Ancient Trees, a Reflection of Lorentz

Kompas/Bahana Patria Gupta

Forest rangers guard the Lorentz National Park, Jayawijaya Regency, Saturday (11/13/2021).

After surviving for hundreds of millions of years, various ancient plants in Lorentz National Park in the mountains of Papua are now facing the threat of large-scale logging.

The roar of a chainsaw broke the silence of one of Papua’s major forests one afternoon in mid-November 2021. Not far from the sound, piles of sage wood (Nothofagus sp) were well arranged on the edge of the Trans-Papua Highway in Jayawijaya regency. An old man appeared on the side of the road carrying a teapot filled with water. Yanus, the man, intended to rest for a while after carrying pieces of blocks and boards from the forest to the edge of the Trans-Papua Highway, inside Lorentz National Park (TNL) area in Jayawijaya.

About 500 meters from Yanus’ location, the chainsaw was still roaring. “Can you turn off the chainsaw? Who

does it belong to?” asked a forestry police officer from the TNL office. "I have only one chainsaw," answered Yanus.

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From morning until noon, Yanus had cut down four sage trees. He planned to sell the wood to the city at the price of Rp 1.5 million (US$106) per trunk. The money from the sale of the wood would be used to meet the needs of his family during the 2021 Christmas celebrations.

Yanus said he had been there for a week. He started cutting down trees in the area after the Trans-Papua Highway was opened and divided TNL.

“Before there was a road, I used to cut trees below. Now I'm going up here because there is a road to reach it," said Yanus, a resident of Taela village in Taelarek district, Jayawijaya.

Yanus was once caught red-handed by a TNL forest police officer cutting trees in a conservation area. However, the officers did not stop the logging and just asked him not to cut too many trees.

"Bapak owns this forest. We only help you to take care of your forest. If there is no more forest here, what will you do if you have children and grandchildren," said another TNL forest police officer.

Yanus nodded. He felt entitled to the felled tree. According to him, the trees were located in the customary forest of his tribe. The forest area there used to be a stopover or crossing place for their ancestors.

Social challenges

Logging was not only seen where Yanus had cut sage trees. In the other TNL area, not far from the Trans-Papua Highway, there was large-scale logging. Traces of the enterprise were found alongside the road.

On the right side of the Trans-Papua Highway from Wamena to Lake Habema, at an altitude of 2,490 meters above sea level, there was a path that loggers usually used to reach the forest. There was a lot of wood waste resulting from logging activities that had occurred about three months before.

The deforestation did not just happen on the roadside. Many loggers had also cut trees up to 10 kilometers from the side of the road. No more big trees were found there.

Kompas/Bahana Patria Gupta (BAH)

Plants covered in cobwebs around Lake Habema in the Lorentz National Park area, Jayawijaya Regency, Saturday (11/13/2021).

“The trees here are all gone. The cutting of the trees has already reached the middle [of the forest],” said Ishak, a forest police officer at the TNL office.

At a nearby location, there were 11 piles of logs and boards arranged along the Trans-Papua Highway,

including at Yanus's place. At one point, there was a tarpaulin tent, and people were walking back and forth carrying wood.

Petrus Lani, 35, a resident of Walaik district, Jayawijaya, acknowledged that it was not easy to persuade residents not to cut down trees in the TNL area. "We asked, we put pressure on them, but the people did not listen. They said, 'we have the rights, and we own the forest,’" said Petrus, who is also active in the Forest Police Partner Community (MMP) for the TNL.

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Residents from various villages in Walaik have been cutting trees since the Trans-Papua Highway was built. Every day, residents flock to the forest carrying chainsaws.

“The forests have been severely damaged since the opening of the road. They cut trees here and there. Now, the forest is getting depleted,” said Petrus.

The Trans-Papua Highway segment that crosses the TNL is part of the Papua province Segment V road project carried out by the Public Works and Housing Ministry. The 176 km road connects Wamena, the capital of Jayawijaya regency; Habema Lake, in TNL; and Kenyam, the capital of Nduga regency.

In the conservation area, there are a number of biomes, ranging from marine to alpine. At the top, there are many ancient plants whose ancestors existed in the super-continent Gondwana, which was formed in the Neoproterozoic era, about 550 million years ago. Several types of plants typical of that era are, among others, Phyllocladus, Nothofagus sp, and the ancient fern Cyathea atrox.

Spotlight

The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) report titled Analysis of the Influence of the Planned Development of the Trans-Papua Priority Road Project on the Socio-ecological Aspects of Papua found that the opening of the Trans-Papua Highway had caused a loss in a forest cover around the road. On the Wamena-Habema-Mumugu road section, which crosses TNL, the forest cover loss from 2001 to 2019 was 1,512 hectares.

The construction of road infrastructure within the TNL area has also affected biodiversity. It has further suppressed flora and fauna that have been categorized as near extinction in the TNL area, including Nothofagus sp, gray cuscus/guannal cuscus (Phalanger gymnotis),

southern mambruk (Goura sclaterii), moon python (Simalia boeleni) .

"Our hope is that the construction of roads in conservation forests will be reconsidered or reevaluated," said Umi Ma'rufah, a researcher at Walhi.

The United Nations has also pointed out that the Trans-Papua Highway crosses TNL, which was designated by UNESCO in 1999 as a world natural heritage sites.

Acha Anis Sokoy, said illegal forest encroachment had occurred as an indirect impact of the opening of the roads. The effort to overcome forest encroachment has become one of TNL’s most important tasks.

The head of the TNL agency, Acha Anis Sokoy, said illegal forest encroachment had occurred as an indirect impact of the opening of the roads. The effort to overcome forest encroachment has become one of TNL’s most important tasks.

The officers have sought to persuade members of the local community not to cut down trees in the national park, even though it is part of their customary land. Cooperation with many parties is needed, considering the limitations of the TNL agency.

As an illustration, the TNL agency has only 60 officers, of whom 26 are forest police officers. They oversee the national park area of 23,000 sq km, 35 times that of the province of Jakarta, and operate in the administrative areas of 10 districts.

Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said the construction of the Trans-Papua Highway involved the Environment and Forestry Ministry . According to him, roads in some parts of the conservation areas were built with the knowledge and permission of the ministry.

"In principle, we built the roads [for development] and if the road is used for other purposes, it should be handled by law enforcement. That's the job of the forest police," said Basuki, during an interview in Jakarta on Saturday (12/18/2021).

Construction within a conservation area, on the other hand, should have made it easier for officers to access forests. The sharp incline leading to the road, with a slope of more than 12 percent, serves as a natural barrier to minimize the transport of wood.

Responding to the rampant encroachment within TNL following the opening of the Trans-Papua Highway, Deputy Environment and Forestry Minister Alue Dohong said his office would strengthen forest management units so that they would be able to better manage conservation forest areas. This included the recruitment of local residents as forestry supervisors.

KOMPAS/MOHAMAD FINAL DAENG

A view of the forest that stretches in the Lorentz National Park area, Papua, with the background of Trikora Peak in Jayawijaya Regency.

Regarding UNESCO's criticism of the construction of roads in Lorentz, Alue said the international body should, having designated TNL a world natural heritage site, provide technical and financial support to the government in solving the problems in the area.

"It is right, and it should be a shared responsibility globally," said Alue. (ICH/ILO)

(This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi).