Minister appeals for foreign aid for reforestation

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)