Reading comments made at the recent International Workshop on Orangutan Conservation (see “Illicit trade in endangered species still thriving in RI”, The Jakarta Post, July 19), I was struck by a number of similarities and disparities.
The immediate one that springs to mind is; why Bali? Over 600 miles, as it is, from the nearest wild orangutan. Given the organizers knew beforehand they were to make an announcement about releasing captive orangutans into Kutai, East Kalimantan, I wonder why exotic Bali was chosen instead of the not unpleasant Balikpapan?
Trying to banish the image of the NGOs and scientists basking on a beach in Bali, I then got to wondering why Kutai was chosen for an orangutan rehabilitation program. This same region, specifically the Kutai National Park, has not infrequently been in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Including illegal logging, illegal human encroachment and illegal commercial enterprises, all of which continue to flourish in this “protected” National Park unimpeded by the government.
However, there are other issues a lot more serious which keep me awake at night. I lie awake wondering what it will take to persuade the government of Indonesia to take full responsibility for the orangutan genocide that continues to take place every day of the year?
Only the government sells licenses to log the forest home of the orangutans, so they should not be surprised at the demise of this most iconic of species, arguably a “national treasure” of Indonesia.
We know for a fact, as a consequence of the government selling their forest homes, at the very least some 2000-3000 are killed each year: A terrible indictment on successive governments. As the government is responsible for all these deaths, it will come as no surprise to learn no one has ever been prosecuted for killing an orangutan.
This brings me neatly back to Bali. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali, 2007, to great fanfare proclaimed, “In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” adding, “the fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests . To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.” Since when has he done neither?
Inexplicably, according to the President’s own Forestry Ministry and his USAID advisers, “...Deforestation has led to the death of 3,000 orangutans per year since the 1970s,” which adds up to about 90,000, not the 50,000 quoted by the President. Things could scarcely look bleaker for the beleaguered orangutans.
Another worry that causes me sleepless nights is the Forestry Ministry’s reluctance to repatriate from Thailand to Indonesia, eleven orangutans stolen from it over 18 months ago.
One would think with the orangutan population in free-fall the ministry and Yudhoyono would welcome the orangutans back with open arms.
Not so. In fact, their attitude to these abandoned orangutans is the exact opposite. They don’t want them back.
Orangutans like those still incarcerated and abandoned in Thailand, will have been stolen from locations like Kutai, the very same region the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) intends to release 127 orangutans, all previous victims of logging and the illegal trade.
If we are to avoid history repeating itself, and these very same orangutans not falling victim to a bullet, a machete, or traders in illegal wildlife, the President will need to ensure the fine words he spoke in Bali are turned into action sooner rather than later. Eighteen months since his speech in Bali another 4000 orangutans have probably been killed on his watch and eleven more abandoned in Thailand.
Overly generous “aid” from other countries has until now always been a soft option, with accountability on both sides virtually non-existent, resulting in almost no forests saved by the government alone. This is all changing.
Above all else we need President Yudhoyono to keep his promise when he said in 2007, “To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.” He needs to start now while there is still some of both remaining.
Sean Whyte
England
