Tribespeople restricted in own home
Tribespeople restricted in own home
PALU, Central Sulawesi (JP): When half-meter-high concrete
posts were erected in Lore Lindu National Park in 1993, the
tribespeople living in the forest thought it was the end of their
long struggle for ownership of the land.
The tribespeople have been living there for generations upon
generations.
The walls surrounding the 229,000-hectare park represented the
division between two groups with different interests: the
tribespeople and the government.
The people claim to be the rightful owners of the forest.
However, the government insists that it is obliged to protect the
park, and for that reason the government built the concrete posts
around the forest.
About 60 villages are located inside the park's conservation
zone. Most villagers have been living there for years, even
before it was declared a conservation area.
Tribespeople depend on the forest for their livelihood, but
after the area was made a reserve in 1973, the government sought
to evict them, saying they were a "threat" to the forest.
The rule was strictly imposed and the people were no longer
free to use the forest to survive. They were afraid to collect
wood even for basic purposes such as building their houses.
"We could not collect wood from the forest. If Jagawana (the
park rangers) found out, they would accused us of stealing and
destroying the forest. And the fine could reach up to hundreds of
millions of rupiah," said S. Torae, from Hangira village in Lore
Utara district.
According to Arianto Sangaji, the executive director of Tanah
Merdeka Foundation, a non-governmental organization that
represents the tribespeople, the accusations are "too much".
"The tribal communities have traditional wisdom in protecting
the environment. For that reason, the accusations they are
robbers and environmental destroyers are baseless," he said.
He said that accusing local people of stealing and damaging
the forests were based more on myth than reality.
Local people, he said, have been living there long before the
area was officially protected and they cannot be treated like
thieves simply because they use forest products.
Located in the heart of Sulawesi, Lore Lindu National Park
comprises three conservation areas: the Lore Kalamanta Wildlife
Reserve, Lindu Lake Forest Reserve and Lore Lindu Wildlife
Reserve. The three areas boast a combination of natural beauty
and unique collections of flora and fauna species, mostly endemic
to Sulawesi.
The park lies across two regencies. Lore is part of Poso
regency, while Lindu is located in Donggala regency. It covers
four subdistricts in the two regencies: Sigi Biromaru and Lulawi
in Donggala regency, and Lore Selatan and Lore Utara in Pose
regency.
About 95 percent of the forest is still in good condition.
Major threats are theft of forest products, illegal logging, land
grabbing and forest fires.
Statistics released by the park's management shows that over
the past year, there were 14 cases of land grabbing covering 66.5
hectares and 13 cases of illegal logging involving 40.85 cubic
meters of wood. Besides, some 30 tons of rattan have been stolen
and 200 hectares of the park illegally cleared over the same
period.
"If there's no action taken, it is feared that the illegal
activities will damage the conservation area," said head of the
park's management Banjar Yulianto Laban.
He said that the land clearing should be carefully
investigated and the indigenous people should not be unfairly
blamed. If tribal people did it, he said, it might be due to
economic pressures or because they needed the land. (38)