UNESCO may withdraw from Kutai park

UNESCO may withdraw from Kutai park

JAKARTA (JP): The United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is threatening to pull out of its
involvement in the Kutai National Park in East Kalimantan if the
reported plan to mine coal there materializes.

UNESCO director for Indonesia Stephen Hill and the
organization's expert on ecological science, Martha Klein, said
they did not have hard data on whether there was really a
government plan to allow PT Dwipangga Sakti Prima (DSP) to
exploit a vast area of the park. However, both warned of great
environmental danger if it was true.

State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja told The
Jakarta Post yesterday he did not know of any coal-mining permit
being given to DSP and asked for time to seek information on the
matter before commenting.

Antara earlier reported that the Ministry of Mines and Energy
has issued the permit to exploit 100,000 hectares of the 200,000-
hectare Kutai National Park. So far, there has been no official
confirmation of this or who owns the company; officials at the
Ministry of Mines and Energy and Ministry of Forestry refused to
comment.

Hill said that if mining proceeds, Kutai National Park would
all but disappear. "At this moment we're already facing several
problems such as illegal settlers and deforestation," Hill said.

The most serious deforestation has occurred near Bontang where
2,600 people have encroached into 1,146 hectares of the protected
forest. And in Sanggata, 3,838 residents have turned 973 hectares
into farmland.

Explanation

Hill said his body had twice requested an explanation from the
Ministry of Forestry, but has failed to get a response. The
latest request was submitted in October 1996.

"We have to make clear that we are not protesting the
government, as some newspapers have reported. We merely request..
the government's view on (the reported) permit," Hill said.

Hill said UNESCO also planned to present the government with
facts about the importance of Kutai National Park to Indonesia
and to the world as well, given its function as one of the
"world's lungs."

"We admit we don't have real evidence of any coal-mining
activities of PT DSP, but we were informed by the Kutai National
Park of PT DSP's arrival to research the park's mining
potential," Hill added.

According to Hill, the park is of the highest value both
nationally and internationally because it protects a large area
of lowland rainforest.

The park is the only protected primary rainforest in Indonesia
and home to 11 of Kalimantan's 13 primate species, half of its
mammal species, and 80 percent of the island's bird species.

Hill also said that Kutai National Park was being watched by
the world, for it has the unique feature of being a preservation
park surrounded by a number of private industrial companies.

The companies are involved with the exploitation of coal,
petroleum, natural gas and forest products.

Hill told the Post that UNESCO had a major involvement in
Kutai park. "But our involvement is not in research activities as
reported by several newspapers, we're there to implement United
Nations support for Kutai National Park," Hill said.

The body has been working on a project called Friends of
Kutai, developed to assist the Indonesian government and the head
of Kutai National Park manage the park.

Friends of Kutai's US$837,681 budget is provided by the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP). The project began on June 29,
1995, and is scheduled to run for two years.

Friends of Kutai is a cooperation program between UNDP,
UNESCO, the Indonesian government under the Kutai National Park
and private companies surrounding the park who are genuinely
interested in supporting conservation activities both financially
and by providing technical expertise.

The private companies are PT Kaltim Prima Coal, PT Indominco
Mandiri, PT Badak Natural Gas Liquefaction, Pertamina, PT Pupuk
Kalimantan Timur, PT Porodisa, PT Kiani Lestari, and PT Surya
Hutani Jaya. (12)