'Reforestation plan a mission impossible'

'Reforestation plan a mission impossible'

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An environmental activist has called the government's plan to
reforest critical land areas across the country a "mission
impossible" due to lack of preparation and time.

The Rp 12.7 trillion project that would supposedly cover a
total land area of 300,000 hectares this year has to be completed
in only three months, but still must wait for final government
approval, said Wisnu Rusmantoro, a forestry researcher with the
Pelangi environmental watchdog.

"We suggest that the government postpone the project until the
approval guidelines are ready. Otherwise, it would be prone to
abuse," he told a meeting between environmental watchdogs and the
State Ministry of Environment on Friday.

Currently, some 43 million hectares of the country's forest,
or an area more than half the size of Borneo, have been denuded
in the past five years here.

A hastily prepared guideline that is supposed to cover the
project's planning, implementation, monitoring and sanctions
would render the project vulnerable to violation and corruption,
Wisnu said.

Liana Bratasida, the deputy minister of environment
conservation, acknowledged that the government had not yet
prepared any data or details for the project.

Also, it has yet to inform the officials and people in the
regions in charge of the project about it. The government will
only begin "a brainstorming session" with provincial
administrations about the program next week.

However, she said that the government would continue the
project as "it has become a national movement".

She earlier said in the meeting that the government expects
public participation in the project to prevent possible
violations.

"We don't want to repeat past mistakes," she said, referring
to violations of reforestation funds worth billions of rupiah in
recent years.

In the past, the government purchased plant seeds to be grown
in deforested areas across the country from certain cronies,
regardless of compatibility. The project failed miserably.

Wisnu warned that it would just become yet another "cash cow"
by certain corrupt people involved in the project, with the
ambitious-sounding title, the Movement for the Rehabilitation of
National Protected Forests (GRHLN).

"Frankly speaking, we all know about the clandestine moves of
some brokers to prepare certain species of plant seeds for the
project nowadays," he said.

Should the government insist on doing the project this year,
it is possible that it would buy plant seeds from the brokers to
meet the reforestation target, he said.

The government has allocated Rp 400 billion to buy plant
seeds.

Sources at the Forestry Ministry said that increasing requests
from provincial administrations to take part in the project led
the government to increase the number of areas to be reforested
from 21 to 29.

The NGOs, therefore, urged the government to be transparent in
managing the project and its trillions of rupiah of taxpayer
money.

Liana said that she could only guarantee transparency from her
ministry, which is assigned to monitor the project. But signs of
doom are already apparent. During the same meeting, an official
with the Forestry Ministry, refused to answer some fairly simple
questions from reporters about the project's details and costs in
each area.

Following severe drought this year, the government has
announced the disbursement of Rp 1.2 trillion for this year
reforestation program covering 300,000 hectares of critical land
in 15 provinces and 154 regencies across the country.

This year's program will initiate the government's commitment
to replant 3 million hectares of woodland across the country
within five years. Next year, some 500,000 hectares of deforested
land is expected to be reforested.