Sumatra's forest in a critical state
Jon Afrizal, Jambi
"Protected" forests in the country are increasingly at risk from illegal logging and one, the Bukit Duabelas National Park in Sumatra, is now in a critical conditional, environmental data says.
The wood from Jambi and Riau goes into luxurious houses and to manufacture furniture. While Meranti Jambi and Tembesu species grow only in the Bukit Duabelas and Kerinci Seblat national parks, the wood is easily found in timber shops in Jakarta, Semarang and Surabaya.
This precious wood is also traded in Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Taiwan.
As an result, the Bukit Duabelas National Park has been left in a critical condition, with forestry office data showing 60 percent of the trees in the park are already decimated.
It is estimated several species of trees in the 60,500-hectare park will be extinct in three to four years unless the illegal logging is halted.
Local forestry office information details illegal logging occurring since the 1970s, a sad chronicle of dozens of timber companies systematically employing locals to loot the park.
An inadequate number of security staff and the park's large size are the office's classic excuses as to why the illegal logging has not been stopped. However, many media reports have indicated the involvement of corrupt park staff and police in illegal logging operations is the main reason why logging in Indonesia goes on unabated.
About 70 percent of the park is located in the Batanghari regency, 20 percent in Sorolangun and 10 percent in Tebo.
The logging of quality wood such as meranti, jeluntung, kedundung, kulim and tembesu has also "washed away" many rare varieties of flora and fauna and destroyed the habitats of protected species such as elephants (Elephas maximus) and the Sumatran tiger (sumatrean panthera tigris).
The nation's potential biological resources are also under threat. Scientific institutions in Jambi have identified as many as 137 plant varieties that could be used as raw materials for drugs -- species that are being depleted as the deforestation continues.
A particular loss to the medical world would be pasak bumi (eurycomafisa longifolia) that scientists say has the potential to cure malaria and impotency, the bowl mushroom (cookenia sp), locally used for birth control, and yellow root (arcangelisiu flava), which is used to ease high fevers.
The rampant logging is also a serious threat to the existence of the park's traditional hunter-gatherer tribe -- the Orang Rimba (also known as the Orang Kubu or Anak Dalam). According to a recent survey, the tribe's population has dropped to about 1,300 people from around 4,000 in the 1980s.
The tribe used to live off the forest's plants and animals without damaging the ecosystem. However, many timber companies are now recruiting its members to help in illegal logging, trading daily commodities such as cigarettes, cakes and clothing in return for timber.