ITTO awards $1.3m grant for Indonesian forestry

ITTO awards $1.3m grant for Indonesian forestry

JAKARTA (JP): The International Tropical Timber Organization
(ITTO) agreed on Monday to award a grant of US$1.3 million to
support Indonesia's efforts in promoting sustainable forest
management.

ITTO executive director Manuel Sobral Filho said after signing
the agreement that the grant, approved during ITTO's meeting in
the Japanese city of Yokohama in November, would be used to
finance three forestry projects.

Besides Sobral, the agreement was signed by the recipients of
the grant: Minister of Forestry Nurmahmudi Ismael, Center for
International Forestry Research (CIFOR) deputy director general
Mafa Chipeta and Adi-Warsita Adinegoro, the president of the
Association of Indonesian Forest Concession Holders.

Most of the funds for the grant was provided by Japan and
Switzerland.

The Ministry of Forestry said $130,000 of the grant would be
used to finance a forest research project in Bulungan, East
Kalimantan; US$853,398 for a conservation program for a cross-
border forest between East Kalimantan and the neighboring
Malaysian state of Sabah; and $326,523 for training some 300
members of the Association of Indonesian Forest Concession
Holders.

Minister Nurmahmudi said the grant was intended to gain a
better supply of timber.

"These projects will rely on local experts. ITTO doesn't have
to send its experts in for these projects," Nurmahmudi said.

He said the accountability of the projects would be important
to convince international donors about other forestry programs in
the future.

Yokohama-based ITTO is an intergovernmental institution
comprising 56 consumers and producers of tropical timber. (O3)