Environmentalists lament ruin of the 'lungs of the world'

Environmentalists lament ruin of the 'lungs of the world'

Leuser Development Project invited journalists and environmental
activists to Soraya, one of its research centers, in the Leuser
National Park from Sept. 21 to Sept. 27. The following are The
Jakarta Post's Wiratmadinata's reports.

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Sayed Mudhahar Achmad confronts the
plight of the world's forests in the preface to his book on the
ecosystem of Leuser National Park.

"Our earth is approaching death. Forests, soil, water and air
are in peril. Tropical forests, which function as the 'lungs of
the world', are incessantly logged, burned and denuded."

Obviously, the Acehnese academic is not being alarmist about
the dire situation, especially as it concerns the 1.8-million-
hectare Leuser park stretching along North Sumatra and Aceh
provinces.

Leuser is one of a few dwindling tropical forests in Asia,
Africa and Latin America which, according to experts, are home to
about 5 million species -- about half of the flora and fauna
known in the world.

Every four square miles of tropical forest is said to boast up
to 1,500 plant species, plus 750 tree, 125 mammal, 400 bird, 100
reptile, 60 amphibian and 60 butterfly species.

The large number of species in the tropical forest also means
the number of members of the species is so low that they are
highly vulnerable to extinction due to logging activities and
other habitat disturbances.

One estimate says that tropical forests lose one species every
day due to the activities.

Leuser is currently managed by Yayasan Leuser International
through its Leuser Development Project. It is a cooperation
between the Indonesian government and the European Union with a
budget of 50 million ECU (over Rp 320 billion) for a seven-year
term.

Nature lovers and observers are united in proclaiming Leuser
one of the world's ecological wonders. It is home to an estimated
4,000 plant species, among them the huge Rafflesia Arnoldi and
the spectacular Armophophallus titanum, which locals call bunga
bangkai (cadaver flower) due to its pungent odor. Both are highly
endangered.

According to a recent survey report, Leuser has 40 percent of
species found in western Indo-Malay tropical forests. Among its
riches are 196 species of mammal, 15 of which, including the
orangutan, are endemic to the Indonesian archipelago. The area
also has 380 bird species, the second largest number in the
country after Irian Jaya.

Environmentalists say that serious conservation efforts would
save the park as lungs of the world and its precious abundant
biodiversity.

Others charge that conservation efforts are constantly under
threat as long as the government insists on keeping its
ambivalent policy of allowing forest concessionaire holders to
exploit part of Leuser.

This year the government issued Presidential Decree No. 33 as
the legal basis for the conservation, but it fails to retract a
ministerial decree awarding concessions to businesspeople to
exploit part of the area.

Because of the ambivalent policy, logging continues unabated
while conservation is vigorously implemented under law.

"The policy has also caused overlapping between areas
designated for conservation and those for exploitation," an
activist said. "This confusion has endangered conservation
efforts."

Activists have always warned that if preservation efforts
succeed, the whole world -- and especially residents in the
vicinity -- will benefit. Failure will only bring disaster.

Mahatma Gandhi's legendary statement is relevant to Leuser's
predicament: natural resources are adequate to feed every being
but will never be enough to meet the needs of the greedy.