Logging blitz threatens N. Sumatra Leuser forest
Logging blitz threatens N. Sumatra Leuser forest
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
Mount Leuser National Park (TNGL) in North Sumatra province is
facing further degradation, as illegal logging and occupation of
land in this protected forest by Acehnese refugees has continued
unchecked.
At least 3,000 hectares of land inside the forest are
currently occupied by around 700 families from the neighboring
restive province of Aceh, who are using it as a resettlement area
and for agriculture.
The occupied land is located in Sei Lepan and Besitang
subdistricts in Langkat regency, North Sumatra.
The Consortium to Safeguard the Leuser Forest and Ecosystem
Zone (KP-HAKEL), a nongovernmental organization (NGO) concerned
with the protected park, said the refugees, mostly from East Aceh
regency, began to seize the land illegally in early 2001.
Initially they came in small groups but their numbers later
swelled due to the absence of security guards preventing the
illegal intrusion.
Deni Purba, a Consortium activist, said not all the settlers
were Acehnese refugees but land speculators from Langkat and
Medan, involved in clearing the protected forest since the 1980s.
He said that based on findings of the Consortium, which
oversees 30 NGOs dealing with environmental affairs, the
speculators have played a significant role in encouraging
Acehnese refugees to settle there in the former's own interest.
The existence of the refugees, who now total 1000 families,
has brought economic fortune to the speculators as they have
ready access to a pool of labor to assist in the illegal logging.
The speculators have sold two hectares of land in the Leuser
forest at Rp 2 million to Rp 4 million to each refugee family,
who may pay for it in installments.
With a down payment of only Rp 50,000, a refugee family can
acquire two hectares of land and repay its monthly installments
from the illegal logging income.
"In such a way, land speculators can tie refugees in to the
illegal logging process," Deni told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
In an effort to curb the continued onslaught on the protected
forest, the Consortium urged the central government to
immediately intervene in resettling refugees to more appropriate
areas and take firm action against the speculators.
The refugees fled their homes in East Aceh following the
unabated fighting between government troops and armed members of
the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Last September, the Leuser management authorities managed to
relocate at least 154 refugee families from the forest to Riau
province. But the relocation effort seemed to grind to a halt
without good reason.
Heri Wahyudi, coordinator of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JSC)
-- who serves as a volunteer for the refugees -- said the ill-
fated Acehnese were willing to be resettled to other areas,
except for their home province.
He confirmed that local illegal loggers had been exploiting
the refugees purely for their own benefit. "It has already become
public knowledge that the existence of refugees here is
advantageous to many speculators," he told the Post on Saturday
in his JSC office, Medan.
The Acehnese refugees were indeed aware that what they had
been doing was in breach of the law. "So far, they are not afraid
of possible sanction by the authorities. They are prepared to
face any risk," Heri said.