Indonesia is home to largest rainforest in all of Asia, while Indonesiacontinued to develop these lands to accommodate the increasingpopulation and economic growth.
About seventeen thousand islands in Indonesia form thearchipelago that stretches in two natural biogeography -Indomalayan and Australasian - and seven biogeographic regions,as well as support the incredible amount of diversity and distributionof species. From as many as 3305 species of amphibians, birds,mammals, and reptiles that are known in Indonesia, by 31.1 percentand 9.9 percent still threatened. Indonesia is home to at least29,375 species of vascular plants, which 59.6 percent is still there.
Forest Logging
Currently, only less than half of Indonesia's forests, represent a significant decrease of forest area in the beginning. Between 1990and 2005, this country has lost more than 28 million hectares offorest, including 21.7 percent virgin forest. Decrease in primary forests are biologically rich this is the second under Brazil at the time, and since the late 1990s, the primary forest evictionsincreased by 26 percent. Today, Indonesia's forests are some of the most threatened forests on earth.
The number of forests in Indonesia right now is getting down andmany were destroyed thanks to deforestation, mining, plantationagriculture on a large scale, colonization, and other activities aresubstantial, such as moving agriculture and cutting wood for fuel.Diminishing rain forest, starting in the 1960s when 82 percent of the country covered by vast rain forest, to 68 percent in 1982, to 53percent in 1995, and 49 percent today. In fact, many of these forestremnants that could be categorized as forests have been clearedand degraded.
Effects of forest loss is also widespread, seen in an unusual riverflow, soil erosion, and reduced returns from forest products.Pollution of chlorine bleach used to whiten the remnants of themines has damaged the river system and the earth around it, whileillegal hunting has reduced populations of some conspicuousspecies, including orangutans (threatened), Java and Bali tigers(extinct), and the Javan and Sumatran (almost extinct). On the island of Irian Jaya, the only tropical glaciers are starting to recede due to climate change, but also as a result of local mining and deforestation.
Tropical timber and the waste is a major cause of forest loss in the country. Indonesia is the largest tropical timber exporter in the world,producing up to 5 billion USD annually, and more than 48 millionhectares (55 percent of remaining forests in the country) is allowedto be felled. Deforestation in Indonesia has introduced some of the most remote areas, and forbidden, in the world in development.After decimating much of the forest in an area that is not too remote,timber companies have stepped up their practices to the island ofKalimantan and Irian Jaya, where recent years many patches offorest have been cleared and the timber companies have to godeeper and deeper into the interior region to find a suitable tree.For example, in the mid-1990s, only about 7 percent of the miningpermit located in Irian Jaya, but this time more than 20 percent existin the region.
In Indonesia, illegal logging affects 700000-850000 hectares offorests every year, but illegal logging that has spread to increasedrastically cut down the entire area up to 1.2 to 1.4 million hectares,and may be higher - in 2004, Environment Minister Nabiel Makarimsaid that 75 percent of logging in Indonesia is illegal. Although noofficial ban on the export of timber from Indonesia, timber is usuallysmuggled into Malaysia, Singapore and other Asian countries.From some estimates, Indonesia has lost about 1 billion USDrevenue per year from taxes due to this illegal trade. Illegal cutting of timber is also hurting legitimate businesses by reducing the supply of logs for processing, and international prices for wood and wood products.
Agriculture
These last few years, vast areas of forest have been converted intooil palm plantations. Oil palm plantations in Indonesia increasedfrom 600,000 hectares in 1985 to more than 4 million acres in early2006 when the government announced plans to develop 3 millionadditional hectares for oil palm plantations in 2011. Oil palm (Elaeisguineensis) is a plantation crop which is very interesting, because itis the cheapest vegetable oil and produces more oil per hectarewhen compared with other oil seeds. At a time when high energyprices, palm oil appears to be the best way to meet the growingdemand for biofuel as an alternative energy source.
While eliminating the unspoiled rain forest and oil palm plantationsbe made on degraded forest land, deforestation is allowedprovided that the process is expressed as a first step to establishplantations. Because of oil palm plantations often replace naturalforests. That was a concern for students of the forest is a project of 2 million hectares are planned in Central Kalimantan. This plan - which is financed by China and supported by the Indonesian government - has been criticized by groups concerned about the environment. According to them the conversion of natural forestsinto monocultures of oil palm trees threatens biodiversity andecological systems. World Wildlife Fund, which has included vocalcondemning these conditions and have a few researchers in the field to assess the potential affected areas, has issued several reports on biological diversity in the area (361 new speciesdiscovered on Borneo between the years 1994 to 2004).
The fastest and cheapest way to clear a new land for plantations isby burning. Each year, hundreds of thousands of acres are turnedinto smoke as the developers and plantation workers rush light a firebefore the rains come. In the dry season - especially during theyears of El Nino - this fire could burn out of control for months,causing deadly pollution that affects neighboring countries andcaused anger berkobarnya too political.
In the years 1982-1983, more than 9.1 million acres (3.7 millionhectares) burned in Borneo before the rains come, while more than 2 million hectares of forest and bush burning during El Nino years of1997-1998, causing losses up to 9.3 billion USD. Fire also causedsevere damage and a variety of economic, political, social, health,and ecology in Indonesia, while neighboring countries Singapore,Brunei, Malaysia, and Thailand joined in ASEAN has been in an atmosphere of economic crisis. Satellite analysis of fires in 1997-1998 explains that 80 percent of fires are related to the permitholder plantations or logging.
Smoke haze from fires in 2005-2006 led to the heat of therelationship between the government of Malaysia and Indonesia.Malaysia and Singapore have offered assistance to cope with firesin Indonesia, while simultaneously put the blame on the country for the lack of improvement in controlling fires. Indonesia, by contrast,blamed Malaysian firms for committing illegal logging in the country,which led to forest-forests become flammable.
Although there is prevention, including requests for Indonesia toimplement the death penalty for illegal loggers and manufacturer offire, a fire like that predicted it would get worse in the future whenthese forests face increasing drought due to climate change andreduction
Bog fires in Indonesia fat damage due to high carbon content in theecosystem - Dr. Susan Page, of Leicester University, estimates thatSoutheast Asia's peat can contain up to 21 percent of the world'ssoil carbon selueuh. Fires in 1997 released 2.67 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Population Problems
Fires in Indonesia, compounded by the lack of briefing on thegovernment's transmigration program to move poor families fromthe central islands of the solid to a more sparsely populated areaon another island. In the course of more than 2 decades, more than 6 million migrants - 730,000 families - be relocated to Borneo, IrianJaya, Sulawesi, and Sumatra. Ignorance about how to grow cropsin the area caused many low-paid migrants. In 1995, formerPresident Suharto launched the "One Million Hectare Project", anambitious project to move 300,000 families from Java to Central Kalimantan and increase rice production by 2.7 million tons peryear. Over the past 2 years, workers defoliate forests and dugnearly 3,000 miles of canals that aims to keep the soil droughtduring the rainy season and for irrigation during the dry season.But because the peat is higher than the river, the plan failedbecause the canals are actually bringing all the moisture out of peat. The failure of this project coupled with the drought for 8months due to years of intense El Nino. In 1997, ground-dried peatwhich is burned. Fires in other areas of Indonesia is linked toresidential areas established during the transmigration program
Mining
Mining practices have damaging effects on forests and tribalhinterland in Indonesia. Projects of the largest and most famous isthe Freeport mine in Irian Jaya, conducted by Freeport-McMoRan.Based in New Orleans, Freeport-McMoRan has run the mining of gold, silver, and copper Mount Ertsberg in Irian Jaya, Indonesia, for over 20 years and has transformed the mountain into a hole as deep as 600 meters. As has been documented by the New YorkTimes and many environmental groups, mining companies aredisposing of waste in the size of a surprise to the local rivers, making the stream and wet areas to be "unsuitable for aquatic life. " Depending on the salaried officers of the military, mining is protected by a virtual private armies involved in the deaths of around 160 people between 1975 and 1997 in the mining area.
According to estimates, Freeport generate 700,000 tons of wasteeach day and stored waste rock in the highlands - a depth of 900feetin many places - has now reached the area of 3 square miles .Government survey found that mining has produced high levels ofcopper and sediment until almost all the fish disappeared within a radius of about 90 square miles of wet areas along the river in the vicinity of their location.
Investigate environmental destruction and practices of human rightsin question in Freeport is a challenge because the mine is one of the largest source of income for the Indonesian government. AnIndonesian government researchers wrote that "the mine'sproduction is very large, and the settings are very weak, sopersuade Freeport to comply with a request the minister to reducethe environmental damage is like 'painting on clouds'," according toan article in the New York Times December 27, 2005
Cronies and Corruption
Forest management in Indonesia has long been plagued bycorruption. Underpaid government officials combined with the prevalence of disreputable businessmen and politicians arecunning, logging bans go unenforced, trafficking in endangered species is overlooked, environmental regulations are ignored, the national park land which is used as the cutting of trees, as well asfines and prison sentences which was never imposed. Corruptionhas been implanted in the reign of former President General HajiMohammad Soeharto (Suharto), who obtained power since 1967after participating in the seizure of government by the military in1967. Under his rule, crony widespread, and a lot of closerelationships and group gathering tremendous wealth throughsubsidies and dirty business practices.
The tradition of crony capitalism has a very important role in the weakness of the government's response to the case of forest fires in the 1997-1998 crisis. According to the IMF's managing director, Indonesia is unable to use non-bujeter reforestation fund them to fight fires because these funds have been allocated to projects that failed car belonging to Suharto. Despite the billions of funds to be withdrawn from the timber tax, the money has long been used as a way to distribute the wealth back to the circle of Indonesia's economic elite, the people close of the strongest men in those days. The IMF said that the funds have mostly been used to provide low-interest loans on commercial timber and plantation companies to clear forests and replacing the last natural forest with pine, eucalyptus, and acacia trees for paper production
future
Indonesia's forests face a bleak future. Although the country has 400protected areas, but the purity of this natural wealth like nothing.With wildlife, forests, cliffs, cultural attractions, and warm sea,Indonesia has a tremendous potential for eco-tourism, but until nowmostly focused on just tourism vacation at the beach. Sex-tourism is a problem in some parts of the country, and tourism itself hascaused social problems and the environment, ranging from forest clearance, the arrangement of mangroves, pollution, and resort development.
source from http://world.mongabay.com/indonesian/profil.html
0 komentar:
Post a Comment