Indonesia: Forest conversion must stop or many, many lives will be lost

Last week, the Forestry Ministry said it had received an unprecedented
number of requests from local administrations for permits to convert
remaining forest areas into plantations and other profitable
commercial projects. Soenaryo, an expert from the Forestry Ministry,
said his office had been investigating the potential consequences of
approving these proposals, and the results were alarming.

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So state Ministry for the Environment has instructed local
administrations to cancel any plans to convert natural forest areas
into commercial sites, claiming floods and landslides could worsen if
clearing activities continue. The environment ministry said Tuesday
local administrations should be focusing on conserving their forest
areas if they wanted to protect their people in the long term.

“It is time for local administrations to think in the long term rather than
simply focus on the economic benefits of the short term, because the
threat of natural disasters will most likely increase with climate
change in the future,” said Masnellyarti Hilman, deputy director for
nature conservation enhancement and environment degradation control at
the environment ministry. She promised financial incentives for those
regencies which agreed to protect their forests.

“We will provide Rp
100 million to each regency that plants *productive’ trees in buffer
zones between forests and industrial sites,” she said. Masnellyarti
said poorly protected forest areas, mainly located along rivers
nationwide, had caused severe flooding in areas such as Sumatra and
Central Java recently. The ministry recorded at least 23 major floods
and six consequent deaths in January alone. The overflow of Deli river
in Medan, North Sumatra, inundating the city for several days in an
extreme case.

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