The right to exist

The right to exist

At first glance, the presence of four "forest inhabitants" yesterday, on the sidelines of the ongoing international biodiversity conference held in Jakarta, seemed out of place. But these people's stories -- they are from East Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, Lampung and West Java -- particularly about how their surroundings have changed, or are on the point of changing, due to the coming of "development", tell us just how serious the threat to biodiversity in their natural surroundings is.

What these four people complained most about is the inroads of forest concessionaires and estates, which have taken or will take over their land, thus threatening their traditional way of life. Says Maniamas Miden, a tribal leader from West Kalimantan: "We believe that this is sacred land. We cannot convert the forest, though by custom we are allowed to take timber and hunt animals. I am afraid the medicine men will find difficulties in looking for healing plants when the forestry estates come in."

To most of us urban people, the idea of looking for healing plants in the forest may make us feel like we are reading a book from the past century. But, one should remember, as research has proved, more and more drugs, including anti-cancer treatments, are coming from plants and animals. Nowadays, it is commonly accepted that biological resources have far greater economic value than in the past. And Indonesia is by far one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world.

Indonesia is second only to Brazil worldwide in tropical forest area. These species-rich forests are home to the world's greatest diversity of palm species and an estimated 20,000 species of flowering plants.

Indonesia also harbors a rich range of fauna, including the greatest mammal diversity on earth (515 species), more swallowtail butterfly species than any other country (121 species), and more species of primates than any other Asian nation (33 species).

And the marine fauna of Indonesia, as the largest archipelagic country in the world, with over 17,000 islands, is certainly among the earth's most diverse. Approximately 7,000 kinds of fish originate in Indonesia.

But these vast resources are now are threatened by our own misdeeds. As has happened in many developing countries, in Indonesia, particularly in the first stage of our national development plan, we made mistakes in the management of our biological resources. Part of this was caused by lack of knowledge, and part by our own indifference and greed. We were not aware then that clearing a hectare of rain forest, for instance, could kill hundreds or thousands of valuable species.

The mismanagement and over-exploitation of our biological resources has certainly taken its toll. Deforestation, at the rate of more than a million hectares a year, for example, has rapidly depleted our forestry resources. The depletion of our forests has caused not only floods and environmental changes, but also the loss of thousands of species, which perhaps may have greater economic impact. We have also lost thousands hectares of our mangrove forests, and a great part of our coral reefs.

It is true that in the last decade the government has shown a stronger political will to conserve our biological resources: More environmental laws are enforced, public awareness of our biological resources has been upgraded and most important, a sustainable economic development policy has been adopted. But, judging from, say, complaints from people like Maniamas Miden, problems still exist and there are surely a whole lot of them.

Apparently, political will is not enough. In the case of forest concessionaires, for example, lack of coordination between the concerned ministries -- transmigration, home affairs and environment -- is obvious. Thus, what we need is enforcement and concerted action to make that political will a physical reality.

And as biological diversity becomes a global issue, we will surely not be able to escape from the notion that it is a global asset. Therefore, what we need is not only the amendment of policy and new legislation, but also a global agenda and an agenda of actions -- the theme of the ongoing Jakarta conference -- to develop biodiversity for the equitable welfare of all people.

And by all people, we means that people like Maniamas Miden and his tribe, as indigenous inhabitants of a region, should be able to continue their traditional way of life, undisturbed. For they too, as do all of the world's living beings, have an inherent right to exist.