"We hope the funds would be used for the conservation of seven million hectares of forested land in North Sumatra, Central Sumatra, and South Sumatra," US Ambassador to Indonesia Cameron R.Hume told a press conference at the Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation in Jakarta Tuesday.
Cameron said Sumatra has many habitats and unique and rare animal species like the Sumatra tiger and orang-utans. The cooperation agreement was reached under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA).
Indonesia was the 15th country which established the agreement with the United States. The other countries were Bangladesh, Botswana, Colombia, Costa Rica, and the Philippines.
The debt abolition not only involved the Indonesian government, but two community self-supporting institutions as well, namely the Indonesian Bio-diversity Foundation (KEHATI), and Conservation International (CI). Forestry Minister MS Kaban, meanwhile, said Sumatra was the first region in Indonesia to serve as a model in the application of the TFCA.
Kaban said many areas in Indonesia are still in need of conservation, such as East Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan. In this context, Kaban said, while the fund has yet to be made available, raids against illegal logging would continue under a government commitment to reduce the degradation and deforestation rates.
He also hoped for the people’s participation in the nature conservation activities, because the people are also a decisive element for a successful conservation drive. KEHATI executive director Damayanti Buchori said Indonesia will receive the biggest amount from the US for the debt abolition under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, while the other countries also enjoying a debt abolition received only 12 to 13 million US dollars.
Damayanti said the sum equivalent to 300 billion rupiah, is quite a big sum of money for forest conservation if it is truly and most effectively carried out in the field. In the meantime, he also said that the fund allocation would not be equally distributed among the three Sumatra provinces, but based on their respective forest conservation needs.
"In other words, the 30 million US dollars will not be equally divided, and each of the provinces gets 10 million US dollars, but we will first study the conservation needs of respective regions," Damayanti said.
source : kompas
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