Report: Illegal Wild Animal Trade Causes Rp9tn Economic Losses
5 April 2015 10:08 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Wildlife Conservation Society Indonesia reported that illegal trade of wild animals does not only threatens life sustainability and diversity of the animals; in fact, it said that such practice also brings economic losses for the state.
Irma Hermawati, a law enforcement legal advisor from the group said that the practice has caused Rp9 trillion per year in financial losses.
She also said that many state assets disappeared due to the smuggling of wild animals, whose trade is outlawed both at national and international market.
She also said that the figure Rp9 trillion refers to the calculation issued by the Directorate General of Forest Protection and Natural Conversation of the Forestry Ministry in 2009.
The funds, she said, did not go to the state treasury because the trade is done illegally, both at home and abroad.
Irma also said that wild animals hunted and traded from Indonesia are among others Kalimantan orangutan, gibbon, pangolin, and some other animals.
She also said that those animals are mostly sold illegally to China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Russia.
AHMAD NURHASIM