Environment

For centuries the resources of the Indonesian archipelago have been exploited in moderate ways following consistent social and historical patterns. These experienced tremendous pressures during the 1970s and 1980s, with rising population density, soil erosion and water pollution from agricultural pesticides and off-shore oil drilling.
Declining fish stocks, for instance, imperiled the livelihood of some million fishing people. Although overfishing by Japanese and American "floating factory" fishing boats was officially restricted in Indonesia in 1982, the shortage of fish in many formerly productive waters remained a matter of concern in the early 1990s. Indonesian fishermen also improved their technological capacity to catch fish and contributed to threatening the total supply.
Indonesia's and especially Sulawesi's rainforests go for the areas with the widest biodiversity worldwide. Nevertheless the woods are exterminated as fast as in no other country. This condition, of course, mirrors the state of fauna and flora variety: The list of species threatened by extermination is among the longest in the world.
But wood industry is only a part of the problem. Wide areas are cleared for mining mineral resources or for agricultural reasons. Burning down the forests produces heavy noxious smoke, which sometimes has even raised political conflicts with the neighbouring states.
However, this newly acquired farming soil is only fertile for a very short period: The layer of humus is thin and after agricultural use is no longer possible, most of these areas remain ecological deserts. Here the vicious circle starts: The farmer is forced to clear more forest to make a living.
Thank god, the environmental consciousness is on the rise throughout Indonesia. The government has declared thousands of square kilometers nature reserves, where fauna and flora are protected. Many of these national parks are situated on Sulawesi, e.g. the well-known Tangkoko-Batuangas-Bone reserve with its small Tarsius monkeys. Still more nature protection areas are being planned.