Logging threatens national parks, orangutan habitat

Logging threatens national parks, orangutan habitat

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): Gistok, a famous orangutan from Tanjung Puting
national park in Central Kalimantan, used to spend hours with the
park visitors, playing, watching and learning. But today, Gistok
is no longer to be seen; he has been missing for four months and
is believed to have been killed by loggers.

The sad story is true. Massive illegal logging not only
threatens people's livelihood, as about 60 million people still
depend on their livelihood from living on the forests, but also
puts endangered species, including orangutans like Gistok, on the
brink of extinction.

Protected by both national and international laws, orangutans
are facing a dramatic decline. Indonesia is home to 80 percent of
the remaining orangutans in the world, but almost 80 percent of
their forest habitat in this country has been destroyed within
just two decades.

And as the forests dwindle, orangutans are pressed into
isolated pockets, especially refuges provided by protected
national parks. But now, the parks are no longer a safe haven, as
they also face serious threats posed from illegal logging
practices.

A new report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)
and Telapak Indonesia, The Final Cut: Illegal Logging in
Indonesia's Orangutan Parks, reveals that illegal logging is
taking place in two of the country's most important parks:
Tanjung Puting national park in Central Kalimantan and Gunung
Leuser national park in Aceh and North Sumatra. The report, which
was launched late August, was based on five site investigations
conducted from July 1998 to August this year.

The two parks, known locally and internationally as a haven
for their stunning biodiversity and as centers for orangutan
research, are being destroyed by commercial-scale logging.

"I have witnessed scenes of appalling devastation in both of
these so-called protected parks. The logging is totally out of
control. The government of Indonesia must act against the timber
barons directing this destruction before these vital areas and
their wildlife are lost," said Dave Currey, director of EIA, an
international non-governmental organization based in London and
Washington DC.

The 400,000-hectare Tanjung Puting national park, recognized
as a world biosphere reserve by the United Nations, forms the
largest protected area of swamp forest in the Southeast Asia
region. It is now rampant with illegal logging, even into the
core of the park along the Sekonyer River, where the orangutan
research stations are located.

The report cited the head of the park, Suherdi Redy, as saying
"if the current rate of logging continues, the park will be gone
in five years".

The illegal activities have been carried out in full view of
local authorities, and the research cited names and companies --
from businessmen up to the loggers -- behind the massive timber
theft in Tanjung Puting park.

Investigators pointed the finger at, among others, local
tycoon Abdul Rasyid of the Tanjung Puting Group.

The tycoon's nephew, Sugianto, told the investigators, who
posed as timber buyers, that the company offered both legal and
illegal business opportunities, but suggested the second option
to avoid a 30 percent export tax.

He boasted that with his influence, Abdul Rasyid could easily
buy stolen ramin wood seized by the authorities. He disclosed
that illegal timber exports to Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore and
Taiwan was not difficult, as customs could be "influenced", but
warned that China was difficult to enter.

During a tour, the investigators also saw the delivery of
unmarked ramin logs, showing that the wood was not from legal
concessions.

Along the Sekonyer River, the sight of illegal log rafts and
the sound of chain saws from within the park were common, while
two logging camps were entrenched on either side of the proboscis
monkey research center at Natai Lengkuas.

"The logging operations have been moving steadily toward the
core part of the park, which contains most of the orangutan
research areas ... Unless the wave of logging is halted soon, not
a single part of Tanjung Puting will remain unscathed," the
report stated.

The 890,000-hectare Gunung Leuser national park with its swamp
forests -- Tripa, Singkil and Kluet -- home to unique orangutans
that have been regularly observed using tools made of branches to
extricate food from holes in trees and bee's nests, behavior
never before seen in orangutans from other areas -- is also
threatened by illegal logging.

Local timber barons were reportedly encouraging local
communities to break the law by providing loggers with chain saws
and loans for food and supplies.

In the Kluet swamp -- site of the Suaq Balimbing research
center -- illegal logging did not begin to spread until March
this year. By July, it was estimated that about 100 loggers,
based at 24 logging camps and using a system of 20 rails to pull
the logs out, were operating within the study area.

"Two of the three most important food trees for orangutans in
the area have been heavily logged," the report said, airing
concern that in the next fruiting season the orangutans may face
starvation.

Researchers also raised fears that illegal logging would
destroy unique behavioral traits, such as tool use observed in
the orangutan population.

Action

Following the report, EIA and Telapak Indonesia called for an
immediate halt to logging practices in national parks. They urged
the closing down of illegal sawmills, auditing licensed sawmills
in the vicinity of the parks, and demanded immediate
investigations and prosecution of sawmill owners proven to have
acted illegally.

The groups also called major international donors to support
actions to stop illegal logging, and demanded a thorough
investigation, prosecution and replacement of corrupt officials,
including police, military and forestry officials.

The groups' campaign to save the parks does not stop here.

A week after the report's launch, its representatives met
Central Kalimantan Governor Rapiudin Hamarun in Palangkaraya. At
the meeting, the governor acknowledged the destruction of the
park was now an international issue and agreed to save the park.

The response was considered "encouraging" by Telapak's
executive director A. Ruwindrijarto.

"We support any moves to find legitimate work for the local
communities. But he is seeking to reward the wealthy timber
barons by providing logging concessions and an IPK (clear cutting
license) to them to entice them out of the park ... Clearly this
is outrageous and totally unacceptable. We have asked him to get
the provincial level chief attorney to investigate the kingpin of
the operations, Abdul Rasyid, and close down his operations," he
said after the meeting.

They also held meetings with the World Bank, the European
Union, various national aid agencies and leading Indonesian
political parties. The campaign also receives support from NGOs
worldwide, and it will be taken to Washington DC and Europe to
crank up the pressure and push for better forest legislation,
which will enable the participation of local communities and
benefit Indonesian forests.

The forestry bill, which was expected to be passed into law by
the House of Representatives sometime this week, is feared by
activists if enacted to condone exploitation of natural
resources.

"There's one thing politicians, aid agencies and timber barons
can be sure of," said Dave Currey, "this campaign continues until
we win. It focuses on fundamental forestry issues in Indonesia,
and if the government is unable to protect two national parks,
what hope do the rest of Indonesia's forests, the people
dependent on them and the wildlife have?"