Professor of IPB Offers a Strategy in Optimal and Sustainable Utilization of Wildlife

On a worldwide scale, Indonesia is the country with an impressive diversity of wildlife: the highest for butterflies (1,600 species), the 2nd in the world for mammals (515 species) and  reptiles (600 species), the 5th for birds ( 1,531 species), and the 6th for amphibians (270 species). Moreover, Indonesia has 35 species of primates (ranked 4th in the world, 18 percent of which is endemic) and 1,400 species of freshwater fish.

But strangely, such a high contribution of  wildlife wealth is not felt significantly in terms of both national economy and fulfilling the needs of the surrounding people (especially for animal protein). Ironically, Law No. 5/1990 mandates that the Indonesian natural resources and ecosystems be managed and used sustainably for the welfare of the Indonesian people.

According to Professor of the Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Prof.Dr. H. Yanto Santosa, there are two fundamental problems making the implementation of Law No. 5 of 1990 far from the expected result. The first is the ban on harvesting of wildlife in the conservation area, and the second is the establishment of the status of species protected by the Law, and the status of scarcity / extinction by CITES or the IUCN Red Book.

"The criteria study carried out by the law-RI, IUCN and CITES used in determining the status of population is not clear and not measurable. In addition, more ironically, the population status that is established applies to a species throughout the country," he said during the press conference before his oration at Baranangsiang Campus of IPB, Bogor (22/9).

However, some studies on the population of long-tailed monkeys, Timor deer, orang utan, dragon lizards, wallabies, gibbons, langurs and bull show that the demographic parameter of the wild animal population is site-specific – the same species do not necessarily have identical demographic parameter when it has different habitat conditions. Therefore, the process of assessing and establishing the population status should also be site specific (only valid for one population only).

"The established status of the population for a species that applies to the entire territory of Indonesia as set up by Law of RI, CITES and IUCN needs to be revised immediately," he said.

This is also the case with the ban on the wildlife harvesting in protected areas, which is based on the theory. On the contrary, harvesting is needed in the management of wildlife populations in any status of the region. Harvesting is intended to balance the sex-ratio. At the time of high population growth rate (explosion / already considered "pests"), it is necessary for the surrounding community to maintain population growth rate or a balanced food chain.