Forest management runs short of funds<\/p>\n
I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali<\/p>\n
A lack of funds and means have undermined sustainable forest
\nmanagement efforts despite the goodwill of tropical country
\ngovernments, a high ranking officer of the International Tropical
\nTimber Council (ITTC) said on Monday.<\/p>\n
\"Sustainable forest management is a difficult and costly task.
\nThe international community has made dozens, if not hundreds of
\nrecommendations on policies and action to improve forest
\nmanagement, but has it done its part to provide Indonesia with
\nthe means to implement them?\" ITTC executive director Manoel
\nSobral Filho asked.<\/p>\n
Filho was addressing the audience of the 32nd ITTC meeting
\nduring the opening of the six-day session by President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri at the Bali International Convention Center at the
\nSheraton Nusa Indah.<\/p>\n
Accompanying the president were Minister of Forestry M.
\nPrakosa and Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim. The
\nceremony was also attended by Colombia's Minister of Environment
\nJuan Mayr Maldonado, Minister for Forest of Cote d'Ivoire
\nCatherine Angele Boka Agoussi, and Parliamentary Secretary for
\nthe Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan Kenichi Mizuno.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government and the ITTO secretariat have
\nestimated that implementing measures simply to secure and prevent
\nillegal logging in the planned 50 million hectares of protected
\nforest and conservation areas in Indonesia would require US$40
\nmillion annually.<\/p>\n
\"Regretfully, the international community is providing less
\nthan $12 million a year to assist Indonesia with forest
\nprotection, including forest law enforcement and the prevention
\nof illegal logging,\" Filho said.<\/p>\n
\"Making sustainable forest management financially viable is an
\nimmediate challenge if forest destruction is to be minimized.\"<\/p>\n
He asserted that although a 'global forest fund' did exist to
\nassist producer countries to achieve sustainable forest
\nmanagement, the money contributed to this fund had not yet been
\nat a scale that would enable it to have a major impact towards
\nachieving its objective.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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