Elephants, the Indicator of Environmental Sustainability

Environmental damage in a number of places due to human activities needs serious attention. The losses acquired affect the quality of human development.

During the past week, this daily reported conflicts between elephants and people in several places in Riau and South Sumatra.

In Southeast Sulawesi, the trans-Sulawesi highway connecting Konawe regency and East Kolaka was cut off after being flooded as high as 1.5 meters. In East Kalimantan, the flooding inundated parts of Samarinda city and Mahakam Ulu regency due to heavy rains in the upstream areas of the Mahakam River.

Conflicts between elephants and humans happen more frequently and floods in Southeast Sulawesi and East Kalimantan show increasingly serious environmental problems.

All originate from human activities that do not pay attention to environmental sustainability. Forest function, which shifts, including elephant roaming spaces, into individual or large private plantations, has led to shrinkage of the animal population.

KOMPAS/KRISTI DWI UTAMI

Tidal flooding of 8 centimeters inundates a part of Tirto village, West Pekalongan district, Pekalongan city, Central Java. Besides affecting the residents’ activities, the flooding also damaged a number of plants in the area.

Changes in the function of forests for mining, plantations and settlements cause flooding in Southeast Sulawesi and East Kalimantan. We still remember how the changes in the function of forests in the upstream areas of the watershed in Gowa regency, South Sulawesi, and the deforestation of the Cycloop Mountain Nature Reserve, Papua, in March caused massive flooding and claimed dozens of lives. The same problem also caused flooding in a number of areas from west to east.

Even though we know the causes of the disasters, there has not been a systematic effort to repair the environmental damages. The central government has issued a moratorium on the expansion of oil palm plantations, especially for large plantations. However, this effort is not yet adequate. Millions of hectares of forest have turned into critical land.

KOMPAS/SAIFUL RIJAL YUNUS

An aerial view of floods in Konawe regency, Southeast Sulawesi, as seen on Thursday (13/6/2019). The floods inundated the area for more than a week, including three other regencies. Clean water, food and baby diapers are badly needed by around 10,000 people who have been affected by the flooding.

The regional governments are at the forefront of preventing environmental damage. Licenses for mining and plantations must be controlled. The local governments must have spatial and regional plans and comply with them.

Conflicts between utilizing natural resources and environmental sustainability can be prevented if the government sees natural resources as a sustainable economic source. Efforts to improve the livelihood of the community through the use of forest products without destroying forests need to be increased and become a national program. Increasing economic productivity of the community per unit area must be a priority.

KOMPAS/SUCIPTO

Flooding is seen at the intersection in front of Lembuswana Mall in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Thursday (13/6/2019). The number of visitors to the mall significantly dropped due to the flooding that started to hit the area on June 5.

The existence of wild elephants is one of the indicators for the preservation of the environment. Maintaining the elephant habitat is way of respecting human life. Ensuring the sustainability of their population will improve the national economy by asking consumers in our palm oil export destination countries to pay a premium price. If a number of developing countries succeed in maintaining the preservation of the elephant population and the environment and obtain economic benefits, we should also be able to do so.