Ecology of Sulawesi. Tony Whitten
central government policy has encouraged deforestation. Logging concessions, sugarcane plantations, and increasingly, oil palm plantations are not regulated and as Walton and Holmes (2000) state, 'perverse incentives exist that make it more lucrative to clear forested land for plantations than to plant open and unproductive land'. As timber exports shifted from logs to plywood and then to pulp and paper, more log processing plants were established until processing capacity exceeded sustainable yields. Finally, poor enforcement has allowed excesses to go unchecked. Illegal logging has become rampant, even in national parks, on a scale that exceeds the volume of legal logging. Authorities look the other way while the government loses tax revenue at the rate of roughly $500 million each year (Walton and Holmes 2000).
An increasingly important agent of deforestation on Sulawesi is the influx of new migrants into forested areas. In the late 1990s, as Indonesia plunged into economic crisis, unemployed urbanites returned to the countryside in need of land. Long-term residents also cleared new land to expand production of low-value vegetable crops and high-value cash crops (e.g., coffee, cocoa). As we write, new immigrants are arriving from areas of ethnic strife in the Moluccas. Thousands of displaced and land-hungry refugees are arriving daily; many observers report that there are now more than 200,000 refugees in North Sulawesi alone. Unless the problem is resolved soon, these people will resettle and require more land to support themselves and their families.
Forests that are not being cut are not necessarily safe. One of the most alarming discoveries of the 1990s is the degree to which people of Sulawesi are destroying their wildlife heritage (Lee 1997; O'Brien and Kinnaird 1996, 2000). Researchers showed that a number of endemic mammals, including the babirusa, anoa, and crested black macaque were on the edge of extinction as a result of over-hunting for subsistence and commercial bushmeat trade. Further evidence came from modeling exercises by Clayton and colleagues (1997) who showed that under current practices, babirusa populations will be reduced to very small and probably nonviable population numbers. Lee (1997, 2000a, b, c) conducted an extensive analysis of commercial and subsistence hunting and concluded that hunting for markets was having the greatest impact on local populations of wildlife, and Alvard (2000) showed a lesser, but still considerable, impact on wildlife through subsistence hunting by the Wana people of Morowali Nature Reserve. Overcollecting of sulphur-crested cockatoos for the pet trade has almost eliminated the species from Sulawesi except for a few remnant birds near Palu (PHPA/LIPI/BirdLife International-IP 1998). Finally, the breakdown of traditional customs and harvest regimes has played a major role in the on-going decline of the Maleo. Although more breeding sites have been discovered since the classic work of Dekker (1990), most are in danger from over-collecting and many sites are no longer active.
Sulawesi has a diverse system of parks and nature reserves that were set up to provide sanctuary for the island's biodiversity, free from hunting, and habitat destruction. The island boasts three national parks, including Lore Lindu National Park, a World Heritage Site, two marine parks, nineteen nature reserves, and an assortment of tourist parks and wildlife refuges. These areas cover most major habitats, contain populations of most endemic species, and several are large—all good qualities for reserves design. But in today's climate, the subject of reserve design is largely one of academic debate. Sulawesi's parks are not safe and although most of the protected areas have staff, the areas function as little more than paper parks. The question of what percentage of species will become extinct in 50, 500 or 5,000 years' time is not of great relevance when it is by no means certain how much of its reserves will be intact in even 25 years time. In Sulawesi today the major priority is simply to maintain the integrity of reserves against legal and illegal forms of habitat disturbance and resource exploitation.
Hunting and habitat destruction continue unchecked throughout Sulawesi's protected area system. Development projects such as road building, new transmigration schemes and dam development are being permitted in the parks, and in most cases supported by local government officials. Mining, both illegal and legal, continue to plague areas such as Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park. As we write, more than 4,000 illegal miners scour the hillsides of the park in search of gold, poisoning themselves and the environment with the mercury they use to separate the precious metal (Sydney Morning Herald 2000). An additional 5,000 illegal miners—supported by the military, local police and government officials— have invaded the Perth-based Aurora Gold's claim on the outskirts of Manado, similarly poisoning themselves and the surrounding waters of Bunaken Marine National Park (Sydney Morning Herald 2000). Logging operations encroach on reserve boundaries in many areas. Fires set by plantation companies and local people ravaged reserve land in 1994-95 and again in 1997-98. Illegal fishing nets, set in protected waters of Tangkoko drowned thousands of marine mammals and sea turtles, and killed manta rays and other pelagic fish. In spite of legal protection, hunters, rattan collectors and other forest product collectors roam freely throughout many reserves in North and Central Sulawesi, undaunted by apathetic, or in some cases, participating enforcement officials.
All of the abuses described have been exacerbated by the prolonged economic crisis, the collapse of central authority and the proposal to decentralize natural resource management. In the confusion and uncertainty, local natural resource managers are more reluctant than ever to take action. As local people move into protected areas and even logging concessions, they find that there is little resistance by the government. In addition, military and land speculators are getting into the act on the belief that if the land is cleared, they will be able to keep it. In Lore Lindu National Park, park management turned over approximately 2,000 ha of park land to local people for illegal coffee and cacao plantations, rather than confront the issue (Indonesian Observer 2000). As management breaks down, guards feel less responsible, are demoralized and stop working. In Tangkoko Nature Reserve in 1997, guards watched, but failed to report the forest fires that damaged more than half of the reserve.
Although the problems of Sulawesi's forests, parks and protected areas are severe, they are not insurmountable. Today, a growing number of organizations and individuals are committed to the conservation and rational management of Sulawesi's natural resources. The Natural Resource Management and Coastal Resource Management Programs of USAID have been working with local stakeholders including the government, local NGOs, and communities to develop policy and implement plans for sustainable use of marine and terrestrial resources. They were responsible for developing the management plan and basic infrastructure for Bunaken Marine National Park, one of Indonesia's most exquisite and popular marine sanctuaries. Conservation International and Biological Conservation Network have been working on the Togian Islands developing community-based management of coral reef tourism and protection of local forests. Sahabat Morowali, an Indonesian NGO, focuses on the conservation issues of Morowali National Park. They are especially concerned with involving the resident Wana people in management decisions concerning the park and have developed ecotourism ventures. The Nature Conservancy concentrates its efforts in Lore Lindu National Park. They have provided resources and training to the Directorate of Nature Protection and Conservation (PKA) staff, and are trying to develop alternative, environmentally friendly income sources aimed at reducing pressure on the park. Group Sampiri, a local NGO based on the work of Action Sampiri, is carrying out a rural awareness project on Sangihe-Talaud. Our organization, the Wildlife Conservation Society, has been active in Sulawesi since 1991 carrying out wildlife research and training of conservationists in protected areas such as Tangkoko, Gunung Ambang, and Bogani Nani Wartabone in North Sulawesi. The Wildlife Conservation Society conducts in-depth ecological research and baseline surveys on a variety of endangered species, conducts conservation education campaigns in North Sulawesi and trains park guards and provincial officials in conservation enforcement. At present, we are carrying out an island-wide field survey of protected areas and wildlife, and combining these surveys with training and management assistance.
In the final analysis, all the hard work of foreign and domestic conservation organizations will pale unless Indonesia as a nation—including its government, military, police forces, local NGOs, universities and communities—begin to show a serious commitment to conservation on Sulawesi. Unless the talk stops and the action begins, we will lose everything that made Sulawesi a special place in Alfred Russell Wallace's heart, as well as our own. And the next edition of The Ecology of Sulawesi could very easily become a history book.
M.F. Kinnaird and T.G. O'Brien
September, 2000