Ministries to take steps to save parks
Ministries to take steps to save parks
BONTANG, East Kalimantan (JP): The government will revise the
1989 joint ministerial decree on mining exploration inside
national parks, an effort to strengthen their legal status.
Indonesia has 35 national parks, 10 of which will get higher
legal status under special park management.
Seven international non-government organizations recently sent
a letter to the Ministry of Forestry and the Ministry of Mines
and Energy, asking for better legal status for Indonesian
national parks, which they said are being threatened by private
mining explorations.
In 1989 the two ministries issued a joint decree saying that
commercial exploration in wildlife sanctuaries and nature
reservations is only allowed with appropriate permits from them.
Nana Supriana, former director of Area Development and Nature
Preservation of the Directorate General of Forest Protection and
Nature Preservation, told The Jakarta Post Monday that the decree
needs to be revised as it is insufficient to protect parks and
conservation areas.
"National parks have zones which can be explored, while nature
reserves are strictly prohibited for exploration. The decree
fails to elaborate on these matter and is open to
misinterpretation," he said.
"It is not even running hand in hand with the 1990 Law on
Conservation," Nana said.
The law no. 5/1990 prohibits any actions inconsistent with the
function of national parks, grand forest parks, and natural
recreation parks.
Koesaparjadi, the newly appointed director of Area Development
and Nature Preservation, told the Post that the decree was
formulated in such a way to ensure coordination between the two
ministries in the issuance of mining exploration permits.
"It's intended to prevent a protected area -- whether a nature
reserve or a national park -- becomes a subject of two different
regulations from different ministries," he said.
Ediwiyoto, director of Program Development of the Directorate
General of Forest Protection and Nature Preservation, said that
conservation has always been Indonesia's main concern.
"Our conservation program is being watched by world
organizations. But we also need the parks to be reserved," he
said. (12)