(ID) Rare animals lose homes to loggers

[Guest guest]

South China Morning Post.

by Vaudine England.

http://asia.scmp.com/ZZZF4NLKYLC.html

 

The survival of several animals key to global biodiversity - the Sumatran

tiger, the Asian elephant and the orang-utan - have been put at risk by

Indonesia's disappearing forests.

Illegal logging and ignorance about the long-term costs are now destroying

those habitats at greater speed than ever.

 

" The important point to remember for any conservation of the nice furry

animals here is that what matters is their habitat. When they lose that,

they lose their ability to feed and procreate and survive, " an international

forestry expert said yesterday.

 

In a report just published in the Journal of the American Association for

the Advancement of Science, the authors highlight Indonesia's failure to

achieve the kind of integrated conservation management regimes which are

" crucially important for the continued survival of Asian megafauna such as

the Sumatran rhinoceros, the Sumatran tiger and the Asian elephant " .

 

In Indonesia's central island group of Sulawesi, the challenge to rare

species of flora and fauna is intense, with far-reaching consequences for

Earth's animal diversity. A tectonic clash about 40 million years ago has

produced a mixing of plants and animals to create a biological transitional

zone between Asia and Australasia called Wallacea.

 

This gives Sulawesi one of the highest levels of species endemism in the

world. Studies by Robert Lee, head of the Wildlife Conservation Society's

Sulawesi project, and Suparman Rais, head of Bogani Nani Wartabone National

Park in Sulawesi, say the risks to wildlife are increasing by the day. The

Bogani park is probably the last great stronghold for rare and threatened

species of birds and mammals.

 

Sulawesi masked owls, hornbills, parrots, the babirusa " pig-deer " and

macaque monkeys are among those facing possible extinction. Along with the

ugly, grey and hairless babirusa, the grumpy goat-sized buffalo called the

anoa, and two cuscus species of marsupials roam the park. Blue-helmeted

maleo birds dig pits near hot springs or on beaches to lay their gigantic

eggs.

 

" Unfortunately, many of these species are quickly disappearing from forests

throughout Sulawesi, " Dr Lee said. " Large mammals including babirusa, anoa

and macaques are hunted for the meat market in eastern North Sulawesi. "

 

As in the forests of Sumatra and Kalimantan, Sulawesi's problems start with

illegal logging, mining and hunting. Staff responsible for managing national

parks are poorly trained and schemes are rarely implemented.