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.