National park project involves locals

National park project involves locals

TANJUNG PUTING, Central Kalimantan (JP): Even after the
orangutans have arrived at Tanjung Puting, they are not entirely
beyond the reach of human need or greed.

Recognizing that the park's borders are threatened by the lack
of economic development in the Kumai-Pangkalanbun area of Central
Kalimantan, Tanjung Puting has embarked on a course integrating
conservation within the national park with community development
outside of it.

This approach, representative of new thinking throughout the
archipelago's nature reserves that waves a banner of eco-tourism,
positions the park within the ecosystem of the larger community.

The thinking, under the stewardship of Tanjung Puting head
Herry Susilo, says that a park is not safe until the local
residents view it as a magnet for economic opportunity rather
than a patch of forest off-limits to their livelihoods.

As such, Susilo takes an activist role outside the park,
working regularly with the office of economic development of the
regional administration, with community groups, and potential
tourism operators in the area.

Susilo and the park's 21 field employees who are stationed
throughout Tanjung Puting's 415,000 hectares are constantly
reminded of the park's community mission by the threat of illegal
woodcutting.

Since July of last year, park officials have nabbed 200 people
for logging within park borders, Susilo said. In December 1995, a
one-month operation by park rangers caught 179 people illegally
cutting timber in the park.

But park management decided that educating local residents
about the park and building community relations would accomplish
more than prosecution, and they took the opportunity to give
poachers information about why they shouldn't violate park
borders.

"It's not easy because they need something to eat," Susilo
said, also noting that the park did find prosecution prudent in
other cases, which has sent 10 people to jail since 1994 for
logging within park borders.

People try to cut trees from the park because they need money,
but often they are hired by other people who are economically
well-off to log in the park.

"Why do they come into the park? Because they can't find what
they need outside," Susilo said.

Meanwhile, around 1,000 gold prospectors a few kilometers
upstream dump mercury and sand into the Sekoyner River and
shatter the tranquility of the park by zooming to the mine in
speedboats in search of greater economic well-being (see related
story).

Tanjung Puting's park rangers are also the ambassadors of the
orangutans outside of the park. Most of the rangers have not
completed high school -- exactly the people likely to end up as
logging or working in the gold mine -- but they have become the
devoted guardians of the orangutans. One ranger at Camp Leakey
carves wooden statues of orangutans in his plentiful spare time
and sells them to visitors.

Rangers say residents of nearby Kumai and Pangkalanbun know
who they are when they venture into town on days off, and that
they are the envy of the community.

A ranger at Pondok Tanggui, Ismail, who used to work as a
logger before coming to Tanjung Puting, said living in the forest
with the orangutans changed the way he values nature. "I think
about the forest and the animals differently now."

Susilo points to the potential for developing recreational
offerings within the park, eco-tourism and success of community
programs already in place which reveal a brighter future for
Tanjung Puting and nearby residents.

In 1996, 3,980 visitors came to the park -- more than double
the number of visitors in 1990. Forty percent of the visitors are
foreign, and Susilo's conservative estimate is that they pump
between Rp 300 million (US$124,223) to Rp 700 million into the
local economy each year.

Susilo believes that even more tourists would come with
improvements to the park. Canoe trails would allow visitors to
enjoy more of the park's land and would enable local people to
earn money by renting canoes and working as river guides. If the
park could purchase the land on the opposite bank of the Sekoyner
River, it could ensure that the river will stay a tranquil place
that tourists would want to visit and remain a viable economic
commodity over the long run.

Park management says that eco-tourism around Tanjung Puting
could bring more money into the area for an indefinite span of
time rather than exhausting resources for short-term economic
gain.

Susilo points to the Eco-Lodge as a model of eco-tourism,
referring to the practice of environmentally and culturally-
friendly tourism business that is structured to keep profits
within the community.

The Eco-Lodge, which opened last fall to Tanjung Puting
tourists, donates 10 percent of its profits to a community
organization it started. The Eco-Lodge and its foundation have
established a rice field behind the village, supports the
development of home and handicraft industries, and local cultural
traditions.

As part of Tanjung Puting's regional vision, the park has
given fruit trees to local villages and supports a pepper
plantation.

Susilo says that integrating conservation, resource management
and community development is not a choice. He warns the
alternative is that, in a decade, "Tanjung Puting will become an
island." (Becky Mowbray)