Spatial Distribution and Characteristics of Destructive Activities in Tahura Gunung Menumbing, West Bangka
Muhammad Robby Pratama, Hero Marhaento

Forest Resource Conservation Department,
Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Gadjah Mada

Abstract

Taman Hutan Raya (Tahura) Gunung Menumbing is a well-known protected area in West Bangka, Indonesia for its unique of plants and animals that represent the low-land forest ecosystems of Bangka-Belitung Island. However, the biodiversity of Tahura Gunung Menumbing is currently facing threats from illegal encroachments. This research aims to map the spatial distribution of those illegal encroachments inside the protected area and investigate their characteristics such as dominances, frequencies, time and durations. We interviewed 48 respondents that were selected by snowball sampling technique. These respondents consisted of farmers, illegal tin miners, and poachers. The results showed that the spatial distribution of illegal encroachments such as illegal tin mining, wildlife hunting, and illegal agriculture practices for rubber and oil palm plantations mainly occurred on the west side of Tahura Gunung Menumbing inside the utilization and rehabilitation blocks. Illegal agriculture practices for rubber and oil palm were the most dominant activities (69%) in the Tahura Gunung Menumbing, while illegal tin mining and wildlife hunting contributed 25% and 6%, respectively. Moreover, illegal tin mining and agriculture practices were the two activities having high frequencies which almost occurred every day, while wildlife hunting was relatively low frequency (i.e. once a week). For the time of activity, hunting wildlife was carried out mostly in the morning, while the tin mining and agriculture practices were carried out throughout the day. The findings of our study showed that Tahura Gunung Menumbing is facing serious threats and thus the biodiversity is potentially declining in the future. Therefore, conservation actions to preserve the biodiversity in Tahura Gunung Menumbing are urgently needed.

Keywords: Illegal Activities, Encroachment, Biodiversity Threats, Tahura Gunung Menumbing

Topic: Environmental Science, Technology, and Education