TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) has responded to forest encroachment in the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Sanctuary, Aceh. One of the causes of the reduction in forest area in the peat swamp conservation area is said to be due to changes in the area's designation following the Decree of the Minister of Forestry in 1998 and 2021.

"The reduction in the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Sanctuary area is not due to encroachment, but due to changes in the designation of the area following changes in area," said the Director General of Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation (KSDAE) of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Satyawan Pudyatmoko, in a written statement to Tempo, Tuesday, July 30, 2024.

Apart from that, Satyawan revealed the results of his party's observations that there has been a total clearing of 4,107 hectares of forest land in the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Sanctuary since 2019 until now. Previously, 20,677 hectares of forest area in the same area had been released between 1998 (Decree of the Minister of Forestry Number 166 of 1998) and 2021 (Decree Number 6616 of 2021).

Satyawan claimed that the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in securing and supervising the conservation area had implemented a smart patrol system to prevent illegal activities in the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Sanctuary. Any attempt to clear the forest can be detected early so that prevention can be carried out as quickly as possible.

He said that there was pressure on the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Sanctuary because this area borders directly with settlements and does not have a buffer zone. "The pressure on SM Rawa Singkil is already known to the Aceh BKSDA and we have made various efforts to deal with the pressure," he said.

In fact, according to Satyawan, the Aceh BKSDA has carried out a joint operation involving security forces and the local government as part of the patrol. As a result, until last week, according to Satyawan, the security of the wildlife sanctuary area did not find any new land clearing.

There were only a few hotspots but Satyawan assured that these were only old clearing areas and could be controlled. "A letter of appeal to also supervise so that there is no additional land clearing has also been distributed to ensure that there is no heavy equipment activity and land burning in SM Rawa Singkil," said Satyawan.

According to Satyawan, the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Sanctuary is quite risky to trigger forest and land fires. He has instructed the Aceh BKSDA to restore the ecosystem covering 321.8 hectares since 2018 through hydrological control which also mitigates forest and land fires. Furthermore, security efforts also involve local communities to become Community Partners of Polhut (Forest Police).

Different Findings from the Field
Previously, the Aceh Natural Forest and Environment Foundation (HAkA) monitored increasingly massive deforestation in the largest peat swamp wildlife sanctuary area in Aceh. Since early 2019 until June this year, the loss of forest cover has covered 2,030 hectares or equivalent to more than seven times the area of ​​the GBK complex in Senayan, Jakarta.

"We can imagine, the wildlife sanctuary which is the most sacred area for conservation and should be protected has continued to shrink every year," said Rubama from HAKa, when he and his entourage visited the Tempo Jakarta office, Thursday, July 25, 2024.

HAkA together with LBH Banda Aceh and several other organizations went around Jakarta to report their concerns in the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Sanctuary. According to them, within a five-kilometer radius of the wildlife sanctuary area, there are indeed 63 villages. However, HAKa et al are not convinced that deforestation for oil palm plantations with the construction of neat canals and the deployment of heavy equipment at the location was carried out only by ordinary people.

"We saw heavy equipment activities that were openly operating in the SM Rawa Singkil area but this activity seemed to be ignored," added Rubama.

Rubama admitted that in terms of area, deforestation in the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Sanctuary is very small compared to what happens in other provinces or islands. However, its location in a wildlife sanctuary area that is considered to have the highest conservation status, as well as the absence of serious efforts in the field to prevent it, forced HAKa to collaborate with others to dare to complain to Jakarta.

Then, the wildlife sanctuary is home to orangutans with a population density of 5 individuals per square kilometer. 122 species of birds have also been identified that live there, 32 of which are categorized as protected and 20 other species are included in the IUCN Red List and CITES appendices. "There are also 123 species of mammals there, including the Sumatran tiger," said Rubama.

The correction was made on August 7, 2024 at 18.15 WIB for the accuracy of the KSDAE Director General's quote regarding the potential threats to the Rawasingkil Wildlife Sanctuary and changes in its forest area.

Sources