Tunggadewa Mattangkilang Jakarta Globe 4 May 12;
Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. The planned expansion of the Kariangau industrial estate in Balikpapan poses a serious threat to the survival of local species such as the proboscis monkey and sun bear, an environmentalist warned on Thursday.
Stanislav Lhota, a researcher from the University of South Bohemia in the Czech Republic, said the expansion of the zone from 2,189 hectares to 5,130 hectares would result in large areas of land being developed, even if the expanded area was classified as open green space.
“What will happen is we will have a fragmentation of the habitats of endangered species such as the orangutan, proboscis monkey and sun bear, which can’t survive in small fragments of forest,” he said. “It will also give access to poachers and illegal loggers, and most crucially to land speculators.”
Lhota, who has been in Balikpapan for five years, said land speculators were already at work in the affected area, clearing land right up to the border of the Wain River Reserve, a protected area.
He said that in addition to the loss of habitat, the expansion of the industrial estate up to Balikpapan Bay would also lead to an increase in pollution and wastewater discharge into the coastal area, threatening the small local population of the Irrawaddy dolphin.
There are just 80 of the dolphins left in the area and around 1,300 proboscis monkeys, Lhota said.
