Burmeso, Jubi – The large size of conservation forest in Papua has proved to be a challenge for the Papua Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA) to manage and monitor protected animals and plants.
“The size of forest in Papua is approximately 31.5 million hectares, or about 24% of the entire sizeof Indonesian forests. About 21% or 4.4 million hectares of conservation areas in Indonesia is located in Papua,” the head of BKSDA Technical Division, Christian Mambor, said in Burmeso on Saturday (8/11) in his presentation at the Workshop and Seminar on Conservation Area Management in Papua and Mechanism of Status Alteration of Mamberamo Foja Wildlife Sanctuary to National Park organized by the Yayasan Lingkungan Hidup (Environmental NGO – Yali Papua).
Mambor mentioned in his presentation that Java island has fifteen Technical Implementation Unit (UPT) to manage the National Park and Natural Resources Conservation Agency, while Papua that three times broader than Java island only has three UPTs with 126 employees and limited supporting facilities. The current condition has made BKSDA Papua difficult to manage and monitor the conservation area in Papua. As consequence it’s hard to control the smuggling activities of the protected endemic animals and plants in Papua.
Meanwhile the Mamberamo Customary Council Chief Wempi Bilasi said the Central Government must regard the BKSDA Papua by providing grant and adding some UPTs to manage the conservation area in Papua to save the forests as well as the endemic animals and plants of Papua.
“If they’re not serious, soon or later, the forests of Papua will totally damaged,” he firmly said. (Albert Yomo/rom)
