Almost $457,000 from ITTO for RI forestry project

Almost $457,000 from ITTO for RI forestry project

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia received a grant yesterday worth
US$456,989 from the Japanese-based International Tropical Timber
Organization (ITTO) to assess the state of some of the country's
tropical rain forests.

The project, to be based in Jambi province and Pulau Laut,
South Kalimantan, will be conducted jointly by the forestry
ministry, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Tropical
Biology (SEAMEO-BIOTROP) and the ITTO.

Yesterday's agreement was signed jointly by the Director
General of Inventory and Forest Land Use Sumahadi; the director
of SEAMEO-BIOTROP in Bogor, Soekotjo; and the executive director
of the ITTO, B.C.Y. Freezailah.

Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo, who attended
the signing ceremony, said that the three-year project aims to
create a monitoring system to assess the health of forests,
including their susceptibility to disease and the volume of tree
growth.

"The results of the project will form a quantitative basis for
conducting sustainable forest management. It will also prepare
Indonesia to enter the eco-labeling era, starting in the year
2000," Djamaludin said.

Information

Information to be provided by the project will include data on
forest biodiversity, the minister said, adding that the knowledge
gained will be used in decision-making.

Djamaludin said the project, which is the first of its kind in
Indonesia to focus on tropical forests, "will demonstrate that
Indonesia cares, not only about production, but about
conservation as well."

Responding to questions about the condition of temperate
forests, Freezailah said that all parties have expressed a
commitment to preserving their forests.

"Eco-labeling, which is conducted on a voluntary basis, will
be observed not only by tropical timber producers but also by
non-tropical producers," he said.

He said timber producers certified under the eco-labeling
program would reap higher profits from countries in which
consumers are environmentally conscious enough to pay more for
the labeled timber.

The ITTO is currently studying whether people are prepared to
pay more for timber produced under the eco-labeling program, he
said.

"Sustainability is a process which has no fixed target,"
Freezailah added.

In addition to yesterday's grant, the ITTO has agreed to
support conservation programs in the Bentuang Karimun National
Park in West Kalimantan. It has also been conducting a trans-
border project in the Lanjak Entimau area straddling Kalimantan
and Malaysia's Sarawak region.

ITTO grants to the forestry ministry currently total $7.5
million. (pwn)