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)