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.