National Park threatened

National Park threatened

From Kompas

The problem resulting from the construction of the short cut
road from Alas Purwo National Park to Plengkung at Banyuwangi
based on a perfunctory proposal and backed by the "special
troops" of a political party, hasn't been settled yet, but the
Betiri National Park near Jember, which is adjacent to the first
mentioned park, has been damaged.

The gold mining operations at the 150,000 hectare area
including the plantation areas surrounding the national park seem
to proceed though rejected by many parties.

The forests are inhabited by many wild animals and the
plantations which are the locals' sources of income are now
threatened by human greed. They seem to forget that destroying is
very easy but reforestation takes a long time.

Surprisingly, the government seems to underestimate the
environmental problem, allowing protected areas be exploited if
expected to yield money. We worry that the government will allow
the national parks to be exploited one by one, so that eventually
Indonesia's wild life vanishes.

Indonesia's pride, as the third country in the world, after
Brazil and Zaire, in terms of its diversities of biological
resources, will fade because of Indonesia's rise in the ranking
of world's most threatened wild species.

WENNY S. LESTARI

Malang, East Java