Privatizing park management: Is it workable ?

Privatizing park management: Is it workable ?

By Winarta Adisubrata

JAKARTA (JP): The state of nature conservation and park
management in Indonesia can be broken down into two aspects: what
is threatening them and what is being done about the threats.

A striking example of one such threat was reflected in a small
news item in this newspaper on May 31, which mentioned that
Komodo National Park and the seas near the island of Flores boast
900 marine species are endangered and in need of protection. Sad
as it is, such news comes to us from almost everywhere in
Indonesia.

Other major threats are transmigration, land clearing and
logging, all of which reduce or alter natural habitat areas for
wildlife outside Java. Indonesia has stopped exporting logs and
now government only allows the export of timber-based products.
However, transmigration and land use for plantations and
industrialization are still used to support national and economic
development. The logical consequence has been a reduction in the
availability of pristine tropical forest as well as the domain of
both plants and animal species, many of which are facing
extinction.

Based on its National Conservation Plan, Indonesia has put 30
million hectares, or roughly 15 percent of its land area, under
some form of protection. Many conservationists believe that if
this many hectares can really be protected, most mammals, birds
and reptiles will be conserved along with most plant life. The
real problem is to protect areas on the ground that are protected
on paper. But as usual it is always easy to say what needs to be
done, and much more difficult to do it.

At present Indonesia has 31 national parks, together with
hundreds of conservation areas. Though the Javanese tiger is
already extinct, Java still has leopards, wild cattle and lots of
deer and pigs. Ujung Kulon, by any criteria an excellent natural
reserve area, is not the only national park in Java. There are
also the Bromo Tengger, Meru Betiri and Baluran parks in East
Java. There is the Merapi nature conservation area in Central
area and some others in West Java.

These areas are under increasing pressure, but the challenge
to the land-use planner is to make the advantages of preserving
these areas as parks more apparent.

As an example, Cibodas is a very important water protection,
or catchment area that feeds Jakarta and Bandung -- two of the
biggest cities in Indonesia -- in addition to the whole
population of West Java. Maintaining the Cibodas forest, which
can best be done by making it a national park, helps agriculture
in the surrounding areas.

This is the sort of linkage to productivity that will help
meet Indonesia's needs, especially under heavy population
pressure, as is happening in Java.

If we look at Irian Jaya, which is four to five times the size
of Java but with a population of only two million people, we have
great latitude to set aside areas without disturbing the local
population. We may have to move a few people but such a small
population probably would not adversely affect the reserve.

Or take the Dumoga reserve in North Sulawesi. It surrounds an
area that has received a major loan from the World Bank. The
water supply in this area is critical, and if the forest in the
watershed area is cleared, there will be a big problem with dry
season water flows. Protecting the area as a national park should
be seen as a land-use tool for protecting the watershed area for
the irrigation project in the lowlands.

Here again we have a linkage: If we clear the forest and try
to farm the hillsides we will disrupt lowland agriculture. If we
do not attack these problems in the short term, the situation
will definitely get worse.

Among the most striking examples is Cibodas. Parts of the
forests of Cibodas are being cut down for villas, golf courses
and real estate. It is not impossible that some of the money
would find its way into the pockets of local people. But when the
rainy season comes we will have floods in Jakarta and during the
dry season we will have droughts.

The present situation in the Cibodas and Puncak areas must
alert us to what may happen next. We can only commiserate with
Jeff McNeely, a WWF Indonesia Program official based in Bogor
more than a decade ago, that we no longer have Prof. Emil Salim
as minister of environment.

Emil, an economist with a reputation for honesty and fairness,
came into the environmental field from outside, bringing with him
a nationalistic and economic perspective. He has been able to
effectively transmit environmental concerns to many, from cabinet
members and the President to students and religious leaders. He
has been very effective in showing that economic development and
the maintenance of a healthy environment are inseparable.

This led to a statement recently by the deputy minister of
environment, Dr. Surna Djajadiningrat, who said that privatizing
national park management will help nature conservation in
Indonesia.

Is such a policy workable?

Two things are likely to hinder it. First is profit making,
the main motivation of any private enterprise. Secondly, the
machinery to manage a park or any nature conservation area does
not begin and end with the Ministry of Forestry.

Many international bodies -- like the International Union for
Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, the United Nations
Environment Program, the United Nations Development Program, the
Food and Agriculture Organization and the Worldwide Fund For
Nature -- are also involved from time to time. Not to mention the
World Bank, Asian Development Bank and others.

The routine job of park management demands huge funding as
well as experience, expertise and staffing, all of which are
badly needed in this country. Investment returns, if any, will be
slow in coming.

However, there are some suitable non-profit bodies. The
Audubon Society is an American, non-governmental organization
with its own land to maintain its interest, and the Worldwide
Fund for Nature, a world body with decades of experience in
supporting developing countries through expertise and funding in
the management and maintenance of conservation areas.

However, as non-profit organizations, neither have direct
experience in managing national parks. Indonesia has had some
experience, not in entrusting park management to any private
company, but in making use of certain park zones as tourist
destination areas.

When Rubini Atmawidjaya was director general of forest
protection and nature conservation in the 1980s he challenged the
private sector to make use of the productive zones of parks for
tourism. Within the boundaries of Meru Betiri National Park in
East Java, the Leuser National Park in Aceh and Bali Barat
National Park, there are now simple cottage-style accommodation
facilities run by private parties.

In Bali Barat park a travel agent has been given a special
permit to bring in tourists for underwater sports like scuba
diving and snorkeling while providing accommodations and guides.
Tourists can also be taken to Menjangan Island, which is within
Bali Barat park.

But overall, the management of our national parks as part of
our efforts to conserve nature should remain the duty and
responsibility of the government.

The writer the corresponding member of the IUCN's Commission
on Education.