CIFOR invites locals to adopt Darmaga forest
Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor
In conjunction with World Earth Day on April 22, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) donated Rp 45 million (US$5,294) in cash to residents and schools located in the vicinity of the protected Darmaga Forest in Bogor.
CIFOR director general David Kaimowitz expressed hope that locals and school students would be inspired by the donation to protect the forest, which stretches from Situ Gede village, Cikarawang to Sindang Barang village, West Bogor.
He said CIFOR's "forest adoption movement" was aimed at collaboration between the center and the community in environmental preservation.
Although Darmaga is protected, not many people know that it is actually manmade. Forestry researchers completed the project 30 years ago, said Kaimowitz.
Hadi Pasaribu, head of the research and development division of the Ministry of Forestry, attended the earth day commemoration in Darmaga forest. He said illegal logging had caused the country losses of up to Rp 83 billion per day.
He added that it takes at least five years to rehabilitate a 1.5-million-hectare area of damaged forest.
"We are still not acting to save the forest as the government has neither the money nor the human resources to do so. All we can do is to provide seedlings for reforestation and to launch the forest adoption movement," Pasaribu explained.
Separately on Tuesday, the South Korean government donated funds for environmental and forestry research to the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) to show its "gratitude for the supply of tropical wood the country received from Indonesia".
"We are concerned about the current condition of Indonesian forests and, therefore, want to share our technology and resources to rehabilitate them," ASEAN Korea Environmental Cooperation Project (AKECOP) leader Don K. Lee, told The Jakarta Post and Republika daily.
He was speaking after opening the 4th AKECOP international workshop on "Managing the Global Concern of Tropical Forests", which was attended by 50 participants from ASEAN countries. The three-day event at Novotel Coralia Hotel in Bogor ends on Friday.
According to the chairwoman of the event's organizing committee, Leti Sundawati, workshop participants would discuss the progress of joint projects between ASEAN countries and the South Korean government.
"South Korea provides US$20,000 for each project in each country. Research here has been conducted on Mount Walet in Sukabumi, West Java. It is hoped that researchers will find new ways to restore the forests of ASEAN countries," she explained.