Regent acts to protect forests

Regent acts to protect forests

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Following implementation of the 1999 Regional Autonomy Law, which
granted more authority to local governments, concerns mounted
about the possible abuses of power that could result.

Observers feared that to boost regional revenue local leaders
would issue regulations that would disregard environmental
protection, or worse, would conspire with investors to exhaust
their areas of natural resources for personal gain.

There fears were not unfounded. Reports of widespread
environmental destruction, including illegal logging and wildlife
poaching, have increased under regional autonomy, sometimes with
catastrophic consequences.

Environmental organizations have attributed a flash flood in
Bohorok, North Sumatra, that killed 140 people to illegal logging
in the area, which has weakened the landscape's ability to absorb
water. The logging is believed to be backed by corrupt government
officials, councillors, businessman and members of the police and
military.

However, among the many corrupt and conservation-ignorant
local leaders, there is one who not only resists the temptation
of making easy money from plundering forests, he actually uses
his new-found clout to save the environment.

After the Bohorok catastrophe, a regent in neighboring
Mandailing Natal regency decided to oppose Australian-based
mining company, PT Sorikmas Mining, which had attempted to
extract gold from the regency's 108,000 hectare virgin woodlands.

With the support of the 300,000 people of the regency, on Dec.
31, 2003, the regent, Amru Helmy Daulay, unilaterally declared
the entire extent of Batang Gadis forest, as it was locally
known, and where the mining company ran its operation, a
conservation area. Batang Gadis is also a sanctuary to hundreds
of the country's endangered species.

The declaration, which was decreed in a bylaw and later upheld
in a ministerial decree by the forestry ministry, means that all
mining activities in the forest were illegal.

This act of defiance won him a prestigious 2004 Kehati Award,
conferred by the Kehati Biodiversity Foundation.

"We just do what we have to do. The conservation is merely
aimed at protecting our livelihoods. The unchecked exploitation
of the forest is a standing threat to agriculture, the main
occupation of the Mandailing Natal population," Amru said in a
recent interview.

He said about 600 rivers that brought water to rice fields in
the Mandailing Natal and other regencies in North Sumatra had
their sources in the Batang Gadis forests. "If we don't stop the
mining activities now, in 15 years time I believe that our
livelihoods will perish," he said.

Amru said most of the population earned their living from
agriculture and aspired to become farmers. "Harvest from the rice
fields will still be rewarding, provided Batang Gadis forest is
well conserved," he said.

Such a close attachment with the forest has made it easy for
Amru to campaign on the conservation front. "We don't have to
deploy police or other government officials to enact the bylaw
sanctioning the Batang Gadis protection, as the people guard the
forest on their own initiative.

Protecting the forests also means protecting their
livelihoods," he said.

He said that the environmental destruction that the mining
company had caused had surpassed the financial benefit it had
produced for the local administration.

"The mining company did not contribute much to our regional
revenue. It only paid between Rp 20 million (US$2,200) and Rp 30
million on land taxes annually before we ordered the company to
shut down its operation," he said.

Sworn in to office in early 2000, Amru was Mandailing Natal's
first regent following its establishment as new regency in 1999.

Born 64 years ago in Binjai, North Sumatra, Amru spent almost
his entire career as civil servant in the North Sumatra
governor's office, after a brief spell at the Medan-based
University of North Sumatra as dean of the school of law between
1974 and 1976.

Despite support from conservationists, as shown by the Kehati
Award, Amru still has a tough task ahead as the mining company is
still encroaching on the protected forest on the grounds that it
has secured a permit from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral
Resources.

The conservation initiative has also dealt a severe blow to
endorsement of the government regulation in lieu of law that
allows 13 mining firms to resume operations in protected forests
throughout the country.

"We shall withstand any efforts to exploit our protected
forest. We shall push our agenda by constantly lobbying relevant
government agencies at all levels, along with environmental
organizations. We shall persuade them to work for our cause -- we
don't know for how long," he said.