Chaidir Anwar Tanjung/BI & GB, Pekanbaru – Seven islands in Riau province have disappeared completely since 1980 due to environmental degradation caused by excessive oil drilling offshore, contamination of the sea by oil tankers, the clearance and destruction of mangrove areas and the disappearance of coral reefs. The worrying news was announced by the Director of the Indonesian Forestry Study Institute (LPHI) Region I Sumatra, Andreas Heri Kahuripan to Detik on Thursday. He claimed that three of these islands are nameless. The other islands are Nipah, Payung, Pelampung and Sinaboy.

Kahuripan said mangrove and swamp areas that are critical for the ecological system in this region are also disappearing and that this has been caused by crude oil leaks from oil tankers or from the oilrigs. "Due to this washed up crude oil, the mangrove forests in Riau have been damaged. The disappearing mangrove forests caused the tide to reach on to the higher ground as there are no [natural] barriers," said Kahuripan.

He said that in 1970 Bangkau Island, then with covering 2,000, hectares was inhabited by at least 140 families. This island was submerged and most of the residents have relocated to Bangkau Jaya on the main land.

Kahuripan then gave the example of Muntai village, Rubat sub-district, within the regency of Bengkalis to highlight that the problem is affecting Riau at present also. This village is located on the coastline of Riau province and he said that the rising tide has reached 7 kms inland. As a result, hectares of fertile land used for rice farming have been destroyed. These man-made disasters have permanently destroyed irrigation systems necessary for rice farming and caused devastating salinity. This has in turn forced hundreds of local residents to abandon the area.

Thus far, the Riau provincial government has not been very concerned over the issue, which is immensely disturbing to Kahuripan. Riau province is made up of 3000 islands and more than a thousand are inhabited by humans. The government's lack of concern and failure to anticipate the impacts of the phenomena might result in the disappearance of other islands in the region.

Andreas believes that the damage to coral in this region has been so extensive that it caused the government to lose US$12 million. The coral reefs have been damaged by the massive exploitation of the region's sand and offshore oil rigs. Kahuripan accused state-owned oil company Pertamina and PT Kondur Petroleum of being responsible for the destruction on the coral. "These two companies have been drilling offshore. Because of this drilling, most of the coral has been destroyed," he said.

Andreas hoped that the Department of Marine Exploration and Fisheries would immediately control sand exploration and monitor offshore drilling with greater care. If these activities are not uncontrolled, these small islands that make up Riau province will disappear forever.