http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/4000-hectares-forest-destroyed-aceh-five-months/
Over 4,000 Hectares of Forest Destroyed in Aceh in Five Months Jakarta. More than 4,000 hectares of forest have been destroyed in the Leuser Ecosystem Zone in Aceh province over a five-month period this year due to changes in land use, according to nongovernmental organization the Aceh Natural Forests and Environment, or HAkA. Agung Dwinurcahya, manager for geographic information systems at HAkA, said the total forest cover was reduced from 1,820,726 hectares in January to 1,816,629 hectares in June. The Leuser Ecosystem Zone stretches over 13 of the province's 23 districts, but most of the forest destruction took place in East Aceh, with up to 1,870 hectares. In the districts of Gayo Lues and Central Aceh, 405 hectares were lost, while South Aceh saw a loss of 378 hectares. Additionally, 187 forest fire hotspots were recorded in the province between January and June, with 56 in East Aceh alone. Hotspots were not monitored in North Aceh, West Aceh and Aceh Singkil. "Hotspots are directly proportional to the loss of forest cover in Aceh. Take East Aceh for example. The district saw the largest number of hotspots. These are the main contributors to deforestation," Agung said on Thursday (29/09). While the 927 hectares lost in East Aceh occurred mainly in production forests, most of the 184 hectares lost in Gayo Lues losts were in protected areas. Agung added that the largest forest loss in a limited production forest occurred in Southwest Aceh, with 46 hectares. In South Aceh, most of the losses occurred in wildlife reserves, with up to 70 hectares, while national parks in Southeast Aceh lost 123 hectares. According to environmental news website Mongabay, the Leuser Ecosystem also recorded 2,398 forest crimes during the period. Nearly a quarter of the crimes, mainly involving poaching, illegal road construction, illegal logging and forest encroachment, occurred in Aceh Tamiang district. +++++ Aceh, Jakarta, West Papua Prone to Conflicts During Regional Elections: Police Jakarta. Aceh, Jakarta and West Papua are three provinces the police deem to be most prone to conflicts during next year's regional elections, a senior officer said. These three provinces are among seven — along with 18 cities and 76 districts — across the country which will hold simultaneous elections to elect their regional leaders in February 2017. National Police policy analyst Chief Comr. Rikwanto said the police will deploy more forces in these three provinces, but also stressed that security situations can change anytime. "It doesn't mean that conflicts won't happen in the other regions. We'll keep our eyes open," Rikwanto said on Thursday (29/09). Rikwanto did not explain in details why the police will take extra caution in Aceh, Jakarta and West Papua, saying only that Jakarta has tended to "heat up" ahead of its gubernatorial elections. The police will deploy around 100,000 personnel during the regional elections — 11,000 of them assigned to Jakarta.
