More bite for Indonesia's wildlife anti-trafficking law

Wider scope and harsher penalties, but enforcement is key, say experts

- Linda Yulisman

For decades, Indonesia's protected wildlife such as songbirds and orang utans 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 investigation and consistent follow-through in rooting out illegal wildlife trafficking.

The illegal wildlife trade is rampant in Indonesia, a key regional biodiversity hot spot and home to endangered species like Sumatran tigers, Asian elephants and komodo dragons, the world's largest-living lizards. 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$7 billion (S$9 billion) to US$23 billion annually. The value of the illegal trade in Indonesia alone is assessed at up to US$1 billion 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 (S$421,300) from a maximum of 100 million rupiah previously, and jailed up to 15 years, or triple the duration set in the previous law.