Agree on Sister Park with Japan, Indonesia Could Have World-Class National Parks

The Indonesian government and Japan are exploring cooperation in managing conservation areas through the development of a sister park initiative between Japan’s Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park and several alternative national parks (TN) in Indonesia to achieve world-class status. “This initiative is aimed at strengthening the position of Indonesian national parks to become increasingly recognised at the global level,” said the Minister of Forestry (Menhut) Raja Juli Antoni in his statement in Jakarta on Monday (30/1). Furthermore, he mentioned several alternative Indonesian TNs with similar ecosystem characteristics, including Kerinci Seblat National Park, Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, and Gunung Rinjani National Park. “This sister park cooperation is expected to be a strategic step in improving the quality of national park management through the exchange of knowledge, experience, and best practices in conservation and ecotourism development,” the Menhut stated. The exploration of this cooperation was conducted by Menhut Raja Antoni with Director of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park Shichimeko Shuichi, as well as Ikuo Yamada from the International Cooperation Office of Japan’s Ministry of the Environment. The Japanese Ministry of the Environment welcomed the proposal and encouraged concrete follow-up through the organisation of a technical workshop to discuss the technical aspects of the cooperation in greater depth. This workshop is expected to serve as an initial forum to formulate an implementable and sustainable cooperation framework. In addition, previously on Saturday (28/3), Menhut Raja Antoni had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Governor of Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan on cooperation in the protection and conservation of wildlife, focusing on the komodo (Varanus komodoensis) breeding loan programme. “The development of sister park cooperation with Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park and the MoU for the Komodo breeding loan is a programme of the Ministry of Forestry to help strengthen Indonesia-Japan relations, which is part of the series of state visits by President Prabowo Subianto to Japan,” the Menhut said.