By: Syamsidar and Cendera Rizky

Pekanbaru (01/08)-Commemorating the National Love of Fauna and Flora Day in November 2011, WWF-Indonesia’s Riau Program holds Article Competition for the journalists. It carries the theme “Restoration for tiger and elephant habitat.”The journalists in Riau are encouraged to send their journalism writings under specific theme starting from 1 August to 30 September 2011.

The theme chosen reflects the actual condition of Riau. WWF has recorded a large number of tigers that were found dead in the Province. This tragic fact occurs due to the habitat destruction caused by land conversion, forest fires, encroachment, and other illegal activities which still continue happen in Riau. The two charismatic Riau spesies are forced to compete for space with dense human populations due to the overlap space. For the last five years, it is recorded that approximately five Sumatran tigers die each year in Riau due to conflicts and seven individuals were found dead in poaching incident. To reduce the death rate of those protected animals, active participation among stakeholders is urgently needed.

Economic-oriented development does not guarantee long term benefit. Many things can be undertaken to preserve the already degraded ecosystems of Riau in order to be able to provide benefits for human. The existence of those two key spesies in Riau (tigers and elephants) should be an advantage which can indicates the balance of nature. Expanding the habitat and connecting wildlife populations, improving management effectiveness and expanding conservation areas, improving plantation management practices are some examples that can be to save the ecosystem.

The depth report highlighting the major environment issue in Riau particularly regarding tigers and elephants is the expected feature at this writing competition. Articles must be written in the form of features, in-depth report or investigation report, at least 7500 characters (with spaces), not including info graphics, tables, and captions.

Each participant may submit maximum two articles, the original works which belong to the participants, and they have been published in the media for the period of 30 January to 30 September 2011. If you are interested to join this competition, send your articles to the committee, at syamsidar@wwf.or.id or afdhalmy@yahoo.co.uk. Please include brief personal information for example name, address, and contact number and the publishing date of the along with your email.

As an appreciation for the participants, WWF-Indonesia will award a package of brand Canon Digital Camera for the first winner, the runner up, and the third winner as well as an external hard disk for the other two best participants.