Indonesia
17,000 islands & almost 260 million people
Life in the Anthropocene.
Indonesia is by all accounts one of the world's most populated nations with its soon to be 260 million strong population scattered across an astounding 17 000 islands. Another fascinating aspect of life in Indonesia is that in total its population is made up of over 300 different ethnic and linguistic groups that combined speak over 700 different languages.
Rich in biodiversity and languages
Indonesia is as rich in biodiversity as it is in the number of languages spoken within its borders. But while it´s populations has doubled since 1971 it´s status as our planet's most biodiverse region is under siege due to a long range of official failures. A massive and unsustainable population growth (caused in parts by an out of date view on sexual education and contraception ) in combination with poverty and inequality.
Unsustainable corporations, poaching, and world famous natural destruction are not only rapidly cutting down on the natural resources and wildlife, but also causing widespread and long-reaching health issues inside and outside of Indonesian borders.
There are also numerous human rights issues tormenting the diverse Indonesian population. Some of it manifests as gender-based violence and abuse, such as the army having performed vaginal examinations on female recruits to make sure that they are still virgins!. All the way to the few, but far too many, females unfortunate enough ending up victims accused of imaginary crimes, similar to what can be seen in India and PNG.
2050AD
[ Oceans run the risk of having more total weight of plastic than fish.]
Other ongoing and already decades-long issues include an out dated view on same sex relations. Violence and murder relating to the widespread illegal - and commercial - logging, poaching, and legal palm oil driven deforestation are also far too common.
Other issues are the non-existing waste management and recycling infrastructure.
You see, in Indonesia garbage and all sorts of scrap and litter keep being dumped straight into the sea as if the saying "out of sight, out of mind"
is how things should work.
Home to
[15% of
the worlds
combined
plants, mammals, and birds]
As much as we would like to believe that our own national and global industries are all well-behaving. And as sustainable and healthy as possible in their respective approach to making a profit the sad facts are that the biggest contributor to the deforestation, the illegal logging, the rampant poaching and decline of countless of animal species in Indonesia is us.
We, the outside world and our global import/export industry.
None a bigger culprit perhaps than the palm oil and paper pulp industry.
We are after all the ones importing the goods produced in Indonesia, we are the ones feeding the ongoing atrocity and keeping the wheels spinning on something that is utterly unsustainable. Not only is this an environmental crisis happening today, but also the source for decades long widespread health issues and human rights issues, powered by nothing but greed.
"Thankfully" by now some of the consequences have started to have a global impact, and are as such no longer restricted to just Indonesian soil. The air pollution that the deforestation is now causing is already severely hampering the health of millions of people in other Asian nations. And that is of course why the outside world has started to recognize that what is happening in Indonesia is not ok.
Sumatran tigers and rhinos.
"Demand for palm oil, both national and overseas, is a big driver of forest conversion," said Erik Meijaard, a conservation scientist at the Borneo Futures Initiative.
And if you are still shaking your head and wondering how on earth your need for palm oil and cosmetics in any way contributes to all this. Indonesia is by far the world's biggest producer of palm oil and actually produced 33 million tons in 2014 alone. Out of that 20 million ton is annually exported to other nations around the world such as China and Germany and the USA. But the problem is not just about producing and exporting palm oil which is used in everything from ice cream to cookies and several popular fitness protein bars.
There are other commercial factors involved too, such as coal mines and traditional pulp and paper industries, as well as the cosmetic industry.
Separate but related issues, which, when all combined are perpetually ravaging all of Indonesia in their shared hunt for ever increasing land and forest to exploit.
Even resorting to burning and destroying healthy forest around the 17 000 islands. Which not only is against the law but also causing the rampant air pollution that the world has noticed on several occasions.
It is also contributing to the rapid loss of land area for countless of animal species, some of whom only exist in local areas around Indonesia.
Protected park areas that serve as homes for a long range of unique animal species are constantly under threat from fires and illegal logging and
poaching.
"Some of the babies we’ve taken in recently have been suffering not only from dehydration and malnourishment through lack of food but also breathing problems from the polluted air.”
Add to that the unique rhinos and tigers and birds, such as the helmeted hornbill, which are living in Indonesia.
The handful that is still alive that is.
The Sumatran tiger which is the smallest known tiger species in the world are now thought to be made up of less than 500 individuals and since they only exist on the Indonesian island of Sumatra they are incredibly sensitive to the illegal deforestation and poaching currently running rampant. A sad situation that is all too familiar when talking about the Sumatran rhino which is already down to less than 100 individuals.
And the Helmeted Hornbill is one amazing, and unique bird, living almost exclusively inside of Indonesia's vast borders, and due to its gorgeous
helmet shaped "ivory" which it is using fighting of rivals as they rocket themselves into each other like miniature Rhinos while in flight,
this rare bird is poached
and sold illegally for pretty much the same reasons as the Indian and African Elephant is hunted to extinction. But it is not just the illegal poaching, there is also the illegal ( and legal )
forest logging,
and the many land claims and the ravaging palm oil industry which are all contributing to the demise of this bird which has almost vanished
completely from Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Brunei.
A rhino named Harapan
Talking about the Sumatran Rhino, quite recently a male Rhino named Harapan, which means hope, was made world famous when he traveled more than 16,000km (9,941 miles) from a zoo in the USA to reach the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary at the Way Kambas National Park.
The goal here is to reintroduce him to the wild where he can breed and help introduce not only more offsprings to his own critically endangered rhino species, but also strengthen their genetic diversity.
A futile effort if we can not put an end to both the illegal poaching as well as the illegal and unsustainable deforestation.
Two related issues that are both fuelled by our global need for consumption. The poaching is mainly maintained to produce meaningless traditional
Chinese medicine but there are other guilty parties too, such as England and Italy, and Vietnam.
And the logging is in part happening so international corporations can produce cheap as hell palm oil, cosmetics, ice cream, protein bar for "healthy" people and toilet paper. And as such, at the end of the day, we are all responsible for the failure that is life and equality and public health in Indonesia and that failure keeps on hurting all of us.
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Related The helmeted Hornbill.
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