National Park not destroyed!<\/p>\n
We wish to clarify, in response to your Jan. 9, 2002 article
\n\"Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan destroyed, that
\nGunung Palung is still there! The reporting is based on excellent
\nfield research by a Harvard University-affiliated team of
\nforesters, and contains important points concerning the tragic
\neconomics of illegal logging at this beleaguered Park.<\/p>\n
However, the article makes its point too strongly in saying
\nthat Gunung Palung is \"destroyed\". This sort of statement is
\ndangerous -- for if it had actually been destroyed, if truly \"it
\nis hard to find an orangutan in the park now,\" why should we care
\nanymore?<\/p>\n
For the past several years we have been conducting ecological
\nresearch, including an orangutan population census, at Gunung
\nPalung National Park. The situation is indeed grim. However, the
\nPark is not yet a wasteland. Although it is true that roughly
\ntwo-thirds of Gunung Palung has been degraded by illegal logging,
\nit has not been utterly clear-cut: These disturbed patches still
\nhave high conservation value.<\/p>\n
Gunung Palung National Park remains a vitally important
\nsanctuary for wildlife, and, provided that it is protected from
\nfurther disturbance, will continue to support one of the few
\nremaining viable orangutan populations in the world. Logging has
\nnot rendered Gunung Palung worthless. It is a final \"postage
\nstamp\" of Kalimantan's once vast and unbelievably diverse lowland
\nrainforest -- a forest that elsewhere has mostly been converted
\ninto a sea of oil palm and human development. This National Park
\nis one of the last places that can and does support a full
\ncomplement of native Kalimantan fauna, and as such it still
\ndeserves our strongest conservation efforts.<\/p>\n
Let's not write off Gunung Palung, and the rest of this
\ncountry's forests, as \"destroyed\". Let's not convince the public
\nthat there are no orangutans left, when the fact is there still
\nare and, if Indonesia acts now, there always will be.<\/p>\n
ANDREA E. JOHNSON<\/p>\n
and ANDREW J.MARSHALL<\/p>\n
Department of Anthropology<\/p>\n
Harvard University<\/p>\n
Boston, Massachusetts<\/p>\n
USA<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/national-park-not-destroyed-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }