76,000 ha of forest disappear annually

MANADO, North Sulawesi: A forestry official revealed Saturday that the forest in North Sulawesi decreases by 76,000 hectares a year due to natural disasters and the opening of forest areas to plantation.

Unless measures are taken to manage it, the trend may soon damage the ecosystem, said A. Rumimpunu, head of security and information at the local office of the Ministry of Forestry.

The ministry decreed in 1984 that the province must maintain 68.2 percent of its 2.75 million hectares of land, or 1.8 million hectares, forested. Currently, the province has 1.1 million hectares of forest. (ste)