Protection of Papua forests backed

Protection of Papua forests backed

JAYAPURA, Papua: The South Pacific Forum, the U.S., Australia and various international organizations have voiced support for the Indonesian government's policies to protect the tropical forests of Papua.

These statements of support were conferred directly through a workshop held by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Regional Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedalda), in Jayapura on Monday.

The head of the South Pacific Forum delegation, Dermot O'Gorman, told journalists on Monday that the forum supports the government's policy of involving WWF and Bapedalda in preserving Papua's tropical forests, both as an asset and for their environmental importance.

According to O'Gorman, a special body needs to be formed to ensure forest conservation is carried out seriously.

He also asked WWF and Bapedalda to prevent illegal logging in the forests. --Antara