Is it that difficult to stop illegal logging?
Matthew Linkie and Patricia Sibarani, Contributor, Kerinci Seblat
Arson attacks on Government vehicles, three Government officials severely beaten up, and nine kidnapped from a public bus. These are not the war-torn regions in Afghanistan. These are the risks involved with protecting one of the last refuges for elephants, tigers and rhinos from illegal logging in Indonesia.
Indonesia contains about 50 percent of the forests in Asia and with it a bewildering array of animals and plants that occur nowhere else in the World. On the island of Sumatra alone you can find the world's tallest flower, Amorphophallus titanum, or the world's largest flower, Rafflesia arnoldi, or the last remaining tigers in Indonesia.
Unfortunately, despite being able to boast these natural wonders, Sumatra is better known for the imminent demise of its forest. This places of great importance on a large protected area such as the 13,300 square kilometer Kerinci Seblat National Park (KSNP), in west-central Sumatra. Yet, the driving forces behind deforestation, rampant illegal logging, know no bounds. This fact was well illustrated in the district of Merangin, Jambi province, which borders KSNP.
Until recently, rife corruption and mob rule combined to make illegal logging an impenetrable process. Previous attempts to stop this activity, such as using forest police, in addition to local police and the military failed due to an intricate web of complicity.
The unruly loggers could quickly rouse large support to aid in their intimidation and then submission of those trying to interrupt their work.
In September 2001, about 100 villagers stopped a public bus and took nine KSNP staff hostage. Their demand: the release of an illegal logger who was arrested earlier in the afternoon. By night-time he was free. Such a display of lawlessness led many people to regard Merangin as a lost cause for wildlife conservation. Fortunately the head of Merangin district did not share these sentiments.
Rotani Yutaka, district head since 2000, knew that the logging of forested water catchment in his province was responsible for floods that damaged crops, soil erosion that polluted river water used for cooking, cleaning and washing, and landslides that destroyed important trade roads. Yutaka knew that tough action was necessary if the forest and its services were to be safeguarded for future generations.
With this insight, Yutaka took the initiative to recall military officers who were fighting against the independence movement in Bandar Aceh, North Sumatra.
A team of 11 were deployed in the most problematic area of Merangin with a mandate to spot-check every truck passing through and impound all illegal timber. The results were astonishing: from July 5 to July 19, 195 logs (46 cubic meters) and 1,110 pieces of sawn timber (24 cubic meters), were confiscated.
Even the loggers admitted that they could no longer work in this area. They sought to articulate their opposition by throwing stones at the regent's offices. Yet, the courage of Yutaka's staff, reinforced by disciplined, fit and well-equipped military teams (experienced in conflict situations), proved an effective tonic to this usually triumphant bullying mentality. Fundamental for the success in Merangin was a political will matched by sufficient resources, transparency and controlled aggression.
The military team targeted the most active illegal logging area and intercepted the supply route. This was not difficult because logging trucks only use one main road for transporting timber to sawmills or shipping ports for export.
The teams confiscated all roadside timber awaiting collection. The wood confiscated is stored at police or national park headquarters. There it is measured and documented. These figures need to be published in district and provincial government reports so their status can be checked.
The military team members are independent of the illegal logging network and therefore less susceptible to bribes. Their bosses are not. They depend on this extra income to maintain a comfortable lifestyle. So this team will need a watchdog to check they are law-abiding and that they do not become complacent. This process would be assisted by rotating the team members every two months and by the addition of another team operating in another problem area.
As the rich variety of animals and plants in tropical forests continues to diminish preventative measures are urgently required. The recent United Nation's World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg attempted to provide these but failed. The reason: lack of political will.
The results from Merangin are therefore even more encouraging because they provide a model that could be replicated elsewhere in Indonesia as part of the countries own initiative to successfully tackle what the World Summit did not.