Indonesia: Tesso National Park to increase in size

In 2006, nearly 38,000 people from around the world signed a WWF
petition urging the Indonesian government to end all logging,
encroachment, and conversion of elephant forests in Riau and asking
the government to expand Tesso Nilo National Park. Later that year,
the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry and the government of Riau
Province publicly committed to expand Tesso Nilo. The government
firmed up its commitment in August 2008.

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http://gliving.com/wwf-reports-sumatran-elephants-and-tigers-receive-new-increased-protected-habitats/

Besides being a haven for elephants and tigers, Tesso Nilo, in Riau
Province, has the highest lowland forest plant biodiversity known to
science, with more than 4,000 plant species recorded so far and many
species yet to be discovered. The province is under dramatically
increasing threat from the pulp and paper industry, from the clearing
of the forest to make room for palm oil plantations, and from illegal
settlements. Tesso Nilo National Park was created in 2004 but only
94,000 acres of forest were included.

The government of Indonesia will extend the national park into 213,000 acres by December 2008 and integrate an additional 47,000 acres into the national park management area of 250,000 acres. In 2006, the WWF activists also called for the release of a small group of Sumatran elephants that had been captured by local forestry officials after they had damaged crops and homes in Riau Province. In May of that year, eight of the elephants were released into Tesso Nilo National Park.

At the time, WWF was concerned that Tesso Nilo was not a suitable release site as it was too small to provide habitat for more elephants and that the release of the elephants into the park without an expansion and a plan to stop encroachment would simply shift the human-elephant conflict to other
villages near Tesso Nilo.

The expansion of Tesso Nilo National Park will go a long way toward alleviating the crisis. Human-elephant conflict can be avoided if elephants are given enough room to live and if these confrontations are dealt with professionally. Thank you to everyone who took action. With your help, we are making a real difference.

Get full text; support writer, producer of the words:
http://gliving.com/wwf-reports-sumatran-elephants-and-tigers-receive-new-increased-protected-habitats