March 07, 2003

Forestry Minister M. Prakosa said he has also signed an agreement with the national police and the armed forces on the prevention of illegal logging.

The cooperation agreement, which began in January, has already uncovered an illegal logging syndicate at Tanjung Putin in East Kalimantan province on Borneo island, the minister was quoted by Antara as saying.

No details were given. Illegal logging and the development of open spaces have been increasingly blamed for floods and landslides during the current rainy season.

The reforestation program, to cost some 15 trillion rupiah (US$1.7 billion), will help prevent natural disasters such as floods and landslides caused by deforestration, top welfare minister Yusuf Kalla said.

Kalla, quoted by the Antara news agency, said that for this year the government has earmarked 600,000 hectares for replanting.

A report compiled last year by the World Resources Institute, Global Forest Watch and Forest Watch Indonesia said Indonesia was now losing nearly two million hectares of forest annually -- an area half the size of Switzerland.