Biodiversity in Indonesia on the Brink

Shari Nijman Jakarta Globe 20 Dec 10;

As the United Nation’s International Year of Biodiversity draws to a close, Indonesia, home to some of the earth’s richest ecosystems, still struggles to protect some of its most vulnerable creatures.

Indonesia is considered a “megadiverse” country because of its wide variety of ecosystems.

It has the largest number of mammal species in the world and the third-largest number of reptiles.

“There is an amazing concentration of species in Indonesia,” said Endang Sukara, vice chairman of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

“In some places, we’ve found well over 200 different organisms wider or taller than 10 centimeters wide in an area of only 0.2 hectares.”

However, Endang warned that protecting our biological resources was not high on Indonesia’s list of priorities.

“Biodiversity is not on the national agenda right now, with such a fast developing economy,” he said.

Chris Shepherd, senior program officer at Traffic Southeast Asia, a wildlife trade monitoring network, said the list of animals in Indonesia “that are in big trouble” is becoming pretty long.

“Both of the rhino species in Indonesia will be gone soon, just like the tigers,” he said.

“And many species of snakes, turtles and birds are threatened with extinction in the near future.”

The illegal pet trade is the biggest enemy of many of Indonesia’s animals.

Unfortunately, Indonesian animals are often charming or interesting enough to be popular as pets both within the country and overseas.

“Indonesia is one of the last countries to still have open markets where illegal wildlife is traded,” Shepherd said.

The slow loris, a tiny, innocent-looking primate found in various regions across Indonesia and the rest of Asia, is extremely vulnerable to illegal pet traders because of its enchanting looks.

With its big curious eyes and soft fur, it seems like the perfect pet and is popular with families.

At the International Animal Rescue center in the forests of Ciapus, near Bogor, animal care specialists do their best to repopulate Javanese forests with the endangered primates.

Slow lorises that have been saved from a life in captivity are kept in the wildlife center while being prepared for release into the wild.

Not all of the lorises can be released, said Sharmini Paramasivam, veterinarian at the IAR.

“When lorises are caught, their teeth are usually clipped. This leads to terrible injuries in their mouth and some of the lorises can’t eat their natural food.”

She said that, depending on the state of their teeth, some of them will never be able to return to the wild.

For the slow lorises that do make it back into the Javanese wilderness, their chances of survival are slim.

“We released 11 lorises last year, and only two are still alive,” Paramasivam said.

“We hope to learn from those who didn’t make it, so we have more success in the future.”

Paramasivam said that, despite the high fatality rate, it is still worth trying to get the primates back into the wild.

“Slow lorises are a seriously endangered species and fewer are found in the wild each year. If we don’t put them back, the only remaining lorises will all be living in captivity in a few years.”

Illegally captured animals are traded across Indonesia’s border in large quantities.

One way to get the animals exported is to label wild species as captive-bred and apply for a license to trade them.

According to Shepherd, “This makes it the Indonesian government’s responsibility to look into the licensed traders and see if they’re exporting what they say they are. If someone has one registered turtle and manages to export 400 offspring, you know there is a problem,” he said.

Earlier this month, a man was caught in Abu Dhabi, en route from Jakarta, with two snakes, two parrots and a squirrel in his hand luggage.

The man continued his journey, while the animals were confiscated.

Shepherd explained how the man was able to get through security and board his flight in Indonesia with five live animals in his suitcase.

“Security at airports is simply not set up for wildlife, it isn’t a priority. They are set up to detect metal, explosives and drugs, but not wild animals,” he said.

Animal traffickers and traders often get away with a warning or a “slap on the wrist,” Shepherd said.

At best, the animals are confiscated and the traffickers lose their merchandise.

“It’s not really a loss to them,” Shepherd said. “It wasn’t their animal in the first place.”

The problem is “good laws, bad enforcement,” said Paramasivam, adding that animal traffickers in Indonesia often face no consequences for their actions.

“It’s illegal to catch and sell slow lorises in Indonesia, but if you go to a pet market, you’ll find them any day of the week.”

Shepherd also thinks that Indonesia has good laws, at least on paper.

But the enforcement of those laws is an issue of political will.

“We have never met a dealer who didn’t know that the animals he was trading were illegal,” he said.

“The key is improved and increased enforcement and prosecution levels. Serious jail time, not a slap on the wrist or a warning every time.”

Just last week, researchers at the IAR discovered 18 slow lorises held captive at the Jatinegara bird and pet market in Jakarta, according to Paramasivam.

Shepherd said this was not an exceptional case. “There have been countless reports about illegal animals being held at these markets. I’m completely at a loss why they don’t just shut them down.”

Endang said Indonesia should not only try to protect its natural biodiversity, but “link it to the prosperity and livelihood of the people.”

He said that Indonesia’s biodiversity can teach people a lot about sustainable development.

“What an orangutan eats, we can often eat as well, or use for medication or as a source of carbohydrates. Their eating habits are a valuable source of information.”

Endang believes that, with increased research, over 40 percent of plants found in Indonesia could be used as food sources.

“But don’t ever convert a forest into something like a monoculture. When forests are lost, they are lost forever. There isn’t a technology in the world that can replace the biodiversity of a forest.”

The same could perhaps be said of all of our nation’s fragile biodiversity.

It’s irreplaceable.