Hikers, campers destroying Gede and Pangrango peaks

Hikers, campers destroying Gede and Pangrango peaks

JAKARTA (JP): The Gede Pangrango National Park near Bogor is
suffering increasing environmental degradation due to visiting
hikers and campers, many of whom profess to be nature lovers,
environmental experts said.

The park is home to the 3,000 feet peaks of Mount Gede and
Mount Pangrango.

"Some visitors just come for pleasure, without trying to be
one with nature," said resource and environmental economist
Mubariq Ahmad in a recent interview.

Many visitors show little awareness about the importance of
environmental conservation, often vandalizing trees and throwing
their litter around, Mubariq said.

The two mountains have seen more visitors lately; as many as
5,000 people attempt to scale them during national holidays.

"This indicates a surge of interest in hiking and trekking,
but it has not been followed by the proper behavior to conserve
the national parks," he said.

The number of visitors often exceeds the environmental
capacity of the national park, he said, noting that hikers
sometimes cleared tracks of land to open new paths or campsites,
he said.

The litter left behind by hikers could damage the ecology, he
added.

Soeryo Adiwibowo, head of the environmental research center at
the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, said that Mount Gede and
Pangrango were favorite weekend escapes for Jakarta youths but
were also a crucial groundwater supply for Bogor and Jakarta.

The growing popularity of hiking and trekking in the park
could reduce the ability of the two mountains to function as
water catchment areas, he said.

Mount Gede and Pangrango are about 100 km southwest
kilometers of the capital or a two-hour drive. The main access
road to the park is through the resort town of Cipanas just after
Puncak.

The park boasts tropical and subtropical forests, hot springs
and gardens as well as the two peaks. Gede and Pangrango are both
active volcanoes that periodically emit smoke. The park
management has provided two campsites at Kandang Batu and Kandang
Badak.

Threats to the park's ecology also come from inhabitants
living nearby, in spite of the establishment of a buffer zone
between them and the park.

Many villagers still enter the national park to gather wood or
even to clear land to farm, a staffer at the Indonesian
Environmental Forum (Walhi) said.

Environmentalist Rohaji said the national park management
lacked personnel and funds to effectively monitor all the
activities in the area.

A symposium to find a solution to the problems facing the park
will be held on Saturday, looking in particular at ways of
balancing people's appetite for hiking and trekking with the
needs of the environment.

The Communication Forum to Protect Gede-Pangrango, which is
organizing the symposium, proposes organized visits for school
children to increase their awareness of the need to conserve the
environment.

Last month, the group invited 60 children between eight and
14-years-old on an excursion, known as the Kelana program, to the
Ciliwung River, which flows down to Jakarta. The children camped
at Cibodas and were involved in scientific simulations.

"We believe that through these activities, we can start taking
action to conserve the Gede Pangrango National Park," Elyta B.
Daniel Gultom, committee chairwoman of the symposium and the
Kelana program, said. (07)