{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1078998,
        "msgid": "government-asked-to-limit-forestry-ministers-powers-1447893297",
        "date": "2001-06-12 00:00:00",
        "title": "Government asked to limit forestry minister's powers",
        "author": null,
        "source": "JP",
        "tags": null,
        "topic": null,
        "summary": "Government asked to limit forestry minister's powers YOGYAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Marzuki Usman, reiterating his commitment to protecting the country's forests, said here on Monday that he would ask President Abdurrahman Wahid to issue a presidential decree limiting his ministry's authority in managing the country's forests.",
        "content": "<p>Government asked to limit forestry minister's powers<\/p>\n<p>YOGYAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Marzuki Usman,<br>\nreiterating his commitment to protecting the country's forests,<br>\nsaid here on Monday that he would ask President Abdurrahman Wahid<br>\nto issue a presidential decree limiting his ministry's authority<br>\nin managing the country's forests.<\/p>\n<p>He said that under the proposed decree, the forestry minister<br>\nwould have to consult with other concerned parties, including<br>\nnon-governmental organizations and foreign parties, before<br>\nexploiting forest resources or converting forests to commercial<br>\nuse.<\/p>\n<p>He blamed the rampant damage to the country's forests on the<br>\nfact that the forestry minister had been given too much power in<br>\nmanaging them.<\/p>\n<p>\"It's very important that the President soon issues a<br>\npresidential decree. I will ask the President to do so because<br>\nsuch power (vested in the minister) is very dangerous for forest<br>\nresources,\" he told reporters after speaking at an international<br>\nconference on the conservation of commercial tropical trees<br>\nsponsored by the International Tropical Timber Organization at<br>\nGadjah Mada University.<\/p>\n<p>Marzuki officially opened the conference. Foreign speakers and<br>\nparticipants came from Oregon State University and the Australian<br>\nNational University, as well from European and Southeast Asian<br>\ncountries.<\/p>\n<p>He said the country's deforestation rate had reached between<br>\n1.5 and 1.6 million hectares per year, which was mainly the<br>\nresult of illegal logging, excessive logging, uncontrolled forest<br>\ncultivation, timber theft and forest fires.<\/p>\n<p>Around 20 million hectares of the country's 120 million<br>\nhectares of forest had been damaged, he added.<\/p>\n<p>Marzuki also said that the government would adopt a persuasive<br>\nand educative approach, including conducting information<br>\ncampaigns, rather than repressive measures to curb deforestation.<\/p>\n<p>\"No more arrests (by police), no more burning trees (by<br>\ncompanies). We have to leave the past methods behind us or<br>\notherwise our forests will soon be totally destroyed,\" he said.<br>\n(44)<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/government-asked-to-limit-forestry-ministers-powers-1447893297",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}