VZCZCXRO1655
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #0935/01 1330927
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 120927Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8974
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1946
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5022
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 2472
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 4577
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000935 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR OES/ENRC, EAP/MTS, EAP/RSP 
USTR FOR MLINSCOTT, DBROOKS 
USAID FOR ANE, EGAT [CBARBER, MMELNICK] 
BANGKOK FOR RDM/A 
NSC FOR CEQ CONNAUGHTON, VAN DYKE 
USFS FOR CMACKIE 
TREASURY FOR KBERG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV EAID KGHG ECON PGOV ID
SUBJECT: INDONESIA'S NATIONAL PARKS - MANAGEMENT AND ENFORCEMENT KEY 
TO CONSERVATION SUCCESS 
 
REF: JAKARTA 778 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: An overview of several Indonesian national parks 
shows that their record in protecting flora and fauna has little 
correlation to budget size or numbers of forest rangers.  Money is 
not necessarily the main problem with their performance. 
Improvements to management of existing financial and human resources 
within the parks, combined with an increase in enforcement activity 
to crack down on illegal wildlife trade, would have a significant 
impact on the long-term conservation success of these biodiversity 
treasures.  End Summary. 
 
Taman Nasional Bukit Barisan Selatan (TNBBS) 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶2. The 365,000-hectare TNBBS in southern Sumatra still contains one 
of the largest remaining tracts of lowland and hill rainforests on 
Sumatra.  On paper, the park has 66 forest rangers and a $1.2 
million budget (2007 figures).  In 2004, UNESCO designated BBS as a 
World Heritage site.  TNBBS is home to at least 118 species of 
mammal, 300 species of bird, 45 amphibian and reptile species, and 
649 species of higher plant. These include large threatened mammals, 
such as Sumatran tigers, Asian elephants, and Sumatran rhinoceroses. 
 Conservationists estimate that 45 tigers, 498 elephants (+/- 100), 
and 30-40 rhinos live here.  (Note: There are a total of 2400-2800 
elephants left in the wild in Sumatra, according to a local staff 
member of Flora and Fauna International.  End Note.) 
 
Taman Nasional Way Kambas (TNWK) 
-------------------------------- 
¶3. (SBU) TNWK, at one-third TNBBS's size with 130,000 hectares, had 
a 2007 budget of $1.4 million and 81 forest rangers. 
Conservationists estimate that the park hosts 20-30 rhinos, 30-40 
tigers, and 180 elephants (+/- 40).  It is famous among birdwatchers 
-- Way Kambas has recorded over 320 bird species, out of 
approximately 625 in Sumatra, and 1,690 Indonesia-wide.  It is a 
former logging concession, showing that properly managed concessions 
can remain a good habitat for wildlife.  Although rich in wildlife 
(NGO workers believe the local elephant population has actually 
grown), forest rangers acknowledge that poaching remains a problem, 
and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) staff fear that the 
abundance of prey such as deer and pigs indicate a decline in the 
tiger population. 
 
Budgets, Size, and Performance -- Low Correlation 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
¶4. (U) Logging, encroachment, and road construction are taking a 
toll in Taman Nasional Kerinci Seblat (TNKS), as with many other 
national parks (reftel).  The continued clearing of protected 
forests and evidence of poaching underscores the importance of 
national park management.  Improving the management of financial and 
human resources is essential for protecting Indonesia's rich 
biodiversity.  Take as evidence the complete extinction of Sumatran 
rhinos from within TNKS (at 1.4 million hectares, the largest in 
Sumatra), despite the third largest national park budget in Sumatra, 
and the largest number of forest rangers on paper (108, per 2007 
records). 
 
¶5. (SBU) In TNBBS, the white-rumped Shama, a commonly traded bird, 
has declined spectacularly.  A WCS survey suggests that poachers 
have removed 3-5,000 of these birds from the park per year since 
1999, based on their declining density.  This bird sells for 
$50-100, so trade in this species alone could be as high as half a 
million dollars annually (or almost half the park's current 
operating budget of $1.2 million).  NGO field staff point to 
encroachment and fragmentation of habitat on the park, and 
researchers at a field station in one pristine part of the 
rainforest refer to frequent encounters with poachers in the area. 
Yet, during a recent 2-night stay within the park, Emboff did not 
see a single forest ranger.  Meanwhile, the park management is 
constructing a large new, 2-3 story, office building in the nearby 
town of Kota Agung. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Way Kambas's much larger budget is ostensibly related to 
funding an "elephant training center" (with 60-plus "conflict" 
elephants captured and subsequently never released back into the 
wild), as well as 5 rhinos in a -- not yet successful -- 
 
JAKARTA 00000935  002 OF 002 
 
 
captive-breeding center.  The captive elephants looked unhealthy and 
malnourished, and the elephant caretakers were feeding a newly 
arrived baby elephant with milk formula purchased by a foreign 
conservation worker because, they said, their budget was inadequate. 
 Meanwhile, the park's management was in the process of moving into 
a large new office building, and the "training center" had a newly 
constructed, grand, gate and leisure facilities for potential 
tourists -- including a large disused parking lot with trees and 
shrubs growing up through the pavement.  Emboff also twice entered 
the park without any sign of forest rangers in the brand new guard 
post at the park's entrance. 
 
¶7. (SBU) In addition, one WCS staff who has worked in the area since 
2002 says that he has only ever seen 10-15 rangers (of the total 81 
recorded on paper).  However, while encroachment continues in TNBBS, 
Way Kambas has by-and-large tackled this problem.  The park's former 
head, Mega Haryanto, managed to convince most of prior encroachers 
to relocate, apparently without using coercion or paying any money, 
WCS field staff say in amazement. 
 
Anecdotes of Opaque Management and Accountability 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
¶8. (SBU) It is unclear how national parks are using their budgets, 
or on what basis budgets are allocated by the Ministry of Forestry 
(Dephut) in Jakarta.  NGOs say that there is virtually no financial 
record keeping or accountability.  Nonetheless, large sums of donor 
money are going to finance these national parks.  Germany and 
Indonesia began implementing a Debt Swap for Nature in 2007, under 
which funding will flow to three Sumatran national parks - Leuser, 
Kerinci Seblat, and Bukit Barisan Selatan.  Last October, Germany 
committed a total of 23.5 million euros to support the Ministry of 
Forestry.  The imbedded German advisor at Dephut who works on 
implementing the debt swap agreement told us that he did not have a 
full picture of national park budgets. 
 
¶9. (SBU) A former head of the 1.1 million hectare Taman Nasional 
Gunung Leuser (TNGL), Sumatra's second largest park, divided his 
staff into five parts.  One-fifth never showed up for work.  Another 
one-fifth actively facilitated illegal activities such as poaching 
or logging.  One-fifth did little more than show up for work. 
Another one-fifth tried to do their jobs with varying degrees of 
competence, while one-fifth were genuinely motivated.  Over two 
years of effort, he was unable to fire a single employee.  The best 
way to improve park management, in his opinion, was to transfer 
control to the Ministry of the Environment, to eliminate the 
conflict between Dephut's industry interests and its conservation 
duties. 
 
Improving Management and Accountability 
--------------------------------------- 
¶10. (SBU) As a result, WCS considers training Dephut's Forest 
Protection and Nature Conservation financial staff in Jakarta on 
recordkeeping to be a more effective use of money than training 
field staff.  It wants -- and is attempting -- to undertake an 
internal study of national park management and financial practice at 
Dephut, probably packaged as an academic exercise by an Indonesian 
university.  It would like to follow this up by another "internal 
pilot study" to revise personnel management practice within national 
parks. 
 
¶11. (SBU) The former park head mentioned above told us that there 
are no performance targets to measure how well park managers are 
doing, although Dephut does keep detailed statistics about 
concessions and logging activities.  Without improving the 
performance and management of forestry staff within national parks 
or rationalizing the allocation of financial resources, WCS and 
other NGOs believe that national parks will ultimately fail to 
protect and preserve Indonesia's rich biodiversity.  (Note: As of 
2006, Dephut records show 7304 forest rangers, not including other 
categories of field staff such as investigators, who comprised 
another 1700.  End Note.) 
 
HEFFERN