WWF upbeat on future of Lorentz National Park

WWF upbeat on future of Lorentz National Park

JAKARTA (JP): The World Wild Fund (WWF) expressed on Tuesday
its confidence that the government would not exploit the Lorentz
National Park in Irian Jaya, which is rich in gold and copper
deposits in addition to biodiversity.

Frank Momberg, a WWF executive, said the government had shown
its strong commitment to conserving the 2.5-million-hectare park.
The commitment was reflected in existing rulings on the park, he
said.

"The government and UNESCO have agreed to declare the national
park a World Heritage Site and the agreement was cosigned last
Saturday by President B.J. Habibie and four ministers," he said
in a media briefing here.

Momberg said the national park's protection was also
guaranteed by the 1990 national resources conservation law and
the joint ministerial decree on national park protection, signed
by the minister of forestry and minister of mines and energy in
1989.

Lorentz is the third national park in Indonesia which UNESCO
(the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization) has declared a World Heritage Site. The first two
were the Ujung Kulon National Park in West Java and the Komodo
National Park in East Nusa Tenggara.

WWF explained the park was Southeast Asia's most outstanding
natural treasure trove. It goes from near-impenetrable swamps on
the Arafura Sea through lush tropical rainforest to the tropical
glacier of the 5,039-meter-high Puncak Jaya mountain.

Between the extremes of this tropical glacier and mangrove
forests in the swampy areas lies a complete ecological spectrum
of alpine, subalpine, lowland and wetland vegetation provides
habitats for approximately 70 percent of birds and mammals in the
province.

Besides an abundance of gold and copper deposits, as many as
34 species of endemic flora and fauna and 45 species of rare
birds have been found in the park.

Momberg said that WWF had also helped the government conduct a
spatial zoning for the park and reached an agreement on border
lines with gold and copper mining company PT Freeport which
operates on the western boundary of the park.

"As an international company, Freeport will face international
pressures if it breaches the agreement by expanding its
operations inside the national park," he said.

He added the company would also have to face tribespeople
living in the park if it was found guilty of damaging the
environment.

Benja Mambai, the head of the WWF conservation project in the
national park, said that his organization was developing a
sustainable development program with tribes living in the area.

"The program will be based on the tribes' environmentally
friendly traditional practices and beliefs," he said.

He said that UNESCO would provide US$3 million in assistance
in the next three years while WWF has pledged $250,000 annually
to finance the conservation project in the national park. (rms)