Rosek dedicated to wildlife<\/p>\n
Bambang M., The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
The name of environmental crusader Rosek Nursahid is heard almost
\nevery time people discuss wildlife protection in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Rosek is the founder and director of ProFauna, a non-
\ngovernmental organization dedicated to wildlife protection.
\nThrough this organization he has tried to lift the veil on the
\nillegal trade in protected species in Indonesia, having realized
\nthat it poses a serious threat to Indonesia's wildlife
\nsustainability.<\/p>\n
One of the organization's activities was an investigation into
\nthe trading of turtles on Bali between 1999 and 2001.<\/p>\n
Rosek said that during the investigation, it was discovered
\nthat the number of turtles killed in Bali was the world's
\ngreatest. Consequently, ProFauna started to campaign against the
\nillegal trade in turtles.<\/p>\n
Thanks to great pressure from ProFauna, in cooperation with
\ninternational diving organization PADI-Europe and hundreds of
\nforeign travel agencies, the Indonesian government finally took
\nstringent measures against the practice.<\/p>\n
As a result, illegal turtle trade and killing in Bali is now
\nreduced by 80 percent. "As long as you have sufficient motivation
\nand courage, a complex problem like the turtle trade in Bali can
\nalso be solved," Rosek said.<\/p>\n
His great love of animals is a big asset in the attempt to
\nsave Indonesia's wildlife, which has shown an increasing
\nvulnerability toward extinction.<\/p>\n
"When I was studying in an Islamic boarding school in Liquisa,
\nEast Timor (now independent Timor Leste), a Muslim cleric taught
\nme that cricket-fighting was sinful and prohibited," he said.
\nThat has remained in his memory even today.<\/p>\n
While studying at the school of biology at state Brawijaya
\nUniversity, Malang, East Java, he once had a quarrel with a
\nfriend who experimented on animals for his thesis.<\/p>\n
Rosek thought his friend was torturing rats and rabbits by
\nrunning an electric current through these animals to observe
\ntheir pain threshold.<\/p>\n
For him, the experiment was not important for human beings.<\/p>\n
"What's the use of measuring the pain threshold of animals?"
\nhe asked.<\/p>\n
ProFauna, whose head office is located in Malang, East Java,
\nhas, since 1998, had a well-organized membership system. Its
\ntotal membership is now around 2,000 people from many places in
\nIndonesia and abroad, including Indonesians in musical groups
\nSlank and Cokelat.<\/p>\n
ProFauna is also a member of the Special Survival Network
\n(SSN), an international coalition committed to the implementation
\nof CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
\nSpecies of Flora and Fauna).<\/p>\n
Although Indonesia has Law No. 5\/1990 on the conservation of
\nbiological natural resources and their ecosystem, and bans
\ntrading in protected animals, in reality illegal trading in such
\nanimals can easily be found at any bird market in Indonesia's
\nmajor cities.<\/p>\n
"When I visited Pramuka market, Jakarta, I was shocked to see
\nhow easy it was to purchase a protected animal," said Rosek,
\nfather of Nada Prinia and Canakya Galerita.<\/p>\n
Reacting to this state of affairs, he contacted a number of
\nenvironmental organizations to join forces with them in handling
\nproblems related to the illegal trade in protected animals, but
\nto no avail.<\/p>\n
Finally, along with his wife, Made Astuti, and a friend, Eko
\nHardianto, Rosek set up an organization for the protection of
\nwildlife, Animal Conservation for Life (KSBK), on December 23,
\n1994.<\/p>\n
In 2003, this organization, which has the Javan black or gray
\nlong-tailed monkey as its symbol, was renamed ProFauna to make it
\neasier to remember.<\/p>\n
Since it was first established, KSBK consistently provided
\nadvocacy on wildlife conservation, although it did not receive
\nhuge financial support.<\/p>\n
Strangely, owing to this consistency and lack of financial
\nsupport, many people joined the organization and showed their
\nmilitancy in implementing the organization's programs.<\/p>\n
To ensure that it was a credible environmental organization,
\nKSBK received training from one of the world's most famous --
\nGreenpeace.<\/p>\n
"They sent some people to train us in organizing
\ndemonstrations and campaigns and also in building a professional
\norganization," Rosek said.<\/p>\n
ProFauna has also applied the methods used by a number of
\ninternational environmental organizations. It has, for example,
\nadopted investigative methods from the Environmental
\nInvestigation Agency (EIA) and a fund-raising model introduced by
\nthe World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).<\/p>\n
As the organization has a serious intent, ProFauna has scored
\nseveral outstanding achievements. For investigative purposes it
\ninfiltrated one of its members into a mafia-like network that was
\nsmuggling orangutans out of Indonesia.<\/p>\n
As a result, in June 2003, action by ProFauna, in cooperation
\nwith the Jakarta Police and the directorate for the protection of
\nforest and natural resources, led to the arrest of the leader of
\nthe smuggling network.<\/p>\n
Rosek and ProFauna members have also documented the process of
\ncatching birds with bent beaks from eastern Indonesia and the
\nroute they take to the bird market, in a film titled Flying
\nwithout wings.<\/p>\n
Today, he added, a national airline tightly scrutinizes the
\nprocedure for dispatching birds from eastern Indonesia. The
\nIndonesian Military commander has also banned a warship from
\ncarrying these birds. At the same time, the government officially
\nstopped the export of these birds last year.<\/p>\n
Other activities that ProFauna has been engaged in include
\nsurveys on the trade in primates in Sulawesi and on the trade in
\nprimate meat in Lampung, Sumatra, an investigation into zoos in
\nIndonesia and an investigation into the trade in bears and their
\nbody parts in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
These investigations, Rosek said, were top of the
\norganization's priority list as they produced irrefutable
\nevidence.<\/p>\n
There are risks entailed, of course, in carrying out these
\nactivities to protect wildlife. Rosek and his colleagues in
\nProFauna have often received physical threats and been
\nterrorized.<\/p>\n
In 1995, for example, he was kidnapped by the military for two
\ndays because KSBK protested the destruction of an urban forest in
\nMalang for the construction of an upmarket housing complex.<\/p>\n
He said that the urban forest was home to about 30 bird
\nspecies. The next year, someone threw a Molotov cocktail at his
\nhouse.<\/p>\n
Last year, members of ProFauna were beaten black and blue by
\nhoodlums from Pramuka market as they confiscated protected
\nanimals on sale there.<\/p>\n
Rosek's mobile phone also receives short texts containing
\nterror messages. "I would like to change the number but it would
\ncause problems for my friends, who usually contact me on this
\nnumber. As wildlife protection entails great personal risk, few
\nnon-governmental organizations are interested in getting involved
\nin this undertaking.<\/p>\n
"What ProFauna has been doing is highly risky as it interferes
\nwith other people's lives," said Rosek, who is also one of the
\nfounders of Petungsewu Animal Rescue Center, Malang.<\/p>\n
Now Rosek and ProFauna have received wider recognition.<\/p>\n
"He is my hero," said Willie Smits, director of The Gibbon
\nFoundation, an organization also devoted to wildlife protection
\nin Indonesia. Thanks to support from the Gibbon Foundation,
\nProFauna now has its own environmental education center, the
\nProFauna-Wildlife Education Center (P-WEC), in Petungsewu,
\nMalang.<\/p>\n
Despite receiving frequent threats, Rosek has consistently
\nadvocated the protection of wildlife in Indonesia. The
\nInternational Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural
\nResources (IUCN) has warned that many animal species face the
\nthreat of extinction in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
This warning has become a main concern for Rosek. "I don't
\ncare: If it is time for me to die, then I'm ready to die," he
\nsaid, without the slightest trace of fear.<\/p>\n
Keep up the good work, Rosek!<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rosek-dedicated-to-wildlife-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }