Ace places

Forests of
life

On the tropical island of Borneo, forests are alive with wonderful wildlife – which we’re helping protect!

Did you know there are forests on Earth that are millions of years old? In fact, on the island of Borneo there’s a forest in the state of Sabah that dates back 130 million years! It’s a magical place. Here, gigantic trees tower over Bornean elephants, which are much smaller than their African cousins. Orangutans swing through the branches, and huge-nosed proboscis monkeys (pronounced ‘pruh-boss-iss’) gaze over the mangroves and scratch their tummies.

But this remarkable forest is under threat. More than a fifth of Sabah is now covered in plantations – row upon row of palm trees that aren’t wildlife-friendly. And it’s all to produce a type of vegetable oil called palm oil. Palm oil is in almost half the things we buy in the supermarket – from soap to pizza – but when it’s not grown in a nature-friendly way, it’s bad news for wildlife.

Luckily, we have a plan to help, and we call it Living Landscapes. The idea is to protect forests and their amazing wildlife, while making sure people produce palm oil sustainably. We’re also helping to restore damaged forests.

Click the hotspots on the forest photo below to meet some of the animals we’re helping…