Forest police look to community

Forest police look to community

BANDAR LAMPUNG, Lampung: An official said on Sunday that
forestry police in the province have adopted a wholly new
approach in safeguarding the forest by asking for more
participatory involvement from the local community.

"The old program called Jagawana and other programs failed
because they didn't involve the local community and in the
process raised conflict. Therefore, we have to get on with a new
paradigm," the head of the Lampung Forestry Agency Syamsuddin
Rachmat told Antara.

Officials, he said, will also conduct a more persuasive
approach with the local community instead of more repressive
techniques.

Community involvement, he added, is necessary because the
number of forestry police officers are limited.

There are only some 300 officers to guard over one million
hectares of forest in Lampung.

The percentage of forest damage in the province is relatively
high, with an estimated 50 percent of protected forest and
industrially planted forest already damaged. Some 40 percent of
natural reserve forests are also damaged.(hdn)