Nature Alert: Only 20 Percent of Forest in Good Condition

Thursday, 8 April 2010

Only 20 Percent of Forest in Good Condition

Personal note:
Further example of how EC, USA, Australian and British government forestry aid money has achieved nothing in Indonesia, other than to fuel corruption.
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Only 20 Percent of Forest in Good Condition

Thursday, 08 April, 2010 12:06 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Wonosobo:Forestry and Spatial Planning Minister, Zulkifli Hasan, said damage to forests have reached a critical level. Only 20 percent of the total forest area are regarded to be in good condition. “The law cites that at least 30 percent of the forest area must be in a good condition,” he said yesterday.

According to Zulkifli, out of some 130 million hectares of forest area, 40 million hectares are still in good condition. This area consists of natural, primary forest.

Around 48 million hectares are critical due to past government policies, covering the production of forest management up to the cutting down of trees.

Meanwhile, the other 42 million hectares have been totally demolished. “It is a forest area, but the forest no longer exists,” he said.

The biggest damage, Zulkifly said, has happened in Sumatra, followed by Kalimantan. Now, forest damages have spread to eastern Indonesia like in the provinces of Papua and Maluku, he said.

ANANG ZAKARIA
http://www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasional/2010/04/08/brk,20100408-238840,uk.html

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.