TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The serious illegal wildlife trade is not a monopoly of Indonesia-let alone of Aceh and other parts of Sumatra-where most of the crime seems to take place. Yet conservationists point to Southeast Asia as the region with the most acute problem. According to a 2008 World Bank report, this region is not only a key supplier of global demand for endangered and protected species, it is also a major consumer center as well as a trafficking transit point.
Nine Southeast Asian countries combined, after all, are among the world's top 20 regions with the highest density of endangered species, as reported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Given the lack of law enforcement, the low risks and high profit, it is also one area where this illegal trade thrives. Trafficking in wildlife comes third only after narcotics and the arms trade in terms of profitability. There is no doubt that wildlife crime is big business. Interpol estimates that the global wildlife trade brings in between US$10-20 billion dollars annually.
Tempo's investigation indicates that in Indonesia such trafficking is highest in Aceh and other parts of Sumatra, and that it is dominated by secretive syndicates with networks and links to middlemen and black markets in Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and faraway China.
Our reporters discovered that some police and military personnel alongside former combatants of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) who fought government troops more than a decade ago, were involved in this nefarious crime. This makes enforcing the law difficult, particularly when the local consumers tend to be wealthy citizens and prominent officials. When arrests are made, it is routinely the local poachers and usually poor people, who are caught, allowing the bosses and the financiers to go free.
But this illicit trade is unlikely to decline any time soon, as people become wealthier and the demand for exotic, rare species increases. In many Asian societies, ivory tusks and tiger skins adorning residences are evidence of wealth and power. The demand for elephant tusks will also keep rising so long as regious icons made of ivory or fine animal bone are still sought after.
It also does not help that people have little idea on the negative consequences and implications of wildlife and endangered species trafficking. Few people know, or even care, that the decline in the number of elephants, tigers and rhinoceroses as a result of over-killing could seriously affect the ecosystem and the land's biodiversity. Except for those living in or close to forests, they find it difficult to see the link between the sharp decline in the wildlife with the threat to sustainable development. Yet scientists say there will be damage, if measures are not taken to prevent the over-hunting of wildilife, prompted by the illegal trafficking.
Scientists predict that by the end of this century, 13 to 42 percent of Southeast Asia's animal and plant species could be wiped out, if poaching and illegal wildlife trade are allowed to continue unabated. Already, many species of the region, such as the Java rhinoceros, the Asian tigers, including the species from Sumatra, are showing a sharp decline in their numbers. This could affect the balance of the ecosystem, particularly when the impact of climate change is taken into consideration.
To prevent any likely environmental catastrophe, a holistic approach to the problem of illegal wildlife trafficking must be taken, because it covers a broad spectrum of issues, such as law enforcement, policy and regulation, and public information on the illegal wildlife trade and related environmental problems.
It is encouraging to note that the problem is being seen as a collective regional issue. In 2005, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations set up the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) which works with policymakers and courts across the region to strengthen laws and close legal loopholes. To strengthen enforcement capabilities, ASEAN-WEN holds law enforcement training courses and workshops for the member states. To promote public awareness on the illegal wildlife trade, ASEAN-WEN works with non-governmental organizations and education institutions to disseminate information on rare and protected species and the dangers that wildlife trafficking pose.
But until more people understand the vital link between the ecosystem and human survival, we cannot expect the illegal trafficking in wildlife to stop. (*)
Read the full story in this week's edition of Tempo English Magazine
