F

oreign funds for the conservation of nature keep pouring into the country, with Germany being the most recent nation to pledge funds to help rehabilitate Indonesia'€™s national parks.

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said that Germany had granted Indonesia ¤8.1-million (US$10.83 million) to restore national parks in Jambi and natural forests in Gorontalo, most of which were in poor condition due to illegal logging and the expansion of oil palm plantations.

Zulkifli said studies and talks with local governments had been conducted this year in preparation for the projects.

The investment is aimed at restoring natural and conservation forests, empowering local communities and increasing productivity. The projects will be carried out by the Indonesian World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and German-based Zoological Society Frankfurt (ZSF), along with local governments and companies.

Indonesia had an annual deforestation rate of 3.5 million hectares from 1999 to 2002, which slowed down to 450 hectares per annum after the government imposed a two-year moratorium to halt the commercial use of 65.2 million hectares of primary forests and peatland in an attempt to curtail deforestation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Besides receiving a grant from Germany, Indonesia will also get $6 million from the US to protect the Sumatran rhino.

The ministry'€™s secretary-general, Hadi Daryanto, said Indonesian and US representatives held talks on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forestry Ministerial Meeting, which concluded on Friday in Peru, to continue a debt for nature swap (DNS) agreement to conserve forests in Sumatra that was first agreed upon in 2009.

The agreement allows the US to transfer funds paid by the government to a trust fund to finance forest conservation programs.