Fires are always going to occur, whether deliberate or not, and they can also be caused by El Nino effects. We have every reason to prepare ourselves and be on full alert. The orangutan rescue centre that we run stands upon coal deposits a mere few metres below the surface. This forest region is also divided by the trans-Kalimantan road, where careless road users can just throw out their still-lit cigarette butts, starting fires in the dry grass and leaves.
With the resources that we have, we have created a system to prevent the orangutans in our care from suffering during these fires. We have bought several new water pumps, connected taps at a number of locations and prepared hoses at each site. Through radio and internet, we have been monitoring the movement of fires and hot spots. Fire patrols are in place and firebreaks have been created.
That grave day finally arrived – fire ripped along the trans-Kalimantan road that passes through our centre. Little more could be done than to defend ourselves so that the fire did not spread to our location. The situation late that night felt like hell. Fire danced and licked at the sky, as though giving us a warning – we are nothing in this great big universe.
We prayed with everything that we had. We called to all the spirits and ghosts that dwell in the forests. It seems that somebody was listening. The wind changed direction and slowly died down, though the fires that week had destroyed at least 800 hectares of the rich and biodiverse Labanan Research Forest. The good news is, we were safe, the orangutans were safe, and all of our supporting facilities were also unharmed.
All the same, we couldn’t sit by and watch the fires burning through other areas. Almost the entire island of Kalimantan was burning, the fires depleting the forests and threatening the wildlife. We had to set priorities for our teams. We chose the Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan, and the Wain River Protected Forest. Tanjung Puting National Park is a home for 6000 orangutans, and our associates there – the Friends of the National Park Foundation (FNPF) and Orangutan Foundation International (OFI), were putting their lives on the line to extinguish the fires. The first hurdle for us was distance. The APE Crusader team drove for 3 days non-stop from Berau to Pangkalan Bun. The APE Warrior team flew to Balikpapan in Kalimantan, the only city with an airport still open, despite the thick smoke obstructing pilots’ vision. From Balikpapan, the team drove across South Kalimantan, headed for Central Kalimantan.
We began working at Beguruh Camp, where FNPF has been restoring the region since 2003. The trees that had been planted there were wiped out in a fire in 2006, but FNPF did not give up. With the help of the local community, they again replanted the area, to only be burned down again this time. But they have a good reason not to give up. As well as being a vital habitat for orangutans, Tanjung Puting National Park also gives life to the local community through the ecotourism sector. Sixteen thousand tourists visit the area each year to see the orangutans. Orangutans need forest, so they must ensure that the forest remains.
Our determination to save the forest and the orangutans from fire has truly been tested. While we were fighting to extinguish the fires, the house of one of our team members, Paulinus, was burnt to the ground. The forest fire crept its way into the village and engulfed a number of houses. Sadly, Paulinus’ grandfather lost his life in this tragedy. But will we give up? No!
We flew out a drone to monitor the situation and record the damage. We found that there are still a number of fire hotspots and smoke billowing. Hopefully they will soon die out, because the rain has begun to fall. Our estimate is that at least 91,000 hectares of the Tanjung Puting National Park region has been burnt down, 7,000 hectares of which are forest areas. This equates to the combined total of the destruction caused by the fires of both 1997 and 2006. The biggest task is yet to come – replanting. COP has decided to carry out an investigation. Somebody must be held accountable, particularly since we received a report from a water bomber pilot, that he witnessed 3 people fleeing from a place where they should not have been. It is suspected that these people were paid by the palm oil industry. In that region, 500 hectares of land are held and defended by the local community, who refuse to sell to the palm oil companies. If the land has all been burnt down like this, what is left to defend?
Meanwhile, other teams moved out to Wain River Protected Forest, an area of vital habitat to orangutans and sunbears only 15 kilometres from Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation have released 80 orangutans in this area. For this reason, we decided to help out here. Wain River is managed by the Protected Forest Management Body, a technical implementation unit from the Balikpapan city government. Compared to other regions, perhaps the handling of issues in this area is better. The local government assigned 150 soldiers to extinguish the fires. We endeavoured to prevent the spread of fires into this area. Firebreaks were created to isolate the fires and prevent spreading. A team was put on patrol in order to ensure no fires were able to creep in, and to put out the remaining fires that could potentially reignite. We stayed at Jamaludin camp, approximately 4 hours on foot from the forest entrance.
The rain has now fallen, put out the fires, and washed away the community’s anger and the evidence of crimes that may have been committed here by forest felons. There is one big question that is always asked of us by the media and journalists: How many orangutans have become victims of the forest fires? We don’t know. What is certain is, at the time that you are reading this, our rescue centre has gained two new residents. One more has just arrived at the Forest Ministry facility in Tenggarong, East Kalimantan. As usual, we have little information of their backgrounds. If only orangutans could speak a human language, they would surely have much to tell us.
We express our thanks to The Orangutan Project, Monkey Business, International Fund for Animal Welfare, The Forest Trust and Indonesia Orangutan Forum, who have all supported us with funds and equipment for this operation.
ANDAI ORANGUTAN BISA BERCERITA,
KISAH YANG TERSISA DARI KEBAKARAN HUTAN DI KALIMANTAN
Kebakaran pasti akan terjadi, baik disengaja atau tidak. Bisa juga karena gejala alam El Nino. Kami memiliki semua alasan untuk mempersiapkan diri dan bersiaga penuh. Pusat Penyelamatan Orangutan yang kami jalankan berdiri di atas deposit batubara, hanya beberapa meter saja dalamnya. Jalan trans Kalimantan, juga membelah kawasan hutan itu. Para sopir yang ceroboh bisa saja membuang puntung rokoknya yang masih menyala dan membakar serasah daun serta rerumputan kering.
Dengan sumber daya seadanya, kami menciptakan system untuk mencegah agar orangutan yang berada dalam perawatan kami tidak terpanggang dalam panggang. Kami membeli beberapa mesin pompa air baru, membuat dan menghubungkan titik – titik kran dan menyiapkan selang di lokasi. Dari radio kami memantau pergerakan api, dari internet kami memantau trend hot spot. Patroli api dijalankan. Sekat api juga dibuat.
Hari besar itu akhirnya terjadi. Api membakar sepanjang jalan trans Kalimantan yang melewati pusat kami. Tidak banyak yang bisa dilakukan selain mempertahankan diri agar api tidak merambat ke lokasi kami. Malam – malam itu situasinya seperti neraka. Api menari dan menjilat langit, terlihat memberikan peringatan kepada kami: bahwa kami bukanlah apa – apa di alam raya ini.
Kami berdoa dengan semua doa yang kami ingat. Kami memanggil semua arwah binatang dan hantu yang mendiami hutan. Nampaknya, ada yang mendengarnya. Angin berubah arah dan menjauh, pelan – pelan meredup dan mati. Kebakaran minggu itu telah menghancurkan setidaknya 800 hektar hutan penelitian Labanan yang kaya akan keanekaragaman hayati. Berita baiknya, kami selamat, orangutan selamat dan seluruh fasilitas pendukung juga selamat.
Namun demikian kami tidak bisa berdiam diri melihat kebakaran di tempat lain. Hampir seluruh Kalimantan sedang terbakar. Api menghabiskan hutan – hutan dan mengancam satwa liar. Kami harus menentukan prioritas untuk menerjunkan tim. Kami memilih Taman Nasional Tanjung Puting di Kalimantan Tengah dan Hutan Lindung Sungai Wain. Taman Nasional Tanjung adalah rumah bagi 6000 orangutan dan sekutu kami di sana, yakni FNPF dan OFI sedang berjuang mempertaruhkan nyawa untuk memadamkan api. Rintangan pertama yang menghadang adalah jarak. Tim APE Crusader harus mengemudikan mobilnya dari Berau ke Pangkalan Bun. Jaraknya 3 hari non stop mengemudi. Tim APE Warrior harus terbang dulu ke Balikpapan di Kalimantan, satu – satunya kota yang bandaranya tidak ditutup karena asap benar – benar sudah menghalangi pandangan. Dari Balikpapan, tim mengemudi melintasi Kalimantan Selatan dan lalu menuju Kalimantan Tengah.
Kami mulai bekerja di Camp Beguruh, dimana FNPF merestorasi kawasan ini sejak tahun 2003. Pohon – pohon yang pernah ditanami, pernah ludes terbakar pada tahun 2006. Mereka tidak putus asa. Dengan bantuan masyarakat setempat mereka kembali menanami kawasan itu. Kali ini terbakar lagi. Mereka punya alasan kuat kenapa tidak boleh menyerah. Selain menjadi habitat penting bagi orangutan, Taman Nasional Tanjung Puting juga memberikan penghidupan bagi masyarakat setempat dari sektor ekowisata. Setidaknya, 16.000 wisatawan datang berkunjung setiap tahunnya: untuk melihat orangutan. Orangutan butuh hutan dan mereka harus memastikan bahwa hutan itu tetap ada.
Semangat kami untuk menyelamatkan hutan dan orangutan dari kobaran api, kali ini benar – benar diuji. Di saat kami sedang berjuang memadamkan api, rumah salah satu anggota tim kami, Paulinus, terbakar habis. Api kebakaran hutan menjalar ke kampungnya dan melalap beberapa rumah. Kakeknya tewas dalam tragedi itu. Menyerah? Tidak!
Kami menerbangkan drone, memantau situasi menginventarisasi kerusakan. Kami menemukan masih ada beberapa titik api dan asap yang mengepul. Semoga lekas padam, karena hujan mulai turun. Perkiraan kami, setidaknya 91.000 hektar kawasan Taman Nasional Tanjung Puting telah terbakar, 7.000 hektar diantaranya adalah kawasan berhutan. In setara dengan kombinasi 2 kebakaran yang pernah terjadi pada tahun 1997 dan 2006. Tugas berat lainnya sudah menunggu: menanaminya kembali. COP memutuskan untuk melakukan investigasi. Harus ada yang bertanggung jawab, terutama setelah kami mendapatkan laporan dari pilot helikopter pengebom air, bahwa dia melihat 3 orang berlarian di tempat yang tIdak semestinya. Diduga, mereka adalah orang – orang bayaran perusahaan perkebunan kelapa sawit. Di kawasan itu, terdapat hutan seluas 500 hektar yang sedang dipertahankan oleh masyarakat setempat. Mereka menolak untuk menjualnya ke perusahaan kelapa sawit. Jika sudah terbakar habis seperti ini, apa lagi yang harus dipertahankan?
Sementara itu, tim lainnya bergerak ke Hutan LIndung Sungai Wain, habitat penting bagi orangutan dan beruang. Jaraknya hanya 15 km dari kota Balikpapan, Kalimantan Timur. Yayasan BOS melepasliarkan 80 orangutan di sini. Karena itulah kami memutuskan untuk membantu di sini. Sungai Wain dikelola oleh Badan Pengelola Hutan Lindung, sebuah Unit Pelaksana Teknis dari pemerintah kota Balikpapan. Dibandingkan kawasan lain, mungkin penanganan di sini lebih baik. Pemerintah kota setempat menerjunkan 150 orang tentara untuk memadamkan api. Kami memilih untuk mencegah meluasnya api ke dalam kawasan. Sekat api dibuat untuk mengisolasi apai agar tidak merambat. Tim berpatroli untuk memastikan tidak ada api yang merambat dan mematikan sisa api yang mungkin bisa berkobar lagi. Kami tinggal di camp Jamaludin, kira – kira 4 jam berjalan kaki dari pintu masuk kawasan.
Hujan kini telah turun. Api kebakaran padam, membasuh semua amarah masyarakat dan bukti – bukti kejahatan yang mungkin pernah dilakukan para kriminal kehutanan. Ada 1 pertanyaan besar yang selalu ditanyakan kepada kami oleh para jurnalis: berapakah orangutan yang menjadi korban dari kebakaran hutan? Kami tidak tahu. Yang pasti, saat anda membaca ini, Pusat Penyelamatan kami sudah terisi 2 penghuni baru. Ada 1 lagi yang baru datang di fasilitas milik Kemenhut di Tenggarong, Kalimantan Timur. Seperti biasa, tidak banyak informasi mengenai latar belakang mereka. Anda orangutan bisa bahasa manusia, tentu dia akan bercerita banyak.
Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada The Orangutan Project, Monkey Business, International Fund for Animal Welfare, The Forest Trust dan Forum Orangutan Indonesia yang telah mendukung kami dana dan peralatan untuk operasi ini.
