Keanekaragaman Jenis dan Nilai Ekonomi Satwa Liar yang Digunakan Sebagai Obat di Jawa Tengah

Abstract

Indonesia has high biodiversity and endemism, however extinction rate is also high. Excessive harvesting and habitat destruction by human activity were the dominant factor leading to species extinction and biodiversity loss. Most of the people depend on biodiversity as foods, medicine and housing, but sometime they heedless sustainable utilization. This research was aimed to identify wild animal diversity utilized as traditional medicine and its economics value in Central Java. Research was carried out from May to August 2007 in Central Java Province. Information was obtained through semi structured questionnaires applied to 105 respondents from 19 sub-provinces. I recorded 54 animal species utilized in traditional medicine, 42 of which are wild animal species (vertebrates), 10 avertebrates and 2 livestock animals; whose products were recommended for the treatment of 50 types of illnesses. The most frequently quoted treatments were for respiratory system (20 species), skin disease (18 species) and increasing stamina and appetite (14 species). Reptiles (21 species), followed by mammals (11 species) and fishes (4 species) represented the bulk of medicinal species. Medicinal wild animal is not only used for local consumption, but also exported. The economic value of wild animal to human health in Central Java is estimated to reach Rp.1,421,714,004 per year. Excessive harvesting of medicinal wild animal might increase species loss which resulted in extinction. However, if harvest and trade are based on sustainable utilization, it will not only increasing economic benefit but also generate effort for conservation.