All talk, little action to save Sumatran tiger and other wildilfe

Mata Jeli: A Perspective on Indonesian Affairs
All talk, little action to save endangered wildlife
Bruce Gale, Straits Times 7 Mar 08;

A SOLDIER shot dead a Sumatran tiger caught in a trap, skinned it and distributed its meat to villagers in January. The incident, in the Bengkalis regency of Riau province, took place after the animal was trapped in a pig snare. But instead of saving the tiger, which is in danger of extinction, the soldier reportedly fired nine bullets into its body and head.

Two villagers who witnessed the shooting were angry enough to report the matter to the Sumatran Tiger Conservation Programme Foundation. But there were probably quite a few other villagers present who reacted differently. In recent years, protected animals such as tigers and elephants have entered local settlements in Bengkalis regency after wildlife habitats in protected rainforests had been damaged by illegal loggers. The animals have killed people, goats and buffaloes.

Conflict between humans and protected animals has become a regular feature of life in Bengkalis, as in several other parts of Riau.

Over a period of several weeks last month, about 40 wild elephants destroyed farms and devoured crops in Balaimakam village. Villagers responded by burning tyres at various points in the settlement to drive them away.

Villagers in other parts of the regency have reacted more aggressively. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), villagers in Mandau reportedly poisoned or poached 13 elephants last year.

The attacks on human settlements are a direct result of the fact that the natural habitats of these animals are shrinking. When the Forestry Ministry created Riau's Balairaja conservation forest in 1986, for example, it consisted of about 18,000ha. But a WWF 2006 survey showed that only 200ha were left, the rest having been converted into oil palm plantations and human settlements.

The WWF also says that the number of elephants in the province has dropped from an estimated 210 about 25 years ago to 192 now. The Sumatran tiger is even more critically endangered, with fewer than 400 believed to be left in the wild anywhere.

Orang utans are illegally hunted or sold into captivity. According to the Forestry Ministry, deforestation has led to the deaths of 3,000 orang utans per year across the archipelago since the 1970s. Current data suggests that there are only about 6,650 Sumatran orang utans and 55,000 Borneo orang utans remaining in the wild.

Although Indonesia has ratified the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and enacted a variety of laws designed to protect endangered animals, conservation has yet to become an important issue for either government officials or the public.

Indeed, Mr Toni Suhartono, director for biological diversity affairs at the Forestry Ministry, admitted last year that the government wasn't really sure how many species in the country were facing extinction.

'We don't even have exact data on the animal species kept in the country's zoos,' he told the media at a dialogue session, adding that it was difficult to obtain financing for conservation programmes.

Further evidence of the lacklustre official effort surfaced last month when TRAFFIC, a British wildlife monitoring body, released the results of its 2006 survey on the illegal trade in tiger parts. The report said that tiger teeth, claws, whiskers and bones were on sale in souvenir and antique shops and traditional Chinese pharmacies in 28 cities and towns across Sumatra.

TRAFFIC added that it provided the Indonesian government with details of the traders involved in April last year, but the authorities had not taken any action against them.

But while official efforts to deal with the problem often seem half-hearted, there have been some encouraging developments. In April last year, for example, the Lampung provincial government announced plans to relocate thousands of residents from villages that had been attacked by elephants in the South Bukit Barisan National Park. Most of the villagers were squatters who had moved into the area as a result of forest conversion to palm oil plantations and illegal logging.

Responding to pressure from the international community, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also announced an ambitious conservation strategy at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali last December. Supporters said it could save as much as one million hectares of virgin rainforest scheduled for conversion into palm oil plantations.

Under the programme, which lasts until 2017, the carbon dioxide saved through avoided forest deforestation would be traded on the carbon market and the money used to conserve orang utans and boost the country's economy.

The conservation plan, however, does not address the issue of illegal logging, which remains one of the main causes of the destruction of wildlife habitats. One UN report released last year noted that the use of bribery or armed force by logging companies was common, and that park rangers had insufficient numbers, arms, equipment and training to cope.

The point was underlined by Mr Suhartono in November last year, when he told the media that only seven rangers patrolled Riau's 38,576ha Tesso Nilo National Park. A more reasonable number, he believed, would be 38 rangers - one ranger per 1,000ha.

'There is a stark difference,' he said, 'between our needs and the number of workers (we have)'. Wood from the park was allegedly delivered to Sumatran pulp and paper mills in 2003 and 2004.

Security at border areas, including international airports and seaports, needs to be stepped up in order to deter wildlife smuggling. According to Senior Police Commissioner Sadar Sebayang, such illegal activity also takes place in more remote border areas where there is little or no law enforcement.

Apart from the trade in tiger parts and live orang utans (which some non-governmental organisations say can fetch around US$40,000 each in Europe), Mr Sebayang noted that scaly anteaters have been smuggled to Malaysia from Medan and snakes to Hong Kong from Bali. Turtles have also been illegally transported to China and Taiwan.

Official promises of action, including the conservation plans announced in Bali last year, have been greeted with scepticism by most NGOs. But for those who prefer to live in hope, a 2007 Unesco report entitled Last Stand Of The Orang Utan holds out a morsel.

The 52-page report describes Jakarta's 2006 decision to train specially equipped ranger units to protect national parks as a 'promising counter-measure'. But it hastens to add that the programme requires substantial strengthening, given the scale of the problem.