[PRESS RELEASE] Increase in fires burning in Tripa highlights Indonesian Government failing to cease deforestation
FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION – PLEASE SEND TO RELEVANT NETWORKS
29 June 2012.
Press release from “Coalition to save the Tripa peat swamps”
This photo made available on June 29th, 2012 showing numerous illegally lit fires continue to rage the peat swamp forest of Tripa, SOCP/YEL (Handouts/Editorial use ONLY)
Increase in fires burning in Tripa highlight Indonesian Government failing to cease deforestation; orangutan population doomed unless illegal activities halted immediately.
Another massive wave of fires currently sweeping across the Tripa peat swamp forests has highlighted the accelerating destruction and ongoing disregard of Indonesian National Law by palm oil companies inside the protected Leuser Ecosystem, despite a high level National Investigation launched months ago, which is yet to report on findings.
A recent spike in the number of fires was recorded by satellites monitoring fire hotspot activity in Sumatra, and confirmed by field staff yesterday who filmed and photographed numerous fires burning in the palm oil concessions operating right across in Tripa.
The five companies at present actively operating in Tripa have responded to the increased media scrutiny and current investigation by increasing security on their plantations. Some are even being guarded by military and police personnel stationed along access routes while illegally lit fires burn inside.
“The ongoing destructive activities of these companies during the investigation indicates their complete disregard for Indonesian law and the authority of the ongoing investigation, and the government is allowing this to happen.” Stated Kamaruddin, lawyer for the Tripa community.
“A direct Presidential Instruction is urgently required to bring an immediate halt to the rampant and illegal destruction of Tripa, not a speech telling the world deforestation is a thing of the past.” Kamaruddin added.
“There is no doubt that each of these companies is breaking several laws. Whilst we realize, and very much appreciate and support the investigation going on (by the Department of Environment), it’s proving to be too little too late. These companies simply have to be ordered to stop immediately, and that order to be strictly enforced, otherwise the Peat Forests and inhabitants of Tripa will be lost forever”, he added.
One of the five companies operating in Tripa, PT. Kallista Alam, was challenged in court and its concession area recently reinstated as off limits to deforestation and degradation in the 2nd revision of Moratorium Map on May 25th, 2012. This particular concession has been the subject of an ongoing legal battle as it clearly contravenes National Spatial Law No 26/2007 and Government Regulation 26/2008, since it was granted inside the Leuser Ecosystem National Strategic Area for environmental protection, in which no concessions can be granted that damage the environmental protection function of the ecosystem, and in which all activities that do damage the ecosystem must be halted, and damaged areas restored.
Fires continued to rage late yesterday in the northern stretches of the PT Kallista Alam concession. Likewise, numerous obviously deliberately set fires were also observed in the concessions of PT. Surya Panen Subur 2, PT. Cemerlang Abadi, PT. Gelora Sawita Makmur , PT. Dua Perkasa Lestari and an area known as the PT Patriot Guna Sakti Abadi concession, even though the latter was never formally granted.
“The situation is indeed extremely dire” reports Dr Ian Singleton of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme. “Every time I have visited Tripa in the last 12 months I have found several orangutans, hanging on for their very survival, right at the forest edge. Its very easy to find them and we have already evacuated a few lucky ones to safer areas. But when you see the scale and speed of the current wave of destruction and the condition of the remaining forests, there can be no doubt whatsoever that many have already died in Tripa due to the fires themselves, or due to starvation as a result of the loss of their habitat and food resources”, he explained.
The Tripa peat swamp forests have received considerable international attention, much of it focusing on the fact that the burning of Tripa’s peat swamp forests made a mockery of a 1 billion USD agreement between the Governments of Indonesia and Norway to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, also known as the REDD deal, since the peat alone in Tripa sequesters huge amount of carbon that is being released into the atmosphere even now .
Tripa was also high on the agenda at the first meeting between the newly inaugurated Governor of Aceh and the European Union, just a few days ago. Furthermore, on June 13th at a global policy address on the future of Indonesia’s forests, ahead of Rio+20 summit, at CIFOR, President SBY himself proclaimed that “deforestation is a thing of the past” and “Losing our tropical rain forests would constitute the ultimate national, global and planetary disaster. That’s why Indonesia has reversed course by committing to sustainable forestry.”
Yet the ongoing destruction witnessed by the coalition team in recent days is a clear indication that these are simply empty words, and that Indonesia is giving no reasons for its international commitments to be taken as anything more than mere rhetoric.
Dr Singleton also pointed out, “There is still a decent orangutan population in Tripa, however hard and fast it is being extinguished, and there are also large tracts of land that have been cleared of forests but never used. If these companies were immediately instructed to stop all their destructive operations while the legal investigation process continues, and then removed, ideally with prosecutions and appropriate punishment, Tripa, its orangutan population, and many of the contributions it once made to local community livelihoods could still be restored.”
“But without an immediate halt it will all be lost, to the ultimate benefit of only a handful of already incredibly rich people based elsewhere. This whole thing makes absolutely no sense at all, not environmentally nor even economically. It is simply greed, on a massive scale. A simply staggering scale in fact.” Stressed Dr. Ian Singleton.
Notes for Editors:
Further Hi-res photos available for download here, here and here.
.pdf version of the press release is available for download here
following fire hotspots maps available for download here
Hotspots detected by MODIS satellite in Tripa Peat Swamp between 17-26 June 2012. Plotted on LANDSAT imagery 7 dated June 3rd, 2012
For Further Press inquiries, Please Contact:
Kamaruddin (Bahasa Indonesian Only)
Tripa Community Lawyer
08116700118
Dr Ian Singleton
Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme
Email: mokko123@gmail.com
Mobile: +62811650491
Also, for further media statement, please contact:
Saud Usman Nasution
Spokesperson for Indonesian National Police
+62 811 979 2222
PT. Kallista Alam
Komp. Taman Setiabudi Indah II, blok V (ruko) No. 11-14, Medan 20133 Phone: 061 – 8216541
Fax: 061 – 8216532
Jl.Cycas II Blok UU, No.55 Taman Setia Budi Indah, Medan, North Sumatera
Phone: 061-800200, 812380
Fax: 021-812380
PT. Surya Panen Subur 2
Jl.Pulo Ayang raya,Blok OR Kav.1 Kawasan industri Pulogadung Jakarta13930
Phone: (021)4616555
Fax: (021)4616550
PT. Cemerlang Abadi
Central Plaza, 3rd Floor, Jl.Jend.Sudirman Kav.47 Jakarta 12930
Phone: 021-5255414,5255413
Fax: 021-520748
PT. Dua Perkasa Lestari
Rasuna Office Park ZO 10-11 Rasuna Epicentrum, Jakarta
Phone: 021-83703232, 031-5925239
Fax: 021-83704488, 031-5925387
PT. Gelora Sawita Makmur
LENDMARK Centre,Tower A, 8th floor,Jl. Jend sudirman No.1 Jakarta 12910
Phone: (021)5712790, 5712853
Fax: (021)5712716
Related articles
- Tripa continues to burn as President Yudhoyono to give global policy address on future of Indonesia’s forests (endoftheicons.wordpress.com)
- As Indonesia’s president talks of “sustainable growth with equity”, Tripa continues to burn | REDD Monitor (endoftheicons.wordpress.com)
Tripa Inferno June 2012
multiple high-res photos are also available for download via rapidshare (in .zip format)
This image made available on the 29th of June, showing fire hotspots burning in palm oil concession in Tripa (SOCP/YEL Handouts/Editorial use ONLY)
This photo made available on June 29th, 2012 showing numerous illegally lit fires continue to rage the peat swamp forest of Tripa, SOCP/YEL (Handouts/Editorial use ONLY)
This photo made available on June 29th, 2012 showing numerous illegally lit fires continue to rage the peat swamp forest of Tripa, SOCP/YEL (Handouts/Editorial use ONLY)
Hotspots detected by MODIS satellite in Tripa Peat Swamp between 17-26 June 2012. Plotted on LANDSAT imagery 7 dated June 3rd, 2012
Southeast Asian Haze: Who’s To Blame?
The Wall Street Journal – Just when it seemed safe to take a deep breath in Southeast Asia, the smoky haze that envelops the region each year is wafting up from Indonesian forests again.
Increasingly, though, experts aren’t just blaming Indonesians, who in the past have been accused of recklessly burning forest land on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan to make way for palm oil plantations – a practice that produces the smoke that then drifts northward over Singapore and Malaysia. Indonesian authorities have typically said they are doing their best to police the problem, which is hard to do given the country’s vast size and limited enforcement resources.
The question is whether other actors are fanning the flames, says Anthony Tan, executive director of the Centre for Environment, Technology & Development, Malaysia (CETDEM).
“The haze comes from Sumatra and Kalimanthan. Which companies own the estates? Malaysian and Singaporean as well as local plantation owners,” he said. As a result, “Malaysian and Singaporean companies in Indonesia also have to bear the responsibility of open burning, of slashing and burning, that is happening within their estate territories.”
Moreover, he added, “it is the respective governments’ responsibility to take them to task. Just because they operate in a foreign country, they can’t wash their hands and say it does not affect us” when it actually does.
The issue is flaring up again because the smoke, which tends to appear at least once a year, is intensifying again.
According to Malaysia’s Department of Environment, satellite images show the number of “hotspots” producing smoke in Sumatra increased to 122 on June 13 from 67 the day before. The image also showed haze drifting from Riau in central Sumatra en route towards the west coast of peninsular Malaysia. Satellite images released by the Asean Specialized Meteorological Centre on June 18 June showed hotspots in Sumatra had risen further to 310 from 163 the previous day.
Malaysia’s DOE also said that on the morning of June 15th, air quality readings in three areas reached an unhealthy level of 131. Air quality readings improved by Monday, June 18.
In Malaysia, at least, authorities agree that it’s not entirely Indonesia’s fault, and they say they are doing what they can to help alleviate the situation, including reducing burning within Malaysia’s own borders. The DOE has imposed a temporary ban on open burning in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor except for religious purposes and barbecues with a fine up to RM500,000 or imprisonment of up to five years or both.
Still, “from the trend of hotspots monitored through satellite imagery, it has always and clearly shown that most of the hotspots originated from Indonesia and (then) the smoke plumes trespass the neighboring countries,” a DOE official said in a written response.
That doesn’t necessarily address the issue of Malaysian companies operating in Indonesia, though. According to Indonesia’s embassy in Kuala Lumpur, as much as 25% of the palm oil plantations in the archipelago nation are owned by Malaysian companies. This is largely because scarcity of land in Malaysia has forced big plantation companies there to expand abroad.
Many of Malaysia’s biggest palm oil companies, including Sime Darby Bhd., IOI Corp. Bhd. and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd., are members of the Roundtable On Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which is dedicated to making palm oil production more environmentally-friendly, and which has a zero burning policy. Its members must be certified by RSPO as responsible producers. Moreover, many analysts say they doubt many of the biggest companies would want to engage in burning because it could be too detrimental to their reputations.
But last year, the London based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and its Indonesian partner Telapak said they had documentary proof that KLK subsidiary PT Menteng Jaya Sawit Perdana was burning land. KLK denied the accusations. In a statement, plantation director Roy Lim said “KLK has long abandoned using fire to clear land for new planting or replanting. Our policy and practice is zero burning for such activities.”
Whatever the case, Indonesian officials say it’s hard to police an industry that covers so much terrain and they suspect some other producers might be burning land, or buying land from farmers who burn the trees themselves.
“Of course we don’t know who does it,” said Suryana Sastradiredja, an Information, Social and Cultural Affairs Minister-Counselor at the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur. But it’s hardly surprising some land owners would want to set fires, he says. After all, “burning is the traditional method – the cheapest way to open new land.”
Related articles
- Haze Over Malaysia Points to a Regional Problem (nytimes.com)
- Fires in Indonesia Threaten the Citizens of Kuala Lumpur (news.softpedia.com)
- Smokey Haze from Indonesian Fires Engulf Southeast Asia (nytimes.com)
- Haze returns to Malaysia (newsinfo.inquirer.net)
Endangered Sumatran Rhino Gives Birth in Indonesia
A critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros gave birth Saturday at an Indonesian sanctuary, following just three other in-captivity births over the past century, a conservationist said.
“Ratu gave birth a male baby at 12:45 a.m. on Saturday. Both the mother and the baby are all very well,” conservationist Widodo Ramono, who works at a sanctuary on the southern tip of Sumatra island, told AFP.
The last three in-captivity births for Sumatran rhinos took place in the United States at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio.
One of those was a male named Andalas, born September 13, 2001.
He was raised in captivity and was recently brought to Indonesia to mate with Ratu, a female who grew up in the wild but wandered out of the forest and now lives at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas National Park.
This is believed to be Ratu’s first full-term pregnancy, Konstant told AFP. She has already miscarried twice after prior attempts to breed in captivity.
Sumatran rhinos have suffered a 50 percent drop in population over the past 20 years, largely due to poaching and loss of tropical habitat.
There are now believed to be fewer than 200 Sumatran rhinos alive. Most reside in isolated pockets in Southeast Asia.
Agence France-Presse
Only 200 Orang Utans Left At Rawa Tripa
Tuesday, 19 June, 2012 | 17:43 WIB
TEMPO Interactive, Banda Aceh:It is predicted that there are now only 200 orang utan left at Rawa Tripa areas. In 1990, almost 2,000 orang utan were registered.
This was stated by Conservation Director of SOCP, Dr Ian Singleton, in his press release Monday, June 18, 2012. The Rawa Tripa areas in the Nagan Raya Regency and in West Aceh have a size of 61,03 hectares. According to Ian Singleton, the decreasing number of orang utan population in the said areas is caused by the ongoing forest conversion into palm oil plantations. “To think that Tripa used to be a territory with the highest numbers of orang utan population in the world,” he said.
On June 16, Singleton’s side saved a male orang utan baby from the people who tried to sell the baby to a member of the investigating team. “This rescue constitutes a great success of the extraordinary collaboration between police and various institutions involved,” said Ian Singleton.
“At present our team in the field discovered the still ongoing burning of land for plantation areas in the Leuser ecosystem,” reported Ian Singleton. Aerial photos show that over the last six months more than 1,500 hectares of Raw Tripa land areas have been converted [to plantations]. An investigation team from the central government has got down to investigate these illegal activities.
ADI WARSIDI
Press Release: Confiscation of infant orangutan from wildlife traders in Aceh Province, Sumatra.
This pictured made available on the 16th of June 2012 shows an infant male orangutan being held illegally by wildlife traders in a small village on the outskirts of the Tripa peat forest, Aceh Province, Indonesia. The orangutan was discovered by an undercover investigation team on the 12th June, and four days later, was successfully confiscated by a team involving staff from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program, Local Police and Government Authorities. According to Dr Ian Singelton of SOCP the Tripa peat forest is home to the highest population density of Orangutan found anywhere on earth, but predicted to be locally extinct by the end of 2012 if current levels of forest clearing and conversion to plan oil plantation is not stopped immediately. Photo: Paul Hilton/SOCP/YEL (HANDOUT PHOTO, EDITORIAL USE ONLY)
16 June 2012
Press Release – For immediate distribution
Confiscation of infant orangutan from wildlife traders in Aceh Province, Sumatra.
[Babahrot, Aceh Barat Daya, Aceh Province, Indonesia] Today, 16th of July, a team involving staff from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program, Local Police, and relevant Government authorities confiscated an infant male Orangutan from traders who had been attempting to sell it to an undercover wildlife trafficking investigation team earlier in the week.
“Tripa is home to the highest population density of Orangutans found anywhere on earth” Said Dr Ian Singleton, Conservation Director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program. Todays rescue was a great success and a fantastic collaboration from the police and various agencies involved. This little Orangutan is one of the lucky ones, and for the team, one of two during the past 48 hours in from Tripa.”
“In 1990 we estimate there was almost 2000 Orangutans in the Tripa Peat forest, and now today it could be less than 200 due to the ongoing and often illegal clearance of forest through the conversion to palm oil plantations. Satellite imagery obtained shows over 1500 hectares of conversion in the last 6 months in Tripa alone, and our ground team has reported ongoing fires and illegal activity of operations in palm oil concessions despite a central government investigation into their behavior.”
“Saturdays confiscation was the second orangutan rescued in as many days from Tripa, with a sub-adult male about 15 years old named Harry, now safely relocated to Jantho on the 15/06 due his forest home being encroached by a rising sea of palm oil, and field reports of fires still being used to clear forest inside the protected Leuser Ecosystem.
“This young orangutan is very thin, but otherwise active and has a good appetite. We are confident he will be fit and well in no time and he can now look forward to a long life in the wild after he is eventually released, instead if a very short life had stayed with his previous owner” concluded Dr. Ian Singleton.
“Orangutan is protected endangered wildlife and should not be captured, kept as pets or traded. This confiscation has helped to raise awareness of the community that they should not injure, capture, trade or keep Orangutan or other protected wildlife as pets.” Said Nurdin from BKSDA.
“We are vey happy with the success and outcome from todays activity”. Said Eko Budi, Head of Abdya District Police “the wildlife and its habitat is interwoven, and the community should not destroy it because on the legal aspect its violating the law plus if community damaged the environment, the community itself who will have to deal with the impact of the environmental damage.”
“The rescues of these two Orangutans has been a great collaboration from Community, Police, NGO and Government Departments” Added Farwiza from BPKEL “We are happy to see the effective and successful action of all involved. To provide best conditions for Wildlife, Community and Environment it is important the National Spatial Planning Law 26/2007 is actually followed, and Tripa is restored as it forms an important part of the protected Leuser Ecosystem.
For Further Comment or Interview, please contact:
Dr Ian Singleton, SOCP (Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program)
Email: mokko123@gmail.com
Phone: 0811650491
Eko Budi, Head of Police, Aceh Barat Daya District
Phone: 081227825329
Nurdin, BKSDA (Natural Resource Conservation Agency)
Phone: 0852213756100
Farwiza, BPKEL (Management Authority of Leuser Ecosystem)
Email: wiza.leuser@gmail.com
Phone: 082162610756
Download Press Release: Confiscation of infant orangutan from wildlife traders in Aceh Province
Rilis dalam Bahasa Indonesia: Penyitaan bayi orangutan dari pedagang satwa dilindungi di Provinsi Aceh
A member of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program team celebrates after a successful confiscation of an infant male orangutan being held illegally, by wildlife traders in a small village on the outskirts of the Tripa peat forest, Aceh Province, Indonesia, 16 June 2012. The orangutan was discovered by an undercover investigation team on the 12th June, and four days later, was successfully confiscated by a team involving staff from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program, Local Police and Government Authorities. According to Dr Ian Singelton of SOCP the Tripa peat forest is home to the highest population density of Orangutan found anywhere on earth, but predicted to be locally extinct by the end of 2012 if current levels of forest clearing and conversion to plan oil plantation is not stopped immediately. Photo: Paul Hilton/SOCP/YEL (HANDOUT PHOTO, EDITORIAL USE ONLY)
Orangutan Confiscation 16 June 2012 | Paul Hilton Photos
A member of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program team celebrates after a successful confiscation of an infant male orangutan being held illegally, by wildlife traders in a small village on the outskirts of the Tripa peat forest, Aceh Province, Indonesia, 16 June 2012. The orangutan was discovered by an undercover investigation team on the 12th June, and four days later, was successfully confiscated by a team involving staff from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program, Local Police and Government Authorities. According to Dr Ian Singelton of SOCP the Tripa peat forest is home to the highest population density of Orangutan found anywhere on earth, but predicted to be locally extinct by the end of 2012 if current levels of forest clearing and conversion to plan oil plantation is not stopped immediately. Photo: Paul Hilton/SOCP/YEL (HANDOUT PHOTO, EDITORIAL USE ONLY)
This pictured made available on the 16th of June 2012 shows an infant male orangutan named Chocolate being held illegally by wildlife traders in a small village on the outskirts of the Tripa peat forest, Aceh Province, Indonesia. The orangutan was discovered by an undercover investigation team on the 12th June, and four days later, was successfully confiscated by a team involving staff from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program, Local Police and Government Authorities. According to Dr Ian Singelton of SOCP the Tripa peat forest is home to the highest population density of Orangutan found anywhere on earth, but predicted to be locally extinct by the end of 2012 if current levels of forest clearing and conversion to plan oil plantation is not stopped immediately. Photo: Paul Hilton/SOCP/YEL (HANDOUT PHOTO, EDITORIAL USE ONLY)
Dr Ian Singelton from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program poses with an infant male orangutan after it was successfully confiscated from a local wildlife trader in a small village on the outskirts of the Tripa peat forest, Aceh Province, Indonesia, 16 June 2012. The orangutan was discovered by an undercover investigation team on the 12th June, and four days later, was successfully confiscated by a team involving staff from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program, Local Police and Government Authorities. According to Dr Ian Singelton of SOCP the Tripa peat forest is home to the highest population density of Orangutan found anywhere on earth, but predicted to be locally extinct by the end of 2012 if current levels of forest clearing and conversion to plan oil plantation is not stopped immediately. Photo: Paul Hilton/SOCP/YEL (HANDOUT PHOTO, EDITORIAL USE ONLY)
Local police and the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program team celebrate the successful confiscation of an infant male orangutan being held illegally by wildlife traders in a small village on the outskirts of the Tripa peat forest, Aceh Province, Indonesia, 16 Juen 2012. The orangutan was discovered by an undercover investigation team on the 12th June, and four days later, was successfully confiscated by a team involving staff from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program, Local Police and Government Authorities. According to Dr Ian Singelton of SOCP the Tripa peat forest is home to the highest population density of Orangutan found anywhere on earth, but predicted to be locally extinct by the end of 2012 if current levels of forest clearing and conversion to plan oil plantation is not stopped immediately. Photo: Paul Hilton/SOCP/YEL (HANDOUT PHOTO, EDITORIAL USE ONLY)
As Indonesia’s president talks of “sustainable growth with equity”, Tripa continues to burn | REDD Monitor
Fires continued to burn in Tripa’s peat forest, 13 June 2012, Aceh province, Sumatra, Indonesia. According to a field team from the coalition of NGO’s to protect Tripa, that visited the area. Fires are continuing to be lit in the highly threatened Tripa Peat Forest for palm oil plantations despite assurances from the Indonesian central government that âtriple trackâ legal action was underway and a small area of the Peat Forest had returned to the moratorium map central to the multibillion agreement between Indonesia and Norway to reduce carbon emission from burning the carbon dense Peat Forests. Photo: Paul Hilton/SOCP/YEL (HANDOUT PHOTO, EDITORIAL USE ONLY)
By Chris Lang, 13th June 2012
Today, Indonesia’s president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is giving a policy address at CIFOR on the theme “Forests in the Future We Want”. He’s painting a rosy picture of the way Indonesia has addressed the problems that the forest sector caused in the past.
Yes, you read that correctly. The problems are in the past, according to Yudhoyono. “Environmental sustainability is at the heart of all long term plans,” Yudhoyono said. In his speech, he mentioned “sustainable growth with equity.” Exactly what this has to do with Indonesia’s booming coal mining sector is anyone’s guess.
Last week, Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo met Yudhoyono. He invited him to go on Greenpeace’s new Rainbow Warrior ship while he’s at the Rio +20 meeting in Brazil. But, Naidoo decided not to remind the President of the uncomfortable truth of Indonesia’s continued deforestation. After the meeting, Naidoo said that,
“Greenpeace had a cordial and constructive meeting with the President. We remain committed to working with the Indonesian government to advance our joint goals of environmental protection and poverty alleviation… Greenpeace supports the existing forest moratorium and in our meeting we called on the President to extend it, and ensure it delivers on its intention of protecting Indonesia’s forests and the people who depend on it for their survival.”
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s forests continue to burn. Today, the Coalition to Save Tripa Peat Forest put out a press release about the continued destruction of peat swamp forests in Tripa, Aceh Province.
Tripa continues to burn as President Yudhoyono to give global policy address on future of Indonesia’s forests
Press Release 13/06/12
From: Coalition to Save Tripa Peat Forest
[Tripa – Aceh Province – Indonesia] A field team from the Coalition to Save Tripa Peat Swamp Forest visit in Indonesia’s Tripa Peat Forest has unearthed alarming evidence of fires continuing to be lit and burn in the highly threatened Tripa Peat Forest despite assurances from the Indonesian central government that ‘triple track’ legal action was underway and a small area of the Peat Forest had returned to the moratorium map central to the multibillion agreement between Indonesia and Norway to reduce carbon emission from burning the carbon dense Peat Forests.
Satellite information led the focus of the team to the eastern region in the 60,000 hectare Tripa Peat Forest, where fire hotspot alerts had recorded another increase in burning activity. Upon entering the area the ground team discovered fresh burns scars, and smouldering ashes from recently lit fires, and new fires being lit around 6.30pm yesterday evening.
“This is blatantly breaching Indonesian law” Said Dr Ian Singleton, Conservation director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme. “Despite the joint Investigation currently taking place by the Ministry of Environment and the National Police, in areas right across Tripa, and indeed Indonesia, the National Laws continue to be flaunted.
“While a small area of Tripa has been returned to the moratorium map, there are 5 palm oil concessions in Tripa operating illegally inside the protected Leuser Ecosystem, yet only 2 of them are being investigated, and even in these destruction continues on the ground with drainage canals still drying the peat swamp.” Dedy Raith, Forest Campaigner for WALHI/Friends of the Earth Indonesia explained, “The Ministry of Environment and National Police team needs to increase the scope to of the investigation to include all concessions and the full 60,000 hectares of Tripa.“
“The full path of the destruction of Tripa must be followed, to identify the responsible parties who allowed this to happen, and full legal prosections carried out. This is a very simple case. In August 2011 a permit was issued by the hand of former Aceh Governor Irwandi to palm oil company PT Kalista Alam to convert 1,605 hectares of protected peat forest into palm oil. The issuing of this permit very clearly breaches National Spatial planning law 26/2007, leaving both mentioned parties criminally liable. From the outset, the violation was clear for all to see. Pak Kuntoro has already labelled the concession illegal, return this small aspect of Tripa to REDD Moritorium map and demanded PT Kalista Alam restore any forest it has already damaged”. Explained Kamaruddin, the Acehnese Lawyer representing the community of Tripa.
“Sudariyono, the Indonesian Environmental Ministry’s head of law enforcement unit, recently said “We will investigate if the company have properly conducted an Amdal [environmental impact analysis] or has other environmental permits,”
“Yet, this investigation must include all companies operating inside the Tripa Peat Forests, protected by National Spatial Planning Law 26/2007. All companies in Tripa must be reviewed because each operation has indicated a degree of legal violation, which again is highlighted again by the fires burning today. To review all Amdal processes is simple and standard legal procedure, believe should result in prosecution of all parties responsible for violation of Indonesia law.” Kamaruddin concluded.
“Tripa is an important part of the the Leuser Ecosystem, one of the worlds most important conservation areas, home to Sumatran Orangutans, Rhinos, Elephants, Tigers and a whole host of other wildlife, there should be no permits and no destruction of this iconic and globally important area, it’s very clearly against Indonesian Law, it is protected by National Strategic Planning Law 26/2007, and Government Regulation 26/2008. Moratoriums may come and go, but it is National Spatial Planning that must be adhered to for the forests of Indonesia to have any chance of survival“ concluded Dr Singleton.
For further media comment or interview, please contact:
Dr Ian Singleton, Director of Conservation / Sumatran Orangutan Conservation programme
Mobile: +62-811-650-491
Email: mokko123@gmail.comDeddy Ratih, Forest Campaigner, WALHI / Friends of the Earth Indonesia
Mobile: +62-8125-080-7757
Email: ube.hitar@gmail.com
Related articles
- Tripa continues to burn as President Yudhoyono to give global policy address on future of Indonesia’s forests (endoftheicons.wordpress.com)
Orangutan Evacuation June 2012 | Paul Hilton Photo
The picture made available on the 29 June 2012, shows A young adult male orangutan is captured for relocatation after it’s home forest has been burnt and cleared for palm oil plantations in Tripa, Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia, 15 June 2012. The Tripa Peatswamp forest supports the highest density of Sumatran Orangutans anywhere on earth, but are still being cleared by palm oil companies who think they are beyond the reach of the law, the situation is urgent and requires action according to Dr Ian Singelton, Director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program. Plus a field team from the Tripa coalition of NGO’s express deep concern over fires that are being continually lit in the highly threatened Tripa Peat Forest despite assurances from the Indonesian central government that âtriple trackâ legal action was underway and a small area of the Peat Forest had returned to the moratorium map central to the multibillion agreement between Indonesia and Norway to reduce carbon emission from burning the carbon dense Peat Forests. Photo: Paul Hilton/SOCP/YEL (HANDOUT PHOTO, EDITORIAL USE ONLY)
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