Forests reduced by 809,000 ha every year

Forests reduced by 809,000 ha every year

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's forests are declining at a rate of
809,000 hectares each year with the land being used for other
purposes, including transmigration, agriculture and plantation
projects.

An expert assistant for forest protection and security at the
Minister of Forestry, Sukardjo, said yesterday that shifting
cultivators and regional development also contribute to the
decline in forest areas.

Sukardjo was quoted by Antara as saying in Bali yesterday that
Indonesia currently has 119 million hectares of forest. These are
categorized as permanent forest areas (113.8 million hectares),
forest areas which are still grown sporadically with trees (92.4
million hectares) and barren forest areas (21.4 million
hectares).

There are additionally 20 million hectares of production
forests which may be subject to conversion for non-forestry
purposes.

Sukardjo told local forestry officials in Bali that it was
necessary to conduct five-yearly inventories to observe the
decline of the province's forest areas.

He said that in the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan, ending
in 1999, the government expects to settle and legalize 158,875
kilometers of borderlines delineating outer-forest areas, 37,830
km separating various forest functions and 83,800 km separating
the areas of various forest concessions.

The Ministry of Forestry also aims to install 720 checkpoints
from which monitoring and controls can be conducted.

So far, 70 percent of the targets to establish outer-forest
borderlines and 30 percent delineating forest areas have been
achieved.

Expansion

Sukardjo said the government is also continuing its efforts to
expand the areas of conservation sites, which are targeted at 10
million hectares of sea area and 10 million hectares of land
area.

To ensure security in the conservation sites, he said, the
ministry has joined hands with other agencies, such as the
Directorate General of Regional Development, the Indonesian
Institute of Science, the Directorate General of Fisheries and
the Navy.

The government claims the country presently has 144 million
hectares of forest, of which 21 percent are designated as
protection forests (for water and soil protection); 13 percent as
nature reserves and national parks (for nature preservation and
genetic conservation); 22 percent as limited production forests;
23 percent as regular production forests; and 21 percent as
convertible forests.

The government classifies protection forests, nature reserves
and national parks as totally protected areas and off limits to
felling. (pwn)