Indonesia: 1,800 People to be Relocated for Sea Turtle Refuge

Tunggadewa Mattangkilang Jakarta Globe 6 Oct 12;

Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. The Berau district administration will relocate 700 households, or about 1,800 people, from the island of Derawan, East Kalimantan, amid plans to turn the island into a refuge for sea turtles and as one of the province’s marine tourism spots.

“The island’s conservation has to be maintained. Therefore the population on Derawan Island has to be controlled to prevent it from becoming too dense,” said Berau district head Makmur HAPK on Friday. “We will speak with the residents of the island so that they will agree to be relocated.”

Makmur said that the island was first inhabited in the 1960s by people from the Bajoe tribe of South Sulawesi but that people from other areas, primarily fishermen, started to inhabit the island.

The island’s rich marine ecology, especially its coral reefs and green turtles, are its main attractions. The island attracts about 22,000 tourists each year.

“The island is a conservation area that needs to be protected,” Makmur added. “However, we also need to be careful in implementing the policy to relocate the locals.”

The district administration has prepared 1,400 hectares of land for the relocation. Each household will get two hectares of land that can be used for farming.

The district administration will also ensure that the residents are relocated to coastal areas that will suit their backgrounds as fishermen.

The two areas currently being considered for relocation are Kampung Tanjung Batu and Kampung Kasai, which are part of the Derawan subdistrict.

Makmur said that the residents who agree to be relocated will still be the owners of their land on the Derawan Island. The local administration will build home-stays and facilities to support tourism on the island.

“The residents are still the owners of their land but the government will rent the land out so that the locals can still get to maintain their rights. We just want the island to be used completely as a tourist area,” he said.

Derawan Island subdistrict head Zulkifli said that so far 40 households have agreed to be relocated.

“We had to encourage them because the land is still theirs, but they agreed to be relocated because they will get two hectares of land,” he said.

Derawan Island and 11 others with a combined total area of 1.2 million hectares have been declared as the Berau Marine Conservation Area (KKLB) since 2005.

He added that Derawan Island is a place where green turtles lay their eggs. There were about 20 turtle nests found on the island with each one containing about 100 eggs. But the eggs are often stolen and some turtles are even slaughtered and turned into souvenirs.

The green turtle population in the Berau marine conservation area has declined by about 70 percent in the past decade.

The island’s tourism spot is currently managed by the Berau district administration while the conservation of its green turtles and coral reefs are managed by the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Turtle Island in Kalimantan Now Under Govt Control Amid Dispute
Tunggadewa Mattangkilang Jakarta Globe 12 Oct 12;

Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. The Berau district administration is temporarily taking over the management of Sangalaki Island, a breeding ground for green turtles that has been declared a conservation area by the government, following a dispute between residents and conservationists.

There are about 20 to 30 breeding sites scattered across the island, which is also a popular diving site, and each spot can produce up to 100 eggs.

Locals have been complaining about the harsh treatment they receive from conservationists, who in turn accuse them of stealing turtle eggs. Residents of the area recently told the Tribun Kaltim newspaper that conservation officials had even extorted fishermen.

The dispute has forced conservationists to leave the island and has left thousands of turtle eggs and baby turtles abandoned.

Berau administration officials said they would temporarily take over the conservation activities with the help of local officials and police pending a decision on the matter from the central government.

The island was previously managed by the East Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA).

“The Berau district administration will take over the supervision of the island until a joint decision to solve the island dispute is issued,” district head Achmad Rifai said on Thursday.

“We’re ready to manage the island.”

He added that the dispute arose because local fishermen felt they were being sidelined by conservationists, led by the BKSDA working in cooperation with the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Berau Turtle Foundation. They said that the turtle conservation activities were made so exclusive that even the locals were not allowed to visit the island, while NGOs and other organizations were free to enter and leave the island as they pleased.

Achmad said that in future, the residents of the island should be empowered and involved in the conservation efforts, adding that every policy and regulation must include citizens to prevent the supervision of the island becoming too rigid.

“The BKSDA must evaluate its policy on how it manages the island. The people must be involved. They live there, so they shouldn’t just be spectators,” he said.

The district administration and the Berau district legislature have also rejected the BKSDA’s request to manage the island again. Saga, a deputy legislative speaker, said the rejection was meant to thwart new problems from arising regarding the administration of the island.