After almost a decade of revision, Indonesia’s law on conservation is finally progressing on the national legislative agenda. Parliament (two commissions) in collaboration with six ministries and regional representatives are working to amend key laws. The work sends a strong signal to the public that conserving Indonesia’s valuable natural resources and ecosystems matters to the country.
The key conservation policy or Conservation Law (1990) is no longer adequate to address the growing threats to biodiversity. Ongoing threats such as habitat loss, illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade, and human-wildlife conflict, are now amplified by climate change. Meanwhile, rapid progress in information technology has changed the practices of illegal wildlife trade into an unprecedented scale through the massive use of social media. These are just two reasons of many others that underline the urgency of revising the law. At the heart of this urgency is a sad fact that extinction simply cannot wait.
With over 17,000 islands stretching 5,400 km along the equator, Indonesia is a fertile cradle for biodiversity and a home for many internationally renowned and charismatic species, such as orangutans, whale sharks and komodo dragons. Its 120.5 million hectares of forest help 37.2 million people earn a living, while at the same time playing a critical role to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change.
