Indonesia: Forest conversion on Kalimantan border halted

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Indonesia: Forest conversion on Kalimantan border

halted

Source: Copyright 2005, Jakarta Post

December 9, 2005

Byline: Tb. Arie Rukmantara

 

The government said on Wednesday it would forbid any

new conversion of forests for plantation use in the

Kalimantan border areas in a bid to help protect the

environment.

 

Minister of Forestry Malam S. Ka'ban said that his

office instead wanted to lure private investors to

rehabilitate some 1.1 million hectares of abandoned

deforested areas on the Kalimantan border through a

" build, operate, rehabilitate and transfer " (BORT)

mechanism.

 

" The Ministry of Forestry will no longer allow

conversion of forests into plantations. We will

instead optimize the use of abandoned lands, " the

minister said in a written speech read out by the

director general of forest protection and natural

resource conservation Arman Malolongan at a workshop

on a conservation area referred to as the Heart of

Borneo (HOB).

 

Under the BORT mechanism, investors would be allowed

to replant 40 percent of the areas with commercial

agricultural crops, while the remaining 60 percent

must be reforested.

 

" Under BORT, the companies will only receive

concession rights for 25 years to 35 years. And they

cannot be extended. After that, the firms have to

restore the areas that were used for plantations, "

Ka'ban said.

 

The plan should bode well with the conservation work

at the HOB, environmentalists said.

 

The HOB, the only place on earth where massive

conservation is viable, is located in a 220,000 square

kilometers protected area that straddles the

transboundary highlands of Brunei, Indonesia and

Malaysia.

 

The area is the third largest tropical forest on the

planet, after the Amazon in Brazil and Congo in

Africa.

 

" Should the minister's words be fully implemented, we

all should be happy that HOB will remain protected and

that the planned giant oil palm plantation project

will not be allowed to harm the HOB area, " World Wide

Fund for Nature Indonesia head of forestry programs

Dian Achmad Kosasih told The Jakarta Post.

 

Several environmental groups, including WWF, have

opposed the government's plan to set up a giant oil

palm plantation in Kalimantan covering an area of 1.8

million hectares, fearing that it will threaten the

rich biodiversity of the island. Under the initial

plan, the plantation project would cover part of the

HOB area on the Kalimantan border.

 

WWF Indonesia executive director Mubariq Ahmad said

the HOB should always be kept protected because it was

home to many species.

 

He said in the last 10 years, researchers from all

over the world had found 361 new species in the area,

making it the most pristine biodiversity center on the

planet.

 

" About three new species are now found every day and

many more will be found if we protect the area, " he

told Antara.

 

WWF recently announced its discovery of a new

carnivore, slightly larger than a domestic cat with

dark red fur and a long bushy tail, in the Kayan

Mentarang National Park, East Kalimantan, that is part

of 23 national parks and protected forest areas

included in the HOB.

 

Originally posted at:

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20051209.C02 & irec=2

 

 

Michelle Desilets

BOS UK

www.savetheorangutan.org.uk

www.savetheorangutan.info

" Primates Helping Primates "

 

Please sign our petition to rescue over 100 smuggled orangutans in Thailand:

http://www.thePetitionSite.com/takeaction/822035733

 

 

 

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