27/04/2005 – Aceh’s already
shattered landscape faces further devastation
if donor countries do not immediately supply
the tsunami-stricken province with sustainable
timber.
The warning was made at the launch of a set
of reconstruction guidelines developed by
WWF to strengthen and safeguard Aceh’s environment
against future threats.
The guidelines come at a time when there
is mounting pressure to see delivery of the
vast sums of aid promised by the international
community.
Millions of people around the world donated
money to the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami
that killed more than 300,000 people on 26
December 2004.
Yet exactly four months after the event,
major reconstruction has still not begun in
Aceh where thousands of people remain displaced
and homeless.
WWF believes the framework it has developed
will strengthen both communities and the environment.
The call for imported sustainable timber
for Aceh is the first phase of a reconstruction
effort designed to minimize the impacts that
large-scale rebuilding would have on the province's
already damaged environment.
A report by WWF and Indonesian policy research
institution Greenomics estimates that one
million cubic metres of timber will be needed
to rebuild Aceh over the next five years.
"Aceh faces the likelihood of further
humanitarian and ecological disasters unless
timber for reconstruction is immediately brought
into the devastated Indonesian province,"
said Mubariq Ahmad, Executive Director of
WWF-Indonesia.
"If the amount of timber needed for
the reconstruction of Aceh was sourced locally,
the result would be massive deforestation,
which would lead to further floods and landslides
and the potential for further tragedy for
the Indonesian people."
According to WWF, this would also threaten
Indonesia’s beleaguered wildlife, including
species such as the Sumatran tiger, rhino
and elephant, and the region’s populations
of orang-utans.
WWF's Green Reconstruction Policy Guidelines
parallel the Master Plan for Aceh’s Reconstruction,
released by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, which also calls for the province
to be rebuilt along sustainable guidelines.
"These guidelines will help provide
natural defence barriers against future tsunamis
and extreme weather events," said Mubariq
Ahmad.
"The extensive conversion of coastal
mangroves to shrimp ponds had already depleted
Aceh’s natural defence systems before the
tsunami hit, compounding its impact. It is
vital that we don’t make the same mistakes
of the past. We need to rebuild Aceh in a
sustainable and safe way for the future well-being
of Aceh’s people."
NOTE:
• Indonesia lost 40 per cent of its forest
cover over the past 50 years, because of extensive
logging practices.
