The existence and conservation of Borneo elephants illustrates the way we manage natural resources and how this impacts the national economy.
The Borneo elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis) is one of Indonesia’s native fauna. This elephant is a subspecies of the Asian elephant, along with the Sumatran elephant, the Sri Lankan elephant and the Indian elephant.
Based on the last survey in 2012, only 30-80 Borneo elephants live in North Kalimantan. The government, non-governmental organizations and North Kalimantan universities are conducting a survey from February 2018 to June 2019 as groundwork for developing the 2018-2028 Borneo Elephant Action Plan and Conservation Strategy.
One of the survey’s initial findings reveals the loss and destruction to the Borneo elephant’s habitat, due to the conversion of forest areas to oil palm plantations.
Elephants are a migratory species of mammal that follows regular migratory routes. If the forests along their migratory routes are cut down and turned into plantations and human settlements, we cannot blame the elephants for entering these plantations and settlements. They lived in the area long before humans arrived.
Indonesia frequently faces difficult environmental issues as a developing country. One such example is the rampant conversion of tropical rainforests, which possess rich biodiversity, into oil palm plantations.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) 2018 report on Indonesia’s biodiversity and oil palm plantations states that oil palm plantations are responsible for the widespread destruction of natural forests. These forests are home to tigers, orangutans and Sumatran elephants – all of which are threatened with extinction and are on the IUCN Red List. In Kalimantan, the development of oil palm plantations was responsible for 50 percent of all deforestation in 2005-2015 (Kompas, 2/12/2019).
The governments of Indonesia and Malaysia are currently fighting to gain entry for their palm oil exports to the European Union. One of the reasons the EU has rejected the palm oil exports is because the development of oil palm plantations causes deforestation.
While we struggle for our palm oil exports to be accepted into the EU, we need to finish our at home by keeping our promise to stop deforestation and prevent further destruction of our forests to ensure the survival of protected animals and ensure that indigenous communities continue to benefit from the forests in which they live.
A way must be found to strike a balance between using natural resources and conserving them, which will benefit every living creature and plant. Managing our natural resources sustainably
also contributes to adding value to natural commodities originating and the welfare of communities that live in and around forests, as well as businesses and people across the nation.