"Heart of Borneo" countries agree to five points to conserve forests

Antara 4 Apr 08;

Pontianak, W Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - Three countries that took part in the second "Heart of Borneo" (HoB) meeting -- Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam -- have agreed to implement five things to protect forest areas, conservation and production forests for the sake of future generations, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said.

Speaking at a press conference here on Friday, the ministry`s director of forest areas and nature conservation (PHKA), Nur Hidayat, said the three countries had committed themselves to implementing five points agreed on during the four-day Heart of Borneo meeting in Pontianak from April 1 to 4.

The five points had to do with space layout, utilization of protected and conserved forests in accordance with their types or qualifications, processing of forest products based on conservation principles as not all forests are included in the HoB, conducting activities designed to make use of the existing potentials by avoiding tree-cutting, making efforts to save and maintain forests in line with their function or increase the local communities` role in conserving forests, Nur Hidayat said.

He said the HoB covered a total area of 200,000 square km of which 57.1 percent was located in West Kalimantan, followed by Malaysian 42.3 percent and Brunei Darussalam about 0.6 percent.

Nur Hidayat further said though the three countries had agreed to the five important points to save the HoB, Indonesia also stressed the need to make various efforts to raise the prosperity level of people living in HoB areas by making use of forest potentials without destorying the forests and their ecosystems.

A member of the Indonesian delegation, Fathan A Rosyid, said the forests in the HoB area were a source of living to people in Kalimantan and the world in general. More support from many sides was also needed to protect the forests from illegal logging.

He said Indonesia needed to be strongly committed to the conservation of forest areas as only 30 percent of the country`s forests were conservation forests. The rest were forests that could easily be sacrificed for the opening of plantations or be converted into industrial forest estates.

"The use of HoB area has been included in the national space layout, so what is important is how to manage the forest areas in sustainable ways," Fathan said.(*)