Dear Friends,

First of all I would like to thanks to those who keep supporting us in this difficult time, we wish you a Happy New Year even it too late. May God bless us with a lot of happiness and health in this years. I also would ask your apologies for being late to inform about our activity in December 2002. We just been informed by the director of Tanjung Puting National Park Mr. Lusman Pasaribu that the local government of Central Borneo have solved the problem with the villagers. They are willing to pay the villager for the land claim that make most of the conservation and tourism activities at the park especially along Sekonyer river where we are working are not possible. Hopefully all of the process will be done in a week from now. We would thanks to the Governor of Central Borneo Mr. Asmawi Agani, the Bupati of Kota Waringin Barat Mr. Abdul Razak and any party who make a wise decision to solve the problem. Mr Lusman also mentioned that the villager had promised to join Park Protection and hopefully they really keep their word.

In this occasion we also would to inform you that we are not working with the Belgium student group "Safier" as we do not have a common interest anymore. We thanks them for all of their work at Tanjung Harapan Village and we hope they could continue their good work at any place include Tanjung Harapan.

We are in process for a new MoU with the park and the local government to work at the park and do some community development. We believe without support from the local community we could not do our work as a continues work. We also believe that to get the villager participation we need to think about how to involve them in the activity and try to make a direct and or indirect benefit for them. In this year we will need more support from any party to start the work again at the park along with any possibility to develop any work that allow more participation from the people surround the park.

Please note that we had made a mistake on our income and expenses on November 2002. We had register donation from Mr. Jean Nica on November 2001 as amount of Rp.700.000 and reregister it on 2002. We are apologize for any inconvenience that might caused by it.

Here with the activity report from our staff attached.

Once again thank you for all of your support and we hope you willing to support us more.

Sincerely yours,

Drh I Gede Nyoman Bayu Wirayudha
Director of FNPF.

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Activity report by FNPF staff - December 2002

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2003 and may all people be happy under the protection of God.

In this month, our activities were:

Wildlife Rehabilitation Survey Sungai Buluh Besar area

Initially we conducted a survey to ascertain the presence of the sun bear in the areas around Kumai and Pangkalan Bun. Then on 9th 11th December 2002, we went to the area around Buluh Besar river to determine the viability of carrying out rehabilitation of the Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus) and also of orangutans in that area. From a visual inspection, the water quality appeared excellent and was still black as per its original condition. Local villagers informed us that bears and orangutans are still frequently encountered both by locals and by villagers from nearby areas such as Teluk Pulai Desa. Bears are frequently seen eating palm cabbage and fruit from the nyiur tree in local farms around Tanjung Pulai, while orangutans would also appear to be present in sufficient numbers in the area judging from the amount of orangutan nests that we encountered at the river's edge. We came across a group of between 15-20 orangutan nests in one area; we believe this is a result of the forest fires last year and the extensive logging that is still ongoing resulting in loss of habitat and food sources which in turn are driving orangutans to new areas in search of food and appropriate habitat.

During our survey we managed to see 3 adult orangutans, 2 of which were carrying babies, eating along the river bank; the location and area presented similarly to the Sekonyer river. From the mouth of the Buluh Besar river we saw nipah trees and upstream we found bakung and rasau (Pandanus palm), adding to the river's beautiful outlook.

According to the local villagers who have ventured into the area, at the headwaters there is a lake frequented by waterbirds. The birds visit only in certain seasons; out of season only the nests can be seen. Villagers were unsure what was driving the apparent seasonal migratory behaviour. We were unable to reach the lake as we did not have specific details of its location and we had no guide. We plan to undertake a second survey if feasible.

Our senior staff, Pak Ledan came with us to record and identify those trees which provide food for orangutans. According to Mr. Ledan, the area around the Buluh Besar river has many trees for orangutan consumption similar to those found in the area around the Sekonyer river. The forests in the area are mainly wet and dry swamp forests. All along the Buluh Besar river we saw trails left by illegal loggers. Some appeared to be still in use while others had been abandoned; while we were there, we saw loggers entering the area. This activity is highly dangerous if not stopped because the resulting destruction will threaten many species including orangutans.

Mengkudu (Morinda citifolia) Cultivation Project

For the cultivation of morinda, we have transferred the seedlings and have grouped these according to the number of leaves and have placed them in areas with appropriate exposure to sunlight. We have also re-recorded the number of seedlings on hand. Currently we have approximately 1938 seedlings in the greenhouse, 80 in the office and 50 in the house of Mr. Suriansyah. The majority of the seedlings now have more than 6 leaves.

On 23rd December 2002, our Mr. Erwin met with Bana, one of the local villagers who was willing to let us establish an experimental mengkudu project on his land. On the same day Pak Diris (Tj. Harapan village head) stated that he would issue a permit if FNPF was willing to withdraw its eviction complaint. He also suggested the mengkudu program be trialled initially to demonstrate to local villagers that the plant could grow well in the Tanjung Harapan district. In response, a villager Pak Dollah stated that he had planted mengkudu near his home and that the plant was growing well, showing luxuriant growth with healthy blue-green leaves. We are also unsure if Pak Diris will indeed sign the permit he mentioned. According to information from several local villagers, mengkudu had previously flourished in the district; however because they were unaware of its functions and benefits, the plant was never cultivated.

Illegal Logging

Illegal logging continues unabated at both the Sekonyer river and the Buluh Besar river. We know this because several times when we have entered Tanjung Harapan, we have seen boats puling out on average more than 100 logs. Whereas at Buluh Besar river we saw signs of logging activity as reported during our survey. Even though there are police staying at the river posts, loggers blatantly ignore them and even occasionally venture as far as the posts. The trees logged are mainly indigenous species including Pulai, Nyatuh, Terantang, Merang and others. Given these circumstances, if the authorities are unable to get on top of the situation then Tanjung Puting National Park is doomed.

Such is the information we can report; please forgive any errors or mistakes on our part.

Respectfully yours,
Drh. I Made Sugiarta and FNPF Staff