Wake
up and smell where the coffee comes from
WWF: Coffee lovers the world over are unknowingly drinking coffee that was
illegally grown inside one of the world’s most important national parks for
tigers, elephants and rhinos.
The illegally grown coffee is mixed by local traders with legal coffee beans and
exported from Indonesia to companies such as Kraft Foods, Nestlé, Lavazza and
Marubeni. Neither exporting nor importing companies have mechanisms in place to
prevent the trade of illegal beans.
Using satellite imaging, interviews with coffee farmers and traders, and
monitoring of coffee trade routes, WWF has tracked the illegal cultivation of
robusta coffee inside Indonesia’s remote Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park
all the way through its export routes to multinational coffee companies and the
shelves of grocery stores across the US, Europe and Asia.
Bukit Barisan Selatan, a World Heritage Site on the southern tip of Sumatra
Island, is one of the few protected areas where Sumatran tigers, elephants and
rhinos coexist. It is one of the most important habitats left for the three
endangered or critically endangered species. But it has already lost nearly 20
per cent of its forest cover to illegal agriculture.
Save The Tiger Fund, WCS and WWF have identified Bukit Barisan Selatan as a
priority Tiger Conservation Landscape, a designation that marks it as one of the
most important forest areas for tiger conservation in Southeast Asia.
The park has been included as a Global 200 Ecoregion, WWF's ranking of the
Earth's most biologically outstanding terrestrial, freshwater and marine
habitats.
In addition, it has been designated as a priority area for Sumatran rhino
conservation through WWF's Asian Rhino and Elephant Action Strategy (AREAS). And
in 2004, UNESCO listed the area as a World Heritage Cluster Mountainous Area,
together with Gunung Leuser and Kerinci Seblat National Parks.
Home to 3 of the world's most charismatic and endangered species
The park is one of the most important forest areas for tiger conservation in
Southeast Asia and is home to perhaps a quarter of the entire wild populations
of Sumatran rhinos and elephants, making it a globally important conservation
area.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2006) classifies the park’s
Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) and Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris
sumatrae) as critically endangered, the Sumatran Elephant (Elephas maximus
sumatranus) and Wild dog (Cuon alpinus) as endangered, and the Malayan tapir
(Taprius indicus) and Sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) as vunerable.
More than 470 species of trees, 127 orchid species, 26 species of rattan, 24
of liana, 98 of understorey vegetation and 23 of bamboo (Respati, 2004) have
been identified. The park area has also become an important area for unique and
threatened plant species like Rafflesia spp. and giant flower Amorphophallus spp.,
as well as traditionally used plants, such as some species of resin trees (Shorea
javanica and Shorea ovalis).
Ninety species of mammals, 322 of birds, 52 herpetofauna and 51 fish species
have also been identified.
Land encroachment, wildlife crime and illegal logging
However, populations in this park have been severely affected by a rapid decline
of forested area that has been converted to other uses. In addition, there have
been frequent conflicts between tigers and communities living around the forest
area, in many instances resulting in the tiger's capture or death.
The main threats to the sustainability of the park are land encroachment,
wildlife crime and illegal logging for agricultural cultivation. These are
prevalent in protected areas throughout Indonesia. In Bukit Barisan Selatan
National Park, they have resulted in the conversion of almost one-third of the
forest.
Encroachment to grow robusta coffee has become the main threat to the integrity
of Sumatra's Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park. Endangered elephants, tigers
and rhinos will only be able to survive if coffee production is moved out of the
park and their habitat is restored. Through this report, WWF suggests a
comprehensive package of activities to achieve this. - WWF
More information:
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Reproduced with permission from WWF. © [2006] WWF- World Wide Fund
For Nature (Formerly World Wildlife Fund). All rights reserved.
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