Unlawful Logging Threatens Indonesia's Largest Protected Forest

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

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11/6/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

As reported on frequently over the last several months, Indonesia's

National Parks, and Gunung Leuser in Northern Sumatra in particular,

are being logged. CNN has caught word of the situation, and perhaps

this will contribute to lifting the veil of anonymity and stopping

this atrocious situation. Is any preserved area ever truly protected

if this sort of thing can occur?

g.b.

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Title: Unlawful logging threatens Indonesia's largest protected

forest

Source: Cable News Network (CNN)

Date: November 5, 1999

Byline: Gary Strieker

(CNN) -- One of Indonesia's largest remaining tracts of forest,

though officially protected by the government, faces a growing threat

from rampant unlawful logging, local conservationists say.

At Gunung Leuser National Park in Northern Sumatra, lushly forested

mountains and swamps cover nearly a million hectares, an area the

size of Yellowstone National Park in the United States.

During the last 60 years, Sumatra's tropical forests retreated as the

human population grew, leaving the park at the core of the largest

remaining tract of forest.

The area is both a critical watershed and a refuge for vanishing

wildlife such as elephants, orangutans and tigers. Now, political

instability and economic turmoil undermine the park's protection.

Many Indonesians demand a bigger share of the nation's wealth, and

for some, it seems unfair to keep valuable resources locked up inside

a park.

Local wood processing companies pay desperate men without jobs to

steal timber from the park. Encroaching farmers clear the forest to

plant crops. One piece at a time, the forest disappears.

"It's time for civil society to pressure the government, to ask for

the government to do something about illegal logging in Indonesia,"

says environmental activist Ambrosius Ruwindrijarto.

But some villagers living on the boundary of the park say they don't

see the problem. The forest is still huge, one man says; there's

enough for everybody.

The provincial governor has said he'll take strict action to stop the

illegal logging. But the park's head warden, Adi Susmianto, says it's

just a quick fix.

"The problem is, it stops just for a while. After that, it happens

again and happens again," he says.

People in another village near the park are worried. A destroyed

forest, they say, will never come back. The villagers say they will

find a way to enforce to the law and protect the park themselves,

because the government authorities don't seem to care.

A good reason, local conservationists say, is because many officials

profit from the illegal logging in the park -- including people in

the military, police, local government officials, even park wardens

and rangers.

"We can't rely on the police and the military because they are part

of the problem," Ruwindrijarto says.

It's a problem that's becoming critical as illegal loggers cut their

way into national parks protecting the last of these undisturbed

forests.

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