CIFOR invites locals to adopt Darmaga forest
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.