MSGID: 1:317/3 64acdb2d   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Conservation in Indonesia is at risk, a team of researchers who study   
   the region argues    
      
     Date:   
         July 10, 2023   
     Source:   
         Cell Press   
     Summary:   
         Indonesia, home to the largest tropical rainforest in Southeast   
         Asia and over 17,500 islands, is a country packed with biodiversity   
         and endangered species. However, scientists studying the region's   
         species and ecosystems are getting banned from Indonesia, and   
         conservation plans are being blocked. A team of conservation   
         researchers with long-term experience in Indonesia discuss   
         scientific suppression and other research challenges they have   
         witnessed while working in the region. They offer suggestions for   
         how to promote nature conservation, protect data transparency,   
         and share research with the public in this and other regions of   
         the world.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   Indonesia, home to the largest tropical rainforest in Southeast Asia   
   and over 17,500 islands, is a country packed with biodiversity and   
   endangered species.   
      
   However, scientists studying the region's species and ecosystems are   
   getting banned from Indonesia and conservation plans are being blocked. In   
   a letter publishing in the journal Current Biology on July 10, a team of   
   conservation researchers with long-term experience in Indonesia discuss   
   scientific suppression and other research challenges they have witnessed   
   while working in the region. They offer suggestions for how to promote   
   nature conservation, protect data transparency, and share research with   
   the public in this and other regions of the world.   
      
   "If you look at a heat map of the Earth, and where endangered species   
   are located, Indonesia and that general region are just off the charts,"   
   says tropical environmental scientist William F. Laurance of James Cook   
   University, who has been doing research on the environmental impacts of   
   development in Southeast Asia for over a decade.   
      
   Laurance and his co-authors say they felt drawn to raise awareness about   
   the issues facing conservation in Indonesia because during their time   
   working in the region, they witnessed many instances when governments   
   and corporations impeded research -- including their own.   
      
   For example, they write in the letter, in 2022, five leading conservation   
   researchers were banned from working in Indonesia on the premise that   
   they had "negative intentions" to "discredit the government." The   
   researchers reference papers about forest conservation and wildlife   
   management in Sumatra, for which the teams had multiple colleagues from   
   Indonesia decline co-authorship "out of concerns that it might adversely   
   impact their funding, research permits, or opportunities for commercial   
   contracts in Indonesia."  "The researchers said, 'Well, no, you can't   
   tell that story, even though it's true, and you can't identify me or   
   include all the relevant details.' And this just kept happening over   
   and over again. It's a climate of fear," says Laurance.   
      
   To protect environmental research in Indonesia and the contributors who   
   work on it, Laurance and his team suggest that organizations funding   
   research in the region require data transparency for studies that they   
   support. They also recommend the implementation and usage of online   
   "safe houses" (whistleblower websites designed to protect anonymity and   
   information leakage) and anonymized journals (publications in which   
   contributors are not named). They say these interventions could help   
   researchers get information out to the public without worrying about   
   the consequences of being personally tied to their findings.   
      
   The authors do note that several organizations are advocating for   
   change, especially in Indonesia. Some examples of these groups include   
   the Indonesian Caucus for Academic Freedom and the Jakarta Legal Aid   
   Foundation, which are organizing to support conservation and thwart   
   efforts to silence researchers.   
      
   They also note that "scientific suppression is by no means unique to   
   Indonesia."  "I think scientists have a really serious responsibility to   
   try to communicate what's going on in the world. What's happening here   
   is a bigger problem than gets talked about," said Laurance. "There needs   
   to be a way to get information out, but scientists in many countries   
   are seriously struggling."  This research was supported by funding from   
   James Cook University.   
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by Cell_Press. Note: Content may be   
   edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. William F. Laurance, Abdil Mughis Mudhoffir, Wulan Pusparini, Erik   
         Meijaard, Jayden E. Engert. In Indonesia and beyond nature   
         conservation needs independent science. Current Biology, 2023; 33   
         (13): R706 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.04.068   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230710113228.htm   
      
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