THE FINAL CUT Illegal Logging in Indonesia's Orangutan Parks
Introduction   Indonesia's Forests   Forest Reform   Tanjung Puting   Central Kalimantan   Orangutan   Under Siege Illegal Logger   Kumai Connection   Ramin Trade   Sekonyer River   Logging   Gunung Leuser   Conclusions   Recommendations	Tanjung Puting National Park - Under Siege Tanjung Puting National Park is being attacked on an unprecedented scale. Hemmed in by rapidly-expanding oil palm plantations, its waters poisoned by mercury used in gold mining, damaged by forest fires, the future viability of this protected oasis is severely threatened. The gravest danger is posed by illegal logging. While the more remote regions of the park have long been affected by small-scale logging over the last year the level and extent of the logging have grown dramatically. Tanjung Puting is now facing an onslaught orchestrated by local timber barons, determined to strip the park of its remaining commercial timber. The logging has spread like a contagion from the south and east into the core of the park, and is now even rampant along the Sekonyer River, where the research stations and tourist lodges are found. The head of Tanjung Puting National Park, Suherti Redy, believes that if the current rate of logging continues the park will be gone in five years. The logging is carried out in full view of the local authorities and is flourishing in an atmosphere of endemic corruption among the park rangers, police and military. The main culprits behind the massive timber theft are a group of sawmill owners in the nearby port of Kumai, principally Kartono and Halim, and local timber tycoon Abdul Rasyid.
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