Banda Aceh, September 3:

A peace agreement in tsunami-ravaged Aceh province could further threaten Sumatran tigers, orangutans and other endangered animals, conservationists warned today, noting that their habitat could shrink as reconstruction efforts gather steam. More than 800,000 cubic metres of wood will be needed to rebuild the province, which was hardest hit by the December 26 tsunami that killed nearly 180,000 people across Asia, said Nana Firman, an Aceh field officer for the World Wildlife Fund. That could result in the destruction of the unique tropical forest in central Aceh, home to Sumatran orangutans, tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses, clouded leopards end other threatened species, she and others said. “If we’re not careful ... everyone will just start cutting everywhere,” said Firman, noting that an agreement signed last month by the government and rebels to end three decades of fighting adds to conservationists’ worries.

The accord gives greater control of the province’s vast natural resources to the people of Aceh, but is short on details. “One of our concerns ... is that people will go to the forest and cut because they think they now have the freedom to do that,” she said. There are only believed to be between 400 and 500 Sumatran tigers left living in the wild, and some 7,000 Sumatran orangutans down from 12,000 in 1993, said Suherry Aprianto, director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation programme. Almost all live in central Aceh’s 2.6 million hectare Leuser national park. Aprianto also said the combined need to rebuild Aceh and newfound peace could speed up the destruction of habitat. Though the military and the rebels were accused during their 29-year war of illegally cutting down trees, many villagers stayed away from the forests out of fear, he said. “If they got caught between the TNI (army) and GAM (the rebels) it would be dangerous for them,” he said.

“But soon people will start to feel safe again, and they’ll return to the forests to cut.” The World Wildlife Fund has been working with the US-based American Forest and Paper Association to import wood to Aceh for tsunami reconstruction, Firman said. More than 50 containers with about 2,000 cubic metres of wood could be sent to province by the month’s end, she said, noting that the needs far exceed that.