Matthew

Matthiew Linkie is the director of FFI in Aceh. He has been described by many people in the environmental conservation field as, “tiger man” because his past studies and research has focused on the Sumatran tiger. At FFI in Aceh, he not only manages projects related to the Sumatran tiger, but also projects in local development, the fight against deforestation, marine protection, and, of course, the human-elephant conflict. He is recognized as a highly effective person in his field, and in my opinion, he is a very good team manager. He is flexible with his teams, which allows him to carry out a large number of different and relevant projects. He has always given me important tips and has allowed me to take things one step at a time.

When I talked to to him about his relationship with the elephants, he told me his most memorable experience in a way that made me feel like I was there. Matthiew was in the heart of the jungle in Kerinci Park after a three day walk, “we were as far as we could go into the forest.” He was with a group of 15 people seeking the presence of tigers. They knew that wild elephants were in the area because there was a lot of fresh dung on the path. Everyone was “on high-alert, and very anxious,” the elephants were close and they were worried that they would charge. While looking for signs of tigers, they were constantly looking for an escape route from the nearby elephants just in case of an encounter. That day, they had found traces of tigers and also followed two tracks that seemed to be from a rhinoceros. Suddenly, they heard a loud, “BANG,” they saw the elephants 10 meters (32.8 feet) below. “We all started running, and I even fell while running because I was only wearing my sandals. My shoes had burned in the campfire that we maintain at night in order to scare the wild animals. Luckily for us, they did not charge.” Matthiew told me that two weeks beforehand, two people were charged by a herd, and were able to escape. After this experience, it became clear to him that working in the field near wild elephants has the potential to be dangerous.

As a scientist, Matthiew says he has no “special connection” with the elephant. He thinks that the sound of their “deep rumble” is particularly impressive, and describes them as charismatic animals. As part of the CRU, he says the elephant is the essence of the camp. Before coming to work in Aceh, he worked on the coexistance between humans and animals at the university. He then became the director of FFI in 2008 and admitted that the human-elephant conflict is their main challenge. It is indeed a problem in terms of conservation for the species, but it can also be considered a social problem because it can destroy the livelihoods of the local populations. Because Aceh is an area of broad and “undisturbed” habitat that contains a large population of elephants, the possibility of a conflict is very high. “Our priority is to have an organized response to mitigate conflicts. When a field representing the income of an entire family is destroyed just before the harvest, it is a huge loss!” In 1998, FFI in Aceh began collecting data on the population of wild elephants in the region. At that time, Aceh was in the middle of a civil war and FFI had to obtain permits from the government and rebel forces to travel by land. They had to obtain the permits secretly because they did not want either party to know of their collaboration with the other. Matthiew also told me that during the civil war, most of the local population left or neglected their fields and gardens. When the civil war ended and people began to return to work, there was a large increase in human-elephant conflicts.

Before the creation of the CRU in 2009 and the “Community Ranger” program, FFI responded to the conflicts sporadically. Today, these programs have allowed for a quicker response. They are also more organized, “we know where and when” the elephants have been. They also work in better collaboration with the local people. They teach the proper response to an elephant conflict. With this work, FFI was also able to map the areas of conflict. The CRU is very imiportant; their work helps, “prevent the killing of elephants, knowing that only the government can give an answer to a few conflicts.” Matthiew also understands that, “the use of domesticated elephants can be questioned by the CRU” (some CRU exist without the use of domesticated elephants), however, it can be argued that working with the domesticated elephants provides a better life for them and can change the mentality of the local population; when they see the CRU using elephants, they can see that they have the potential to be useful. In the future, Matthiew hopes for stability and for the CRU to be financially independent, through eco-tourism and through higher government involvement.

I would like to add a few notes about the discussion I had with Matthiew which do not necessarily relate to the human-elephant conflict, but represents a beautiful picture of the work he is doing around Aceh. I actually asked him how it was for a European to work here, he explained that Aceh, because of its history (civil war and recent tsunami) was very “intense work.” The Acehneese are fighters and do not always respond well to different interventions. “It’s like a ball of energy, you can help by keeping a watchful eye or help by guiding it in the right direction. There is a particular strength in the spirit of the Acehneese and I love working with them.”