The lowland forests of the Sunda Shelf in Indonesia, the richest forests on Earth and home to the Sumatran rhino, the Sumatran tiger and the Asian elephant, could be totally destroyed within ten years.That destruction is threatened by mafia-like logging gangs who systematically ignore the protocols laid down by the Indonesian State Forestry Department.
This is the conclusion of four leading conservationists writing in today's issue of Science.
Indonesia is currently a society in transition, torn apart by political and economic crises. While the country officially endorses sustainable forest management, in practice, illegal logging gangs operate within forestlands that overlap official park boundaries, backed by army and rebel groups.
Government officials who attempt to stop illegal logging practice face serious intimidation, which includes arson and even murder, while many of the local communities that live on the land have signed away their rights to it to the loggers, both for immediate cash benefit and to avoid retribution from logging gangs.
The authors, all of whom have lived and worked in Indonesia for more than a decade, estimate that the illegal logging will vastly increase the risk and impacts of fire during the next El Niño event; forest degradation and land clearance were the root causes of the 1998-99 fire disaster that blanketed nearly 20 million people across Southeast Asia in smoke for months, with disastrous consequences for local health.
They also believe that continued deforestation will result in severe flooding; in October, districts surrounding one of the national parks where logging has been taking place suffered major flooding that led to deaths, the destruction of roads and crops, and caused local food shortages.
Paul Jepson, senior author of the article and a researcher at Oxford's School of Geography, said, "The illegal logging in Indonesia is of global significance; not only will we lose a number of endangered species through the destruction of their habitat, but the loss of the forests will also have an impact on global warming and on climate conditions not just in Indonesia, but across the world.
"We hope that not only the Indonesian government but also donor governments, industry, the scientific community and the conservation movement will unite in the face of the unprecedented forest loss to take positive action to protect Indonesia's forests."
18-May-2001
