Professor of Javanese Leopards

KOMPAS/ICHWAN SUSANTO

Hendra Gunawan

Hendra Gunawan is known as the only scientist in Indonesia with an honorary title of research professor in the conservation of Javan leopards (Panthera pardus melas). A senior expert researcher at the Environment and Forestry Ministry, he has the responsibility for saving the Javan leopard, the only large predator left on Java, from extinction.

Now, he is familiarizing himself with his new title as his colleagues and fellow researchers now greet him as “Prof Hendra”. This title – the highest achievement for a researcher – was obtained on 22 July 2019 following an inauguration by the Council of Research Professors with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

It was not easily obtained. "My house to the junior high school was 14 kilometers. The road was still muddy. When I got near the city, I washed my bicycle first so I didn\'t get teased by the urban kids,” Hendra Gunawan said, recalling his childhood. When met on Tuesday (30/7/2019), he was accompanied by a LIPI Bogor Botanical Gardens researcher, Sugiarti, after attending a meeting at the Manggala Wanabakti Building in Jakarta.

Hendra was born to a family of poor sharecroppers who worked on vacant land on riversides and in cemeteries. His father usually planted cassava and sweet potatoes on the vacant land between graves.

Then, his father, along with other residents in the village, was busy working in the forest that was managed by the state-owned forestry company Perhutani.

With his achievement as a research professor, attaining the highest "caste" in the functional level of the science field, he felt satisfied to be able to make his father proud. Even though he came from a simple, poor family, Hendra said, his father was very supportive of him in school. The textbooks at that time were very expensive for his parents to buy.

Books should not only be read by researchers, but policy makers and the public must also know.

He said that he was very proud to be able to pass down a number of books on knowledge related to biodiversity conservation and forest management. One book, Fragmentasi Hutan (Forest Fragmentation, 2015), which he wrote with LB Prasetyo, has been downloaded tens of thousands of times.

"Books should not only be read by researchers, but policy makers and the public must also know," he said.

Education

Since his school years Hendra Gunawan has been very interested in the wild world. This is thanks to the publicity of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Indonesia mobile tour and the Green Indonesia Foundation, which played films related to forests and their fauna in schools.

Studying at SMA 1 Cirebon, West Java, he began to cultivate an interest in the world of forestry. This was supported by a tradition of the school at that time, which had students climb Mount Ciremai at the end of every academic year.

His motivation to get engaged in the world of forestry was then channeled into studying at the Department of Forest Resources Conservation, School of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University. Unlike today, the Conservation Department at that time was not a favorite.

KOMPAS

Hendra Gunawan, chairperson of the Macan Tutul Conservation Forum, as seen after his inauguration as research professor of research, development and innovation of Environment and Forestry Ministry on 22 July 2019 in Jakarta.

Compared to other departments in the School of Forestry, namely Forestry Management and Forest Product Processing, the Conservation Department that he chose had a smaller number of students. This is understandable because the 1980s was the heyday of the forest

concessionaires (HPH), the awarding of business permits for the utilization of natural forest wood products. "I had a visionary view. What would be left when the forests run out? Yes, of course, it must be conservation. I felt that I was on the right path even though there were few enthusiasts," he said.

Because my background is basically conservation I did not feel fine to see trees being cut down or elephants and tigers being driven away. I was not happy, not comfortable.

After graduating, Hendra had time to work at a HPH company in West Aceh for two years. However, he decided to quit because he could not accept the things that he saw every day. "Because my background is basically conservation I did not feel fine to see trees being cut down or elephants and tigers being driven away. I was not happy, not comfortable," he said.

In 1992, he was accepted as a civil servant with his first assignment as a researcher at the Makassar Forestry Research and Development Center in South Sulawesi. There, he investigated the life of the maleo bird and its ecology, which led him to get a Master\'s degree at IPB in 2000.

In 2003, he was moved to the headquarters of the Forestry Research and Development Agency (now the Research and Development and Innovation Agency) in Bogor. Returning to Java, he studied Javan leopards again, which in 1989 helped him to get his Bachelor’s degree.

Hendra Gunawan was interested in focusing his research on Javan leopards because this fauna is the only big cat species in the wilds of Java, including on Nusakambangan Island. A close relative, the Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica), was declared extinct in the early 1980s.

"Javan leopards are now the only top predators in the forests of Java. Therefore, its existence is very important for the ecosystem," he said.

As the habitat of Javan leopards continues to be threatened by infrastructure development, land clearing and fragmentation a number of conflicts have ensued.

Hendra studied the characteristics of leopards in some types of forests, such as mountain forests (on mounts Slamet and Merapi), lowland

forests (on Nusakambangan), teak forests (in Kendal), pine forests (in northern Banjarnegara in Sigaluh) and karst vegetation (in Gunung Kidul). He based his dissertation on research conducted on Mount Ciremai, which also allowed him to produce articles for five scientific journals.

He has been a member of a large cat research group at the International Union on Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since 2013 and chair of the Javan Leopard Forum since 2015. The forum produced a Strategy and Action Plan for the Conservation of the Javan Leopard signed by Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar in 2016.

Since the leopard issue was raised, a number of organizations have been interested in dedicating funds and paying attention to the only big cats left on Java. He said he also hopes that efforts to save the Javan leopard from extinction are not too late.

On Java, 50 percent of leopards live in production forests (the Perhutani area) and in Central Java about 80 percent of the leopards live outside protected forest areas (protected forests and conservation forests). It is hoped that the areas outside the forests can become areas of essential ecosystems protected by the regional administration.

KOMPAS/ICHWAN SUSANTO

Hendra Gunawan.

In addition, Hendra said he hopes the leopard habitats that are fragmented by agricultural land, roads and gardens could be linked to each other by corridors. This is to increase the territory of the Javan leopards so that inbreeding does not occur. This can lead to genetic defects and extinction.

Hendra Gunawan

Born: Banjarnegara, 3 April 1964 Wife: Retno Widianingsih

Children:

- Priyahita Adhika Putera Rendra

- Pradnya Paramarta Raditya

- Sistha Anindita Pinastika Heningtyas

Job: Senior expert researcher at Forest Research and Development

Center, R&D and Innovation Dept., Environment and Forestry Ministry

Expertise: Biodiversity conservation

Education:

- SD Negeri 1 Kaliwungu, Banjarnegara, Central Java (1976)

- SMP Negeri 1 Purwareja Klampok, Banjarnegara (1980)

- SMA Negeri 1 Cirebon, West Java (1983) – Bachelor’s in Forest Resource Conservation (1988)

- Master’s in Natural Resources Management and Environment (2000) – Doctorate in Forestry Science IPB (2010)