RI praised for conserving species in peril

CISARUA, Bogor (JP): Indonesia has made significant progress in meeting its international commitments regarding trade in endangered species, says a secretariat official of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).

"At last Indonesia has made significant progress, although there are still many things to be done," Switzerland-based Deputy Secretary-General Jaques Berney said yesterday.

"The management and scientific authorities (which issue permits for trade) are now consulting each other," Berney told The Jakarta Post and the Kompas daily.

He was referring to the Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation of the Ministry of Forestry and the Biology Research Center of the Indonesian Institute for Sciences (LIPI).

LIPI, among others, must be consulted regarding the remaining population of a species before the Ministry of Forestry may issue a trade permit under the regulations on trade in endangered plants and animals.

Berney also hailed the new agreement between the directorate general and the Indonesian Flora Fauna Trade Association, stipulating sanctions against violators of the regulations. The sanctions include temporary withdrawal of trade licenses. However, specific government regulations have yet to be formulated.

Berney was speaking during a break during a workshop on the implementation of CITES which is being held here between July 3 and July 8, a follow-up to Indonesia's participation in the ninth CITES meeting last November in Florida in the United States.

The workshop aims to train all parties involved in the trade of endangered species in necessary basic skills, such as identifying which species may not be traded.

Tonny Suhartono of the directorate general of forest conservation said that lack of awareness of the need for conservation was a major problem in the implementation of the Convention in Indonesia.

The country's vast area is another constraint, said Steven Broad, assistant director of Traffic International, an independent organization, based in the United Kingdom, which has conducted studies on trade in wild flora and fauna.

Indonesia, Broad said, was not only a producer and exporter of products of endangered species, but also was increasingly also becoming a major consumer market. "Like the rest of Southeast Asia, Indonesia is getting richer," he said.

Endangered songbirds and orchids were, he said, in high demand for private collections.

Trade in endangered species in Southeast Asia is estimated to be worth between $5 billion to $8 billion annually. Twenty percent of that trade is illegal. Indonesia accounts for a large chunk of the trade.

Problems also arise from trade which is domestically legal but internationally banned, such as trade in green sea turtle meat in Bali, which is justified here on the basis that the meat is consumed in rituals.

"The steps to reduce the quota of legally-traded turtle meat by authorities in Bali is realistic," said Broad. Banning the trade altogether, he said, would be more difficult as the food has cultural significance.

Another constraint in implementing CITES is a lack of funds for surveys, which Berney said should be requested from the Global Environmental Facilities which provide funds to support conservation. (anr)