Jakarta, Nov 13 (Antara) - The new government under President Joko
Widodo (Jokowi) will carry forward its predecessor's tree planting
program in a bid to maintain sustainable forest development and preserve
the environment.
The forests, which play a key role in preserving ground water and
absorbing carbon dioxide, should be protected, and the deforested areas
must be rehabilitated.
The government, therefore, must continue its program to plant billions
of trees. The program had been launched by the forestry ministry in the
past.
As part of its efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent in
2020, the previous government had, since 2007, launched a tree planting
drive to rehabilitate its damaged forests, green its denuded lands, and
provide homes to billions of tons of carbon sinks.
Under the previous government, Indonesia has designated 37.5 million
hectares of its 130 million hectares of forests as homes for carbon
sinks as part of its emission reduction project through the global
Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD)
scheme.
Now, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry will carry forward the
program and intensify tree planting activities in order to support its
land rehabilitation efforts and preserve the ecosystem.
"We
will continue the good program of the previous government, including
increasing tree planting activities," Environment and Forestry Minister
Siti Nurbaya stated on Wednesday.
She noted that the tree planting program, which had been carried out so
far, was a noble initiative. In 2013, 1.8 billion trees were planted
through the implementation of the tree planting program, while this
year, it was expected to reach two billion.
In order to encourage the people to plant trees, Siti said her ministry
would commemorate the anniversary of the "Indonesia Tree Planting Day"
and the "Tree Planting Month."
The anniversary will be held in Monogiri, Central Java, and is expected to be attended by President Joko Widodo.
The tree plantation program is important for sustainable forest
development to ensure that its benefits are reaped by the next
generation.
She remarked that the next generation should also be able to avail the
benefits of natural resources similar to what is being enjoyed by the
current generation.
"In order to achieve this goal, we need to increase public awareness,
communication, and public campaigns and urge the public to understand
the importance of the environment," the minister stated during a
function at the Indonesia in Miniature Park (TMII) over the weekend.
She emphasized that sustainable development meant that the natural
resources are exploited and used sustainably, so that the next
generation will have the opportunity to enjoy the same benefits.
The minister explained that the sustainable development concept
preserves the social and ecological processes that support life.
"The hydrological, carbon, and food chain cycles should not be disrupted," she pointed out.
Siti emphasized that the implementation of effective regulations
coupled with law enforcement and proper issuance of licenses would help
to safeguard the environment.
"There must truly be good licenses and control instruments. So, we
should not issue as many licenses as possible only for the purpose for
exploitation," she remarked.
Therefore, the ministry will intensify its public information campaign,
simplify the licensing procedure, and make regulations more effective.
More importantly, industries using raw material from tree plantations
or running plantation forest areas, will get licenses easily.
Secretary General of the Ministry of Forestry Hadi Daryanto highlighted
the importance of planting trees in an effort to support the forestry
industry.
"We will easily provide licenses for industries, which will use trees
from plantation forests, including smallholders' forests," Hadi
affirmed.
He pointed out that with the timber produced from tree plantations, the domestic forestry industry could flourish.
Based on data revealed by the forestry ministry, in the first semester
of 2014, there were 386 units of the forestry industry with a capacity
of over six thousand cubic meters per annum, an extraordinary increase
from only 100 units about a decade ago.
This development has an impact on the use of raw material from tree
plantations. Over the past eight years (2005-2013), the need for raw
material from tree plantations increased from 11.2 million cubic meters
in 2005 to 5.54 million cubic meters in 2013.
In the meantime, President Director of PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper
(RAPP) Kusnan Rahmin expressed commitment to continue with the
implementation of the tree planting program.
To achieve this objective, his side has daily planted over 500 thousand
tree saplings or about 150 million trees per annum.
"Planting trees is the basic activity of a timber industry," he stated.
He further added that the development of plantation forests is being
done in accordance with a sound plan that does not harm the natural
forests.
According to Kusnan, PT RAPP applies the "mosaic" pattern in its
efforts to preserve the forest landscape on its concession area.
"For the protection of the natural forest landscape, we carry out
restoration and conservation of the 400 thousand hectares of forest, or
equal to the acreage of the plantation forest we are developing," he
revealed.
He explained that his company carried out plantation through a
partnership program by involving the local people. The program, among
others, covers four thousand hectares in Teluk Meranti sub-district,
Pelalawan, and 1.7 thousand hectares in Pulau Padang of Meranti Island.
Both locations are in Riau province.
The partnership program is being implemented with the plantation
varieties preferred by the locals, such as rubber and sagu trees.
According to Minister Siti Nurbaya, exploiting the natural resources
such as forests should go hand in hand with prioritizing its
conservation aspect.
She pointed out that the merger of the previous Ministry of Environment
and the Ministry of Forestry into a single ministry was a clear sign
that the new government was committed to giving priority to the
conservation aspect.
"This must raise our awareness about the importance of exploitation being followed by conservation," she affirmed.
Efforts are also being made to sustainably conserve species and the
ecosystem, which comprise the "in-site" program covering nature
preserves, animal preserves, and national parks and the "ex-site"
program encompassing botanical gardens, zoos, safari parks, and
biodiversity parks, the minister remarked.
Indonesia has designated about 26.5 million hectares of land for conservation areas.
***3***
(T.A014/INE)
EDITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/F. Assegaf) 13-11-2014 14:16: |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar