TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Greed driving deforestation, floods in Lampung, warns Walhi
Forests in Lampung are being indiscriminately exploited due to greed, giving rise to major flooding, an Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) Lampung executive said on Tuesday
Change Size
F
orests in Lampung are being indiscriminately exploited due to greed, givingrise to major flooding, an Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) Lampungexecutive said on Tuesday.
Walhi Lampung executive director Bejoe Dewangga said forests in Lampung had decreased by 60 percent due to the rapid rate of forest encroachment and rampant logging.
"The rapid rate of deforestation has caused the destruction of water catchment areas and has frequently led to major flooding in Lampung," Bejoe said as quoted by Antara news agency.
He added these conditions were worsened by the effects of climate change, which caused high intensity rainfall and unpredictable weather, and due to the licensing process for natural resources, which was not in line with the existing spatial plan.
He expressed concern over the local administration's poor handling of flooding and forest conservation in Lampung.
"Whenever there is a major flood, the local administration focuses mainly on the provision of equipment and on logistics for flood victims, without thinking how to prevent floods from happening," he added.
Bandar Lampung urban planning observer Ari Firdaus Alharist said: 'Natural damage does not happen on its own. People are cutting down trees without thinking about the effects of their acts.'
He also reminded that dealing with flooding was not solely in the hands of the local administration, but also in the hands of the public.
'We have to work together to overcome the floods, because blaming each other will not bring solutions,' added Ari. (yln)
