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THE FINAL CUT
Illegal Logging in Indonesia's Orangutan Parks |
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Gunung Leuser National Park - Political and Management Problems
There has been an enormous shift in power since the Soeharto regime collapsed in May 1998. A development and management project for the Leuser ecosystem was created during the old political regime, designed to run for seven years and to hand over the staff, procedures and facilities to a non- profit NGO. In this way the park's management is to be privatised. This project, known as the Leuser Management Unit (LMU), is a joint Government of Indonesia and European Union funded project (Ecu 50 million). It is run from the North Sumatran city of Medan and is designed to cover the park and the surrounding ecosystem, in total 2.5 million hectares. More than two million people live in the immediate surrounding area. LMU's stated goal is to conserve the ecosystem by expanding the park, helping to develop areas surrounding the park and to create buffer zones. To achieve these aims the project carries out research and monitoring and is helping to develop "appropriate economic activities" around the periphery of the park. The new reformation era of Indonesian politics has shifted some of the power to those who wish to oppose the law for political or financial reward. Communities are becoming more aware that there is an opportunity for them to take some control over the land and in some areas the law is breaking down. Coupled with this are local timber barons with military and police support, who are exploiting this current power vacuum. Anarchy is to their financial advantage and they are prepared to stir the local communities to further their aims. In reality, they are running away with most of the local resources and paying the local people a pittance to break the law on their behalf. Authoritarian oppression of the people has been replaced by financial and resource exploitation. The LMU sees the new era as a useful chance for it to extend its community programmes, but it suffers from a perception that it is part of the old establishment. Many local people see the LMU as chiefly a donor agency, a perception that is reinforced by EU funding restrictions. The fact that the project has to purchase EU vehicles for transportation leads to the staff driving around in "alien" green Landrovers, and further reinforces the donor perception of their work. Co-operation with some other authorities has clearly broken down. It is common knowledge that tensions exist with the Forest Department, partly because it is making too much money out of the forests to be interested in LMU's long-term goals. Enforcement authorities have failed to react to LMU's recent calls to stop illegal logging at the Suaq Balimbing Research Station. Adding to the LMU's difficulties is the freezing of much of the EU's grant since November 1998 and the failure of the Indonesian government to pay its share. This has had a very serious affect on the ground, where LMU staff have attempted to help some communities by making financial promises which they cannot now keep. In these cases, resentment amongst local people to the LMU and the park is growing. It is claimed that illegal logging in the Suaq Balimbing Research Station started immediately after the LMU failed to turn up to two local community meetings. The political instability of Aceh Province creates additional problems for the park. Local community empowerment is an important factor throughout Indonesia in the current period of reformation, but in Aceh an independence movement also exists creating more political factions and routine lawlessness. Military and police involvement in illegal logging is well documented creating a power structure both regionally and locally which is difficult to break. |
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