THE TS BLOG + NEWS

A Human Tsunami

› Posted August 16, 2009, by Tim O'Brien, Tropical Salvage

A human tsunami puts tforests near Banda Aceh at risk, says Tropical Salvage president Tim O’Brien in his latest postcard from Indonesia

July 19, 2009 -- Alas, my recent visit to Banda Aceh, the capital of the province of Aceh on Sumatra, wasn’t just about pristine, wildlife-rich tropical forests. In the hills and mountains surrounding the city, I saw areas which before the December, 2004 tsunami were lush with old-growth trees, that are now significantly deforested.

The destructive waves that took an estimated 130,000 lives in this region in the Boxing Day disaster did not lay waste to these hill forests. But legitimate timber harvests started, understandably, in order to produce the raw materials needed to re-build the coastal areas devastated by tragedy. Illegal logging continues here because the demand for wood has grown well beyond the needs of post-disaster reconstruction.

Streams had flowed since time immemorial in the watersheds above Banda Aceh, but village leaders told me they now run dry during the dry season. Life for everyone along these formerly perennial watercourses, all the way into the capital itself, is worse since the tsunami struck and the timber harvests began.

The larger rivers of the region, now receiving too much use, are receding and being rapidly polluted. It all happened fast. It was predictable. It bodes ominously for the future of this Indonesian region that still retains fragments of pristine, healthy rainforest – and too many timber thieves and officials who look the other way.