Road project threatens rare species in Leuser park

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

The Ladia Galaska highway project cutting through the world famous Leuser Mountain National Park in Aceh is a threat to protected animals, with the population of orangutans likely to be the first casualties amid a shrinking habitat, according to a park official.

Starting from the west coast of southern Aceh, the 1,586- kilometer long highway would wind its way through Gayo and Alas before it ends on the east coast facing the Straits of Malacca, in North Sumatra. A section of the road, however, would cut through the Leuser Park.

The resulting destruction could cover an area of between 200 to 400 kilometers of the park, said Denny Purba, a coordinator of the Leuser Management Unit (UML) last week.

The park, meanwhile, is home to around 6,000 orangutans, 4,000 elephants, 200 tigers and 50 Sumatra rhinos.

"Orangutans are one of the species in the park that are very sensitive to changes to their habitat," Denny told The Jakarta Post.

"If the park is damaged or altered, the first species at risk is the orangutan," he said.

Each group of orangutans, comprising five to 10 animals, needs about 150 hectares of forest as their habitat.

If the Ladia Galaska project continued, he warned, hundreds of orangutans could die.

But the development has "quietly" begun with a three-kilometer section completed in Jamat Lokop, East Aceh.

Already the project has taken its toll on humans, Denny said, citing a recent attack by an elephant herd on locals in Jamat Lokop that injured three, apparently angered by the road construction.

Denny added that the Ladia Galaska project had violated Law No. 5/1990 on the conservation of nature and the ecosystem.

He said article 40 prohibited the killing of protected species, or engaging in activities that could lead to the extinction of a species, either directly or through damage to habitat.

But law enforcement is weak even in national parks like Leuser where illegal logging on the park's Aceh side is out of control.

Consequently, the level of forest destruction is great.

"The government must have the courage to enforce the law against forest destruction," Denny said.

But Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh earlier denied charges that the road project would damage the Leuser park, arguing the road did not pass "entirely" through the park.

The local administration's Environmental Impact Control Agency (Bapedalda), said it did not foresee any environmental threat from the Ladia Galaska project.

In fact, it would benefit local people by opening up isolated areas in West Aceh, said North Sumatra Bapedalda head Soangkupon Siregar.

However, he admitted that he had yet to see whether the highway would encroach on areas of the Leuser Park.

"I am not quite sure if the development of the Ladia Galaska will pass the Leuser Park area or not," he said. "What's for sure is that before the local government builds that road it will have to conduct an environmental impact study first."

According to UML, the environmental impact study was already completed and the project had the full support of Jakarta.

Since the implementation of the autonomy laws in 2001, natural resource-rich provinces like Aceh have enjoyed a surge in their revenue.

But more than two decades of war in Aceh, has ravaged most of its infrastructure, rendering the province poor and underdeveloped.

Now the Dec. 9 peace agreement with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), gives Aceh a real chance to rebuild without fear of renewed destruction.

Indonesia's creditor countries agreed to help fund development in a peaceful Aceh and Jakarta has already approved extra funding for the Ladia Galaska project.

Governor Puteh said the Ladia Galaska project would benefit the people with an increase of economic activities between regions that before were largely isolated.