Illegal logging and road building threatens tigers and tribes of the Heart of Sumatra
Field investigations in central Sumatra have found that the home of two tribes of indigenous people and endangered
elephants, tigers and orang-utans faces "being split in half" by the construction of "a legally questionable highway"
for logging trucks servicing one of the world's largest paper companies.
The investigation, by WWF Indonesia and other scientific and conservation groups, also found the crucial Bukit Tigapuluh
Forest Landscape threatened by illegal logging, clearing for plantations and other roadbuilding - much of it linked to
operations of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and its partners.
The forest is one of the last large forests in Sumatra, boasts some of the richest biodiversity on earth and is one of
Indonesia's most important habitats for numerous species. It is the location of a successful conservation project to
reintroduce orangutans, which now reside in a part of the landscape that is proposed for protected status but is already
being cleared by APP-affiliated companies, the report found.
Clearing for the highway, which allows logging trucks easier access to APP's pulp mills in Jambi Province, appears to
have taken place after APP's forestry operations in neighboring Riau Province were halted due to a police investigation
of illegal logging. APP partners have cleared an estimated 20,000 hectares of natural forest in the Bukit Tigapuluh
landscape, with some clearing appearing to be in violation of Indonesian law.
"With its high conservation values, the Bukit Tigapuluh Landscape should be protected and thus all natural forest
clearance in the area has to be stopped," said Ian Kosasih, WWF-Indonesia's Forest Program Director.
"APP is one of the world's largest paper companies and we believe its global customers expect it to act like a
responsible corporate citizen. The company should commission independent assessments of the conservation values of these
areas in a publicly transparent manner before any conversion takes place, and commit to protect and manage conservation
values identified in these areas."
Indonesian law has a set of criteria and requirements to be fulfilled prior to conversion of natural forest. Yet
evidence found during the investigation indicates APP-affiliated companies converted hundreds of hectares before
fulfilling these requirements, thus violating Indonesian law. Part of the area being cleared is in a proposed Specific
Protected Area that serves as habitat for about 90 Sumatran orangutans recently introduced into the area for the first
time in more than 150 years.
Unplanned and illegal road building is especially devastating to such areas, opening them up to poaching, illegal
settlement and plantation activities and undermining the viability of indigenous communities. One of the tribes
threatened by APP-linked activities is wholly dependent on the Bukit Tigapuluh Landscape.
"We urge APP and its partners to stop clearing any more natural forest whose ecological, environmental and cultural
conservation values have not been determined and to stop sourcing any of its purchased wood from such forests," Ian
Kosasih said.
"We also call on the government to ensure an end to all forms of forest clearance found to violate national Indonesian
laws and regulations."
The investigation report was released in Indonesia in January by WWF Indonesia and partners, KKI WARSI, Zoological
Society of London, Frankfurt Zoological Society and Yayasan Program Konservasi Harimau Sumatera (PKHS).
ENDS