A Glimpse of Hope for those worried about the rainforest, the planet and global warming.
The Last Remnant of the Rainforest in SE Asia is saved. The Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. In SE Asia, most of the rainforest is gone. Cut down and burnt to swell atmospheric carbon and hasten global warming, to extract the immediate financial value of the majestic trees and to plant oil palms, rubber, rice. To create cattle ranches and new towns, roads and dams.Read more
In the Leuser Ecosystem are the last surving remnants of the large animals that used to roam the forests of SE Asia. Back in 1980, we thought that the rate of deforestation and the amount of poaching meant that they would no longer exist in the wild by the year 2000. And we were right - there are virtually none left outside of Leuser. Read more
Stopping illegal fishing in the Leuser Ecosystem - the capture in September of four fishermen
The Leuser Ecosystem is the largest terrestrial conservation area in Indonesia and is renowned for its biodiversity. When most people think of Leuser’s forests they think of the charismatic animals such as tigers, elephants and orang-utans or maybe the spectacular Argus Pheasant - the peacock of the rainforest. But there is much more than that. Insects make up the vast majority of visible species and those things that live in the abundant streams and rivers of Leuser are likewise often overlooked. Without fish the rivers would start to choke with algae and the wildcats, otters and specialised civets that live on these fish, would die out. Read more.
BPKEL keeps pressure on illegal loggers in Leuser
On the 16 September another illlegal logging operation was bust in the Tamiang District of Aceh. In the last year BPKEL in cooperation with local police and local NGOs read more
National Geographic have been filming us cutting down oil palms. They were delighted and reckoned it one of the few rays of hope in their tiger story due out next year.
This was part of the 800 hectares the rangers found recently, and we are busy cutting down right now!
Recently, four tigers, driven by habitat loss, resorted to hunting villagers and their livestock. We managed to save two of them and release them deep in the forest. ">This is a video of one of them being released. Both releases were successful and we were able to track the tigers movements and see them establish their range.
In July word reached BPKEL that a villager had two baby orang-utans, about 8 months old - the report came from the Village Head who knew that this was illegal. The villager had almost certainly murdered the mothers to obtain the babies.
This is one of them, tied up in a hut.
Fortunately this type of incident is becoming very rare thanks to the intercessions by BPKEL officials and the enforcement of the law with heavy penalties handed out to the killers.
We were staying in Camp Tamiang when word reached the ranger there of these babies, and we asked to be allowed to come and see the confiscation and arrest, but this was denied as they were worried that the sight of westerners would frighten the villager who would be able to escape with the babies and sell them - there is always an eager market in the pet trade for baby orang-utans, with no thought of the life expectancy (more than 40 years) or how big and fierce they become. An adult orang-utan can live happily only in the canopy of the forests, with a home range of many miles.
The rescue was a success - here is a BPKEL ranger accompanied by a young policeman with one of the babies. They were taken to the rehabilitation centre near Berastagi where they will be given the opportunity to return to the wild. This rarely happens - they have missed their mothers during a very important time in their lives. Usually young orang-utan stay with their mothers for at least 5 years, during which time they learn where and when the trees are fruiting, which can be once in several years. Orang-utan have an incredible memory for finding food in the resource-poor forest. Rehabilitated orang-utan usually don't develop this memory map and rely on food handouts for the rest of their lives.
This is Camp Tamiang. Up until May 2009 this was a thriving illegal oil palm plantation - the whole area was illegally logged twenty years ago - hidden not far from the edge of the reserve. Two years ago guerillas had a base camp here, during their war of independence. In May we cut it down. A senior BPKEL official was present along with senior police and forestry officials, and the owner of the plantation offered them the equivalent of their annual salary each just to go away. The BPKEL official refused, which meant the policeman had to refuse as well. This is unheard of in the area. Now the area is reverting to forest - you can see a couple of oil palms left in the middle, and various stumps around the plain.
copyright © Force for the Forest 2009
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