Another orangutan haven disappears in Indonesia

Another orangutan haven disappears in Indonesia

By Bernard Estrade

JAKARTA (AFP): Illegal logging and mining are just two of the
dangers which have sounded the death knell for one of the most
important remaining sanctuaries for orangutans in Indonesian
Borneo.

The activities of poachers and political upheaval have also
forced the abandonment of the Tanjung Puting haven, which
provided an invaluable shelter to the endangered ginger-haired
primates, experts say.

"Tanjung Puting used to be the safest place. We are very
concerned, we may not find orangutans anywhere anymore," said
Jatan Supriatna, professor of primatology and director of
Conservation International Indonesia.

Disappearing rainforest habitats have long threatened to
render the highly intelligent, hirsute animals extinct. Experts
estimate their numbers on Borneo and Sumatra to be no more than
15,000.

In recent months, researchers and ecologists in Indonesia have
reported an explosion of illegal poaching, deforestation and
mining for gold and diamonds.

Such threats to the orangutans have multiplied in the
political upheaval that the country has experienced since the
fall of veteran president Soeharto in May last year.

"Logging and poaching in Indonesian reserves have accelerated
in the power vacuum since the collapse of the Soeharto government
last year, and local authorities as well as the military are
implicated," said one Indonesian conservationist, speaking on
condition of anonymity.

"The only way to conserve forests in Indonesia may be for
conservationists to bribe whoever happens to in control locally
more than the loggers, poachers and miners, or to subsidize
dangerous military operations," he said.

"Simply asking officials with authority to enforce their laws
almost certainly will continue to be futile unless it can be made
more profitable than not enforcing the laws."

The conservationist said the worst affected regions were the
national reserves of Sumatra, and a band of forest stretching
from Leuser in the north of the Indonesian island to Way Kambas
in the south.

The forests of neighboring Borneo island, which is divided
between Indonesia and Malaysia, were also fast disappearing, he
said.

Indonesian Borneo's Tanjung Puting, which measured about 3,000
square kilometers (1,200 square miles), was hit by huge forest
fires in 1996 and 1997, for the most part lit by industrial
plantations clearing land.

Today it is in the grip of illegal loggers and gold miners who
had no compunction about invading an area which was supposedly
inviolate in law.

"They threatened researchers until they left, they also
threatened tourists," said Professor Supriatna.

He noted that Tanjung Puting was not only a sanctuary for
orangutans, long hunted by poachers for their beautiful hides,
but for local tribespeople whose jungle way of life is also
threatened.

Supriatna sounded a gloomy note when asked about the fate of
the 2,000-3,000 orangutans estimated to have been living in
Tanjung Puting.

"Where do you think they are, if there are no more trees?" he
said.

Kathryn Monk, research coordinator at the Leuser management
unit which oversees the Suaq national park on Sumatra, said that
illegal logging could see her orangutan haven share the fate of
Tanjung Puting.

"The survival of the Suaq research center is still in
question," she warned.

"We should consider ourselves fortunate. We have seen the
fabled forests of Borneo and Sumatra. But what will we leave to
future generations?"