Indonesian forests on frontline of climate debate

AFP/Google, By Jérôme Rivet (AFP)

A fishermanpaddles his boat through devastated peatlands forest in Indonesia's Pangkalan Bunut in Riau province (AFP)

TELUK MERANTI, Indonesia — With the approach of global climate talks in Copenhagen, activists are hoping to draw world attention to their fight to save the last tropical forests on Indonesia's Sumatra island.

If successful, they believe they will slow global warming by preventing the carbon trapped in the forest's timbers and dense peat soils from being released through logging and clearing.

In the complicated argot of climate negotiations, the idea is called REDD: Reducing Emmissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation.

"We are here on the frontline of forest and climate destruction. This forest is under immediate threat," Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner Bustar Maitar said.

The battleground is the Kampar peninsular, 400,000 hectares (988,420 acres) of exuberant nature which is home to rare species such as Sumatran tigers, as well as indigenous people who live on fishing and gathering.

The spongy, peat soil that feeds the forest has stored organic material over thousands of years to a depth of about 20 metres (66 feet), forming part of one of the largest natural carbon "sinks" in the world.

The clearing and burning of Indonesia's peatlands account for four percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions, according to Greenpeace.

Vast areas of peatland and other forests have been cleared for pulp, paper and the booming palm oil industry, making Indonesia the third biggest greenhouse gas emitter in the world after China and the United States.

Emissions linked to forest destruction account for about 80 pecent of the 2.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide -- a greenhouse gas blamed for global warming -- released each year by the Southeast Asian archipelago, according to government estimates.

Environment group WWF says forest loss and degradation, peat decomposition and fires in Riau province, which includes Kampar, cause annual carbon emissions equivalent to 122 percent of the Netherlands' total annual emissions.

But if the government gets its way, Kampar's peatlands will be drained and its carbon-rich forests turned into acacia plantations.

That's the plan of Indonesia's Asia Pacific Resources International Holding Ltd. (APRIL), one of the world's biggest pulp and paper companies, which has been given a huge concession over most of Kampar.

Not surprisingly, the company says it is helping to "manage" the forest for its own good. The acacia project will also create 20,000 jobs, it says.

"Leaving the Kampar peatland forests unmanaged will only accelerate the deforestation and degradation," APRIL sustainability director Neil Franklin said.

"This area is currently under serious threat of unabated degradation through population pressures, slash-and-burn farming, illegal logging and fires."

APRIL says it is negotiating with the Teluk Meranti forest people to "design a comprehensive community development programme" including scholarships, assistance to health services and infrastructure such as mosques and schools.

"We do not believe in giving money. Our philosophy is to teach them how to fish to feed themselves instead of giving them the fish," Franklin said.

Teluk Meranti villager Iras confirms that APRIL's offer has been the subject of much discussion among locals, who are unsure how to resist the might of the pulp-and-paper giant.

The 29-year-old fisherman says he is ready to give up his traditional land if the company pays "around 70 million rupiah" (7,350 dollars) per person and provides land for villagers to plant oil palms.

Others, however, warn against the lure of quick money.

"All our life comes from the forest. If we lose that, we lose our means of subsistence and our traditions," said village elder Mohammed Yusuf.

"The community is too weak to fight the company. It has everything: money, power, connections with politicians... It is very influential."

One way to overcome the power of the pulp companies, according to Greenpeace and other environmental groups, is for rich countries to intervene financially and make REDD part of a future global climate pact.

This would put avoided deforestation at the heart of carbon markets, creating a powerful incentive for countries like Indonesia to stop cutting down trees.

"Indonesia can eliminate, or at least dramatically reduce, its emissions from peatland," said Paul Winn, Greenpeace's Sydney-based forest and climate campaigner.

"For that, we are calling on industrial countries to give more money to help developing countries to compensate communities and to protect intact forests."

Companies like APRIL should get out of forests and do their business on degraded, low-carbon land, he said.

Dozens severely injured, no one killed in Bima quake

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 11/09/2009 12:03 PM

Hospital patients evacuated into open
air after Sumbawa quake (BBC)

At least 36 people were severely injured as a magnitude 6.7 earthquake jolted the West Nusa Tenggara town of Bima early on Monday, but no one was killed in the disaster, a local government official said.

“The quake did not claim any life as reported on TV,” spokesman for Bima administration Abdul Wahab said.

Separately, Bima police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Fauza Barito said his personnel did not find any fatality in the earthquake.

A local radio station and national TV channels reported earlier that two people were killed in the quake, which struck at about 3:41 a.m. local time on Monday.

The provincial population agency reported that the quake also destroyed 86 houses and caused mild damage to hundreds of buildings in three districts that were hit hardest by the disaster. Head of the agency Bachrudin identified the districts as Sorimandi, Ambalawi and Bolo.

Bachrudin said the local government was ready to distribute eight tons of rice in store to people displaced by the quake.

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14 die after landslide in S. Sulawesi

Andi Hajramurni,The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi | Mon, 11/09/2009 4:11 PM

As many as 14 people were found dead while some other residents were missing after a landslide hit Battang Barat village, Palopo, South Sulawesi on Sunday night.

The landslide has buried around 20 houses and cut off an access road connecting Palopo and Tana Toraja, where 51 landslide points can be found.

Palopo Mayor Pateddungi Andi Tenri Ajeng said that a joint team comprised of policemen, Palopo residents and army officers was still looking for the victims.

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Officers uncover illegal animal trading syndicate

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Malang | Thu, 11/05/2009 8:18 PM

A joint team comprised of East Java Police officers and members of an NGO arrested a man allegedly involved in an illegal animal trading syndicate in Walikukun district, Ngawi, East Java, and confiscated 38 protected animals.

Campaign officer from ProFauna Indonesia Radius Nursidi said the officers had surveyed the Walikukun forest prior to the seizure.

“We received reports from residents that there were many animals ready to be sold in the area. We then passed ourselves off as buyers and negotiated the prices with the suspect,” Radius said.

He added that the officers were brought to the middle of the forest where they discovered cages filled with animals protected under the 1990 Natural Conservation Law.

“We then brought the animals to the provincial headquarter in Surabaya as evidence,” he said.

The suspect said the animals belonged to people who had managed to escape during his arrest.

Species' extinction threat grows

BBC News

The Kihansi spray toad is now considered to be extinct in the wild

In pictures: Threatened species

More than a third of species assessed in a major international biodiversity study are threatened with extinction, scientists have warned.

Out of the 47,677 species in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 17,291 were deemed to be at serious risk.

These included 21% of mammals, 30% of amphibians, 70% of plants and 35% of invertebrates.

Conservationists warned that not enough was being done to tackle the main threats, such as habitat loss.

"The scientific evidence of a serious extinction crisis is mounting," warned Jane Smart, director of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Biodiversity Conservation Group.

"The latest analysis... shows that the 2010 target to reduce biodiversity loss will not be met," she added.

"It's time for governments to start getting serious about saving species and make sure it's high on their agendas for next year, as we are rapidly running out of time."

The Red List, regarded as the most authoritative assessment of the state of the planet's species, draws on the work of thousands of scientists around the globe.

The latest update lists amphibians as the most seriously affected group of organisms on the planet, with 1,895 of the 6,285 known species listed as threatened.

Of these, it lists 39 species as either "extinct" or "extinct in the wild". A further 484 are deemed "critically endangered", 754 "endangered" and 657 "vulnerable".

The Kihansi Spray Toad (Nectophyrnoides asperginis) is one species that has seen its status change from critically endangered to extinct in the wild.

It was only found in the Kihamsi Falls area of Tanzania, but its population had crashed in recent years from a high of an estimated 17,000 individuals.

Conservationists suggest that the rapid decline was primarily the result of of a dam being constructed upstream from the toads' habitat, which resulted in a 90% reduction in the flow of water.

"In our lifetime, we have gone from having to worry about a relatively small number of highly threatened species to the collapse of entire ecosystems," observed Professor Jonathan Baillie, director of conservation programmes at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

"At what point will society truly respond to this growing crisis?"

The updated data from the 2009 Red List is being made publicly available on the IUCN website on Tuesday.

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Over 17,000 species threatened by extinction

Farmers spend own climate change adaptation fund

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 11/02/2009 8:38 PM

Frustrated by the government’s inaction, traditional farmers and fishermen have taken initiatives in adapting to extreme weather as an impact of climate change.

Farmers in Pati, Central Java, have to set aside one eighth of their income to purchase water to irrigate their paddy fields because they have moved forward their planting time by two months to avoid annual floods in January over the last five years.

“We are forced to use our money to buy water due to the absence of government assistance,” Tanto, a farmer from Batu Rejo village in Sukolilo district in Pati, told a climate forum jointly organized by the Indonesian Civil Society Forum (CSF) and Oxfam on Monday.

Tanto said that around 170 farmers in his village collected an average of Rp 92 million each planting season to water 150 hectares of their paddies. The farmers plant paddies twice a year

The forum featured farmers and fishermen from several towns across the country, who shared their efforts to adapt to extreme weather changes believed to be the impacts of the climate change.

Farmers from Indramayu in West Java and East Nusa Tenggara said they were also facing depleting water supply and unpredictable weather.

The East Nusa Tenggara farmers said they were struggling to cope with “fake” rains.

“Rain usually falls once or twice at the end of October, prompting farmers to plant maize. But unfortunately there was no more rain in the next four weeks, causing the plants to die,” Dominggus Tes, a corn farmer from Nusa village, told the forum.

Meanwhile, traditional fishermen in Krui, West Lampung said local fishermen had been unable to predict weather in their area in the last five years.

“In the past we could predict the weather by locating the position of South Star. But it is no longer applicable now,” said fisherman Edy Hamdan.

He said the fishermen tried to adapt to the climate change by creating new fishnets at a cost of Rp 20 million.

“Otherwise, we will return home empty-handed,” he said.

Sand mining resume on Krakatau

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung | Thu, 10/29/2009 1:13 PM

On November 24, 2007 gas spurts and rivers of incandescent lava flow from the crater of a young volcano that has emerged in the same place where, 125 years ago, the biggest volcanic eruption in history took place. (Katakugini’s Weblog)

Sand quarrying on Mt. Anak Krakatau has resumed, with the operating company claiming it obtained a permit from South Lampung Regent Wendy Melfa.

Jakarta-based PT Ascho Unggul Pratama was given the right to carry out sand mining on the active volcano by former South Lampung regent Zulkifli Hasan in May 2008.

PT Ascho managing director Suharsono on Wednesday denied conducting a disaster mitigation project illegally.

He said the company had received the permit in May 2008 during the administration of former South Lampung regent Zulkifli Anwar. The permit, he said, included a decree explicitly stating that PT Ascho could sell solid waste material, including sand and rocks from the area.

"We are not carrying out mining activities, but disaster mitigation to minimize the impacts of Mt. Anak Krakatau potentially erupting. This is part of in-depth research by experts from the Bandung Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG), the Lampung branch of the Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA), Lampung University, the Bandung Institute of Technology, and the Indonesian Physicists Association," said Suharsono.

But environmentalists and volcanologists said sand mining on Anak Karakatu should be immediately stopped because it was detrimental to the environment and biological ecosystem around the mountain.

Lampung Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) director, Hendrawan, said that a survey by his group showed sand mining on Mt. Anak Krakatau was carried out under the pretext of disaster mitigation.

"Facts show the company is carrying out sand mining, not disaster mitigation. We have photographic evidence. Fishermen and visitors who usually fish around the area have also witnessed this."

Despite obtaining the license from the South Lampung regent, PT Ascho cannot conduct mining as such activities have not been approved by the BKSDA, the Bandung Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) and the Forestry Ministry.

In August 2008, then forestry minister M.S. Kaban strongly rejected issuing a disaster mitigation permit on Mt. Anak Krakatau on the grounds it could damage the environment and the tsunami early warning system installed by the PVMBG.

He said the South Lampung regency administration had to coordinate with the relevant stakeholders, such as the Banten provincial administration, the BKSDA, the Ujung Kulon National Park Center and ecotourism experts and developers.

Lampung BKSDA head, Ambar Dwiyono, acknowledged issuing a permit for PT Ascho to install disaster mitigation equipment on Mt. Anak Krakatau, but said his agency had prohibited the company from mining sand.

"My staff went to Mt. Anak Krakatau last week and did not find any heavy equipment there," said Ambar.

However, when The Jakarta Post asserted that it had photographic evidence of the mining activities, Ambar said he would reinvestigate. "If sand is actually being taken, we will take harsh measures," he said.

Mud flow forming in Madura Island

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 10/28/2009 3:16 PM

A well spurting water, mud and gas has developed at a location in Bapelle village, Sampang district on Madura Island that was being surveyed by oil company SPE Petroleum on Wednesday, Antara state news agency has reported.

Personnel from the company had intended to have a controlled dynamite blast at the site, believed to contain valuable petroleum and gas reserves

However, the plan was canceled when a well in the yard of a Bapelle village resident suddenly erupted after oil company employees had installed a pipe connection there.

The flammable mixture of mud, water and gas has been continually erupting from the well and has become a flow that has begun to cover local residents' rice fields around the exploration site.

"We are worried about the existence of the new mud flow since it is beginning to flood some of our rice fields," a local villager, Kurdi Sari, said.

SPE Petroleum has yet to issue a statement on the mudflow.

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Elephants rampage through Aceh village, destroying houses

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 10/28/2009 2:21 PM

A herd of wild elephants entered a village in Geumpang subdistrict, Aceh province recently, damaging three houses and ruining food crops, a local leader said Wednesday.

"For the past week, a herd of about 17 elephants have been rampaging through our village. They have destroyed three houses and they have eaten the rice plants in our fields," a local community chief, M Sabi, told Antara state news agency on Wednesday.

The three damaged houses belonged to Abdullah Saman, Yusri Yusuf and Ibnu Abbas. All three residents, along with their families, have moved to a safer place.

Sabi said, in fact, two villages in Geumpang subdistrict – Gampong Pulo and Bangkeh – had been terrorized by wild elephants for the past two months. They had destroyed the villagers' crops and chased anyone who came in sight.

So far, the authorities, such as the Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), have taken no action to help the villagers overcome the problem.

"Local residents are now forced to try to drive the elephants away by their own means, like with bamboo cannons. Every night we strike the cannon to create sounds that scare the elephants away," Sabi said.

Material losses from the elephants' rampages have yet to be assessed. However, Muhammad Gapi, a local resident, said people in his area had to buy the carbide, a basic material used to fire up the bamboo cannons, with their own money.

"We have to spend Rp 100,000 [US$10] each night just to buy carbide for the cannons," Gapi said.

Last September, there was an elephant attack in Pauh Ranap village, Riau province, which killed one villager and injured another.

Five Earthquakes Shake Indonesia on Sunday Morning

The Jakarta Globe

The Mentawai islands, where one of Sunday's quakes struck, lie just west of a major fault line. (Photo: Antara)

It's been a busy Sunday underneath Indonesia, with five earthquakes hitting the archipelagic nation over the course of the morning.

The shaking began at 3.54 am Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB), when a 6.1-magnitude temblor hit 176 km southwest of Waingapu, East Nusa Tenggara province, at a depth of 19 km under the seabed..

Ten minutes later, another quake measuring 5.5 hit off Waingapu in nearly the same spot, at a depth of 23 km.

A 5.3- magnitude quake hit 39 km below sea level, 151 km southwest of Tual, Maluku, at 7.35 am.

At 8.50, an earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted 69 km southeast of Siberut in the Mentawai islands of West Sumatra province.

Finally, North Sulawesi was rocked by a 5.2 quake 106 kilometers northeast of Bitung, a mere 10 km below sea level, at 9:25 a.m.

There are no reports of damage or injuries so far.

Antara

Magnitude-7.0 Earthquake Strikes Indonesia

FoxNews, Saturday, October 24, 2009

Map detailing the location of magnitude-7.0 earthquake.

DEVELOPING — A magnitude-7.0 earthquake has struck the Banda Sea, off the coast of Indonesia.

Indonesia issued a tsunami alert, but the U.S. Geological Survey reports the quake was located too deep within the earth to generate one in the Indian ocean.

The quake reportedly took place in waters far from most of Indonesia's most populated areas. Jakarta residents tell Fox News they did not feel earthquake rumblings.

The quake struck 92-miles deep in the Banda Sea, 138 miles northwest of Saumlaki in Indonesia's Tanimbar Islands at 11:40 p.m. local time.

Saturday's quake came as Indonesia is still recovering from another earthquake last month island that killed more than 1,000 people on western Sumatra.

Click here for more from USGS.

Thousands seek refuge as quake stirs panic

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 10/20/2009 7:51 PM

More than 2,000 residents of Menui Island in the Central Sulawesi regency of Morowali have streamed into Bungku Tengah district and the provincial capital of Kendari to seek refuge following a magnitude 5.8 earthquake that jolted the province last Friday.

Morowali Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Deden Garnada said the quake had stirred panic among the residents as rumors had circulated that the tremor would sink the island.

“It was the work of irresponsible people,” Deden said.

The refugees are being sheltered at village office halls, school buildings and local residents’ houses.

Deden said the quake slightly damaged 19 houses and three places of worship, causing about Rp 70 million in losses.

The quake caused no direct fatalities, except for three Menui Island people who drowned when their overloaded boat capsized as they were seeking refuge on the mainland.

No pain, no gain

The Jakarta Post

Antara | Tue, 10/20/2009 3:17 PM

Miners on Mount Ijen, Banyuwangi, East Java, dig up sulfur from the crater of the volcano on Tuesday. Mount Ijen, or Kawah Ijen as it is more commonly known, has a daily sulfur capacity of around 8 tons. Antara/Seno S.

Another PKS member to helm agriculture ministry

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Cikeas | Mon, 10/19/2009 5:29 PM

Another Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician appears to be a future cabinet minister, adding to three of the party's members who already came for an interview by President-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

A Bogor Institute of Technology alumnus, Suswono, will likely become the agriculture minister.

"I was asked to help development, particularly in people's welfare, related to competitiveness in agriculture products," the former House of Representatives agriculture Commission deputy chairman said Monday after the interview at Yudhoyono's private residence in Cikeas, West Java.

"Hopefully, we can export agriculture products in the future."

Indonesia, which heavily depends on agricultural commodities, already exports some agricultural products.

Indonesia needs to integrate agriculture sector: Minister

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 10/16/2009 8:39 PM

Indonesia, given its heavy dependence on agricultural commodities, needs to have the sector integrated from upstream all the way to downstream in the next five years, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said Friday.

“[Industries] related to adding value to agricultural commodities need to develop. This is what we are lacking,” said Anton, who will end his term as a minister next week.

“We still export crude palm oil in the largest portion, for example, instead of its derivatives [because of the absence of integration within the sector].”

Magnitude-6.4 quake rattles Jakarta

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 10/16/2009 5:42 PM

An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale was felt in Jakarta at about 5 p.m. on Friday. This was the second strong temblor in as many months to be felt in the capital.

According to data from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, the epicenter of the quake was in the Sunda Strait, about 42 kilometers northwest of Ujung Kulon in Banten province, around 185 kilometers southwest of Jakarta, at a depth of 55 kilometers beneath the ocean floor.

The tremor was also felt in Tanjung Karang in Lampung, and in Bandung.

No immediate tsunami warnings were issued following the quake.

The earthquake stirred a panic among people working in Jakarta’s high-rise buildings, who scrambled for fire stairs seeking safety.

Jakarta was also shaken by a magnitude-7.3 quake on Sept. 2, which devastated areas on West Java’s southern coast.

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Are Indonesia, Samoa and Vanuatu Quakes Linked?

The Jakarta Globe

Scientists are reconsidering their theories after the recent series of large quakes. (Photo: AFP)

A sudden cluster of massive earthquakes which has shaken Asia-Pacific communities and likely left thousands dead has also jolted some scientists, who are starting to question conventional thought.

Experts who dismissed notions that far-away quakes could be linked are beginning to think again after huge tremors rocked Samoa and Indonesia on the same day, followed by another major convulsion in Vanuatu.

Some 184 people died in the terrifying tsunami which smashed Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga on September 30, while thousands are feared dead after parts of Indonesia's Padang city were reduced to rubble just hours later.

On Thursday, thousands of panicked people fled the coast as a rapid succession of large quakes off Vanuatu set off a tsunami warning for much of the South Pacific.

The "remarkable" sequence has prompted veteran earthquake-watcher Gary Gibson to tear up his theory it was all down to chance and search for a possible connection.

"I can no longer keep using the response it's all a big coincidence, can I?" Gibson, senior seismologist at Environmental Systems and Services consulting group, told AFP. "But what would the (link) mechanism be? Nobody has come up with a good story."

University of Queensland's Huilin Xing also challenged accepted science by proposing a possible link between the Samoan and Indonesian earthquakes -- 6,000 miles (9,660 kilometres) apart.Xing said the fast-moving Australian tectonic plate may have set off one quake, and then the other.

"From the observations, there were similar correlations of the quakes in the different places," Xing said."For two great earthquakes to occur within hours in such a way, it is abnormal."

Thursday's 7.6, 7.8 and 7.3 Vanuatu earthquakes also came just minutes after another large tremor shook the Philippines.

"It's remarkable. I've been working on this for 30 years and never seen it before," said Gibson."Many times it's chance but when you get this many large earthquakes on the Australian plate boundary it's stretching the concept of just coincidence. But nobody I know has published a link that will stand up in all cases.

"There's no mechanism to describe why it's happening that anybody's thought of. I personally think there may well be something else and I'm continuing to look for it."

Kevin McCue, president of the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society, rejected ideas of any connection between the Pacific and Indonesian quakes, but said the tremors in Samoa and Vanuatu had a historical precursor.

McCue said in 1917 a major earthquake rocked Samoa, followed three years later by another of similar size off Vanuatu, with both going off close to the recent quakes' epicentres.

But he said the high activity in different areas was simply part of the random nature of earthquakes.

"It's just the nature of the beast -- you have a cluster of events then you wait months without one," he said."(But) I don't deny that I don't know something. It is possible there's something more. We don't know what's happening down there, really."

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More pictures ....

Reuters, Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:13am EDT

PADANG, Indonesia, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A major earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck off the city of Padang on the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island on Wednesday, damaging houses, bringing down bridges and starting fires, a witness said.

It was unclear if there were any casualties.

The quake was felt around the region, with some high-rise buildings in the city state of Singapore, 275 miles (440 km) to the northeast, evacuating their staff.

A regional tsunami warning was issued, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre. Japan said no tsunami was expected there.

"Hundreds of houses have been damaged along the road. There are some fires, bridges are cut and there is extreme panic here maybe because water pipes are broken and there is flooding in the streets," said a Reuters witness in the city.

Phone lines were down.

Padang, the capital of Indonesia's West Sumatra province, sits on one of the world's most active fault lines along the "Ring of Fire" where the Indo-Australia plate grinds against the Eurasia plate to create regular tremors and sometimes quakes.

A 9.15 magnitude quake, with its epicentre roughly 600 km (373 miles) northwest of Padang, caused the 2004 tsunami which killed 232,000 people in Indonesia's Aceh province, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, and other countries across the Indian Ocean.

The depth of Wednesday's earthquake was measured at 85 km (53 miles), the United States Geological Survey said. It revised down the magnitude of the quake from 7.9 to 7.6.

A series of tsunamis earlier on Wednesday smashed into the Pacific island nations of American and Western Samoa killing possibly more than 100 people, some washed out to sea, destroying villages and injuring hundreds.

Geologists have long said Padang, with a population of 900,000, may one day be destroyed by a huge earthquake because of its location.

"Padang sits right in front of the area with the greatest potential for an 8.9 magnitude earthquake," said Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, a geologist at the Indonesian Science Institute, in February.

"The entire city could drown" in a tsunami triggered by such a quake, he warned.

Several earthquake-prone parts of the country hold tsunami practice drills, and the national disaster service sends alerts via telephone text messages to subscribers.

But some experts have long said Indonesia needs to do more to reduce the risk of catastrophe.

Padang needed to invest in better infrastructure, including more roads and other escape routes, said Hugh Goyder, a consultant for the United Nations' International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, earlier in the year.

"The road goes parallel to the coast, which means it's difficult in some areas to get away from the coast," Goyder said, adding that in one part of the city, the only escape route is a narrow bridge. (Reporting by Telly Nathalia, Writing by Nick Macfie, Editing by Sanjeev Miglani))

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Massive backlog

The Jakarta Post | Wed, 09/30/2009 9:34 AM

Police in Paser, East Kalimantan, inspect timber logged illegally in Panajam and Paser districts on Tuesday. Recent police raids have netted more than 16,000 logs, making it the largest haul in several years. National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri visited the site Tuesday. JP/Nuni Sulaiman

Govt to make ‘temulawak’ ‘jamu’ an icon of Indonesia

The Jakarta Post | Mon, 09/28/2009 8:38 AM

The government is working to establish temulawak, or Java turmeric, as an icon of Indonesia, on the grounds that the country has the most varieties of the herb.

State Minister for Research and Technology Kusmayanto Kadiman told a press conference in Jakarta on Sunday that research is currently underway to prove that the medicinal plant, whose Latin name is Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb, merits to be recognized as a classic Indonesian icon.

“Our researchers in etnobotany are confident that they can prove that Indonesia has the most varieties of ‘temulawak’,” he said.

“We also have social-anthropology researchers tracing the existence of the herb in the past, by looking at paintings in caves or reliefs in temples,” he added.

The next step, he said, would be to research how to use the herb, which naturally tastes bitter, in cooking.

“We have to make ‘temulawak’ part of our daily lives, in food, cosmetics, medicine or supplements; we don’t want other countries claiming it as their own,” he added.

Temulawak is used as an ingredient in most traditional herbal medicine, known locally as jamu. It is said to have anti-inflammation, anti-microbe, cholesterol reducing, and anti-cancer properties, and is widely used to treat stiff muscles and liver disease.

Charles Saerang, chairman of the Indonesian Herbal and Traditional Medicines Entrepreneurs Association (GP Jamu), said Indonesia was the largest temulawak producer in the world, with the best varieties of the herb found in Central Java, particularly in the Semerang area.

Indonesia, however, lags behind other countries that have long patented some properties of the herb and developed temulawak products.

Charles said South Korea, a major player in the international market for herbal medicines with ginseng, had researched the use of the herb as an ingredient in daily products.

Yaya Rukayadi, an Indonesian scientist working as a research professor at Yonsei University in South Korea, said his research had been used by corporate giant LG as an ingredient for toothpaste products.

“We are also developing anti-dandruff shampoo and an anti-aging cream from ‘temulawak’,” he added.

Kusmayanto said scientists like Yaya are what the country needs if it wants to advance in developing its natural biodiversity.

He acknowledged that Indonesia’s best scientists were opting for institutions abroad because of lack of appreciation at home.

However, he said, the ministry was working to attract more researchers on medicinal plants for jamu in the coming years.

“We will increase the funding for research tenders; we have spent Rp 100 billion [US$10 million] for 2009 and will allocate Rp 300 billion for 2010,” he said.

Charles lamented the government had taken so long to see that jamu could be a superior product.

“I tried to put it before the minds of many ministers before Kusmayanto, but to no avail. Now, I finally succeeded and made one realize the potential of jamu, but it’s only days before his term ends,” he said. (adh)

Dieng crater lake spews hot mud

The Jakarta Post | Sun, 09/27/2009 5:53 PM

Authorities in the vicinity of Mount DIeng, Central Java, are checking for toxic gas emissions, after the Sileri crater lake on the volcano spewed hot mud into the air Saturday.

"The seismic activity ran from 8 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. yesterday," Mt. Dieng observation post official Tunut Pujiarjo said as quoted by kompas.com.

"We’ll check whether hazardous gases have been leaked."

Tunut added the area would temporarily be closed off to tourists.

"They’ll only be allowed to view the crater from 500 meters away," he said.

Watermelon 'has same effect as Viagra'

BBC, By Tulip Mazumdar, Newsbeat health reporter

Eating watermelon has a similar effect on the body to Viagra, according to researchers in the US.

It's down to a chemical called citrulline which is found in the juicy fruit.

Watermelons are loaded with anti-oxidants which are good for the skin

Citrulline is an organic compound which affects the body's blood vessels in the same way as the sex enhancement pills.

It helps relax the blood vessels which means blood gets around the body more easily.

The research comes from the US' Texas Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Centre.

Dr Bhimu Patil led the research. He said: "We've always known that watermelon is good for you, but the list of its very important healthful benefits grows longer with each study.

"Watermelon may not be as organ specific as Viagra... but it's a great way to relax blood vessels without any drug side-effects."

It's also claimed watermelons are good for your heart and immune system.

The vast majority of watermelon (92%) is made up of water. But the remaining 8% is loaded with the anti-oxidant lycopene which is also good for your skin.

Strong quakes hit Bali, North Maluku

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 09/19/2009 8:58 AM

Two earthquakes, each measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, hit Bali and North Maluku on Saturday.

An official at Sanglah Hospital in Bali's capital, Denpasar told The Associted Press that the quake in resort island Bali has injured at least seven people and sent many others fleeing outside.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency reported in its website that one of the quakes hit Bali at 07:06 a.m. local time, with its epicenter located 101 kilometers southeast of Nusa Dua at 36 kilometers under the seabed.

The other quake hit North Maluku at 01:34 a.m. The epicenter of the quake was located 117 west of Ternate Sea at 92 kilometers under the seabed.

Strong quake strikes off Indonesian coast

World News Australia, 02 September 2009 | 06:55:14 PM

7.3 shock: An earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale jolted the southern part of West Java at 2:55 p.m. on Wednesday. The tremor was felt as far as Jakarta and Yogyakarta in Central Java. (The Jakarrta Post)

A powerful earthquake caused buildings to sway in Indonesia's capital on Wednesday, damaging buildings and prompting a regional tsunami alert, witnesses and media said.

People waiting outside The Mandarin Hotel in Jakarta for possible after shocks (Photos: AFP)

The quake struck at 2.55pm local time (1755 AEST) on the southern coast of the main island of Java with a preliminary magnitude of 7.4.

It had a depth of 63 kilometres and the epicentre was about 200 kilometres south of Jakarta, the US Geological Survey said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said it was powerful enough to cause a local tsunami, but there were no immediate reports of high waves.

Buildings in Tasikmalaya, the town closest to the epicentre, were damaged, the Detik.com news portal reported.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The shaking was strong in the capital, Jakarta, where panicked office workers ran outside onto the streets.

It was not possible to immediately contact anyone in the quake area.

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Bogor’s Silk House works with farmers

Theresia Sufa , The Jakarta Post , Bogor | Tue, 09/01/2009 11:48 AM

Natural spinner: Rumah Sutera Alam is currently the only cottage industry in West Java’s Bogor to work on silk yarn spinning. JP/Theresia Sufa

Rumah Sutra Alam or the Natural Silk House in Ciapus district, Bogor regency, is the cottage industry most frequently visited by students, lecturers and retirees across Indonesia.

In addition to its mulberry plantations, the natural silk center also has a silkworm nursery and undertakes silk yarn spinning and silk cloth weaving.

Visitors to the house mostly wish to learn how to breed silkworms and at the same time observe the process of spinning and weaving.

Owner Tatang Gozali Gandasasmita started his silk yarn spinning business in 2001, with the cottage industry set up on a 2.5-hectare block of land, as something to do during retirement.

“As a retiree I love keeping busy in a way that benefits a lot of people, and this spinning work provides jobs for youths in the Bogor vicinity and helps raise the income of mulberry growers,” he said.

“I call it a silk house because the entire process of making silk takes place here.”

The former employee of Bandung’s PTP-15 state estate company explained that it all begins with the hatching of silkworm eggs that he buys from Candi Roto, Central Java, and Soppeng, South Sulawesi.

“We buy 15 to 20 boxes of silkworm eggs each month, each containing 25,000 eggs,” Tatang said.

“Two weeks later, after they hatch into larvae, we deliver them to mulberry growers, who nurse the young worms to develop into cocoons.”

In running the silk industry, Tatang works with farmers from Bogor, Sukabumi and Cianjur, all in West Java.

“We have 80 farmers as partners but only 40 of them focus on mulberry planting, while the rest grow vegetables as their main crops, handling mulberries as their side business,” he said.

So far, Tatang added, his cocoon production has reached only about half a ton per month, compared with his industry’s monthly capacity of around 2 tons.

“We’re still short of cocoons as we need 2 tons a month for spinning into silk yarn. So we’re trying to approach more farmers, particularly in Bogor, in order to raise silkworms that we supply on the condition that they first have their own mulberry plantations to feed the worms,” he said, adding that he pays Rp 25,000 per kg of cocoons produced, based on national standards.

Downstream process: Workers at Rumah Sutra Alam further weave the spun yarn into silk cloth. JP/Theresia Sufa

The hatching of worms and their growth into cocoons takes 30 days. The cocoons are then spun into silk yarn for further sale, mostly to weavers in Garut, Tasikmalaya and Cirebon, all in West Java, at a price of Rp 350,000 per kg. A cocoon produces around 800 to 1,000 meters of yarn on average; the remaining yarn is woven for sale to any visitors to the silk house.

The woven fabric in the silk house is sold at prices ranging from Rp 50,000 to Rp 3 million depending on the thickness of the material — the thicker the material, the more expensive, because it consumes a lot more yarn.

Besides plain silk cloth, there are also pieces with batik motifs. The silk batik is processed in Cirebon and Pekalongan in Central Java, which usually takes four months to complete.

“I’m very eager to help mulberry growers to develop their business by also cultivating silkworms, so that every time the Bogor regency administration and the Makassar Natural Silk Center offer aid to boost our silk house, I always recommend that the aid be given to mulberry farmers,” Tatang said.

A gift from nature: The cottage industry required monthly some two tons of silk cocoons to be processed into silk yarn. JP/Theresia Sufa

“I’ve made a proposal for aid to develop silkworm nurseries for all mulberry farmers in Bogor, in response to the Makassar silk center’s offer. When they join the silkworm raising effort, we won’t face cocoon shortages anymore.”

Ilyas, a mulberry farmer who lives in Pasir Eurih village in Bogor’s Tamansari district, said he started growing mulberries in 2001, after receiving training in the method of mulberry planting from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB). He owns a 3,500-meter-square block of land for his mulberry trees; his main focus is rice paddy.

“I’m growing mulberries only as a side job because I earn very little from the trees. Mulberry leaves are harvested every two months and I sell them to the silk house for Rp 300,000 per ton,” he said.

“I can increase my income if I join silkworm breeding, but I have no proper place to do it. The nursery for silkworm raising has to be sterile and protected from predators.”

According to the secretary of Bogor regency’s Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Office, Siti Nurianty, the silk house is the only silk processing place in Bogor.

“We hope this silk house can truly serve as a silk center and at the same time a tourist destination for silk cloth shopping,” she said. “We therefore always offer our assistance for its development and invite Pak Tatang to various exhibitions. But the most important thing is to support mulberry farmers’ silkworm breeding by providing proper facilities.”

Building with green bricks

Anissa S. Febrina, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 09/01/2009 9:36 AM

All natural: The Green School in Bali features bamboo construction engineered into a more modern look. JP/ Zul Trio Anggono

Steel or stone? Bamboo or brick? Concrete or composites? A wiser choice of construction materials could go a long way to transforming our cities into “greener” urban jungles.

An environmentally friendly building is not only about choice of site and the play of the layout. The actual materials that are laid down for the foundations, frames, walls, roof and cladding determine how green a building really is.

To date, our vocabulary on building materials has been limited to bricks, cement, timber and glass with steel occasionally popping up when needed.

But experts agree that so much more can be done to make the already widely used materials greener or to maximize the potential of currently underused ones.

Bamboo is among the latter. The pipe-like plant that can grow and be harvested faster than conventional wood is earning the label of 21th-century building material.

“In just four or five years, bamboo stems are old enough to serve as solid framing. And every year afterwards it can still be harvested,” said Eko Prawoto, a leading architect who since 2000 has tested various types of bamboo construction.

“In a way, bamboo is more renewable than timber.”

While architects in Japan and Germany have started to explore the potential of the plant for the construction industry, not many in Indonesia are willing to take the same path that Eko trod.

“Bamboo has been utilized here for centuries and it has a social aspect, quite apart from the fact that it is a potential green building material,” he said. “Its elasticity makes it suitable for buildings in earthquake-prone areas like Indonesia and it’s a labor-intensive material.”

Because of its hollow cylindrical-shaped segments, bamboo is lighter than steel but can almost match its traction coefficient. It is also stronger than concrete.

Yet despite Indonesia’s abundance of the natural material, bamboo is still viewed as being a building material for the poor. Mention building with bamboo, and the image that most likely first comes to mind is of a makeshift shack in a rural village.

Indonesia is home to some 60 species of bamboo, on a total of around 320 hectares of plantation with an annual production of 726,000 tons, according to Forestry Ministry data.

Most bamboo production and trade is conducted by small and medium enterprises, ranging from traditional bamboo wall weavers to small workshops developing more modern bamboo product manufacturing processes.

Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University researcher Morisco has developed more solid bamboo jointing by combining the woody stalks with steel plates and bolts and filling the hollow segments at the joints with cement.

The result is a roof frame that is cheaper than that made of conventional wood, less prone to termites as the bamboo is pre-treated and can hold up even in the event of earthquakes.

Morisco’s laboratory has also come up with laminated bamboo where the stalks are cut and flattened into planks similar to wooden ones. These “planks” can then be further processed into wall cladding, doors, window sills and furniture.

And, as Eko pointed out, with plaster on both sides, a traditional bamboo wall is as sturdy as one made of brick.

A class of life: Visitors of the Bali Green School give a
try at weaving roof covering from dried tall grass. JP/Zul Trio Anggono

Bamboo is not the only green material. Several researchers have also tried modifying the composition of conventional bricks by utilizing waste.

Yogyakarta’s Islamic State University researcher Fajriyanto adds sludge from paper factories, plastic waste and coir into a composite that could serve as building panels, which would have an elasticity suitable for construction in earthquake-prone areas.

Meanwhile, a researcher at Bandung’s Ceramic Center, Nuryanto, is currently developing permeable ceramic paving, a type of ground cover that would better let water seep into the soil than the currently available concrete blocks do.

Once the prototype is completed and industry gets involved to mass produce these paving blocks, urbanites will be able to pave their car ports while still letting water flow underground, therefore both adding to groundwater reserves and preventing flooding.

“It is made of feldspathic materials which are more porous than concrete,” Nuryanto said. “Mixed with coloring, it can still be aesthetically pleasing as well as environmentally friendly.”

For the current planned production, the feldspar, or tectosilicate minerals, can be found in Banjarnegara in Central Java and Pangaribuan in North Sumatra.

Adding waste material to composites is actually not a new thing in the building material industry.

Researchers have long suggested the addition of fly ash, the waste generated from burning coal, into concrete mix.

Most recently, researcher Puti Farida Marzuki has also suggested replacing Portland cement with a mixture of hydraulic lime with fly ash when building small houses.

“Small houses such as those built by the government public housing program don’t need the strength of Portland cement. It’s too expensive and needs a lot of energy resources in the manufacturing process,” Puti said.

By mixing calcium hydroxide with cement-like pozzolan aggregate in a simple churning sill, locals can produce their own affordable alternative to Portland cement.

Many have tried coming up with more environmentally friendly building materials, but unfortunately, it is not that easy to tempt industries to start mass producing these alternatives.

So far, the research and development of such products has mostly been done independently of the building materials industry.

And apparently, there are no incentives available either to link inventors and producers.

For this, Indonesia might want to learn from its neighbor Singapore, which currently provides incentives for building material producers that develop greener products.

“We want to further develop our subsidy scheme into one where industries can submit an ad hoc proposal so that the support can be channeled when needed,” Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority research division director Ang Kian Seng said.

“But, we only want to support those with a sound proposal. Green construction does not need to be expensive,” he added.

Nevertheless, even without such a scheme, some local building material manufacturers have increased their own research and development efforts to serve the market with a greener product.

“The problem is that sometimes architects who are supposed to choose those greener building materials are not aware that they exist,” said Naning Adiwoso, head of Green Building Council Indonesia.

Naning pointed out that locally made products such as water-based paint, nano-finished ceramics or biofil septic tanks were already available for those looking for more environmentally friendly construction materials.

But, then again it’s always a matter of choice. Steel or bamboo? Concrete or permeable paving?

The biggest flower

The Jakarta Post | Sun, 08/30/2009 10:03 PM

The biggest flower:: A forest ranger at Meru Betiri National Park attends to a blooming Rafflesia flower in the National Park's Krecek block in Jember, East Java, on Sunday. The rare flower normally blooms for seven days. JP/Lutfiana Mahmuda

Semeru on alert

The Jakarta Post | Fri, 04/10/2009 6:11 PM

Two motorcycle riders in Lumajang, East Java, observe Mount Semeru from a distance. The Center for Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation has announced that the frequency of lava eruptions at the crater have been decreasing, a sign of lava flow clogging that could lead to a violent eruption. (Antara/Sucipto)

Indonesia self-sufficient in corn: agriculture ministry

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Agriculture Ministry said Indonesia has succeeded in achieving self-sufficiency in corn as domestic production has reached 90 percent of domestic demand.

"We have become self-sufficient in corn and have also begun exporting the product. However, it does not mean that imports have stopped. But domestic production now meets 90 percent of national demand. In 2008 we also exported corn," the ministry`s director general of food crops, Sutarto Alimoeso, said here on Wednesday.

In 2008 Indonesia imported 170,000 tons of corn and exported 150,000 tons.

He said exports could still increase. Fir this year the production target had been set at around 18 million tons of which one million tons would be exported.

The agriculture ministry was expecting domestic corn production to increase 14 percent this year.

National corn production in 2008 rose more than 22 percent from 16.3 million tons in the previous year.

He said the corn plantation area was increasing while productivity was also rising following the use of superior seeds.

Alimoeso said the government was subsidizing seed prices for rice, corn and bean farmers. Besides seed subsidy the government was also helping farmers to get superior seeds and seeds taken from national reserves.

For 2009, the agriculture ministry had allocated a corn seed subsidy for producing 4,266 tons of corn on an area of 225,534 hectares.

Seed assistance taken from national seed supply for the farmers will reach 5,595 tons for an area of 353,000 hectares. Direct top seed assistance totaling 7,610 tons meanwhile is allocated for an area of 507,333 hectares.

Indonesian palm oil industry takes step towards sustainability

WWF-Canon / Alain COMPOST, 07 Apr 2009

Jakarta, Indonesia: A major Indonesian plantation company has become the country’s first certified maker of sustainable palm oil as WWF simultaneously collaborated with the Indonesian Department of Agriculture and others to hold a first-time regional training workshop for small producers.

Musim Mas Group Plantations, is the first company in Indonesia to demonstrate that some of its plantations comply with the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Principles and Criteria, a set of standards that helps ensure that palm oil is produced in a socially and environmentally responsible way. Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil.

The RSPO brings together oil palm growers, oil processors, food companies, retailers, NGOs and investors to help ensure that no rainforest areas are sacrificed for new oil palm plantations, that all plantations minimize their environmental impacts and that basic rights of local peoples and plantation workers are fully respected.

“Musim Mas hopes that its certification will encourage more Indonesian companies to follow suit,” said Liantong Gan, head of Musim Mas’ sustainability department.

Musim Mas’ certification underscores the progress that WWF, and others, have made in efforts to increase the number of palm oil producers that are operating sustainably.

WWF works to ensure that oil palm expansion does not come at the expense of forests by promoting its expansion onto degraded lands. It is also helping to develop guidance for the small holders representing 40 per cent of Indonesia’s palm oil growers.

"WWF is pleased to see progress in Indonesia, but there is much work to be done before sustainable palm oil can be a mainstream reality," said Ian Kosasih, Director of the Forest Programme at WWF Indonesia.

"WWF Indonesia will continue to cooperate with stakeholders to build the capacity of farmers to implement the RSPO guidelines, promote the use of idle or degraded land for oil palm expansion, and put pressure on those companies that persist in converting natural forest for oil palm expansion," Kosasih said.

WWF helped organize the training for 21 training representatives from small Indonesian palm oil plantations from West Sumatra, Riau, South Sumatra, Jambi, and West of Kalimantan.

WWF held the training in collaboration with the Indonesian Smallholders Working Group, the Department of Agriculture, the RSPO Indonesia Liaison Office, Sawit Watch, and various certification bodies. The training stemmed from a memorandum of understanding signed on Feb. 17 between the RSPO and the Indonesian Department of Agriculture.

The objective was to educate trainers on the threats of oil palm plantations to the region’s forests and local species, to motivate smallholders to comply with the RSPO P & C, and to provide practical ways smallholders can comply with these sustainability criteria, including mitigating the wildlife human conflict that often occurs happens in oil palm plantations.

In addition, a syllabus and training modules were developed so that the representatives could take them back to their operations for educational purposes.

The Indonesian Smallholders Working Group is planning to hold further trainings in the five provinces represented at the March training, and follow them up with audits.

As a founding member of the RSPO, WWF has worked since 2002 with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that the RSPO standards contain robust social and environmental criteria, including a prohibition on the conversion of high conservation value (HCV) areas.

The workshop and Musim Mas’ certification come only months after the first shipment of RSPO certified sustainable palm oil arrived in Europe from southeast Asia.

Several European companies, including Unilever, Sainsbury’s and Albert Heijn, have already made strong public commitments to buy certified sustainable palm oil.

The next RSPO Roundtable meeting and the 6th General Assembly of RSPO members will be held in November 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Earthquakes rock North Sulawesi, West Papua on Saturday

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Earthquakes rocked North Sulawesi and West Papua on Saturday, but did not trigger any tsunami, according to the National Meteorological and Geophysics Office here Saturday.

North Sulawesi was hit by a 6.5-magnitude temblor on Saturday at 2.31 am Western Indonesian Time (WIB). The quake`s epicenter was located at 4.99 degrees northern latitude and 127.04 degrees eastern longitude, at a depth of 10 km below sea level, around 117 Km northeast of Melonguane, North Sulawesi.

West Papua was jolted by a 5.1-magnitude temblor at 1.09 pm Western Indonesian Time (WIB). The quake`s epicenter was located at 0.73 degrees southern latitude and 133.30 degrees eastern longitude, at a depth of 101 km, around 86 Km northwest of Manokwari town, West Papua.

On Friday (April 3), Palu, Central Sulawesi Province, was jolted by two consecutive earthquakes in the wee hours, causing a number of local residents to panic and wonder about the temblors` magnitudes.

The first earthquake was 4.4 on the Richter scale and the second was 4.9 on the Richter scale.

Indonesia, the world`s largest archipelago, sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," the edge of a tectonic plate prone to seismic upheaval.

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Govt should intervene against wildlife poaching: NGO

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 04/02/2009 7:34 PM

An environmental non-governmental organization (NGO) has on Thursday called for the government to intervene in the prevention of further wildlife poaching in Sumatra following the death of two female elephants at an elephant conservation center in Bengkulu last week.

"Elephant and tiger poaching is increasing and the death of the female elephants wasn't the first. At least seven others were killed at the conservation park between 2004 and 2007," representative of wildlife protection NGO ProFauna Radius Nursidi said.

He added that the perpetrators were never caught nor processed.

Apart from endangered elephants, the second most poached wildlife animal is the Sumatran tiger.

A survey conducted by ProFauna in March this year revealed 12 tiger snares were found around a conservation park in Bengkulu.

One of these snare had successfully trapped a Bornean leopard in 2007.

The authorities were informed of the perpetrator but no legal recourse was taken.

“The police need to fully enforce the law on wildlife crime. Without law enforcement, elephant and tiger poaching in Bengkulu will persist”, Nursidi argued.

Under the law, poaching and trading protected species is against the law and offenders are liable to a maximum of five years in jail and a Rp 100 millions (10,000 USD) fine. (amr)

2 rare elephants shot dead in Indonesian jungles

Google/AP

By IRWAN FIRDAUS

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Two Sumatran elephants were found dead with gunshots to the head in a protected forest in western Indonesia, a conservationist said Tuesday.

Park rangers have been riding the animals for weeks in the Kerinci National Park and surrounding areas to prevent entry by illegal loggers, who have been clearing jungles at an alarming rate to make way for palm oil and other commercial plantations.

Though provincial conservation chief Andi Basrul refused to speculate on a motive for the shootings, he said they appeared to have been carried out by professional poachers.

Basrul said the Sumatran elephants were both 20-year-old females. Rangers found their bodies on March 24, hours after they were used for a patrol and several hundred yards (meters) from their camp.

Conservationists believe there are less that 3,000 Sumatran elephants remaining in the wild.

"It is a big blow to our efforts to protect these endangered animals," Basrul said.

The habitats of Sumatran elephants are quickly shrinking due to illegal logging and land clearing. That has led, increasingly, to clashes with humans, often because the starving animals stray into villages and destroy crops in their search for food.

An investigation will be carried out into the latest attack in Bengkulu province on Sumatra island, said Yatim Suyatmo, a police spokesman.

Riau police confiscate 200 tons of illegal logs

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 04/01/2009 10:32 AM

Jungle operation: Sr. Comr. Zainal Paliwang, head of Riau Water Police Directorate (left) leads illegal logging raid operation in Tohor River kanals in Tebing Tinggi, Meranti district in Riau, on Tuesday. Antara/FB Anggoro

Riau Water Police have confiscated 200 tons of illegal logs, allegedly cut down from Meranti and Bengkalis regencies areas, during a two-day raid operations.

Sr. Comr. Zainal Paliwang, head of Riau Water Police Directorate, told Antara that they have named and arrest two people as suspects.

“We received a tip-off from the local resident and we later begun an investigation that lasted three weeks. The logs were found at four different locations,” he said.

On Monday, the police confiscated eight tons of logs from a location on the banks of Tanjung Sari river in Tanjung Samak district in Bengkalis. They also arrested two men, Yamin, 39, and Edo Tampubolon, 68, who were on a tug boat to deliver logs to Tanjung Balai Karimun in Riau Islands.

The rest of the logs were confiscated from three locations in Tohor River banks in Tebing Tinggi district in Meranti.

Zainal said the police were to continue their investigation to catch illegal loggers in the areas. (dre)

Whirlwind hits Central Jakarta, tower collapses

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 03/31/2009 7:21 PM

A tornado had reportedly hit several areas in Central Jakarta Tuesday evening, kompas.com reported.

Petojo and Cideng were among the areas hit by the whirlwind that occurred within a ten minute time frame.

According to residents, house rooftops, tree branches, a billboard and a tower belonging to the City Transportation Agency were blown away.

Central Jakarta mayor Sylviana Murni is said to have inspected the damages.

"I've just toured the area to observe the situation at hand," Murni said. (amr)

Vietnam wood product export falls sharply in Q1

Hanoi (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) -- The global economic crisis has reduced demand for wood products, according to an official from the Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (VFA).

Association statistics show the wood processing industry had a total export turnover of about US$500 million during the first three months of this year, down 22.9 per cent on a year-on-year basis because many main partners had reduced their imports.

Last year, firms received US$2.8 billion for wood products, which was 13.4 per cent higher than in 2007, but in the first two months of this year, the value fell 60 per cent to US$330 million compared with the same period last year, said VFA Deputy Chairman, Nguyen Ton Quyen.

Indonesian forests suffering from `chronic ailment`: minister

Muaro Bungo, Jambi (ANTARA News) - Forestry Minister MS Kaban said that Indonesian forests were experiencing a chronic `ailment` or serious damage which needed a long time to cure.

"The chronic disease infected the forests as a result of mismanagement in the past which has now affected forest industries and timber companies," the minister said when inaugurating a rural forest project in Lubuk Beringin hamlet, Bungo district, here on Monday.

Forests were damaged as the result of weak government control and mismanagement by forest concessionaires (HPH), timber estates (HTI) and licensed plantations (HGU), he said.

The bankruptcy of forest industries has cut the state`s foreign exchange earning and caused forest theft or illegal logging, the minister said.

In the past, the biggest earner of the country`s foreign exchange was the forestry sector while the oil and gas came only in the second list.

But the past exploitation has adversely caused destruction of our forest now and created different kinds of natural disasters such as floods and drought.

In the new order government era, the conditions of Indonesia`s natural resources were good, such as those of forest, mining and marine resources, which all contributed significant incomes to the state, he said.

He said that over the past three years the government had been launching a forest plantation movement. Through the movement, a total of 1.9 million trees had been planted.