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illagers in Lampung are demanding compensation for damage to paddy fields and plantations that they claim was caused by straying elephants from Way Kambas National Park (TNWK).

“We want compensation from the park authority because our plantations are now so seriously damaged we cannot harvest our crops,” Muhroni, head of Tegalyoso village in East Lampung regency, said on Thursday.

The village is one of several bordering the park and residents have become used to hordes of elephants trespassing onto their land, especially during the dry season, when the nearby canal dries up.

“More than 10 hectares of paddy fields and 10 hectares of plantations have been raided by the elephants,” Muhroni said.

Wild elephants have been reported not only to break into residential complexes, damaging houses and land, but also to loiter on the highways along the eastern coast of the region, which threatens traffic.

Villagers usually try to evict the elephants by beating a kentongan (a drum made from bamboo or wood) and blowing firecrackers. Some, however, are not deterred and keep venturing inside inhabited areas, which frightens the residents.

The park authority expressed its concern about the residents’ apprehension caused by the raiding elephants, saying that the situation had been aggravated by the collapse of the canal embankment.

TNWK head Awen Supranata said the embankment had collapsed during the course of the last few years, resulting in an increased threat of elephants trespassing during the dry season.

“Because the canal is drying out, elephants move out of the forest and venture into the villages,” he said.

The government has planned to repair the canal along the 28-kilometer embankment, according to Awen.

“The canal will be overhauled this year, otherwise people in the 22 villages surrrounding the forest will remain worried,” he said.

The authority will also develop a 100-hectare plot as a feeding area for the elephants.

Meanwhile, TNWK spokesperson Sukatmoko said that the Forestry Ministry had promised to provide compensation for the villagers whose plantations had been damaged by the elephants.

He said the standardized pricing of each plant damaged had been suspended while they await verification by the regency’s administration.

“That’s why the Forestry Ministry cannot determine as yet the extent of compensation to be paid to the villagers. We will coordianate with the East Lampung administration to talk about it,” he said.

The Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) has blamed indiscriminate logging and land clearing for the elephants straying into populated areas.

“From a total area of 125 thousand hectares, the amount of damage caused to the national park has reached 40 percent. Before being evicted by the [local] authority, many squatters had been converting forest areas into plantations,” Walhi spokesman Hendrawan said.

“Illegal practices throughout the forest have made the elephants feel threatened by the presence of human beings,” he added.