Destruction of Tanjung Puting continues
Destruction of Tanjung Puting continues
JAKARTA (JP): The destruction of Tanjung Puting National Park
in Central Kalimantan shows no sign of stopping, leaving its few
remaining orangutans -- Asia's only great ape -- on a desperate
plight, environmentalists have warned.
The recommendation of local and international
environmentalists for drastic action to stop illegal logging and
save the endangered orangutans has so far fallen on the
government's deaf ears.
Two weeks ago, a report by the Washington-based World Research
Institute, Trial by Fire: Forest Fires and Forestry Policy in
Indonesia's Era of Crisis and Reform, warned the Indonesian
government to take drastic measures to prevent a reoccurrence of
forest fires in the country.
The latest report on the threatened national park was
published last week by the London-based Environmental
Investigation Agency (EIA) and Telapak Indonesia Foundation,
titled Illegal Logging in Tanjung Puting National Park -- An
Update on The Final Cut Report.
The park is one of only three protected areas in the country
where orangutans are found in sufficient numbers to ensure their
long-term viability.
The report's joint investigation found a devastating fact:
Logging gangs have invaded the core of the park where orangutan
behavior is studied. The illegal loggers have also begun
switching to other timber species as most of the profitable ramin
(Gonystylus bancanus) tree species had been logged out. It was
estimated that at least 60,000 cubic meters of timber, mainly
ramin, were looted every month.
"Although much of the responsibility for Indonesia's forest
crisis rests with former president Soeharto and his coterie of
family members and close business cronies, there has been an
upsurge in illegal logging since he was removed from power," it
warned.
The impact of illegal logging, combined with the effects of
forest fires in 1997, has resulted in a staggering decrease in
the number of orangutans.
Recent estimates suggest that the number of orangutans left in
Tanjung Puting National Park could be as low as 500, compared to
2,000 in 1994.
Dr. Carel van Schaik, who has studied Leuser orangutans at
Gunung Leuser National Park, blamed illegal logging for their
present plight.
"Indonesia had high deforestation rates, but, until the mid-
1990s, we were always optimistic that this would not endanger
orangutans because there were national parks and even part of
logging concessions which were meant to be maintained as unlogged
in perpetuity," van Schaik said.
"Since the Soeharto regime got into trouble in the mid-1990s,
there has been anarchy in the forests. Laws have been flouted. A
lot of logging concessions have been woefully over-logged and
there has been rampant logging and clearance for oil palms in
areas not meant to be logged at all, even national parks. The
fires and the drought of 1998 were a double calamity."
Van Schaik warned that if the current crisis persisted, there
would be no viable orangutan population left in the world within
a decade.
No action
The report also provides detailed events since the launch of
the Final Cut, including on the alleged abduction and assault on
Telapak Indonesia's director, A. Ruwindrijarto, and EIA expert
Faith Doherty during their field visit to the area earlier this
year by timber baron Abdul Rasyid's men.
Both Doherty and Ruwindrijarto were released after three days,
thanks to support from Indonesian non-governmental organizations
(NGO) and intervention from the highest level by the Indonesian
government and the British Embassy.
The alleged abduction even got the attention of both local and
foreign media, such as The Daily Telegraph and The Observer.
Rasyid, owner of the Tanjung Lingga Group logging company and
also a member of the People's Consultative Assembly from the
Golkar Party, has strongly denied the accusation and instead has
accused the two environmentalists of trespassing on his property.
"Despite the evidence, there has been no real action by the
government against him," EIA's director Dave Currey said.
Apart from naming the culprits of the illegal logging
practices, the two organizations also provided dossiers to the
police and the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations, and
presented the evidence to the then governor of Central
Kalimantan.
However, despite promises made by the government to tackle the
timber theft in February and sporadic action against timber
thieves, the national park's destruction continues.
"If a government ignores its true assets and lets them be
plundered by criminals and thieves, then it ignores the very
basis of civil society," said Ruwindrijarto.
The report places the fate of Tanjung Puting as a test case
for a government that claims to be committed to fighting
corruption and has made promises to its international donors that
it will tackle illegal logging immediately, especially in
national parks.
"There is no question of what is happening, no question of who
is behind it, and no question of the lawlessness it creates. The
only question is whether the government has the courage to move
in."
In its efforts to reveal the ongoing destruction of Tanjung
Puting National Park, the two organizations failed to present the
case to House of Representatives legislators on July 21. The
legislators refused to allow three foreign representatives from
EIA to talk in the formal forum.
But afterwards, President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid
expressed his personal interest at a 90-minute meeting with Dave
Currey, Faith Doherty and Ruwindrijarto last Tuesday (July 25).
The meeting was also attended by Minister of Forestry and
Plantations Nur Mahmudi Ismail.
In the meeting, as mentioned in a media release later on, the
President wanted to see an end to timber barons profiting from
the illegal logging of Tanjung Puting and was committed to the
suspension of ramin timber exports.
Latest reports suggest that 70 percent of the logs supplied to
the processing sector are from illegal sources.
"If the government holds sticks to the President's promises,
then, at last we will see some action," Currey said. "But we will
continue our campaign to stop the illegal logging for as long as
it takes." (ste)
JAKARTA (JP): The destruction of Tanjung Puting National Park
in Central Kalimantan shows no sign of stopping, leaving its few
remaining orangutans -- Asia's only great ape -- on a desperate
plight, environmentalists have warned.
The recommendation of local and international
environmentalists for drastic action to stop illegal logging and
save the endangered orangutans has so far fallen on the
government's deaf ears.
Two weeks ago, a report by the Washington-based World Research
Institute, Trial by Fire: Forest Fires and Forestry Policy in
Indonesia's Era of Crisis and Reform, warned the Indonesian
government to take drastic measures to prevent a reoccurrence of
forest fires in the country.
The latest report on the threatened national park was
published last week by the London-based Environmental
Investigation Agency (EIA) and Telapak Indonesia Foundation,
titled Illegal Logging in Tanjung Puting National Park -- An
Update on The Final Cut Report.
The park is one of only three protected areas in the country
where orangutans are found in sufficient numbers to ensure their
long-term viability.
The report's joint investigation found a devastating fact:
Logging gangs have invaded the core of the park where orangutan
behavior is studied. The illegal loggers have also begun
switching to other timber species as most of the profitable ramin
(Gonystylus bancanus) tree species had been logged out. It was
estimated that at least 60,000 cubic meters of timber, mainly
ramin, were looted every month.
"Although much of the responsibility for Indonesia's forest
crisis rests with former president Soeharto and his coterie of
family members and close business cronies, there has been an
upsurge in illegal logging since he was removed from power," it
warned.
The impact of illegal logging, combined with the effects of
forest fires in 1997, has resulted in a staggering decrease in
the number of orangutans.
Recent estimates suggest that the number of orangutans left in
Tanjung Puting National Park could be as low as 500, compared to
2,000 in 1994.
Dr. Carel van Schaik, who has studied Leuser orangutans at
Gunung Leuser National Park, blamed illegal logging for their
present plight.
"Indonesia had high deforestation rates, but, until the mid-
1990s, we were always optimistic that this would not endanger
orangutans because there were national parks and even part of
logging concessions which were meant to be maintained as unlogged
in perpetuity," van Schaik said.
"Since the Soeharto regime got into trouble in the mid-1990s,
there has been anarchy in the forests. Laws have been flouted. A
lot of logging concessions have been woefully over-logged and
there has been rampant logging and clearance for oil palms in
areas not meant to be logged at all, even national parks. The
fires and the drought of 1998 were a double calamity."
Van Schaik warned that if the current crisis persisted, there
would be no viable orangutan population left in the world within
a decade.
No action
The report also provides detailed events since the launch of
the Final Cut, including on the alleged abduction and assault on
Telapak Indonesia's director, A. Ruwindrijarto, and EIA expert
Faith Doherty during their field visit to the area earlier this
year by timber baron Abdul Rasyid's men.
Both Doherty and Ruwindrijarto were released after three days,
thanks to support from Indonesian non-governmental organizations
(NGO) and intervention from the highest level by the Indonesian
government and the British Embassy.
The alleged abduction even got the attention of both local and
foreign media, such as The Daily Telegraph and The Observer.
Rasyid, owner of the Tanjung Lingga Group logging company and
also a member of the People's Consultative Assembly from the
Golkar Party, has strongly denied the accusation and instead has
accused the two environmentalists of trespassing on his property.
"Despite the evidence, there has been no real action by the
government against him," EIA's director Dave Currey said.
Apart from naming the culprits of the illegal logging
practices, the two organizations also provided dossiers to the
police and the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations, and
presented the evidence to the then governor of Central
Kalimantan.
However, despite promises made by the government to tackle the
timber theft in February and sporadic action against timber
thieves, the national park's destruction continues.
"If a government ignores its true assets and lets them be
plundered by criminals and thieves, then it ignores the very
basis of civil society," said Ruwindrijarto.
The report places the fate of Tanjung Puting as a test case
for a government that claims to be committed to fighting
corruption and has made promises to its international donors that
it will tackle illegal logging immediately, especially in
national parks.
"There is no question of what is happening, no question of who
is behind it, and no question of the lawlessness it creates. The
only question is whether the government has the courage to move
in."
In its efforts to reveal the ongoing destruction of Tanjung
Puting National Park, the two organizations failed to present the
case to House of Representatives legislators on July 21. The
legislators refused to allow three foreign representatives from
EIA to talk in the formal forum.
But afterwards, President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid
expressed his personal interest at a 90-minute meeting with Dave
Currey, Faith Doherty and Ruwindrijarto last Tuesday (July 25).
The meeting was also attended by Minister of Forestry and
Plantations Nur Mahmudi Ismail.
In the meeting, as mentioned in a media release later on, the
President wanted to see an end to timber barons profiting from
the illegal logging of Tanjung Puting and was committed to the
suspension of ramin timber exports.
Latest reports suggest that 70 percent of the logs supplied to
the processing sector are from illegal sources.
"If the government holds sticks to the President's promises,
then, at last we will see some action," Currey said. "But we will
continue our campaign to stop the illegal logging for as long as
it takes." (ste)