TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Five non-profit conservationist organizations have formed a consortium to preserve the nearly-extinct Sumatran rhinos as a long-term attempt to support the Indonesian government’s programs. The five organizations comprise the Global Wildlife Conservation, the International Rhino Foundation (IRF), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN-SSC), the National Geographic Society, and WWF.

The consortium, which is spearheaded by the IUCN-SSC, gathered to commemorate the World Rhino Day on September 22. According to IUCN-SSC chairman Jon Paul Rodriguez, there are merely 80 Sumatran rhinos left in the world and human intervention to preserve the species is necessary.

Read: Urgent Effort Aims to Save Critically Endangered Sumatran Rhinos

“This enormous challenge cannot be successfully tackled by a single organization on its own. At the IUCN Species Survival Commission, we are proud to convene this strong and uncommon alliance, and are confident that we'll see the Sumatran rhinos thrive once more," said Jon Paul Rodríguez, the chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission.

According to Wiratno, the Environment and Forestry Ministry’s Director General of Ecosystem and Natural Resources, saving the Sumatran rhinos from extinction has become the Indonesian government's main priority.

“The presence of species conservationist experts, government support, and the awareness of local people, made us issue an `urgent act plans` to call for a national conservation program to breed the Sumatran rhinos,” said Wiratno, who hopes that there will be a collaborative plan to secure the species.

MOH KHORY ALFARIZI