The Sungai Wain Protection Forest (SWPF) is currently the last patch of lowland primary forest remaining in the Balikpapan-Samarinda area of East Kalimantan, with 1.5 million people (almost 50% of the province’s population) living in close proximity to the site. In order to establish a wide constituency of people that support the continued protection of the SWPF, which is also one of the main water catchment areas for the Balikapapan city and its large oil industry, the team wants to involve local NGO’s and conservation groups in small scale research and inventory projects.

The SWPF contains eight species of primates, including the endemic proboscis monkey, white-fronted leaf monkey, and maroon leaf monkey. A small population of orangutans has been introduced to the site between 1992-1996 by the Balikpapan Orangutan Foundation. The aim of the project is to train local conservationists to carry out primate surveys in various habitat types e.g. proboscis monkeys along rivers and in swamp habitat, nocturnal surveys for slow lorises and tarsiers, mapping of gibbon groups by triangulation of vocalizations, as well as line transect surveys for orangutan nest counts.