Economy & Business

Ministry of Forestry and WWF Form Alliance Against Illegal Logging in Tesso Nilo
16 Desember 2003

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:
TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, the Riau provincial government and the Pelalawan regency government have made a commitment to eradicate illegal logging activities.


This commitment was made at the signing of a cooperation agreement in Riau and also includes the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia and PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP).


Ministry of Forestry’s spokesman Tashrir Fathoni made this statement to Tempo News Room at the Ministry’s office, Jakarta on Monday (15/12).


The alliance is aimed at decreasing the amount of illegal logging activities to 10 percent from the current illegal logging number in Riau, particularly the nearby 153,000 hectare Tesso Nilo forest.


Under this cooperation, a task unit for the handling of illegal logging in Tesso Nilo will also be formed.


This unit includes forest police, police, related law enforcers, the WWF Indonesia and the RAPP.


The unit has four tasks: to carry out patrolling activities; to conduct investigations at check points; to monitor the traffic of log and wood and integrate the results into the database; and to handle cases thoroughly should there be any violations.


Tesso Nilo forest area is one of the best forest areas in Riau and is relatively untouched.


The government has prioritized this area as a natural forest area that must be preserved properly.

Maria Ulfa - Tempo News Room