Nature conservation in Puncak

Nature conservation in Puncak

Finally the Puncak mountain resort area, popularly called the Bopunjur (Bogor-Puncak-Cianjur) strip, is declared close for tourist development. No more villas, hotels or restaurants may be built in the area. The closure of the resort area to tourist development is based on an instruction issued by President Soeharto and is intended to restore the area to its original function as an environmental conservation zone.

It is to be hoped that this presidential instruction regarding the Puncak area heralds a stricter attitude on the part of the government to protect the area and reduce the danger of flooding in Jakarta.

For many decades the Puncak area has raised questions due to its capacity as a watershed and its growing potential for tourist development. Jakarta Governor Surjadi Soedirdja once noted the great attention the Dutch colonial authorities paid to Puncak as a watershed area.

When Dutch planters began opening tea plantations in the area the colonial administration started constructing drainage canals to anticipate the danger of flooding due to the conversion of forests into plantations.

And what efforts have since been made by our government?

As far as we know, it can be said that the government's efforts to protect the Bopunjur strip so far have been halfhearted. Conflicts of interest exist between the province of West Java and Jakarta. Although officially an agency for cooperation for the development of the Jakarta-Bogor-Tangerang- Bekasi area exists, the channel has been largely ineffective.

As far as we are concerned, naturally any positive actions that the government undertakes and which effectively protect the public from the danger of floods deserve to be supported. The way in which we manage floods and their prevention, which so far seems to have been ineffective, should be corrected as soon as possible.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta