Elephant Kills a Farmer in Aceh

Many forest area in the Province of Aceh, Sumatera, has been converted into commercial plantation and other use for many decades.

This continuous deforestation process has narrowed the area of forest as habitat of endangered Sumatera Elephant, making it possible for them to have direct contacts with human beings.

AFP reported that three people have been killed by an Elephant in the province in the last three months, the latest being a rubber tapper named Abdul Halim who was attacked while he was working last Thursday.

I hope this tragic incident would make the officials at the Ministry of Forestry stop giving permits for diversion of forest so that the Sumatera Elephants, which according the WWF now totals 3,500, can  remain inside their habitat and would not go out and attack human beings.

The Burning of Forest in Sumatra

Smokes originating from the burning of forest in the Island of Sumatra in the last few days has been causing heavy air pollution in Singapore and Malaysia.

Due to this fact, the governments of Singapore and Malaysia have complained and urged the Indonesian government to take immediate action to stop the fire, for which purpose they both offered their assistance.
These offers were welcomed by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marti Natalegawa who said that the smoke problem is a transnational problem that cannot be solved by Indonesia alone, but required cooperation among countries in the region.

According to Indonesian Minister of Environment Gusti Hatta, most of the fires were set by farmers practicing slash and burn agriculture in Riau Province, Sumatra. He also said that  The minister's deputy told reporters that his office is sending a team to Riau to find our more details as to the cause of fire.

Considering that the smoke has caused heavy air pollution in other countries, they must have originated from heavy burning of forests by so many people that can either be farmers or workers or plantation companies. 
The question is : why did the Forestry Ministry blamed only traditional farmers and not the plantations ?

For details, please read the following articles :
-  Govt says haze from RI, blames traditional farmers (The Jakarta Post)
-  Sumatra Smoke Clouds Sky Over Malaysia, Singapore (The Jakarta Globe)
-  Return of the Haze "We can't fight alone" (Strait Times)

Photo :  Courtesy of Reuter.

Villagers against Elephants

Massive deforestation in the Island of Sumatera has driven endangered Elephants away from their habitat

This situation has caused several incidents between those elephants and local villagers as reported by Business Week (below).

I hope that President SBY would accelerate his plan to replant forest and stop deforestation, so that the elephants and other endangered species could stay in their own habitat, and would not bother local villagers.

Villagers threaten to kill elephants in Indonesia
JAKARTA-INDONESIA

Villagers in western Indonesia have threatened to kill endangered Sumatran elephants unless something is done to stop the animals from trampling their crops, a local official said Monday.

A group of six elephants has destroyed several acres (hectares) of crops in the Trumon Timur region of Aceh province in the past few weeks, said Lahmudin, a sub-district chief who like many Indonesians uses a single name.

He said the villagers are fed up and ready to get rid of the animals.
"The villagers wanted to poison the elephants but for now they are listening to my appeal to be patient," Lahmudin said.

Abu Bakar Chekmat, the head of Aceh's conservation agency, questioned whether the villagers had encroached on the elephants' habitat.
"It is difficult to say who is right or wrong between humans and the animals," he said.

He said a team would be sent to the area to investigate and see what could be done.
Only 3,000 Sumatran elephants are believed to remain in the wild, a number that dwindles each year with poaching.

No Islands are for Sale

" Three Indonesian islands will be sold to foreigners " that's what the Indonesian media reported recently.

The report said that a Canadian based website www.privateislandonline.com has advertised the sale of islands located on the west of Sumatra island, i.e. Macaroni island, 15-acre, US$4 million; Siloinak island, 24-acre, $1.6 million; and Kandui island, 26-acres, US$8 million.

I was very shock to hear the news because the Indonesian Agrarian Law forbid the sale of land to Foreigners. So I checked the above website and found two things: First it clearly stated that foreigners are not possible to purchase island in Indonesia, they can only Rent, or alternatively they can buy partial shares of a company that manage the island. Secondly, there is only one island offered i.e. Siloinak Island; whilst the other two are not islands, i.e. Macaroni is name of a resort at the North Pangai Island, and Kandui is the name of resort at Karangmajat Besar Island.

Further, the Secretary of State Hatta Radjasa has denied the news, and so has an official of the Mentawai Regency which goverened the islands.

For details on the above, please click here, and here.

I am very glad that the media report regarding the sales of islands has not been true, therefore no laws have been violated.

Photo: Courtesy of Detik

Endangered Orangutans, Tigers & Elephants in Sumatera

Temara is a 16 years old Orangutan born at the Zoo in Perth, Western Australia. And 3 years ago, she was released into the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park, in Sumatera so that she can live peacefully with around 100 other Orangutans.

However, it seems that Temara and her friends would not be able to live peacefully very long. The Sydney Morning Herald quoted conservation groups like the World Life Fund (WWF) as saying that the Asia Pulp Paper (APP) & Sinar Mas Group have been granted license to use 300,000 hectares of forest surrounding the national park as source of raw material for their Pulp industry.

The sad thing is that the said unprotected forest is also the habitat of other wild life. Google Alert mentioned that the said forest is the home of 100 out of the last 400 endangered Sumatera Tigers in the wild, and around 50 Sumatera Elephants. Deforestation would force the Tigers and Elephants into closer contacts with villagers. This year, at least nine people have been killed by tigers on Sumatra, while villagers have killed four tigers.
However, APP’s Sustainable Director Aida Greenbury said that its plans to log forest areas around the national park would actually help the orangutans, not harm them. She said : "Well managed pulpwood plantations act as buffer zones, which have been proven to deter illegal logging -- this ensures that protected areas remain protected."

Considering the above, I hope that the central government in Jakarta as well as the local government will make sure that the license for APP and Sinar Mas would not disturb the Orangutans in the national park, also the Tigers and Elephants in the surrounding forest.