'Po Meurah', Aceh's threatened elephants.<\/p>\n
By Ron Lilley<\/p>\n
MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): The troubled province of Aceh has
\nsome of the largest areas of forest in Sumatra. These, together
\nwith its mountainous topography, have helped to protect Aceh from
\nthe fires that have plagued other provinces.<\/p>\n
Aceh's forests contain a wealth of rare wildlife, including,
\ntigers, rhinos, tapirs and one of the largest surviving
\npopulations of Sumatran elephants.<\/p>\n
The Sumatran elephant is a high-profile representative of this
\nwealth, but rapid human population expansion and encroachment
\ninto forests have resulted in the loss of elephant habitat. As
\nthe resulting human-elephant conflicts escalate, there is a
\ndanger of public opinion increasingly turning against elephants.<\/p>\n
For centuries, there was a culture of elephant domestication
\nin Aceh, where thousands of elephants were captured and trained
\nfor use in regal ceremonies, transportation and warfare.<\/p>\n
Although elephants were regularly seen near villages, crop
\nraiding was minimal and elephants were respected. But this was
\nwhen there was still enough land and forest for all. Over time,
\nthis cultural link has been almost completely broken, although a
\nfew traditional skills and beliefs concerning elephants can still
\nbe found among rural Acehnese people, who refer to elephants as
\nPo Meurah, a term of respect.<\/p>\n
Since the 1980s, the logging boom, transmigration and
\nwidespread forest encroachment have seriously fragmented elephant
\nhabitat. With their old migration paths disrupted by gardens and
\nplantations, elephants have come into increasingly frequent
\nconflict with humans, destroying their crops and damaging
\nproperty. Villagers have been injured and sometimes killed when
\nthey try to scare the elephants away.<\/p>\n
In 1987, the government initiated a scheme to catch these
\n"problem" elephants, and transport them to newly established
\nelephant training centers, where they could be tamed and trained
\nfor use in logging camps.<\/p>\n
One of these centers, near Lhokseumawe, gradually filled up
\nuntil there were 29 trained elephants there, together with their
\nmahouts and a resident vet.<\/p>\n
Then, in 1999, the government decided that elephant capture
\nshould officially be stopped. As the Indonesian economy took a
\nnose-dive, the money designated for the elephant camps slowed to
\na trickle.<\/p>\n
A decision was made to move the captive elephants away from
\nLhokseumawe after two mahouts went missing. The site was
\nransacked shortly after the move. Some of the animals were moved
\nfurther west to Saree with their Acehnese mahouts. The rest were
\ntransferred to Aras Napal, just south of the provincial border.<\/p>\n
To offset maintenance costs, the Aceh elephants are regularly
\nherded onto trucks and transported as far away as Java, to take
\npart in "attractions" and processions. Because the trucks are not
\npurpose-built to carry elephants, there have been many injuries,
\nand at least one elephant is said to have died as a result of
\nfalling from a truck.<\/p>\n
Under siege<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in Saree, the remaining group of elephants and
\ntheir mahouts live under near-siege conditions. The neglected
\nsite has no water, and there is no money for medicines, elephant
\nfood or mahout wages. Some farming communities have threatened to
\nstart killing wild elephants, together with their tame
\ncounterparts, if nothing is done to stop the crop raiding.<\/p>\n
Over 400 trained elephants are currently being held in
\ntraining centers throughout Sumatra and there is no demand for
\nthem or money to support them.<\/p>\n
In a village further south, villagers say that elephants began
\nto raid their crops shortly after clearance and conversion of
\nforest adjacent to plantations. Companies are already obliged by
\nlaw to provide help to local communities in their vicinity and
\nthe palm oil company promised the people a new school and mosque.
\nTo date, this promise has not been fulfilled. Even if given
\ncompensation, the villagers will still be faced with the problem
\nof marauding elephants every year.<\/p>\n
Exploration of alternative solutions, including the
\nestablishment of natural and man-made barriers, is an urgent
\npriority for them.<\/p>\n
Paradoxically, the Aceh conflict may be of some short-term
\nbenefit to the elephants and other wildlife. Many logging areas
\nand plantations were abandoned as the war escalated and these
\nareas are returning to jungle. With no human competitors, the
\nelephants, tigers and other animals, are reclaiming their
\nprevious habitats.<\/p>\n
Local villagers claim that, now the elephants have alternative
\nareas in which to forage, elephant disturbances have decreased.<\/p>\n
The Governor of Aceh has supported a moratorium on further
\nlogging and plantation concessions. As the province moves toward
\ngreater autonomy, this provides local decision makers with a
\ngolden opportunity to reassess the status and future use of the
\nland. Recent flooding in Banda Aceh, and landslides in Nias, have
\nhelped to underline the negative economic impacts of uncontrolled
\ndeforestation.<\/p>\n
Conservationists are attempting to protect the elephants, with
\nthe reasoning that, if elephants receive greater protection, then
\nthe forests in which they live will also stand a better chance of
\nsurvival.<\/p>\n
But time is running out for Sumatra's elephants. The
\nestablishment of "paper parks" will not be enough to guarantee
\ntheir survival. Unless a conscious decision is made to protect
\ntheir remaining habitat from further encroachment, the
\npossibility of Indonesia soon losing its wild elephants forever
\nis very real.<\/p>\n
-- The writer is a technical adviser, Flora and Fauna
\nInternational-Conservation of Elephant Landscapes in Aceh
\nProject.<\/p>",
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