Leuser Ecosystem Nears Destruction

Kompas/Zulkarnaini

One of the convertible production forest areas in the Leuser Ecosystem (KEL) shows its conversion to a plantation in Southeast Aceh, Aceh, on Sunday (7/5). The Leuser Ecosystem is a tropical rain forest, water catchment area and the natural habitat of rare animals. Damage to the protected ecosystem would lead to ecological disaster and threaten the lives of protected animals like elephants, tigers, rhinos and orangutans, as well as the lives of local villagers.

Environmental destruction in the Leuser Ecosystem, an area of forest, which spans the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra, has been unstoppable lately. Forest conversion and encroachment have taken place openly and on a massive-scale.

In mid May, a team of Kompas journalists, together with the Leuser Conservation Forum roamed the Leuser forest for a week and witnessed the destruction of the world\'s third largest forest.