Jakarta Globe, Tunggadewa Mattangkilang, December 9, 2013
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| Logging, both illegal and legal as in this photo in East Kalimantan — is rapidly wiping out Kalimantan’s remaining primary forest. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal) |
Forestry
police in East Kalimantan’s Kutai National Park have this year managed to
confiscate a total of 80 cubic meters of illegally logged timber, much of it
endangered species.
Hernowo,
chief of management for the park’s Sangata I area said on Sunday that the Rp
600 million ($50,000) worth of timber they were able to secure from illegal
loggers this year was a small amount in comparison to the estimated total
illegal logging in the park.
“Those
[were secured] from the regular patrol team and the joint team. There are many
other cases that are yet to be revealed, because that timber was gathered from
an area of 42,000 hectares, which is guarded by only 20 people,” said Hernowo,
adding that just six suspects had been arrested this year to date.
“Most of
them [illegal loggers] cut Borneo ironwood and meranti and the price at which
it is sold is very high.”
The Borneo
ironwood tree, known locally as ulin , was the single most targeted timber
species in the park, because of high demand for it in East Asia, where it is
typically smuggled by way of Malaysia.
The wood,
described as one of the densest and most durable timbers in the world,
typically sells for around $2,000 per cubic meter abroad, but it is banned for
export by the Indonesian government.
In addition
to insufficient law enforcement officers in the area, the existence of
communities living inside the Kutai National Park was among the greatest
contributing factors hampering the elimination of illegal logging in the park,
Hernowo said. In many cases, he said, local residents work together with
illegal loggers, warning them of any patrol officers.
According
to data by the Central Statistics Agency (BSP), a total of 26,800 people have
been living inside the national park since the 1990s, where they make a living
out of farming and breeding livestock.
“However,
lands inside the national park are mostly owned by employees of companies who
had purchased the land from local residents who no longer live there,” he said.
The Kutai
National Park has a total area of approximately 199,000 hectares, and comprises
coastal mangroves, lowlands rainforest and freshwater swamps.
It is among
the most important conservation areas in the country with vulnerable and rare
fauna making their home within its borders, including orangutan and proboscis
monkey.
Forestry
Minister Zulkifli Hasan said last week illegal logging had become a major
threat to the nation, with the potential to accelerate extinctions and worsen
flooding.
“Landslides
and floods will continue to haunt [Indonesia] and Indonesian animals will
become extinct if this [illegal logging] continues,” Zulkifli said during
National Tree-Planting Day in West Sumatra on Wednesday.
He added
that discussions on the draft bill on prevention and eradication of illegal
logging, which includes severe penalties for forestry crimes, was still
ongoing, and that he hoped the bill would soon be ratified.
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