ITTO to provide $1m for Bulungan forest project

ITTO to provide $1m for Bulungan forest project

JAKARTA (JP): The International Tropical Timber Organization
(ITTO) will provide about US$1 million to partly finance a three-
year research program in the Bulungan forest, East Kalimantan.

Under an agreement signed yesterday, ITTO will cooperate with
the Ministry of Forestry and the Center for International
Forestry Research (CIFOR) to develop the Bulungan forest,
expected to be one of the largest model forests in the world.

The project will cost almost $1.5 million, with $360,000 being
provided by the Indonesian government, $140,000 by CIFOR, and $1
million being contributed by ITTO donors comprising Japan,
Switzerland, the United States, Australia and Korea.

The 321,000-hectare Bulungan forest will be developed as a
model of basic forest management.

Bulungan is almost entirely covered by primary forests and
therefore offers a rare opportunity to implement sustainable
forest management practices.

Research in the forest will provide important information on
the impact of forest activities, such as logging, mining and
industrial plantations on both the ecosystem and people residing
in the area.

ITTO was established under the auspices of the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development to promote the conservation,
management and sustainable development of tropical forests.

CIFOR, an international independent scientific research
institute was established in 1993 in response to global concerns
about the social, environment and economic consequences of forest
loss and degradation. (08)