Logging persists in Palu's protected forest

Illegal logging in the Lindu Lore National Park in Central Sulawesi is continuing unchecked, threatening the future of the protected 228,000 hectare-forest.

Park management office headn Bandjar Yulianto Laban said at least 1,500 hectares of the forest, located in the Donggala and Poso regencies, had been destroyed or damaged.

The destruction followed last year's occupation of the land by more than 1,000 people from Dongidongi, Kadidia and Kamarora villages in Palolo subdistrict, who had looted the forest, he said.

Speaking to the press in the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu on Thursday, Bandjar said the villagers had refused to leave the forest on the grounds that they had no other place to live.

The occupation had even spread to other areas in the forest with the villagers continuing to clear the forest, he said.

This happened despite "tight" patrols of the forest by security guards to stop further occupations, Bandjar said.

Central Sulawesi Governor Aminuddin Panulele has ordered local authorities to prevent more villagers from entering the forest.

Bandjar urged the provincial government to soon find land outside the forest for the villagers before evicting them.

The governor had agreed to move the villagers, he said, adding that a new location had not been decided on.

Bandjar also said his office was ready to welcome environmental scientists to conduct research in the forest should they outline their activities to members of the park's partnership forum which included local community leaders.

Researchers must also obtain permits from the local authorities, including from the heads of each subdistrict and village, he added.

He said a survey was being done by the German-based Storma University in cooperation with Tadulako University in Palu.

Edmon Leonardo, an activist from the Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) based in Central Sulawesi, agreed that researchers must obtain permits before doing their activities, saying if surveys did not contribute positively on the local people, the requests should be turned down.