Preserving natural biodiversity means promoting resources

Preserving natural biodiversity means promoting resources

JAKARTA (JP): The current campaign to preserve Indonesia's
rich and diverse biodiversity in resources should not be taken to
mean stopping their exploitation for the benefit of its people.

Minister of Forestry Djamaloedin Soeryohadikoesoemo said
Saturday that proper policies would make it possible to preserve
and exploit resources at the same time.

"Preservation in this respect does not mean that we have to
stop using the natural resources," he told a seminar on
biodiversity. "Instead, we should intensify efforts to cultivate
the plants and breed the wild animals bearing high economic
value."

Through this approach, all plants and wild animals to be used
for commercial purposes in the future should be the products of
breeding and cultivation programs, he said. "This way, the
biodiversity in the wild can be preserved."

Djamaloedin was keynote speaker at the one-day seminar on
"Biodiversity for People's Welfare" organized by the Directorate
General of Forest and Nature Preservation, an agency of the
Ministry of Forestry.

Other speakers included researchers from the Indonesian
Institute of Sciences (LIPI), the Indonesia branch of the ASEAN
Wetland Bureau (AWB) and the Indonesia Program of BirdLife
International.

Indonesia is home to one of the world's largest concentration
of tropical forests. Its location between the Asian and
Australian continents also makes it unique in terms of
biodiversity.

There are no less than 25,000 species of plants and one
million kinds of animals found across the archipelago. Thirty
percent of the plants and 90 percent of the animals have yet to
be well identified and recorded.

Indonesia tops other countries in the world in term of mammals
diversity, third in terms of reptiles, fourth in birds, and fifth
in amphibious animals. For plant-life diversity, it ranks
seventh.

Djamaloedin said that up to one percent of any forest area
could be designated as a "supporting zone" in which the local
people could be allowed to tap and exploit the flora and fauna
there to ensure they can make a living.

"We realize that one of the problems we face in organizing
biodiversity is how to match the three strategies in
conservation: protection and preservation in addition to the
efforts to make use of the forests for the benefit of the
surrounding people."

Djamaloedin said that 30 percent of the 25.9 million
Indonesian people living below the poverty line live in areas
surrounding forests and depended on their resources.

It is logical for the authorities to grant the people the
right to make use of the forest resources to make ends meet, he
added.

These people should be encouraged to participate in conserving
the forests to retain the natural biodiversity, while exploiting
them.

Djamaloedin told reporters afterwards that the term
"production forests" should not always be equated with logging.

Forests that could potentially attract tourism could also be
termed productive because they generate income.

The local people could have more income by becoming guides for
tourists who intended to witness the forests' unique diversity,
he said. (10/par)