Indonesia is moving to rezone Way Kambas National Park, transforming the Sumatran sanctuary from a “cost center” into a “profit center.”
As Mongabay’s Hans Nicholas Jong reports, the government has framed the initiative as a carbon-trading and luxury-tourism initiative to fund conservation for ecosystem restoration.
The proposed land reclassification would cut the park’s strictly protected core area in half, from roughly 60,000 to 27,661 hectares (148,100 to 68,352 acres) while expanding nearly tenfold the area that can be used for carbon trading and development. The move has sparked criticism from environmental experts and activists.
“If the reason for reducing the core zone is to increase the utilization zone for business, that’s not appropriate,” Indonesian ecologist Wishnu Sukmantoro, a member of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, told Mongabay.
Counterintuitively, restoration and tree-planting projects can sometimes damage wildlife habitat. Carbon projects often prioritize high-density tree planting to maximize credits, but Sumatran elephants in Way Kambas rely on open grasslands for food. Replacing grass with dense forest could drive elephants into human settlements, increasing human-wildlife conflict, according to Irfan Tri Musri, director of the Lampung chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), the country’s largest environmental advocacy group.
Aida Greenbury, a sustainability expert with the advisory board of the World Bioeconomy Forum, also raised questions about the level of engagement with local communities and the process of free, prior, and informed consent.
“Proper FPIC is essential for a high-integrity carbon project,” said Greenbury, who also sits on Mongabay’s advisory council.
An investigation by Indonesian publication Tempo found that the Way Kambas carbon and tourism projects will be led by former U.S. diplomat Karen Brooks. Brooks personally met Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and lobbied to legalize carbon trading and rezone parts of the national park.
The high-end tourism component has also faced scrutiny. Conservationists say the shift toward luxury tourism (up to $14,000 a night) will exclude local residents and the general public from national assets.
“Conservation will only be able to be accessed by the wealthy,” Walhi’s Irfan said.
However, Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said national parks have become an expense instead of a profit generator. He told journalists that this proposal will seek “innovative and sustainable funding,” including private sector involvement, to make the country’s national parks “world-class.”
Still, conservationists warn of habitat fragmentation and the risks of prioritizing tourism and carbon credits over biodiversity.
Conservation scientists have also raised concerns regarding the role of foreign lobbyists and the lack of clarity on where carbon revenue will actually go.
“We need to be careful here — Way Kambas is a national asset,” Greenbury said. “Significant portions of carbon project funding are reportedly consumed by intermediary developers and transaction costs rather than benefiting forests and local communities. This cannot happen.”
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Banner image: Sumatran elephants in Way Kambas National Park. Image by Mustiadewi via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
This story first appeared on Mongabay
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