150,000 ha of forest in E. Java damaged

SURABAYA (JP): Some 150,000 hectares out of the total 1.1 million hectares of forest managed by the state-owned PT Perhutani Unit II in East Java have been severely damaged by plundering, an official said here on Tuesday.

"It will need a long time and a lot of money to rehabilitate the forests," said Soepandi, the public relations chief of PT Perhutani Unit II.

Speaking to reporters on a joint operation between Perhutani and security officers to tackle the forest plundering , Soepandi noted that they had caught a number of plunderers with in possession of stolen teak logs.

He told Antara that the plundering would not only cause material losses to the government, but it would certainly damage the environment.

"If one hectare contains about 200 teak trees, then we can calculate our financial losses. And, environmentally speaking, the damage to the forests may cause floods and landslides," he said.