East Timor Ecotastrophe
Anonymous

This article was written by an ecologist with extensive recent field experience in East Timor. The author's name has been withheld for security reasons.

Though it is the widespread violation of human rights in East Timor that remains the focus of the world's concern, environmental tragedies also have followed in the wake of Indonesia's 1976 invasion.

In the highlands of Maubessi, Ermera, Bobonaro and Atsabe, where the large majority of people live, land is fertile and water occasionally abundant, even in the long dry seasons, thus allowing coffee and vegetables to flourish.

Over the years, the East Timorese have built massive terraces similar to the famed rice terraces of Bali and Java. Rather than a Javanese patchwork of verdant green, the Timorese moved millions of rocks to create gray terraces that climb the steep mountains for hundreds of meters.

People grow only enough for their own needs. Commerce is not a priority when life itself remains threatened. In some areas, particularly between Letofoho and Hatubulico, once productive land has been laid waste by napalm. In other areas, deforestation has occurred in the name of security, leaving great swathes of fertile land devastated and eroded beyond rehabilitation.

Of particular concern isthe watershed around the capital city of Dili. Under Portuguese rule, forests covered the mountains overlooking Dili. Portuguese law was strict: If a tree was cut down, or a fire set, retribution was swift. Today, the same laws exist, but they are never enforced.

Wildlife once roamed the areas where the town met the forest and rivers ran to the sea - even during the dry seasons. Today, Dili is an environmental and ecological disaster waiting to happen.

The rivers are dry. Even during the rains, only a trickle of water reaches the sea. Apart from a few sad stands of once-magnificent forest, the mountain slopes are bare - stripped first for security reasons, then to clear agricultural land and finally, in a desperate search for firewood.

Water is scarce. Each year, the volume of surface water drops further. Ultimately, groundwater levels will also drop. Dili was once a swamp. In places, the remnants of that swamp provide a few small pockets of land suitable for growing greens. The only other options for growing food are the city's drains where untreated sewage and wastes are dumped.

The government plans to drain the remaining swamps, turning one into a fishing lake for Javanese tourists. The rest would be filled as sites for office blocks. In this newly barren area where malnutrition remains a major health problem, where else can the farmers grow crops? This is an area .

Once the water system rehabilitation program is completed, the situation will certainly improve. However, there is little point in having a water system if nature decides not to provide the water - and that is what the future holds.

If present water levels continue to drop, Dili will be a very thirsty place. Even after millions have been spent by Australia to provide a reliable city water system for the poorer areas of Dili (predominantly occupied by East Timorese), most residents still get town water only every second day - and then only for one to two hours. The destruction of the forest leads to the conclusion that, in the not too distant future, the area around Dili will become a desert, with very little water.

If East Timor gains its independence, must it then turn round and seek massive aid for reforestation? By then, it could be too late. There is little point in resolving the political situation if the ultimate prize is an unproductive homeland.

What You Can Do: For more information, contact John M. Miller, Media & Outreach Coordinator, East Timor Action Network, PO Box 150753, Brooklyn, NY 11215-0014, (718) 788-6071, timor-info@igc.apc.org

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