WEST JAVA NEEDS 1.7B TREES FOR REFORESTATION

AccessMyLybrary, The America's Intelligence Wire
JAKARTA POST, 03/03/2004, Yuli Tri Suwarni, National News
COPYRIGHT 2004 Financial Times Ltd, From Worldsources (English)
Photo: Sobirin 2005, No More Trees in West Java

Sobirin, a researcher at the DPKLTS, said that at least 1.7 billion trees would be needed to restore the forests in West Java, which are continuing to disappear.


Activist from the Sunda Environmental Observation Board (DPKLTS), a non-governmental organization in West Java, said that based on satellite images, deforested areas in West Java reached more than 600,000 hectares in 2002, or about 75 percent of the total 800,000 hectares of forest area in the province.

Sobirin, a researcher at the DPKLTS, said that at least 1.7 billion trees would be needed to restore the forests in West Java, which are continuing to disappear.

Sobirin said the government repeatedly issued warnings to illegal loggers, and had also launched the Citarum Bergetar program to revitalize the Citarum River, one of the largest in Indonesia.

"Regulations and programs by the provincial government are only lip service and have yet to be implemented, because the government doesn't have the courage to enforce the law," he said.

Sobirin also criticized a lack of coordination among government agencies concerning environmental policies.

As an example, he cited the Jatigede Dam construction in Sumedang regency, where the resettlement and regional infrastructure ministry has insisted on the dam's construction to provide water to farmers along the north coast of West Java.

At the same time, the West Java Forestry Office has failed to conserve the forest along the Cimanuk River flow areas, which will supply water to the planned dam, making its construction useless.

"The main difficulty of reservoirs in West Java is the water supply, because river flow areas have been damaged and cannot provide water to the reservoirs. Why would they build more reservoirs if there is no water?" he said.

Due to deforestation, West Java has extensive erosion problems, with more than 33 million cubic meters of fertile earth from the highlands lost to erosion.

Deforestation has also contributed to water shortages during the dry season and flooding during the wet season.

Sobirin said West Java had a potential rainwater of 83 billion cubic meters per year. But due to severe damage to forests in the mountain areas, only about eight billion cubic meters is absorbed, leaving the rest to flow back into the sea.

The head of the West Java Forestry Office, Endang Supriadi, said the government recognized the urgency of dealing with deforestation in the province.

He said that in order to prevent further deforestation, the provincial government would prepare seedlings to regreen the forests.

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