WWF wants Kalimantan reserve protected

WWF wants Kalimantan reserve protected

JAKARTA (JP): The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is urging
the government to designate 400,000 hectares of pristine lowland
tropical forest in East Kalimantan as a conservation area.

The tract is located in Bulungan regency on the northeastern
tip of the province, about 500 kilometers north of the capital
Samarinda. The WWF believes the biodiversity-rich area could
become "one of the most important reserves in Asia, on par with
Gunung Leuser in Sumatra, and Lorentz in Irian Jaya".

"It is very urgent for the gazettment of the reserve right
now," WWF ecologist Frank Momberg told The Jakarta Post here
Monday after announcing the proposal. Also present were WWF
Indonesia Executive Director Agus Purnomo and British ecologist
Paul Jepson.

The WWF team said it had discussed the proposal with the
Minister of Forestry and Plantations Muslimin Nasution, who is in
charge of natural conservation in the country, and termed the
latter's response "very positive".

"The minister agreed to establish the new Sebuku-Sembakung
Conservation Area in East Kalimantan, Bulungan (regency), and
asked the Dirjen PHPA (Director General for Forest Protection and
Nature Conservation) to prepare the proposal," according to
minutes of the meeting between the team and Muslimin last week.

The WWF made the minutes available to the media.

Momberg also said the WWF was "very optimistic" because
Muslimin gave his commitment "to stop all forest conversion"
within the proposed reserve.

Several companies linked to former president Soeharto had
applied for permits to exploit the areas.

"He (Muslimin) wants to issue a ministerial decree for the
area as a conservation area, possibly as a national park or a
wildlife reserve," said Momberg, a project executive for
Bioregional Planning and Integrated Park Management.

Environmentalists have warned that little primary lowland
forest in Kalimantan remains in good condition, especially after
more than three million hectares were destroyed in forest fires
earlier this year.

Momberg argued that industrial plantation firms should limit
their activities to burned areas and leave pristine land alone.

"There is no justification for converting healthy natural
forest to oil palm and industrial plantations when there's so
much fire-damaged forest land and nonforest land now available
for this purpose."

The WWF also noted that a few Dayak tribespeople and elephants
live in the proposed conservation area.

"(Elephant) footprints and dung were observed in July along a
tributary of the Sebuku River in Bulungan regency. A population
of 5,000 elephants survives in the Malaysian state of Sabah, but
prior to these observations biologists were unsure whether this
population extended into Indonesian Borneo," the WWF said in its
media release.

It said international conservation strategies had identified
the Sebuku and Sembakung watersheds as critical areas for the
survival of Borneo's rich flora and fauna.

A WWF team comprised of Momberg and Jepson also confirmed the
presence of other endangered wildlife in the area, including the
ox called banteng (Bos Javanicus), orangutan (Pongo Pygmaeus) and
proboscis monkey, known locally as Kera Bekantan. (aan)