Bukit Barisan park deforested<\/p>\n
Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandar Lampung<\/p>\n
Sixty percent of the some 350,000 hectares that make up the Bukit
\nBarisan National Park in Lampung have been badly damaged by
\nrampant illegal logging over the past ten years.<\/p>\n
When The Jakarta Post, together with a team from the Lampung
\nAnticorruption Committee, recently traveled along the routes used
\nby the illegal loggers, dozens of trucks were seen freely
\nentering and leaving the protected forest almost every day, right
\nunder the noses of the local security authorities.<\/p>\n
The trucks were transporting logs illegally felled in the
\nprotected forest. They also collected logs stacked along the
\nsides of the roads in villages near the forest<\/p>\n
Residents of Cahaya Negri and Bungin villages in West Lampung
\nadmitted that they earned their livelihoods by looting timber
\nfrom the forest.<\/p>\n
It not only people in the western part of the park who are
\nencroaching into the protected forest, but people on all sides.<\/p>\n
The villagers of Belalau and Air Dingin districts control the
\nsouthern side, while the villagers in Pancur district control the
\nnorthern side, including Selingkuh Mountain, and the Benatan and
\nRemas Hills.<\/p>\n
Hairuddin, a local resident in Balik Rigis village, said local
\npeople sold their logs to a middleman named Ujang at between Rp
\n200,000 and Rp 250,000 per cubic meter.<\/p>\n
He added that his group paid Rp 5,000 per log to locals hired
\nto drag logs from the felling sites to the pooling sites where
\nthey were collected by the trucks.<\/p>\n
The looters also paid between Rp 300,000 and Rp 800,000 per
\nmonth to local forest rangers.<\/p>\n
The logs were usually transported by truck at night to
\nBandarlampung, the capital of the province, under escort from
\nlocal police.<\/p>\n
Ujang, a buyer of illegal logs in Bandarlampung, was reported
\nto pay Rp 750,000 to the police for every consignment of logs
\nescorted to the city.<\/p>\n
The truck drivers are also used to paying fixed amounts of
\nmoney to security personnel at checkpoints along the highway so
\nthat their trucks are not checked.<\/p>\n
Because of such illegal charges, the price of logs in Bandar
\nLampung rises to Rp 900,000 per cubic meter.<\/p>\n
The widespread illegal logging has created large, denuded
\nareas in some parts of the park. Villagers make use of these
\ncleared areas to grow coffee. And, again, the local forest ranger
\nunit closes its eyes to the agricultural activities in the
\nprotected park.<\/p>\n
West Lampung Police chief Sr. Adj. Comr. Rachmat Fudail
\nadmitted he had difficulties in cracking down on the illegal
\nlogging syndicates as they were well-organized and involved local
\npolice officers.<\/p>\n
\"But, there are indications that the greater part of the logs
\nsupplied to Bandar Lampung are looted from the Bukit Barisan and
\nKerinci Seblat National Parks,\" he admitted.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bukit-barisan-park-deforested-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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