E. Kalimantan loses 6m ha of forest

E. Kalimantan loses 6m ha of forest

SAMARINDA, East Kalimantan: A total of more than six million hectares of forest area in the province has been damaged due to mismanagement and fires this year, says a local official.

"The destruction has a lot to do with the infringement of the transparency, conservation and justice principles in forest management," Robian, chief of the local forestry ministry office, said here on Friday.

He said that of the 6 million hectares of damaged forest areas, more than 5.5 million hectares were in a critical condition and a part of them were located in industrial forests.

He also said that 61,740 ha of mangrove forests were badly deteriorated.

"We must admit that damage to the forests has been magnified by weak law enforcement and we can not do much to avoid the damage because of the complicated problems in the forests' management," he said.

He called on the central government to designate the special allocation funds to finance the reforestation program in the province.

The central government allocated Rp 190.7 billion for the reforestation program in the province this year. --Antara