Half of Way Kambas National Park damaged

BANDAR LAMPUNG, Lampung (JP): About fifty percent of the total 130,000 hectares of Way Kambas National Park in East Lampung regency has been damaged by illegal logging, an official said.

"Almost half of the national park area, which also functions as an elephant training center, is severely damaged," the head of the East Lampung tourism office, Edwin Bangsaratoe, said on Sunday.

"Illegal logging has also damaged parts of the park's inner core and its supporting area," he told Antara.

Edwin said that government agencies and non-governmental organizations had failed in their efforts to stop the destruction.

Therefore, he said, the local tourism office had filed a proposal to the Ministry of Forestry in Jakarta, asking that the ministry authorize it to use about 5,000 hectares of the national park area for tourism purposes.

"The project would help prevent further damage of the park and also boost the local economy," he said.

Edwin disclosed that revenue from the park was low and did not make much of an impact on the local economy.

"In 2000, the park only contributed Rp 5 million (US$526.30) to the local administration, while the costs of maintaining the park reached up to tens of millions of rupiah," Edwin said.

In a bid to make the national park become a tourist attraction, Edwin said his office, together with local councillors, had conducted comparative studies on several tourist resorts on Java.

"It seems that after we conducted the comparative studies, members of the local legislative council became enthusiastic with the idea of developing the park into a tourist attraction," Edwin said. (emf)