Deforestation in Borneo, a Time Bomb Waiting to Explode

By: Rustam (wildlife & forest researcher, ProFauna's advisory board)*

Borneo today is no longer a land of future for Indonesia. It is the third largest island in the world, yet the tropical rainforest it used to be famous of is no longer there. Instead, oils and gas are running dry for having been sucked out for hundred years, the tropical timbers is getting rare, and the abandoned coal mines leaves giants holes in the face of our land. The island of hundred rivers will soon turn into an island of hundred lakes of ex-mines.

Biodiversity researchers have proven that Borneo is one of the world's biodiversity hotspot. At least 222 mammal species, 420 bird species, 136 snake species, 394 freshwater fish species, and more than 3000 plant species have been recorded to live on the island. The characteristic tropical forest consists of mangroves along the coasts up to heath forest dominated by endemic plants, from highly diverse lowland forest up to highland forest with its typical shrubs. Coral reefs inhabited by hundreds fish species, white beaches home to several sea turtle species, and karts ecosystem can also be found on this wonderful island. However, we have missed a lot of information about its biodiversity which makes it not impossible that some species could be extinct before they have been identified.

Can we be proud of this island of paradise?

Some time ago, several media covered how orangutans, the mascot animal of this island, have been captured, tortured, and slaughtered because they are regarded as pests for palm oil. Other stories told about orangutans relocated by force because their habitat were about to be exploded to open a coal mining area. Stories of wildlife losing their home are no longer surprising, even getting ordinary. When a dead endemic Muller's Bornean Gibbon (Hylobates muelleri) hung for days on an electricity cable, not many people found it shocking.

Although its crime rate is very low, it has been burdened with piles of problems and has become a time bomb ready to explode. Remember the food estate program initiated in Papua which was rejected by local people? The program was then moved to Borneo. Tax was evaded by the largest coal company in Indonesia, which is now abandoned by most of the workers due to the political intervention. Moreover, the province's spatial planning has never been good until today; overlapping land use is very common. Recently, the government promised to be included in the MP3EI (Masterplan Percepatan dan Perluasan Pembangunan Ekonomi Indonesia / Indonesia's Masterplan of Economic Acceleration and Extension) program.

MP3EI was established by the government since 2011 by the Presidential Regulation no. 32 of 2011. Although it was created in line with the Rencana Aksi Nasional Gas Rumah Kaca (National Action Plan of Greenhouse Gases), it is barely possible for them to work cohesively because the main target of MP3EI is to increase the per capita income and the net economic value by encouraging 22 main economic activities including the coal, oil and gas, palm oil, rubber, and timber - all are taken from the soil Borneo. Until today, some of the main economic activities have been proven to fail to be coherent with the effort to deplete the greenhouse gases. In fact, deforestation and wildlife-human conflicts became more intense.

MP3EI also controverts with other government programs. On 5 January 2012, the government made a statement that at least 45% of Borneo will be made as the world's lungs to reduce 26% of greenhouse gases by 2020.

The question would be "where is the 45% area located? Currently there are about 6,8 million Ha of mining area, 7,9 million Ha of palm oil plantation, 200.000 Ha (other reports mention 2 million Ha) of food estate, roads, railways, housing developer areas, as well as illegal mining, farming, and housings.

It has been quite a while since a "Big NGO" launched a program called Heart of Borneo in collaboration with three countries (Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia). It turns out that this program is no more than just a provocative jargon to attract donors while it results in nothing.  In seminars and reports this program seem to be well-supported by the three countries, but it was the other way around in the field. The same thing happen to a program initiated by the provincial government of East Borneo, like Kaltim Green, which does not stop the acts of giving permissions for mining and plantations. Another pilot project about preserving the world's lungs in Central Borneo is also merely mumbo jumbo.

Let us forget about the big company, for actually the REDD pessimism and greenhouse gas emission programs follow the same pattern. Developed countries continue their destructive manners -produce greenhouse gases from their economic activities, then pay some ridiculous compensation. They realize that reducing greenhouse gases emission means reducing production of the factories and; thus disserving their economy. But for us, being fair and wise towards the nature does not need any absurd reward.

The deforestation rate in four provinces in Borneo is fantastic. Data report that it happens to 600 thousand up to 1,1 million Ha area per year, and will continue until there is no more area left to convert. This also happens in our neighbor country which is not as severe but also ongoing; Serawak and Sabah regions of Malaysia lose 0,64% of their forest in one year. Similar to other tropical areas in the world, the main cause of this problem is the government's unsupportive policy, by easily giving permission for land clearings for many purposes. This is confirmed by an American author Leslie Taylor (2004) in her book, The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs, which generates a conclusion from researches of tropical areas all over the world.

So greedy we are that we refuse to share the land, not only with animals. It is still fresh in our mind about the pandemonium in Mesuji, Sumatra, and also the protest of mining industry in Nusa Tenggara where the local people occupied the harbor. Actually those kind of things also happened in Kalimantan, unexposed by the media.

All these chaos are the impacts of land use overlapping, vague borderlines, and economic capitalism. Ironically, the lands being disputed are belonging to foreign investors, even from our neighbor Malaysia, with whom we have numerous conflicts about culture or labors. We really are a free yet occupied country!

*) this article is an opinion of the writer