West Java: Illegal logging of mangroves keeps escalating

Mangrove forests on the north coast of Cirebon regency, West Java, are
being damaged due to illegal logging over the past five years. Similar
damage was reported on the south coast of Cilacap regency, Central
Java. The damage in Cirebon is due to illegal logging by low-income
local residents. Mangroves in Cilacap have been cut down for
conversion into charcoal by local industries. “The worst damage has
occurred on Losari beach, which has had 50 hectares affected. The rest
is on Gebang, Mundu and Kapetakan beaches.” Yoyon said the illegal
deforestation of mangrove forests had been increasing since the
government raised fuel prices in 2005.

“As poor people could not buy
kerosene, they turned to the mangroves, which are quite a good source
of firewood,” he said. am concerned that the kerosene scarcity in
Cirebon will result in further damage to the mangrove forests on the
north coast. The damage to the mangroves in Cirebon began in the 1980s
when there was a shrimp farming boom. Many people cut down the
mangrove forests to make way for shrimp ponds.” Illegal logging in
Cilacap is also growing at an alarming rate. Forest rangers of state
forest firm Perhutani’s Cilacap office and the Segara Anakan
Conservation Center in a recent crack down on illegal deforestation in
Segara Anakan found hundreds of hectares of damaged mangrove. The wood
is then sold to local charcoal producers. The rangers seized a
truck-load of charcoal during the raid. Cilacap Perhutani deputy head
Herman Firmansyah told the media that ascertaining the extent of the
damage was difficult as some of the mangroves were difficult to reach,
citing one mangrove forest that was two hours away by speed boat.
forests in Cilacap, which in total span around 13,000 hectares, are
overseen by a number of relevant agencies, but rangers have so far
faced difficulties in tracing the looters,” Herman said last week.
Chief of rangers at the Cilacap chapter of the Natural Resources
Conservation Center, Dedy Supriyanto, said it was difficult to track
down the culprits as many of them were backed by local security
forces. “We have been observing them for a long time and have found
strong indications that they are backed by corrupt security personnel.
We are very concerned about this matter,” Supriyanto told The Jakarta
Post. He said the number of timber thefts in the Mount Selok forest
resort area in Cilacap had grown at an alarming rate since 1999,
adding that 120 hectares of teak trees were cut down per year on
average. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/01/16/mangrove-forests-disappearing-quickly-cirebon-cilacap.html
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