Residents demand national park

Residents demand national park

MEDAN, North Sumatra: People from Mandailing Natal regency
demanded late on Friday the North Sumatra provincial administra
tion turn Batang Gadis forest into a national park, an official
has said.

Listya Kusumawardhani, head of the Ministry of Forestry's
Directorate of Nature Conservation, said that the request had
been conveyed by Mandailing people to the provincial
administration and the central government during a meeting
recently held at Kerinci Seblat national park, Jambi province.

Should the government approve the proposal, Batang Gadis would
become a protected area under forestry law. It means that
irresponsible people plundering natural resources there,
including trees, would be punished. Batang Gadis forest covers an
area of 108,000 hectares.

Listya praised the proposal, saying that it was evidence that
people's awareness of environmental issues was on the rise. --
Antara