Jakarta Globe, May 18, 2013
More than a million people across the globe have signed an online petition demanding the Indonesian government to cancel the plan to open the protected virgin rainforest in Aceh to commercial exploitation.
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| An aerial view of burning peatland in Rawa Tripa in Aceh is seen in this handout photo taken March 27, 2012. (Reuters Photo) |
More than a million people across the globe have signed an online petition demanding the Indonesian government to cancel the plan to open the protected virgin rainforest in Aceh to commercial exploitation.
Arief Aziz,
the communications director for the online petition website Change.org, said in
a statement on Saturday that the “#SaveAceh” campaign has been signed by more
than 20,000 Indonesians since its launch in March.
Following
the massive reaction, Rudi Putra, an environmental activist, started another
petition for the same cause on Avaaz.org, which has garnered more than 1.2
million signatures in its first 11 days.
“Aceh
rainforests, home to endangered animals like orangutan and Sumatran rhino, have
been destroyed by illegal hunters and loggers, but this new exploration will be
an ultimate disaster,” he said.
Rights
groups say the plan will allow around 1.2 million hectares that were previously
protected to be cleared.
Approval of
the plan would open up the forest on the northern tip of Sumatra to mining,
paper and palm oil plantations.
The Aceh
government banned the granting of new logging permits six years ago to protect
the forest, but a new administration that came in last year is in favor of
allowing logging again.
“Yudhoyono
has the options: to leave an important legacy to protect the rich natural
resources or to trash his own track record by allowing this disaster,” Avaaz’
campaign director Ian Baasin said.
Jakarta has
signaled it will sign off on Aceh’s plan in the coming weeks, even as it is expected
to extend the moratorium on new logging permits which expires on Monday and has
been in force for two years.
There is
also strong support in the Aceh parliament which has the final say, and
officials say they hope it will pass soon.
Although it
seems to fly in the face of the national moratorium, the project is possible
because it hinges on Aceh’s decision to overturn its own deforestation ban
which was introduced at the local level six years ago.
The ban,
stronger than the national measure, was brought in by the previous local
administration — but it will be scrapped under the plan.
JG & AFP
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