Eleven percent of Kalimantan national park damaged

Antara 17 Jul 10;

Sampit, Central Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - Some 11 percent of the 568,700-hectare Sebangau National Park`s forest area has been damaged, the park`s caretaker said.

"The damage was mostly due to illegal logging activities and forest fires," Sumantri, head of the Sebangau National Park, said here Friday.

Nests, habitats and trees, which are food sources of orangutans and other animals, have lost due to illegal logging activities, he said.

Illegal logging practices must be stopped because food sources of animals living in the national park have been threatened, he said.

The Sebangau National Park is one of Indonesia`s largest national parks and has the biggest number of animal species, he said.

Some 90 percent of the animal species are protected, such as orangutans, monkeys, `kukang`, and `rangkok` birds , he added.

The patrol in the national park has been intensified and he planned to conduct routine patrol jointly with police officers.

The national park authorities have also implementing reforestation program by planting various trees in cooperation with local villagers.

"The reforestation program must involve the surrounding community because there are 45 villages inside the national park," he said.

The Sebangau national park is located in Palangka Raya, Pulang Pisau dan Katingan Districts.

Meanwhile, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has asked for the enactment of a law to deal with crimes in the forestry sector to prevent environmental damage and illegal logging.

"I on behalf of the government propose the enactment of a law to act against forestry crimes. If illegal logging is allowed to continue it will continue to give us problems," he said after holding a consultative meeting with the House of Representatives (DPR) in Jakarta on Wednesday (July 13).

He said if those damaging the environment were not dealt with the state would continue to suffer losses.(*)