Peat forests facing extinction from crisis-hit profiteers<\/p>\n
By Jack Rieley<\/p>\n
PALANGKARAYA, Central Kalimantan (JP): We are witnessing the
\ndemise in Southeast Asia of one of the last wilderness ecosystems
\non this planet -- tropical peat swamp forest. This waterlogged,
\ninhospitable and barely penetrable landscape used to occupy about
\n50 million hectares throughout the perhumid tropics but because
\nof human impact it has reached the brink of extinction. The human
\nimpact came in the form of government promoted land development
\nschemes, illegal logging and land settlement.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia over the last 20 years, the ecosystem has been
\nreduced from almost 30 million hectares (twice the land surface
\nof the United Kingdom) to only about 15 million hectares, and
\nmost of what remains has already been logged selectively.
\nIndonesia and Malaysia, which between them contain 75 percent of
\nthe world's resources of tropical peatland, are replacing this
\nrain forest ecosystem with oil palm and food crops such as corn,
\nrice and soybeans.<\/p>\n
Tropical peat swamp forest is a sensitive and vulnerable
\necosystem that performs many functions important to mankind,
\nlocally, regionally and globally. Indigenous people have depended
\non the resources of these swamp forests for thousands of years
\nfor construction materials, food and medicines. The vast peatland
\nlandscape retain, store and supply water while, at the same time,
\nreducing flooding and soil erosion downstream. As part of the
\nglobal peatland resource, they are one of the largest carbon
\nsinks and stores on this planet.<\/p>\n
In addition, Indonesia's peat swamp forests in both Kalimantan
\nand Sumatra are the last refuges for orangutan. In recent years,
\nthese near relatives of man have retreated to the peat swamp
\nforests as other dry land habitats have disappeared following
\nhuman settlement and conversion to agriculture. In addition to
\nthe great ape, the forests are also home to many thousands of
\nspecies of other animals and hundreds of plants. The potential
\nbenefit of the latter to man has not yet been assessed.<\/p>\n
Ecosystem destruction and species extinction are being
\npropelled by economic factors generated by increasing population
\nnumbers in tropical countries and greater social and economic
\nexpectations of their inhabitants. These forces are especially
\npowerful in Indonesia, a country of more than 200 million people,
\nalmost 50 percent of whom live at or below subsistence level.<\/p>\n
The recent economic collapse in Asia had drastic effects for
\nthe country as its currency went into free-fall and millions of
\nworkers lost their jobs. The cost of living, for those with
\nmoney, has risen dramatically and inflation is running at around
\n50 percent per annum.<\/p>\n
Under these circumstances, more and more people are turning to
\nthe country's last remaining natural resources, the forests, to
\nscrape a meager living. The authorities appear powerless to stop
\nthis uncontrolled rape of the country or choose to turn a blind
\neye to it for one reason or another.<\/p>\n
The drain on natural forest resources will have serious
\neconomic consequences for the future sustainability of the
\ncountry's forests and therefore its forest industry and
\ndownstream manufacturing of timber based products.<\/p>\n
The effect in Central Kalimantan, which has some of the
\nlargest remaining areas of pristine peat swamp forest, has
\nalready been dramatic. On July 1, 1998, an embargo was imposed by
\nthe forestry ministry on clear felling within the one-million-
\nhectare mega-rice project area (PLG), pending its reevaluation
\ncoupled with the cessation of legitimate logging by
\nconcessionaires operating in peat swamp forest, following expiry
\nof the 20-year license period. This led to a major increase in
\nillegal timber extraction in order to feed the ever-hungry
\nsawmills, plywood factories and pulp mills that line the main
\nrivers of this province.<\/p>\n
As a result of the economic depression, high unemployment and
\nthe inability of transmigrant farmers to obtain a living from the
\nland upon which they were settled, local people are turning to
\nthe forest in order to obtain a meager income, even in the
\npristine forest that should not be touched.<\/p>\n
There appears to be a conspiracy of collusion in Central
\nKalimantan to extract all of the commercially salable timber as
\nquickly as possible. Monitoring and control systems of the
\nMinistry of Forestry are not being implemented and officials are
\nturning a blind eye to what is happening.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the police and military are doing nothing to stop
\nthis rape of the forest. The scale of this operation is so large,
\nwith groups of up to 200 men living inside small sections of the
\nforest, felling trees, especially ramin (Gonystylus bancanus) and
\nmeranti (Shorea spp.) that the forest may never recover.<\/p>\n
Ramin is a very sought after tree that commands a high price,
\nbut the illegal extractors are taking out mostly undersize trees
\n(less than 30 cm in diameter) that would have been the source of
\nregrowth for future legitimate, commercial timber operations.<\/p>\n
It is high time that international environmental NGOs and
\ngovernments put pressure on the Indonesian government to put its
\nhouse in order to stop this officially tolerated, illegal
\nactivity that is destroying both biodiversity and the future of
\nthe logging industry.<\/p>\n
The present situation also makes complete nonsense of the
\nprinciples of \"wise use\" of tropical peatlands and is undermining
\nthe sustainability of this natural resource for future
\ngenerations of Indonesians.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Forestry is receiving large amounts of aid
\nfrom many countries (including the United Kingdom, European
\nUnion, Japan and Germany) to promote studies and implementation
\nof better techniques of forest management for sustainable
\nforestry. These expensive projects are meaningless without
\neffective monitoring and control in the forests themselves.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is putting an outward face to the world of effective
\nand sustainable forest management when the truth is quite the
\nreverse. These double standards should be exposed.<\/p>\n
There is an air of corruption reaching from the lowest
\nofficial in the provinces to the highest reaches in the Ministry
\nof Forestry in Jakarta, that is providing business interests with
\nthe freedom to pillage the remaining forests in Central
\nKalimantan and elsewhere in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Behind the small fry loggers living inside the forests and
\nfelling the trees, there is an efficient network of
\nintermediaries organizing the collection of logs, their
\ntransportation down rivers and selling them on to the end users
\nwho may be involved in the normal legal activities of timber
\nprocessing and supply.<\/p>\n
This entire illegal system, that is presumably based upon
\nbribes and threats, must be stopped! It has often been said that
\nthe richest government employees in Indonesia are those working
\nfor the Ministry of Forestry. How far this statement is true is
\nimmaterial but the fact that it is expressed at all is, in
\nitself, cause for great concern.<\/p>\n
The Minister of Forestry must address this problem now and act
\nto stop this uncontrolled rape of Indonesia's peat swamp forests
\nbefore it is too late. Indonesia must be seen to adhere to its
\ninternational treaty obligations for maintaining biodiversity and
\npromoting sustainability of its natural resources and not just
\npay lip service to them. The death of the globally unique peat
\nswamp forest ecosystem must be prevented.<\/p>\n
Dr. Jack Rieley is director of the Kalimantan Tropical Peat
\nSwamp Forest Research Project and Center for International
\nCooperation in Management of Tropical Peatland, University of
\nPalangka Raya, Central Kalimantan.<\/p>",
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