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)