INDONESIA - FORESTRY MINISTER WELCOMES ORANGUTAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001832 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS AIDAC DEPT FOR EAP/MTS AND EB/IFD/ODF DEPT FOR OES/IET and OES/ETC TREASURY FOR TFCA - BERG USAID FOR ANE/TS AND EGAT/NRM E.O. 12598: N/A TAGS: SENV EAID ECON TBIO ID SUBJECT: INDONESIA - FORESTRY MINISTER WELCOMES ORANGUTAN CONSERVATION PROGRAMS AND TFCA REF: A) JAKARTA 1660, Orangutan Conservation; B) JAKARTA 1672, West Kalimantan Dwindling Forests; C) JAKARTA 1745, Aceh Forest Threatened ¶1. (SBU) Summary. The Minister of Forestry, Mr. Kaban, stressed to DCM in a July 3 meeting that conservation of orangutans and their forest habitat remains an urgent need. The Minister welcomed the $8 million USAID Orangutan Conservation Services Program and emphasized the importance of communities benefiting from forest conservation efforts. DCM urged eastward expansion of Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan Province. DCM explained the basics of the U.S. debt-for-nature swap under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, which the Minister welcomed as "good news." On the MOU to Combat Illegal Logging and Associated Trade, the Minister emphasized the importance of international collaboration to assist Indonesia in addressing transnational crime. The annual haze has already begun in Sumatra, and the Minister admitted its ongoing problems fighting the fires manually. End Summary. Orangutan Habitat Conservation: Urgent Needs -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In a July 3 meeting, the Forestry Minister and DCM agreed that conservation of orangutan habitat is an urgent need. We explained the $8 million Orangutan Conservation Services Program (OCSP) works in some of the last remaining areas with significant orangutan populations in the wild, in Kalimantan and Sumatra. The program aims to reduce key threats to orangutan habitat by promoting sustainable forest management, law enforcement, sustainable financing and developing stronger constituencies at the national level. The Minister of Forestry requested assistance to update the orangutan census (the last one is from 2004). Another request by the Ministry of Forestry (MOF) is to support its orangutan rehabilitation centers, two in Kalimantan, and four in Sumatra. MOF officials noted that they have 800 refugee orangutan in these six centers, many victims of land clearing for palm oil plantations or of forest fires. A key constraint is lack of forest to reintroduce captive orangutans, given continually shrinking habitats. Another priority is to facilitate protection of habitat by engaging local communities to develop sustainable patrols in the areas. Tanjung Puting National Park -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan is home to several thousand orangutan and location of the internationally-recognized Camp Leakey research center. Embassy thanked the Ministry of Forestry for rejecting plans for palm oil plantations on the boundary of the park and asked whether it would be possible to expand the park on the east side, where some primary forest still exists. The Minister explained that a one-kilometer buffer zone exists around the Park, and other land allocations are governed by the official land use plan. The MOF will, however, examine options for any land area not privately owned and not yet converted. Tropical Forest Conservation Act -------------- ¶4. (U) We explained that Indonesia was eligible for a "debt-for-nature" swap under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act. Deputy Minister Mahendra Siregar, at the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, had told us that his Ministry, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, would negotiate with U.S. Treasury the debt swap portion, while the Ministry of Forestry would have the lead on the actual conservation programs. Minister Kaban said the program was "good news" and hoped the mechanism was not too complicated. We explained that it would involve setting up a board with the participation of his Ministry and could take up to a year to finalize. The Minister recommended the program take into consideration livelihoods of local people who can benefit from forest conservation and "not just trees." We agreed that the existing USAID programs are also targeted at improving livelihoods, with a measurable impact in the number of people who are now farming outside rather than inside the national parks. The Minister also raised the question whether a portion of the TFCA funds could be JAKARTA 00001832 002 OF 002 planned for some type of sustainable forestry grant fund, since this would leverage a longer-term benefit that would lead to greater impact in forest conservation. Illegal Logging -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The Embassy raised the MOU to Combat Illegal Logging and Associated Trade, noting planning visits by with the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Department of Justice ICITAP program to implement the MOU. The Minister welcomed the visits and said that he has already held several meetings on the MOU and the illegal logging issue in general. "We hope the timber industry players are seeing the benefit of going the legal route," he said. The aim of activities under the MOU is to strengthen legal business while curtailing the activity of illegal loggers through a variety of measures including better enforcement. The Minister welcomed the training from the U.S. for the Indonesian judiciary and police under the ASEAN-Wildlife Enforcement Network program. Annual Haze Has Started -------------- ¶6. (U) The annual dry season problem of heavy haze pollution from land clearing has already begun in Sumatra. The Minister acknowledged the ongoing problems combating the fires. "There are millions of hectares of peatland vulnerable to fire each year, but we are relying on manual means to put them out. To manage fire prone areas this vast requires two squadrons of sky crane type helicopters covering eight provinces." The MOF is currently renting helicopters. The Minister was impressed on a recent trip to South Korea with the 48 sky cranes, each with a capacity of 10,000 liters of water, to combat fires in 6 million hectares of forest. "Climate change could exacerbate the dry season periods, and can leave areas prone to fire beyond the usual dry season" he added. He asked whether the U.S. could help with leasing or grants of such helicopters, noting that sky cranes are U.S. technology. "We can't only rely on our neighbors for help. We need our own facilities." HUME