Indonesian Scientists Support The Firm Attitude Of The Ministry Of Environment And Forestry, Participating In Outgrading Foreign Research Weakness

Illustration of orangutans. (Photo: pexels/Zak Bentley)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) has issued a letter prohibiting foreign researchers Eric Meijaard et al from entering conservation areas in Indonesia. This firm stance from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry has received support from Indonesian scientists.

Main Expert Research Center, BRIN RI's Center for Ecology and Ethnobiology, Dr.Wanda Kuswanda said, one of Meijaard's researches, which is part of his opinional writing in the media, uses modeling methodology with general assumptions and polarization predictions.

He also revealed that all the authors in the article were foreign researchers, without involving any local researchers. Another weakness is not to carry out direct ground checks in Indonesia and not to carry out data triangulation with real conditions on the ground.

'So the article does not include policy variables and efforts for orangutan conservation fields that have been carried out in Indonesia, only using variables that result in a tendency that orangutans will become extinct with the modeling system being built," Wanda said in a written statement, Saturday, September 24.

"This clearly does not describe the actual condition on the ground, but its fatality is the basis for its release of opinion in the media," continued the woman, who has been an orangutan researcher for two decades.

The lack of modeling methods used by Eric Meijaard is not to include continuous variables such as policy interventions, conservation programs, habitat recovery, conflict mitigation, empowerment of the surrounding community, and others.

In fact, that variable may have a significant contribution to the resulting model. Researchers also did not ground check the field at all to validate the assumption of the model.

''For example, there is a hydropower facility built in the orangutan habitat, it doesn't mean that the orangutans there will definitely die, in reality in the field even though there is a hydropower plant, the orangutans are still there. But because there is no ground check in the field, it is assumed that the orangutans there are no longer there,'' said Wanda.

Wanda herself has published the international journal Q1 at the Global Ecology and Conservation along with two other Indonesian scientists from the University of Indonesia and IPB.

The journal was entitled research on 'The estimated demographic parameters and a growth model for Tapanuli orangutan in the Batang Toru Landscape, South Tapanuli Regency, Indonesia.

''This Riset also uses modeling methodology such as Meijaard, but is equipped with variables to adjust field facts. So we have a ground check in the field," he said.

"The results of this research produce different conclusions because it turns out that the growth rate of the Tapanuli orangutan population can still increase even though it is at a slow pace in line with existing policies and orangutan conservation programs."

''Regarding the firmness of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry's attitude, we believe that there must have been careful considerations. For those who do not understand the problem, it must be considered an intervention by the government, even though the government may want to protect biodeversity data so that it is not misused by using inappropriate analysis and can harm Indonesia by foreign researchers,' Wanda continued.