The Forestry Ministry is working hard to preserve and upgrade gradually dwindling forests and watersheds nationwide.
The ministry, together with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), is working on a pilot project to improve the management of forests and watersheds in six provinces.
Director general for Rehabilitation and Social Forestry, Indiastuti, said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the project, which is scheduled to run from mid 2009 to 2014, would focus on strengthening environmental management at the community level.
Six watershed areas have been designated as pilot locations for the project, which is co-funded by the Global Environment Facility contributing US$7.8 million, and the government donating $41 million.
All of the chosen watersheds are rich in biodiversity, but are in critical environmental conditions. Indiastuti said that from around 3,000 watersheds in the country, more than 300 were in a critical condition.
The six selected watersheds are located in Toba Samosir regency, North Sumatra, West Lampung regency in Lampung, Wonosobo regency in Central Java, Lombok Barat regency in West Nusa Tenggara, South Timor Tengah regency in East Nusa Tenggara and Sigi regency in Central Sulawesi.
"We will hold forums involving all stakeholders and ask them to design a watershed management system. We will also train people living nearby watersheds to enhance their level of knowledge in managing them," Indiastuti said on the sidelines of an introductory workshop about the project.
The workshop was aimed at establishing a concrete five-year collaboration plan between the government and all project stakeholders, including other ministries, private companies, NGOs and the public.
UNDP Indonesia's assistant country director, Budhi Sayoko, said the initiative to enhance and upscale the community-based forest and watershed management was timely because Indonesia had ratified three UN conventions: the Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biodiversity and the Convention to Combat Desertification.
He also said the goal of the project was to improve not only the knowledge of people, but also their livelihood.
The ministry's data shows that approximately 20 million Indonesians live around forest land with 30 percent of them highly dependent on forest resources.
"If the surrounding community is aware of watershed management, they are more likely to refrain from, for instance, illegal logging," Budhi said.
From the activities in the six pilot locations, the ministry will come up with a model that can be used to train people in other watershed areas.
"At the very least, the ministry will provide a platform for the model," he added.
Budhi also said the Global Environment Facility would assess the country's performance in executing the project.
Indiastuti said that progress on the project would be reported every semester.
"There will be improvement after the project is implemented," she pledged, adding that the ministry targeted to preserve another 102 watersheds by the end of 2014.
"Not only will this project improve the quality of our forests, land and watersheds, but it also will contribute to preserving our rich biodiversity and will help mitigate global climate change," she said. (adh)
