Development of large-scale cattle ranching in Trangan, the largest island in Indonesia’s South Aru district, may threaten its water resources.
Our reporting collaboration team, together with Forest Watch Indonesia researcher Aziz Fardhani Jaya, a member of the Indonesia Speleological Society, and Sammy Kamsy, a religious leader from Popjetur village, explored the karst landscape of Trangan, which at its highest point lies just 10 meters above sea level.
Sammy said that the plan for cattle ranching on Trangan was worrying, as it would potentially threaten the island’s freshwater resources.
Aziz explained that karst landscapes are found in limestone areas that are the result of sedimentation from shells formed around 15 to 23 million years ago.
Research conducted by FWI and Lawalata IPB in 2016 identified some 37 caves in the Aru Islands. “And that is not yet all of them because of the limited time for exploration and difficult access [to identify them],” Azis said.
The Kokoyar cave on Kobror Island, for example, has corridors with stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, pillars, and flow stones which all have water dripping down from them.
Aziz said that many of the caves also have subterranean rivers.
In Trangan, the caves have long, bifurcated corridors but also few speleothems, such as stalactites and stalagmites.
“This difference is maybe due to the type of stone structure and the ecosystem above it,” said Azis.
Its water also follows an ebb and flow pattern meaning that this karst ecosystem is linked to the upstream areas of nearby rivers.
“Karst is indeed a porous stone and acts like a sponge. It absorbs water. In here the water is salty or brackish, when it reaches the pond it already has become freshwater,” he said.
Karst, he added, helps to safeguard the fresh water supply. Caves functions as natural drainage channels and the water that seeps from their walls also form subterranean rivers.
Azis said that besides the karst landscape, forests and coastal mangroves were also very important in maintaining a supply of fresh water.
“A big issue in South Aru is the availability of water,” said Mufti Barri, Executive Director of Forest Watch Indonesia.
Villages in Aru depend on on a number of fresh water sources, including springs, wells as well as rainwater.
“But wells and springs are very dependent on the conditions of their environment,” said Mufti who is better known as Ode.
A study in sciencedirect.com, showed that livestock farming in karst ecosystems, such as on the Aru Islands, can lead to the pollution of karst aquifers by microbes.
A similar study conducted in the karst ecosystems southeast West Virginia, USA showed that karst springs near livestock farms were intensively contaminated by fecal bacteria.
“If animal feces from large-scale cattle ranching accumulate and get carried away by the water, they will also seep into the ground and increase the presence of E. coli bacteria and other [pathogens],” said Petrasa Wacana, a researcher who specializes in karst ecosystems.
The karst landscape, he added, is also home to the traditional populations of Aru. For remote island people, freshwater is vital resource for survival.
“If sources of clean or freshwater become damaged, they will suffer,” he said.
To read the rest of this story (in Bahasa Indonesia), please visit Mongabay Indonesia.
This story is the third installment of Mongabay Indonesia’s series on cattle ranching in Aru. Follow the links below to read the first two stories:
Ecosystems and indigenous people at risk if cattle ranching begins in Indonesia’s Aru Islands.
What happens when investors make a cattle call on ranching Indonesia’s Aru Islands?
An abbreviated version of this story was produced with the support of the Earth Journalism Network and was originally published by Mongabay Indonesia on October 12, 2022. It has been edited for length and clarity.
The reporting was performed collaboratively by Mongabay Indonesia, Metro Maluku, Titastory.id and Forest Watch Indonesia and part of the Earth Journalism Network’s special collaborative project on One Health and meat in the Asia Pacific entitled “More Than Meats the Eye.” It brings together eight media outlets from different countries and more than a dozen reporters to cover the impact of meat on animal, human and environmental health in the Asia-Pacific region.