PETALING JAYA: WWF has urged the Indonesian Government to protect the rainforest habitat of the critically-endangered Sumatran elephant, or risk the extinction of the subspecies in the near future.

In a statement, the group called for an immediate moratorium on the destruction of Indonesian rainforest for agricultural purposes and to prohibit all forest conversion in elephant habitats until a conservation strategy is determined for protecting the animals.

“The Sumatran elephant joins a growing list of Indonesian species that are critically-endangered, including the Sumatran orangutan, the Javan and Sumatran rhinos and the Sumatran tiger,” said WWF Global Species Programme director Dr Carlos Drews.

On Tuesday, the Sumatran elephant had been downgraded to critically-endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of Threatened Species.

The IUCN estimates that the population of Sumatran elephants has declined over 50% since 1985, the same time that Sumatra lost nearly 70% of the elephants' lowland forest habitat, especially in the Riau province.

Meanwhile, WWF said fewer than 20% of Riau's 1985 population of elephants remain and blames paper industry giants operating in elephant habitat for converting natural forests to plantations.

WWF-Indonesia's Anwar Purwoto said the Riau province had already lost six of its nine herds due to extinction.

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