`Jungle People' at mercy of chain saws
The devastation of the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park's buffer zone has not only destroyed the traditions of the Talang Mamak tribespeople in Riau, but has also adversely affected the orang rimba, or "jungle people", living in the southern part of the park, in Jambi.
The southern buffer zone of the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park (TNBT) forms a relatively undivided expanse of production forests, which is a very good safeguard for the TNBT.
Rudi Syaff, director of the park's information station, told The Jakarta Post that most of the jungle inhabitants (also called the Kubu tribe) occupied PT IFA's concession area in the Gelumpang Besar River catchment area, the upstream area of Batang Sumay and a concession area belonging to PT Dalek Hutani Esa.
These forest people, though they move about with freedom and gather non-wood forest products in concession areas, sometimes even in the TNBT, have at times come into conflict with other parties. Living below the poverty line as nomadic farmers, they are very much dependent on non-wood products as the main source of family income.
In several locations, the products they gather have been further reduced in quantity, notably jernang, a gum from resin trees that have been considerably damaged by logging.
The high price of this product, reaching Rp 200,000 (about US$24) per kilogram, has prompted forest dwellers to search for it upstream of Batang Sumay, where the trees are more adequately available.
The process of land clearance, however, has made it increasingly difficult for the jungle dwellers to find sources of income.
"Rampant illegal logging in the IFA area and the opening of farm land by local communities reduces forest potential, while concessionaires pay less heed to the health of the forest," said Rudi.
He also pointed to the planned development of oil palm estates by PT Pelangi Sentra Nusa in southern villages of TNBT. With licensing still underway, tree felling has begun for the plantations. The forestry ministry has allocated the area to the villages of Semambu, Muara Sekalo and Suo-suo for farming.
The threat to the forests is even directed at TNBT as a conservation zone. It is feared that the corridor through the national park used by PT Dalek Hutani Esa to transport timber to Riau, will make it easier for illegal loggers to operate in TNBT.
"We are seeing more overt cases of logs were taken out of the park," Rudi said.
He said Jambi's forest dwellers relied on natural resources, so it would be a disaster to cut off their links with the forest all at once, because "they cannot really enjoy the effects of development programs unless their access to forest potential is guaranteed".
Caught between various interests along the Trans-Sumatra central highway, the forest dwellers are facing the loss of the trees on which they rely for their livelihood.
Apart from depending on the forests, the residents of the jungle living in the southern area of the park have also planted various fruit trees to support claims to private ownership.
"But they have found it hard to make the fruit trees serve as evidence of land ownership. Now all the trees are gradually disappearing," Rudi said.
To make matters worse, most of these people have not received a formal education. By moving from one place to another around the southern areas of TNBT, they have become isolated. The Jambi administration has built elementary schools for them, but the buildings were eventually abandoned.
What is now to be resolved is how to assign teachers who can follow the nomadic people, which according to Rudi is complicated but the only choice, in view of the forest dwellers long established customs.
Therefore, his station is initiating a program to recruit teachers prepared to follow the nomadic people.
"By relying on government programs, we are afraid the forest people will never get schooling. We have assigned some tutors to live with them," Rudi said.
-- Haidir Anwar Tanjung