Minister appeals for foreign aid for reforestation

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry and Plantations Nur Mahmudi Ismail said on Monday the country needed some Rp 18 trillion in foreign assistance to restore 10 million hectares of damaged forest.

Mahmudi said the cost of reforestation was estimated at Rp 22 trillion (US$3 billion), but the government could only allocate Rp 4 trillion from the reforestation fund.

"My ministry is now dealing with international parties which have committed themselves to participating in the reforestation programs." He said the World Wide Fund for Nature, the World Bank and foreign countries including Japan and the United States have pledged assistance.

Mahmudi said the ministry devised a plan over the next five years to replant about 2.6 hectares of forest at a cost of Rp 5 million per hectare.

Rehabilitating an additional 3.7 million hectares throughout the country would cost about Rp 2.5 million per hectare.

"On March 3 or March 5, I will go to Japan, and then to the U.S. to follow up my negotiations with the World Bank," he said.

Forestry conservation has become a major concern after years of oversight due to the rampant issuance of forestry concessions and devastating fires.

The meeting of the World Bank-led Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) in Jakarta earlier this month urged Indonesia to realize its commitment to preserve its forests.

Data from the Indonesian Forestry Community for Reforms show Indonesia's natural forest falling from 140.4 million hectares in 1970 to 92.5 million in 1999.

According to official data from the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations, the country loses 1.6 million hectares per year, much of it is believed to be due to illegal logging.

It is also estimated that 60 percent of the 48 million hectares of natural forest which disappeared in the last 30 years was converted into commercial plantations, industrial sites, agricultural expansion areas and new settlement or transmigration sites.

"In our estimation we need at least Rp 22.25 trillion. Whether the program can be completed within five years or not will depend on the capability of my ministry and the willingness of the industrialists."

The ministry's director general of land rehabilitation, Yaman, said in Bandung on Sunday that the government was committed to carefully managing and preserving its natural forests.

He pledged the ministry would only allow the cultivation of 60 million hectares of forest. (prb/25)