Antara 29 Apr 11;
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan has called on all elements of society to help make the implementation of its main priority policies for forest preservation and equitable people`s welfare a success.
The six policies included forest rehabilitation, improvement of river basin carrying capacity, and empowerment of people living surrounding forest areas, Minister Zulkifli said here Thursday.
The implementation of the six policies involved all personnel of the forestry ministry in Jakarta and all other regions, he said in a written speech read out by the ministry`s Inspector General Irhan Jafar.
The government has set a target of rehabilitate forest and land areas measuring 500,000 hectares annually, consisting rehabilitation of conservation areas measuring 100,000 hectares and land rehabilitation covering 389,000 hectares.
Besides, the ministry will develop 1,000-hectare urban forests, and rehabilitate mangrove, swamp, peat and coastal areas measuring 10,000 hectares throughout the 33 provinces.
The ministry will also develop 10,000 units of small-holders` seedling nurseries and 23 permanent seedling nurseries in 22 provinces.
Another program is to rehabilitate 1.9 million hectares of non-forest areas and 40,000 hectares of peat and mangrove areas, according to the minister.
Recently, the forestry minister said in Jakarta that the ministry has allocated 700,000 hectares for the people`s and rural forest programs, an increase from around 600,000 hectares in 2010.
The minister said it would be impossible to regreen Indonesia without the support of the people in general, he said.
As part of the International Forest Year 2011`s activities, Indonesia plans to plant 1.5 billion trees this year.
"Last year, we planted 1.3 billion trees of the target of one billion trees," he said.
To support the tree planting program, the ministry has allocated Rp3 trillion, or 50 percent of its total budget of Rp6 trillion in 2011(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli
