Villagers survive by chopping down mangrove forests<\/p>\n
By Prapti Widinugraheni<\/p>\n
LANGSA, Aceh (JP): Ridwan, 40, has just returned from
\nharvesting several mangrove trees. It took him four hours to find
\ntrees of the appropriate size, two hours to do the cutting and
\nanother four hours to return home.<\/p>\n
His harvest was good this time. Together with Usu, 35, he
\nmanaged to fill their 2.5-meter long and .5-meter wide boat.<\/p>\n
When he reaches his village, Tanjung Keramat, he hands over
\nthe wood to a coal kiln and receives his wage of Rp 10,000
\n(US$4.30) -- a reward for the full boat -- before heading home to
\nhis family of eight children.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know what I'd do if there were no more trees to cut.
\nIt would be very difficult. What would we eat?\" he asks.<\/p>\n
Ridwan, Usu and Yahmin, 45, are among the thousands of local
\npeople who claim they would suffer if cutting mangrove trees in
\nEast Aceh was banned by the local administration.<\/p>\n
They insist, however, that if they had a choice they would
\nwillingly give another job a try.<\/p>\n
\"I suppose the government would know where to move us. The
\nimportant thing is that we will have something to feed the mouths
\nat home every day,\" says Ridwan.<\/p>\n
The three villagers say they don't have strong ties with kiln
\ncompanies in the area.<\/p>\n
The only thing that keeps them working for the kilns, they
\nsay, is the debts they owe the kilns' owners -- people they call
\ntauke.<\/p>\n
\"Even before we were employed, the tauke would lend us money.
\nWe repay the debts with our daily wage,\" says Yahmin.<\/p>\n
\"Ninety-nine percent of us have loans to the tauke,\" Ridwan
\nadds.<\/p>\n
Asked whether they were aware of the high prices of mangrove-
\nwood coal on the market, the three say they only know that the
\ntauke pay Rp 250 to Rp 300 for each kilogram of coal produced by
\nthe kilns.<\/p>\n
Ridwan, Yahmin and Usu don't know that the tauke can sell
\nhigh-quality coal from mangrove wood -- which is mainly exported
\nto Europe -- for more than Rp 750 a kilogram, according to a
\nlocal government official.<\/p>\n
The coal kilns operating in the area, according to officials
\nof the local administration, are illegal (although there are
\nreportedly \"official\" fees levied for the coal produced) and the
\nmangrove forests are guarded by patrols.<\/p>\n
\"We seldom have problems with patrol officers, who come from
\nthe police and the Army. Usually they chase us around near the
\nholiday seasons, like Idul Fitri, and seize our equipment. But
\nthey never do anything else,\" Ridwan says.<\/p>\n
Yahmin says that once the equipment is seized, their tauke
\n\"bail\" the equipment out and return it to the workers.<\/p>\n
\"It doesn't take long, it's just a matter of days,\" he says.<\/p>\n
Yahmin says there is nothing the workers can do once the
\npatrols approach them.<\/p>\n
\"We have no legal papers, no permits. There is no way of
\nescaping them,\" he explains.<\/p>\n
A little further away from the river lives Askar, a 25-year-
\nold father of one who manages a kiln. He is paid Rp 300,000 a
\nmonth by the tauke to watch over the coal kiln owned by a distant
\nrelative.<\/p>\n
One six by six-meter kiln, he says, can produce 18 tons of
\ncoal in a single firing which can last up to one and a half
\nmonths to produce quality coal.<\/p>\n
\"Its hard work and it gets our clothes filthy. But it would be
\nworse if we weren't allowed to cut the trees. Its our only source
\nof income,\" he says.<\/p>\n
He doesn't have much to worry about, no ban has been imposed.
\nAnd so the kilns continue to operate and Ridwan and his pals
\ncarry on supplying the kilns with mangrove wood.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/villagers-survive-by-chopping-down-mangrove-forests-1447893297",
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