Walhi launches film on C Kalimantan ecological destruction
Antara 17 Oct 10;
Palangka Raya, C Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - The Central Kalimantan chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Wahli) has launched a film showing ecological destruction caused by one million-hectare peat-land project in the province.
"The film tells about the obstacles faced by the people (in their struggle to regain their land) in the wake of the failed one million-hectare peat-land project in Central Kalimantan," Director of Walhi`s Central Kalimantan chapter Arie Rompas said on the sidelines of a function marking the chapter`s 30th anniversary here last Friday.
The film was dedicated to the struggle of the people who had been deprived of their rights to manage their land as a result of the project started in 1995, he said.
He said the project which had originally been planned to help the country achieve self-reliance in rice production inflicted losses on the people living in areas around the project, including Palangka Raya, Pulang Pisang, Kapuas and South Barito.
The people living in the areas had lost their rights to manage the environment and cultivate their land and had to bear the impact of environmental destruction due to the declining function of peat-land, he said.
On the other hand, the government`s policies to revitalize and rehabilitate the peat-land had been facing many obstacles, he said.
"What makes thing worse is the fact that policies on peat-land have been overlapping one another, including the issuance of a permit to a large-scale plantation company to operate in forested area in the one million-hectare peat-land project," he said.
