Conservationists need to seek substitute jobs for displaced

Conservationists need to seek substitute jobs for displaced

JAKARTA (JP): Modern conservationists currently face the
challenge not only of preserving nature but also generating
alternative incomes for those who used to earn their living by
exploiting the environment, an environmentalist says.

Jorgen Randers, deputy Director General of the Switzerland-
based World Wide Fund for Nature International, said both
challenges should be met simultaneously. "There is no point even
in doing short-term conservation efforts if it is useless in the
long run".

Randers, who arrived last Wednesday for a four-day visit to
observe operation systems of the WWF projects here, told The
Jakarta Post that a sustainable-type of conservation had now
become the world-wide policy of the WWF.

"It doesn't work to set aside a nature reserve and just throw
out the people," he pointed out.

Randers explained that the WWF -- which used to be an
abbreviation of the World Wildlife Fund -- was first established
in 1961 as a pure conservation organization whose objective was,
for the most part, to protect endangered animals.

During its development, however, the organization gradually
shifted to become a nature-conservation and later a nature-
integrated-with-development organization, he said.

His trip here included a visit to the Bogor tea plantation and
a boating excursion to the Rambut Island bird sanctuary in the
Seribu Islands archipelago, north of Jakarta.

Randers acknowledged Indonesia's increasing awareness to
consider environmental aspects at an early point of time as a
positive improvement, citing the designation of certain areas for
natural parks and nature reserves.

"No such efforts, however, should be considered enough... my
job in life is to say that nothing is enough, we need to do more
(for nature) all the time," he said.

Hongkong, he said, has gone as far as setting aside 40 percent
of its territory as a water-catchment area in which no form of
development is permitted.

Randers was optimistic that such a balance could be achieved
in Indonesia despite several obstacles which, he felt existed all
over the world.

Destruction

"In its early stages, the rise of a country's economy often
destroys a lot of the natural heritage in an unnecessary way...
if one thought more about both aspects, one could probably have
rapid economic growth and conservation at a later point in time,"
he said. He added, however, that there were no countries which
were an example of such a balance.

Randers acknowledged that the WWF Indonesian Program, which
employs a larger number of local people than expatriates, could
in fact become a role model for other countries.

Its cooperation in the form of a memorandum of understanding
with the government -- which in this case is represented by the
Ministry of Forestry's Directorate General of Forest Protection
and Nature Conservation -- made the presence of the WWF here
well-organized and also informed the authorities of what the
organization was doing, he said.

The WWF currently has 3,500 people working all over the world
and operates in 100 countries. In Indonesia, the WWF employs 180
people, of which only 14 are foreigners. It currently has 26
projects in the country, consisting of marine and forest
conservation and primary environmental care.(pwn)