August 06, 2009 11:48 AM
YOGYAKARTA, Aug 6 (Bernama) -- Some 1.08 million hectares of forests are damaged in Indonesia each year due to illegal logging and forest fires, said Head of the Forest Research and Development Tachrir Fathoni said.
"Damaged forests in Indonesia have become so alarming, and at present had reached some 137 million hectares," Tachrir, who is attached to the Ministry of Forestry said, reports Antara news agency on Wednesday.
He said the damaged forests in the special district of Yogyakarta is the smallest because of the awareness level among the local population.
To overcome this problem, Tachrir said the Yogyakarta forestry and plantation service had also teamed up with the population in forest conservation and profit sharing of the sale of forest produce.
Meanwhile, Head of the Yogyakarta forestry and plantation service Ahmad Dawam said the trees raised in the forests in Yogyakarta area are teak with a felling (chopping down) period of 25 years.
"We are planning to raise or replace ordinary teak trees with super teak trees which have a felling period of only 10 years, and are therefore more favorable in terms of economic value and regeneration," he said.
-- BERNAMA
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