National parks under threat, says expert

BOGOR (JP): The uncontrolled deforestation of the Salak, Pangrango and Halimun national parks in West Java, which are crucial water conservation areas for at least 30 million people, including Jakartans, is an environmental disaster in the making, a green activist has warned.

Jatna Supriatna, country director of Indonesian International Conservation, told reporters on the side-lines of a one-day seminar on the management of flora and fauna at the Halimun national park that the three natural conservation areas were important biospheres that needed to be well managed.

The Salak and Pangrango mountains are located in the regency of Bogor, West Java, while the Halimun national park is located across the regencies of Lebak, Banten, Bogor and Sukabumi, West Java.

"Those benefiting from these three mountain areas should pay the local administrations for their use," Jatna said.

Jatna said that the three national conservation areas could be developed into tourist resorts and that those entering the area be required to pay a small fee.

Meanwhile, the director general of natural conservation at the Ministry of Forestry said that illegal gold-mining, conducted by people from outside Bogor, contributed to environmental damage caused in Halimun national park.

"Illegal gold-mining and quarrying are very dangerous. The miners excavate huge amounts of earth, causing erosion. They also use mercury to wash the gold, and then dump the waste directly into Cikaniki River," Wahyudi said.

He said illegal logging had been rampant in the country due to, among other things, world demand for tropical wood.

To deal with deforestation his office had been cooperating with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) since 1995.

The 30,000-hectare Halimun national park has 700 species of flora, 204 species of bird, 16 of which are under threat, such as the Javanese eagle (Spizaetus bartelsi), a local type of quail (Arborophila javanica).

Some species of mammal, including a gibbon that is indigenous to Java (Hylobates moloch), as well as a local type of panther (Panthera pardus) are also endangered. (21/sur)