Deforestation leaves Dieng Plateau barren

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Wonosobo, Central Java

Wonosobo regency, some 120 kilometers west of the provincial capital Semarang, is famed for its scenic Dieng mountain range and well-known for its large teak trees which cover one-third of the area.

But three years after winning the national award for reforestation for five consecutive years, the people woke up in anger, realizing that more and more of their forest had gone.

According to official data, at least 60 percent of more than 20,000 hectares of forest managed by PT Perhutani Kedu Utara has been destroyed by unscrupulous loggers. The trail of destruction has left only bushes and shrubs. In many areas, the teak forests have turned into tea plantations.

Many can be blamed for the forest devastation, but the people blame mismanagement by state-owned forestry company PT Perhutani.

The problem in Wonosobo is just the same as that of other agrarian regencies where forest ownership and management -- officially or not -- lie in the hands of state-owned companies instead of the locals.

None, or little, of the profit goes to the locals who often take the blame for the forest destruction as they attempt to make a living out of their backyard, cultivating vegetables such as potatoes and cabbages.

But the illegal logging is not the only underlying factor that endangers the environment. The disappearance of water sources on the mountains is another.

Things like the increasing demands for vegetables and the dwindling agricultural land have compelled farmers to use toxic fungicide and pesticide to ensure a good harvest. This practice has been attributed to the declining environment in the regency.

But there is yet to be thorough research conducted on the toxic content in the soil due to the agricultural practice.

Wonosobo may not be the apple of the government's eye, but it certainly has tremendous industrial and tourist potential thanks to the lovely panorama of the Dieng plateau which the administration shares with Banjarnegara regency.

Crispy mushroom chips, canned mushroom, carica (a brand name for bottled papaya chips in heavy syrup) and tasty ready-to-eat shredded meat are the most popular products to have been exported from the region.

Button mushrooms grow easily here, while the unique small papaya that smells and tastes like oranges can only grow well in the plateau, which lies at a height of some 2,000 metres (6,600 feet) above sea level.

Dieng villagers are also proud of the popular purwaceng plants (Pimtinella pruacen) believed as powerful herbal aphrodisiac, dubbed as the local version of Viagra. National medicinal herbs companies get tons of the raw material for their products from locals here.

The people are another wonder. Some children are born with red tangled hair, while others develop it over the years. People believe it as a blessing from their gimbal-haired ancestors and a sign of good fortune.

The scientific explanation for the tangled hair is the presence of a high level of chlorine in the area, the climate and genetic factors. But there have been no conclusive studies completed.

The tangle, they say, would stay if the parents failed to satisfy the child's request for an animal sacrifice before the hair is cut by the person of the child's choosing.

A cow or two big fish would be a request the parents could perhaps fulfill, but what if the three-year-old Ulfi Fitriana demands a (real) red bus before she allows anybody to cut her tangled hair?

Other attractions, such as the ninth-century Hindu Pendawa Lima temples, the active Dieng plateau craters, the green Lake Warna and the clear Lake Balaikambang are the main tourism lures with potential to enrich the administration's income.

Too bad, they are not well managed. The temples, believed to be evidence of the dawning of civilization of Java, have lost their statues due to theft. Graffiti has defaced the beautiful stone carvings.

The lakes have lost their beautiful original colors after the flood in 1998 turned them muddy due to rampant illegal logging upstream.

From the facts, the timber industry should not be the major income source. The administration is yet to realize that keeping the ancestor's legacies and preserving nature are really what sells best.