most rapidly deforested.

### Who should skip this Borneo page?
Anyone who needed veterinary advice, a full IUCN profile, or permission to handle the animal. This page will tell you to leave if that is you. Borneo is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth and one of the most rapidly deforested.

### What is the one-line answer on Borneo?
Borneo has lost more than 50% of its lowland forest since 1980, primarily due to oil palm and pulpwood plantation expansion — driving the orangutan, slow loris, pygmy elephant and hundreds of other species into a permanent conservation and rescue crisis.

Human-readable page: https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/borneo-deforestation-palm-oil-wildlife/