Sumatran Tiger Home Is Being Destroyed, WWF Says

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 12 Oct 10;

Jakarta. The environmental group WWF says one of its video camera traps has recorded a bulldozer clearing trees for an illegal palm oil plantation in a protected Sumatran tiger habitat in Riau.

WWF installed the camera traps in the Bukit Batabuh area last year to study the distribution and habits of the tigers, and the threats they face.

In May and June this year, one of the cameras captured footage of a male tiger walking straight toward it and sniffing it.

A week later the camera captured a bulldozer clearing trees, and the next day a Sumatran tiger walking through the devastated landscape.

The location is just 200 meters from another camera trap that captured a tigress and her cubs last October.

Bukit Batabuh was classified as a protected area by the Riau Land Use Planning Agency in 1994, and categorized as a limited production forest, meaning no company can exploit the forest.

The area is considered crucial for conservation because it connects the Rimbang Baling Wildlife Reserve and the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park.

“Because of its status, both as a protected area and limited production forest, the area cannot be developed as a palm oil plantation, therefore any forest clearance — including bulldozing activities to clear the path — strongly indicates this excavation was illegal,” Ian Kosasih, WWF Indonesia’s director of forest and species program, said on Tuesday. “The law should be enforced.”

However, Awriya Ibrahim, the director of investigations and forest protection at the Ministry of Forestry, said while the area was protected, it was not classified as a conservation area.

He said the government would check to see if permits had been issued to clear forests for road development in the area.

Awriya also said the ministry could not confer conservation status on the area, even with the recent tiger sightings, saying that was the responsibility of the local administration.

Camera Catches Destruction of Protected Sumatra Tiger Forest
Jakarta Globe 12 Oct 10;

Jakarta, Indonesia. A video camera trap installed by WWF and its partners has captured footage linking the destruction of a crucial Sumatran tiger forest to the expansion of palm oil plantations in Indonesia’s Riau Province.

A news release from the environmental nongovernmental organizations says videos and photos captured in May and June 2010 – released to the public for the first time on Tuesday — caught a male Sumatran tiger walking straight to a camera and sniffing it.

A week later, the heat-activated-video camera trap documented a bulldozer clearing trees for an illegal palm oil plantation in the same exact location. The next day, the camera recorded a Sumatran tiger walking through the devastated landscape, the release says.

Bukit Batabuh, where the film was taken, was classified as a protected area by Riau Province’s Land Use Planning in 1994 and categorized as a limited production forest based on Indonesia’s 1986 Land Use Consensus, meaning no company can legally exploit the forest.

“Because of its status, both as a protected area and limited production forest, the area cannot be developed as a palm oil plantation, therefore any forest clearance — including bulldozing activities to clear the path — strongly indicates this excavation was illegal,” said Ian Kosasih, WWF-Indonesia’s director of forest and species program. “The law should be enforced in this matter.

“And to stop illegal activities such as this, the palm oil industry should not source its material from farmers or producers who develop their plantations illegally.”

Since mid-2009, WWF has installed video camera traps in Bukit Batabuh to study Sumatran tiger distribution, habits, and threats they are facing. The wildlife corridor connects Rimbang Baling Wildlife Reserve and Bukit Tigapuluh National Park, making it a crucial area for tiger conservation.

“These video camera traps show that Bukit Batabuh area is an important habitat for the Sumatran tiger in Riau, functioning as a wildlife corridor between Bukit Tigapuluh and Rimbang Baling Tiger Priority Landscape, hence it becomes a priority area for tiger conservation,” said M. Awriya Ibrahim, director of investigation and forest protection at the Ministry of Forestry.

“Forest clearance in this area threatens this endangered species because it reduces natural habitat and consequently increases human-tiger conflicts, an unfortunate consequence for both sides. Therefore, we encourage all stakeholders — namely provincial and district level government, business sectors, and communities — to support protection for this landscape. The Ministry of Forestry is investigating this matter and will take strong measure in law enforcement, if this activity is proven violating the law.”

Indonesia has adopted protection for critical tiger habitats as part of its commitment to the Conservation Strategy and Action Plan for Sumatran Tiger 2007, and the National Tiger Recovery Plan, delivered at the Pre-Tiger Summit Partners’ Dialogue Meeting in Bali, in July 2010.

During the Bali meeting, which was attended by government delegates from all13 tiger range countries, a strategic plan to achieve an overarching goal of doubling wild tiger populations by 2022 was discussed. The plan is expected to be ratified by heads of government at the Tiger Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, in November.

“The Indonesian government’s commitment to improve protection for its biodiversity — including an ecosystem-based land-use planning delivered in international fora like the Pre-Tiger Summit Partners’ Dialogue Meeting in Bali last July, and upcoming Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in October — should be supported by stakeholders in provincial or district levels especially on the issue of overlapping land-use planning,” said Chairul Saleh, general secretary of the Sumatra Land Use Forum (ForTRUST).

Saleh said sufficient prey and protection for the remaining wild Sumatran tiger populations will allow the species to procreate and provide it with an intact home range and habitat that will minimize incidents of human-tiger conflict.

“Bearing this in mind, a revision of Riau’s Provincial Land Use Planning—based on sustainable development principles adhering to ecosystem preservation and accommodating the tiger’s habitat — is crucial.”

Land clearing practices for palm oil plantations in the area have been going on for some time, pushing the tiger to have close contact with humans. Workers have testified that they frequently find tiger tracks in palm oil plantations.

The deforestation rate in Riau pushed WWF to intensify tiger population surveys in the province. Aside from vast deforestation, the population declines are exacerbated by illegal poaching. In March, WWF’s Tiger Patrol Unit and Riau’s Nature Conservation Agency confiscated more than 110 tiger snares in Bukit Betabuh.

There are as few as 400 Sumatran tigers left in Indonesia, or about 12 percent of the estimated global tiger population of 3,200 tigers. With its significant percentage of the global tiger population, Indonesia has a prominent role in tiger conservation efforts.

The tiger population is threatened by loss and fragmented habitat, decreasing prey populations, illegal poaching and trading of the tiger and its body parts, as well as human-tiger conflicts.

WWF News Release

Watch the video.

Footage 'shows land clearing threat to Sumatran tigers'
Yahoo News 12 Oct 10;

JAKARTA (AFP) – New infra-red footage released Tuesday captures a rare tiger roaming in protected forests on Indonesia's Sumatra island, which conservationists alleged to have been illegally cleared.

The video captured in May and June this year was released by environmental group WWF, which has been monitoring Sumatran tigers since last year in a wildlife preserve near Bukit Tigapuluh national park in Riau province.

In one clip, a male Sumatran tiger was seen walking towards a camera and sniffing it.

About a week later, a bulldozer was seen flattening land at the same spot, believed to be making way for roads to new palm-oil plantations, WWF spokeswoman Desmarita Murni told AFP.

"There were strong indications of illegal land-clearing activities and this must be investigated. The video showed concrete evidence that there were threats to tigers in this area," she added.

The WWF said it had reported the land clearing in the Bukit Batabuh area to the authorities and "the operations have since stopped".

"But we don't know when they will come back, so we're urging for monitoring to be intensified in the area," Murni said.

Human-animal conflicts are a rising problem as people encroach on wildlife habitats in Indonesia, an archipelago with some of the world's largest remaining tropical forests.

There are as few as 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild in Indonesia, WWF said.

WWF concerned about continuing destruction of tiger habitat
Vicki Febrianto Antara 16 Oct 10;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Although feared as ferocious predators, Sumatran tigers are helpless creatures when bulldozers wreak havoc in their habitat.

"The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WwF) is concerned about the destruction of the habitat of Sumatran tigers in Riau." Desmarita Murni, WWF Indonesia`s communications manager, told ANTARA, on Friday. She said WWF-Indonesia had reported the finding to the related institutions,

Based on monitoring conducted by WWF-Indonesia, Murni said, the Sumatran tigers` habitat in the Bukit Batabuh region was now being cleared of its natural vegetation and forests for oil palm plantations. A WWF team had found oil palm seedlings scattered on the cleared land.

Since mid-2009, WWF had installed video camera traps in Bukit Batabuh to study the Sumatran tigers` distribution and habits but also the threats they were facing. The wildlife corridor connects the Rimbang Baling Wildlife Reserve and the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park making it a crucial area for tiger conservation.

Murni said the results of the latest monitoring indicated that the bulldozers used in the clearing operation had disappeared. However, WWF-Indonesia did not know if the bulldozers were gone because of an order to stop the work or because the clearing job was completed.

"We have reported the case to related institutions, such as the Forestry Ministry and the local government," Murni said, adding that WWF-Indonesia was pleased that the institutions had given positive responses.

Riau province`s Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) had denounced the destruction of the Sumatran tigers habitat located in a protected forest in the Bukit Batabuh region which is part of Kuantan Mudik subdistrict, Kuantan Sangigi district, Riau province.

Sumatran tigers are endangered species and therefore protected. They are to be found only in Sumatra Island, and their population is now only 400 while the threat of poaching and destruction of the forest persists. "The destruction of the Sumatran tigers` habitat inside the protected forest can`t be justified," said head of Riau`s BBKSDA, Trisnu Danisworo.

Danisworo regretted that the local government had disregarded the destruction on the pretext that supervision of protected forests was the responsibility of the provincial government while BBKSDA could not interfere in this situation.

"We will send a letter to the local government to get clarification, and we`re ready to help," he said

Getting closer to extinction

Various sources, including WWF, believe that there are around 400 Sumatran tigers (panthera tigris sumatrae) left in the diminishing forests of Sumatra. The Sumatran tigers are really getting closer to extinction as evidence had indicated their habitats on Sumatera Island ware narrowing faster than previously calculated.

"Forests area encroachments by irresponsible people have been on the rise in recent years in Sumatera, in addition to the legal forest clearings for plantations," said Rasyid Assaf Dongoran, director of Sumatra Rainforest Institute (SRI), a Medan-based NGO, on Sunday.

Sumatran tigers, Dongoran added, would not make it to longer years to survive should their habitat become reduced and make them difficult to get food. "This rare species of animal is sure on the brink of extinction," Dongoran pointed out.

Dongoran added reports on forest areas being encroached and the trees felled down had come from virtually every provinces on Sumatera, from Aceh to Lampung. This dismaying fact adds to the previous announcement by the local governments on the legal clearing of forested land for oil palm plantations.

"If forest degradation rate goes unchecked because of the absence of serious attention from the government and society, then disaster would sure to come," Dongoran said.

There are as few as 400 Sumatran tigers left in Indonesia, or about 12 percent of the estimated global tiger population of 3,200 tigers. With its significant percentage of the global tiger population, Indonesia has a prominent role in tiger conservation efforts.

The tiger population is threatened by loss and fragmented habitat, decreasing prey populations, illegal poaching and trading of the tiger and its body parts, as well as human-tiger conflicts, according WWF.

Video camera

A video camera trap installed by WWF and partners has captured footage linking the destruction of a crucial Sumatran tiger forest to the expansion of palm oil plantations in Indonesia`s Riau Province. Videos and photos captured in May and June this year caught a male Sumatran tiger walking straight to a camera and sniffing it.

A week later, the heat-activated-video camera trap documented a bulldozer clearing trees for a palm oil plantation in the same exact location. The next day, the camera recorded a Sumatran tiger walking through the devastated landscape.

Bukit Batabuh, where the film was taken, was classified as a protected area by Riau Province in 1994, and catagorized as a limited production forest based on Indonesia`s 1986 Land Use Consensus, meaning no company can legally exploit the forest.

"Because of its status, both as a protected area and limited production forest, the area cannot be developed as a palm oil plantation, therefore any forest clearance-ncluding bulldozing activities to clear the path-strongly indicates this excavation was illegal," said Ian Kosasih, WWF-Indonesia`s Director of Forest and Species Program.

"These video camera traps show that Bukit Batabuh area is an important habitat for the Sumatran tiger in Riau, functioning as a wildlife corridor between Bukit Tigapuluh and Rimbang Baling Tiger Priority Landscape, hence it becomes a priority area for tiger conservation," explained M. Awriya Ibrahim M.Sc Director of Investigation and Forest Protection, Ministry of Forestry.

"Forest clearance in this area threatens this endangered species because it reduces natural habitat and consequently increases human-tiger conflicts, an unfortunate consequence for both sides. Therefore, we encourage all stakeholders-namely provincial and district level government, business sectors, and communities-to support protection for this landscape.

The Ministry of Forestry is investigating this matter and will take strong measure in law enforcement, if this activity is proven violating the law.

Indonesia has adopted protection for critical tiger habitats as part of its commitment to
the Conservation Strategy and Action Plan for Sumatran Tiger 2007, and the National Tiger Recovery Plan, delivered at the Pre-Tiger Summit Partners` Dialogue Meeting in Bali, in July 2010.

The deforestation rate in Riau pushed WWF to intensify tiger population surveys in the province. Aside from vast deforestation, the population declines are exacerbated by illegal poaching. In March, WWF?s Tiger Patrol Unit and Riau`s Nature Conservation Agency confiscated more than 110 tiger snares in Bukit Betabuh.

WWF: Sumatran Tiger habitat destroyed for plantations
Antara 16 Oct 10;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has expressed concern over the continued destruction of Sumatran tiger habitats in Riau for oil palm plantations.

"WWF is concerned about the destruction of the habitat of Sumatran tigers in Riau. We have reported the finding to the related institutions," Desmarita Murni, communications manager of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Indonesia told ANTARA, on Friday.

Based on the monitoring conducted by WWF-Indonesia, Murni added that the particular site, Bukit Batabuh, is being cleared of its natural vegetations and forests for oil palm plantations. There were oil palm seedlings found scattered over the cleared land.

She said the results of the latest monitoring indicated that the bulldozers used in the clearing operation had disappeared. However, WWF-Indonesia did not know if the bulldozers were gone under an order to stop the work or because the clearing job was done already.

"We have reported the case to related institutions, such as Ministry of Forestry and the local government," Murni said, adding that WWF-Indonesia is pleased with the fact that there have been positive responses from those institutions.

WWF had placed heat-activated video cameras since 2009 to study Sumatran tiger at Bukit Batabuh. The area was classified as a protected area by Riau Province in 1994, and categorized as a limited production forest based on Indonesia?s 1986 Land Use Consensus, meaning no company can legally exploit the forest.

The wildlife corridor connects Rimbang Baling Wildlife Reserve and Bukit Tigapuluh National Park, making it a crucial area for tiger conservation.