Deforestation leaves Dieng Plateau barren

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.