EU and RI furge a partnership in development<\/p>\n
The European Union (EU) is Indonesia's second-largest donor.
\nFunds totaling Rp 8.6 trillion in official development assistance
\nto Indonesia have been provided by the European Commission (EC)
\nand by EU member states during the period 1976 to 1996. The EC's
\nown commitment for this period was Rp 815 billion, of which 90
\npercent has been for development assistance.<\/p>\n
Since it was initiated in 1976, cooperation between the
\nIndonesian government and the EC has focused on Indonesia's own
\ndevelopment priorities, covering sectors such as rural
\ndevelopment, science and technology, energy and the environment,
\nto name the prominent areas of the partnership.<\/p>\n
During the 1980s and early 1990s, the EC's development
\ncooperation program emphasized support for the Indonesian
\ngovernment's efforts to maintain self-sufficiency in rice while
\nalso supporting the consolidation of a more diversified
\nagricultural base. EC-funded programs, therefore, have focused on
\nirrigation and drainage, palawija seed production and marketing,
\nanimal husbandry, fisheries and rural credit.<\/p>\n
Through a budget line for non-government organization (NGO)
\nprojects, the EC has supported 51 NGO projects since 1992
\ntotaling ECU 3 million. The main activities funded were in the
\nfields of health, income generation activities and education and
\ndevelopment, each accounting for some 20 percent of the total.
\nThe geographical coverage of the projects has been nationwide,
\nwith areas like Maluku and East Kalimantan absorbing 50 percent
\nof all funds.<\/p>\n
Cooperation in forestry<\/p>\n
Indonesia's forests represent 10 percent of the world's
\nremaining tropical forests. Based on the country's latest
\nstatistics, the present forest land area is 140.4 million
\nhectares, of which 113.8 million hectares are classified as
\npermanent forests and the remaining 26.6 million hectares as
\nconvertible forests.<\/p>\n
While 113.8 million hectares seems vast, not all of it is
\ncovered with trees, and the condition of many forest areas is
\npoor. During the sixth five-year development plan (REPELITA VI),
\n1992\/1993 to 1997\/1998, it was expected that three million
\nhectares of forests would disappear due to conversion to
\nnonforest purposes, for example, agriculture, resettlement,
\ntransmigration, plantation projects, roads, dams, etc.<\/p>\n
Additional forest losses are caused by shifting cultivation,
\nforest fires, commercial forest harvesting and illegal logging.
\nFurthermore, there are more and more land-use conflicts involving
\nlocal populations which are dependent on the utilization of their
\ntraditional forest resources. Because of this, the government and
\nthe EC decided to focus the development cooperation program more
\non sustainable forest management and forest conservation. As a
\nresult, two-thirds of the EC contribution to the program is now
\nin these two fields.<\/p>\n
In the field of conservation and protection, the main focus is
\non the Leuser Development Program, which aims to conserve the
\nLeuser Ecosystem, including the Gunung Leuser National Park, and
\nto promote sustainable development of the surrounding areas. In
\nthis program, the EC is supporting economic activities in the
\nbuffer zone of the national park, the development of appropriate
\necotourism, the establishment of park boundaries and, last but
\nnot least, to build a program of support and awareness with local
\npartners, including the communities in and around the park.<\/p>\n
Another important program which is supported by the EC is the
\nForest Fire Prevention and Control Project. This project is
\ninvolved in developing a model for a fire management system
\nappropriate for South Sumatra. During the height of the forest
\nfires in 1997, this project supported the government in its
\nefforts in controlling the fires by donating ECU 326,000, which
\nwas used for the procurement of fire-fighting equipment and
\nexpertise as well as for a study using remote sensing to monitor
\nthe growth of the fires and their impact.<\/p>\n
The fire project works in cooperation with another EC-
\nsupported project, the Forest Inventory and Monitoring Project,
\nwhich aims at strengthening the Ministry of Forestry's capacity
\nfor forest planning and monitoring, thereby supporting both
\nsustainable forest management and conservation. One of the
\noutputs of this project will be a comprehensive and \"user-
\nfriendly\" Integrated Forest Resource Information System.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/eu-and-ri-furge-a-partnership-in-development-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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