SETURAN – Semua orang kebakaran jenggot jika bicara perkara hutan tropis. Baik yang dari Barat maupun mereka di Asia Tenggara yang sebagian bulu wajahnya hanya tipis saja. Percik api ini terutama jika bicara mengenai rusaknya hutan baik oleh kebakaran hutan, maupun oleh pembalakan. Semua orang, termasuk mereka yang tinggal di hutan beton, membutuhkan produk kayu. Bisa saja bukan kayu hasil hutan tropis, tapi sampai sekarang hutan asli bumi ini -menurut publikasi United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)- tinggal 22 persen saja. Dalam 40 tahun terakhir, hutan per kapita di seluruh dunia turun 50 persen lebih. Ini artinya dari 1,2 hektar per orang secara global turun jadi 0,6 hektar per orang. Selain areal hutan berkurang, juga karena penduduk bumi bertambah. Jika merujuk angka ini maka penduduk di Kabupaten Malinau, Kalimantan Timur, masuk dalam kaya hutan. Menurut Bupati Malinau Drs. Marthin Billa MM kepada SH di kantornya beberapa waktu lalu, kepadatan penduduk di daerahnya adalah 0,8 orang per hektar. Pasalnya, 50 persen kawasan tersebut masih tertutup hutan. Artinya, jika dibandingkan luas wilayah yang 42.000 km2 dengan luas hutan mencapai 21.000 km2 dan jumlah penduduk 36.000 maka ada 58,3 hektar hutan untuk setiap orang.
Media Coverage
2002
Visit the the Kang Guru web site to read excerpts from a radio interview with CIFOR Director General, David Kaimowitz, and to learn more about CIFOR’s research in to the causes of forest fires in Indonesia.
Forest fires have been big news in Indonesia for many years. The smoke and environmental destruction caused by these fires has hit the headlines in newspapers and on television throughout Asia as well. It is a huge problem that requires serious attention. BIOMA, a local NGO based in Samarinda has been working together with villagers from 12 ethnic groups in community-based forest management and control programs. They have been investigating how traditional methods of fire fighting can be used to lessen the threat of such fires in future and help cope with outbreaks of fire if they occur.
Interviews Ron Sivak’s with Sara Scherr
MD: TK 1: “OUR WORLD” THEME, in full for :06, then under… HOST: Welcome to Our World on VOA… MD: TK1: Theme up full briefly, then under, hold throughout… HOST: … a weekly look at developments in human technology and natural science.
Ketika Hutan Digadaikan
PENGUMUMAN Badan Penyehatan Perbankan Nasional (BPPN) yang akan menjual utang Salim Group sebelum Januari 2003 dengan harga rendah sangat merugikan perekonomian negara maupun lingkungan hidup milik bangsa. Kondisi ini benar-benar menyedihkan. Betapa segelintir orang di Republik ini mampu menggembosi perekonomian negara yang sebenarnya diperuntukkan bagi kehidupan lebih dari 200 juta rakyat.
FORESTS: World Bank Revises Strategy To Foster Conservation, Development
The World Bank’s board of executive directors yesterday approved a new forest strategy to improve the lives of 500 million people living in extreme poverty, while improving the environmental protection of forests, which cover 26 percent of the Earth’s land surface and are home to at least 80 percent of remaining terrestrial biodiversity.
More trees to lock up carbon
NEW DELHI A new round of negotiations starts this Wednesday on the Framework Convention on Climate Change. Enough countries have ratified the convention’s Kyoto Protocol to allow it to go forward. Now they are debating how the protocol will work. Expect plenty of controversy, especially when it comes to forests.
CLIMATE 2
The report demands all types of forestry and local communities to be made eligible for Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM), as long as they also meet rigorous requirements for carbon benefits; reduction of risk for local communities; reduction of the cost of managing community projects; and reduction of risks and costs for investors.