EU slams planned road through protected area<\/p>\n
Simon Martin
\nAgence France-Presse
\nAras Napal, North Sumatra<\/p>\n
The European Union's Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom on
\nTuesday ended a visit to a huge EU-funded conservation project,
\nexpressing alarm that a planned road network could spell disaster
\nfor it.<\/p>\n
Work has already started on the Ladia Galaska network, which
\nwould link the west and east coasts of Aceh in northern Sumatra
\nand would cut through the heart of the Leuser Ecosystem.<\/p>\n
\"If a road cuts through this protected area it would be
\nabsolutely disastrous for the project,\" said Wallstrom.<\/p>\n
The EU has spent 31 million euros (US$39.4 million) on the
\nconservation area since 1996 while the government has contributed
\nsix million euros only.<\/p>\n
Wallstrom said late Monday, during a visit to a camp in the
\nrainforest, that apart from damaging species the road network
\nwould give access to illegal loggers and poachers.<\/p>\n
\"This is exactly what happened in the Amazon,\" she told AFP,
\nsaying she would write to President Megawati Soekarnoputri to
\nexpress concern. \"We don't want to lose what has been achieved in
\nprotecting this unique area.\"<\/p>\n
The conservation area covers 2.6 million hectares, almost the
\nsize of Belgium. It is the habitat of Sumatran rhinos,
\norangutans, tigers and elephants.<\/p>\n
\"It is one of the world's ecological wonders,\" said
\ndevelopment adviser Mike Griffiths, who helped set up the
\nconservation project.<\/p>\n
\"There is colossal richness and biodiversity. Roads in a
\ntropical rain forest are deadly,\" said Griffiths. He estimated
\nthat in some areas which would be isolated from the main forest
\nby the planned new roads, 30 percent of species could be lost.
\n\"We don't even need this road.\"<\/p>\n
The Rp 1.5 trillion ($179 million) road project was launched
\nby Aceh provincial governor Abdullah Puteh, who says it will end
\nthe isolation of remote settlements.<\/p>\n
Conservationists have put forward alternative routes which
\navoid the conservation area.<\/p>\n
\"All over Indonesia roads have traditionally been a source of
\nincome for local governments,\" Griffiths told AFP. \"Not just
\nincome from the road but opportunities for forest exploitation
\nand ultimately conversion to plantations.\"<\/p>\n
Indonesia's Environment Minister Nabiel Makarim, who met
\nWallstrom Monday, said the planned road network would have
\nadverse ecological, social and security aspects and would be
\nsubject to landslides.<\/p>\n
He said a final decision on going ahead with the full network
\nwas still awaited from the central government. \"We are still
\ntrying to convince the president (to stop the project).\"<\/p>\n
EU involvement in the Leuser project ends in November.
\nWallstrom said she would keep pressing for the road network to be
\nscrapped.<\/p>\n
\"It will make a scar on the environment which will be terribly
\ndifficult to heal,\" she said.<\/p>",
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