Bid to save the species: Indonesia is a key regional biodiversity hotspot and home to endangered species like the Sumatran tigers. — The Straits Times/ANN
For decades, the country’s protected wildlife such as songbirds and orangutans have been traded illegally and even smuggled out of the country, to the detriment of the species.
A revised law will aid biodiversity conservation and boost hopes of curbing illegal wildlife trading within Indonesia and across its borders, conservationists and experts say. But enforcement is key, they note, emphasising the value of thorough probe and consistent follow-through in rooting out illegal wildlife trafficking.
The illegal wildlife trade is rampant in Indonesia, a key regional biodiversity hotspot and home to endangered species like Sumatran tigers, Asian elephants and komodo dragons. This impinges on its biodiversity and upsets the ecological balance.
The global illegal trade in fauna and flora has been estimated to be worth US$7bil (RM30bil) to US$23bil (RM98.9bil) annually. The value of the illegal trade is assessed at up to US$1bil (RM4.3bil) per year, in addition to enormous economic, environmental, and social losses, according to the United Nations Development Programme in Indonesia.
The revised “Law on Conservation of Biological Natural Resources and their Ecosystems”, which took effect in August, will ensure more legal protection for wildlife through harsher penalties and widening the scope for such traffickers to be charged.
Now, individuals can be fined as much as 5 billion rupiah (RM1.3mil) from a maximum of 100 million rupiah previously, and jailed up to 15 years or triple the duration set in the previous law.
In addition, corporations or corporate traffickers can now be charged under the revised law and if found guilty, be fined as much as 50 billion rupiah and imprisoned for up to 20 years.
The Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s director-general of law enforcement Rasio Ridho Sani believes the move will reduce wildlife trafficking and strengthen enforcement of the law.
The authorities will also be able to tackle illegal wildlife-related activities and money laundering concurrently, he said.
“This approach will be more effective as the charged punishment can be harsher and it enables (law enforcers) to break up criminal networks, including transnational ones, by following the suspects through the flows of the money,” Rasio said. — The Straits Times/ANN
