Leuser Park to disappear in less than 10 years<\/p>\n
This is the second and last article in a series on the recent
\nBahorok flash flood presented by The Jakarta Post's Apriadi
\nGunawan, Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Ridwan Max Sijabat.<\/p>\n
The thought that one day Gunung Leuser National Park will no
\nlonger exist is staggering but if nothing is done to prevent a
\ntragedy of the scale of the Nov. 2 Bahorok flash flood, the park
\nwill vanish in less than 10 years, experts say.<\/p>\n
If this is true, one day the younger generation will only
\nlearn about the largest protected park in the world from school
\ntextbooks.<\/p>\n
The Love Leuser Society (MPL) predicts the 950,000-hectare
\ntropical rain forest, home to countless flora and fauna species,
\nwill vanish by 2010 as no concrete actions have been taken to
\nsalvage the Leuser ecosystem.<\/p>\n
And, consequently, villagers living in the park's surroundings
\nin the bordering provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra can
\nanticipate other Bahorok tragedies after the recent one that
\nkilled more than 140 people and injured more than 200 others.<\/p>\n
The Leuser ecosystem territory (KEL) that is the national park
\nplus its buffer zone of forested areas is as vast as the
\nNetherlads or three times of Singapore size. Stretching from West
\nSumatra through North Sumatra rain forests, the Leuser ecosystem
\nthat covers 15 regencies has shrunk to 1,666,673 hectares in 2002
\nfrom 2,639,871 hectares in the 1930s.<\/p>\n
Deforestation has increased from 150 hectares in 1980 to
\n349,636 ha in 1985, 921,987 ha in 2000 and 973,198 ha in 2002.<\/p>\n
Today, it has shrunk further yet as the government has granted
\ntens of thousands of hectares as forest concession areas to
\nseveral timber tycoons. Others were transformed into oil palm and
\nrubber plantations.<\/p>\n
\"The disappearance of the national park is only a matter of
\ntime,\" environmental activist Marojahan said in Medan, North
\nSumatra, recently.<\/p>\n
The ongoing illegal logging, he said, has devastated a bigger
\npart of the Leuser ecosystem territory (KEL).<\/p>\n
Marojahan said quoting MPL data, illegal logging activities
\nhad destroyed an average 40,000 hectares a year at the park since
\n1998. The park was declared a protected nature reserve in 1980.<\/p>\n
\"Leuser deforestation will intensify with the ongoing Ladia
\nGalaska road project and the presence of settlement areas inside
\nthe park,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The 500-kilometer Ladia Galaska road network project, 150
\nkilometers of which will pass through the national park, has
\ndevastated the virgin forest, its rich biodiversity and the
\nhabitats of rare mammals such as elephants, Sumatran tigers,
\nrhinoceros and orangutans.<\/p>\n
The European Union-backed Leuser Management Unit (UML) has
\nlong sounded an alarm about illegal logging in the park. No
\naction has been taken to curb it so far.<\/p>\n
A survey conducted by UML in 2000 shows that deforestation had
\nencroached upon 20 percent of the national park by 2000.<\/p>\n
It estimates that the road project construction would double
\nthe size of destroyed forest to 40 percent in KEL by 2010. This
\nwould put the country at risk of losing Rp 168.7 trillion
\n(US$19.8 billion) in predicted natural disasters caused by the
\nforest destruction, without including the possible loss of lives.<\/p>\n
Lamert Setyadi, chief of the Natural Resources Conservation
\nAgency (BKSDA) in the national park, confirmed recently that
\nillegal logging has continued despite the devastating flood.<\/p>\n
He said it was difficult to curb the forest looting because it
\nwas conducted by villagers who were backed by businessmen and
\nsecurity personnel.<\/p>\n
According to data at Natural Resources Protection (PSDA)
\nWatch, forest looting and illegal logging at the national park
\nreached 40,000 hectares from 1999 through 2003. It costs the park
\nmore than 100,000 cubic meters of logs and the government Rp 105
\nbillion in unpaid taxes or Rp 6 trillion in total in view of the
\nlosses incurred by the environment.<\/p>\n
Activists say their grievances have not been addressed. They
\nhave long called on the government to enforce Law No. 14\/1999 on
\nforestry and Presidential Decree No. 33\/1998 on the protection of
\nLeuser Park.<\/p>\n
The forestry law regulates the protection of national parks
\nand protected rain forests across the country while according to
\nthe presidential decree, Gunung Leuser, which was declared a
\nnational park in 1980, was extended to embrace the Leuser
\nEcosystem in efforts to preserve it for future generations.<\/p>\n
A recent call for a moratorium on illegal logging by President
\nMegawati Soekarnoputri has been ignored.<\/p>\n
Suripto of PSDA Watch attributed the forest destruction in the
\npark to a well-organized illegal logging syndicate in an article
\nhe wrote in Republika's Nov. 16 edition. He said the syndicate
\ninvolved timber tycoons, military and police personnel,
\ncouncillors and recruited loggers.<\/p>\n
The syndicate with (timber tycoons) Acan and Aweng as its
\nmasterminds has been supported by local and international
\nplayers, he said.<\/p>\n
Operating in a cell system, he said, financiers recruited
\nlocals to fell big trees. Those involved in the syndicate are
\nofficers from the North Sumatra Forestry office, the tax and
\nexcise office, Army, Navy, print media, the local (Langkat)
\nadministration, prosecutors, judges and politicians, said Suripto
\nwho is a former secretary-general of the forestry ministry.<\/p>\n
The two alleged timber tycoons are untouchable, he said, they
\ncan move freely although they are included in the local police'
\nwanted list.<\/p>\n
Motorized carts carrying timber along the highway connecting
\nWest and North Sumatra is a daily sight. The timber comes from
\nsawmills near the national park and is sent to the North Sumatra
\ntowns of Pangkalan Brandan, Langkat, Binjai and Stabat.<\/p>\n
The timber is sold to businessmen who will export it to
\nMalaysia, Singapore, Japan, Korea, China and even Europe through
\nBelawan and Tanjungbalai seaports.<\/p>\n
\"The amount of money loggers, government and military
\nofficials receive from illegal logging is just peanuts compared
\nto the businessmen's huge profit,\" said an environmental activist
\nfrom the Love Leuser Community in Medan.<\/p>\n
Experts estimate the profit gained by illegal logging
\nactivities amounts to tens of millions of dollars a year.<\/p>",
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