Sumatra highway project to tear apart world's lungs

Sumatra highway project to tear apart world's lungs

Illegal logging in the Leuser ecosystem zone in North Sumatra and
Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam is out of control, while local, national
and international efforts to prevent it have not been successful,
due in part to backing from the military and police,
environmental activists have said.

Skirmishes between groups of soldiers and policemen have
reportedly become commonplace in North Sumatra as they try to
protect their respective illegal loggers. Legislation to conserve
this zone seems to be ineffective, with loggers ignoring last
year's presidential decree to stop illegal logging and the
distribution of its derivatives.

With the announcement of the Ladia Galaska highway project,
which plans to build roads connecting the Indian Ocean, Gayo,
Alas and the Malacca Strait, there is mounting fear that greater
damage will be inflicted on the Leuser ecosystem. The new
thoroughfare, which will go through the protected forests and
Leuser National Park, will rip the ecosystem apart, and stretches
of tropical rain forests are sure to vanish sooner than later.

Even before the road project was initiated, squatters have
been opening up trails to carry out their logs. Therefore, if the
Rp 1.5 trillion Ladia Galaska project goes ahead, there will be
more serious destruction that would lead to the forest's eventual
disappearance. Illegal loggers backed by security personnel and
financed by tycoons would be free to plunder the forests.

The Leuser zone, covering 2.6 million hectares, is one of the
world's richest tropical rain forests made up of magnificent
lowland forests, an alpine park, fresh water marshes, valleys and
a volcano. Apart from its unique and invaluable biodiversity,
Leuser also serves as a buffer zone for the life of surrounding
communities, by providing clean water, controlling erosion and
flooding, maintaining biodiversity, regulating the local climate,
absorbing carbon and offering inland fishing and natural beauty.

The Leuser National Park has a highly diverse flora, ranging
from coastal or marshy vegetation and lowland woods to highland
and mountain forests. There are no less than 3,500 floral
species, which include hard-stem trees, blooming plants, fungi
and mushrooms, forest orchids and rare flowers, such as the
Rafflesia.

With some 89 rare wildlife species protected by law, Leuser is
known as the last sanctuary for 130 mammalian species, such as
the orangutan, carnivores, such as Sumatra tigers and bears,
herbivores, such as the Sumatra elephant and rhinoceros, 325 bird
species, reptiles and amphibians, including snakes and
crocodiles, as well as fish, most notably the Jurung of Alas
river, which can grow up to one meter long. Will this park last
much longer?

Data from the Leuser management office in Medan that monitors
the extent of damage done shows that the forests are shrinking.
Since the 1980s, Sumatra's pristine forests have become
increasingly ravaged, leaving only the Mt. Leuser national park
comparatively unscathed. The destruction has resulted from, among
other reasons, illegal logging and the granting of forest
concessions to several major companies.

In order to conserve one of the world's natural lungs and the
last sanctuary for the wildlife of the Leuser ecosystem, the
central government and the regional administration have been
advised to step up their coordination.

Indonesia signed Agenda 21 in the United Nations environment
and development conference in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, identifying
the Leuser ecosystem as one of the world's most important zones
of biodiversity that requires serious protection. In 1998,
Indonesia made its commitment to conserve this zone through
Presidential Decree No.33/1998, which determined the total area
of this zone and the method of its management.

Leuser is very vital to the international community. As
Indonesia's only remaining pristine tropical rain forest and one
of the world's natural lungs, the damage and disappearance of
forests occurring in this zone will adversely affect the global
ecosystem.

The provincial administration's plan to build roads linking
the east and the west as well as the north and the south of the
region, therefore, has shocked various circles even though the
project is claimed to be a means to end the isolation of local
people and to aid their economic advancement.

The Ladia Galaska project will consist of a 504.69-kilometer
trunk road stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Malaka Strait,
linking Meulaboh, Lhok Seumat, Ceulala, Jagong Jeget,
Blangkejeran, Piding, Lokop and Peureulak; a 713-km road running
from the north to the south from Babah Rot to Simpang Krueng
Geukuh; and a 369-km support road through Lawe Pakam-Bahorok on
the border with North Sumatra, Takengon-Jantho and Pondok Baru-
Ale Mirah.

This megaproject will inevitably traverse the Leuser National
Park and its protected forests, and if this plan is quickly
realized the ecosystem will be torn to shreds by the highway's
penetration through the zone. Nature conservation and economic
development are in fact opposing interests almost everywhere, but
in advanced countries, such as the U.S. and Holland, there are
win-win solution accords to ensure development while safeguarding
the environment.

The construction of highways across nature reserves in several
countries through win-win solutions should serve as an example
for Ladia Galaska. The regional administration may need to review
this scheme by inviting relevant state agencies, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and environmental activists. It can consider
tunnels or flyovers in certain sections to avoid wildlife or even
cancel the plan by enhancing the available roads.

"Ladia Galaska should go on but forest conservation has to be
observed. We in Kuta Cane have been hoping for a short cut to
Medan. Without the highway we'll be trapped like this and (our
community) can't grow. Environmental advocates should not just
defend the monkeys, but please take care of our people," said
Southeast Aceh regent Armen Desky.

If the plan is withdrawn, "the central government and world
environmental supporters should assist this regency by making
investments or subsidizing Leuser's forest-buffer community,
because in this remote area we can only safeguard Leuser from
destruction," he added.

Environmentalists who have investigated the Ladia Galaska
construction site did not share the regent's view.

"We propose that the new highway should not be built but the
existing roads should be widened and improved instead. Even
without the highway, the plundering of the forests has been very
serious. With new facilities, what will happen to Leuser?" said
Hasjrul Junaid of the NGO Network for Forest Conservation.

Apart from the pros and cons in the situation, the central
government and international agencies are expected to intervene
to rescue the zone and prevent the disruption of the Leuser
ecosystem. But on the other hand, the development and welfare of
the population of Aceh should also receive proper attention so
that both interests can be reconciled. --Tarko Sudiarno